Frequently Used Macros for CSDP Documentation

Scope: A list of frequently used macros and information on when and how to use them

Contact: Heather Baker

Unit: Metadata & Discovery Strategy

Date last reviewed: 06/12/24

Date of next review: 6/12/25

Frequently Used Macros

Although some macros have an icon button on the toolbar, a complete list of macros can be found here:

Here are commonly used macros and when to use them:

Attachments: This macro creates a list of attachments belonging to a page. It will show the file name, when it was last modified, and by whom. In Edit mode, you can choose to include older versions of the attachment, add labels, and allow new uploads. When using this attachment, insert the macro below the page scope and owner information and above the main body of content for the page so that it can be easily found. (Click here for example)

Child pages (Children Display): Use this macro on any main page or parent page to easily see and link to the child pages found there. Adding the children display macro automatically creates a list that replicates the page tree for that page. Using this macro makes it easier to navigate from a parent page without using the entire page tree found in the left sidebar of the screen. The child pages are displayed as a bulleted list and can be edited to limit the number of child pages shown, the depth of descendants, excerpt displays, and heading styles. (Click here for example)

Labels List: This very helpful macro is used on the main space page to automatically add an alphabetized list of labels used throughout the space. The list will be represented in columns with alphabetical headings. Clicking on a label from the list will show links to all pages with that particular label. It will also show related labels that can be selected to show those related pages. (Click here for example)

Live Search: The Live Search macro places a search bar on the page wherever the macro is inserted. Using the search feature will query all Confluence pages available to the user and will not be limited to the space the user is working in. This macro is inserted on each parent page below the additional resources and above a link to the DUL Collections Services (Public) space. (Click here for example)

Panel: If content in the original document needs to be highlighted in some way, the panel macro can be used to create a shaded box around the text. Because there is no highlighting functionality in Confluence, the panel is one way to draw attention to a specific line or block of text. Text can also be highlighted using a single-row table. Unlike a table, the dimensions of a panel are fixed. A background color can be added to the panel to created a highlighting effect. Hexadecimal color codes are used for all colors. Color codes can be found here. (Click here for example; the yellow used in this example is color #FFE380)

Table of Contents: This macro automatically creates a table of contents for a page using the section headings found in the page content and linking to them. The table of contents cannot be directly edited. To make edits to the content or hierarchy, changes need to be made to each section heading in the document. This can be done by selecting from the heading menu below. (Click here for example)

Table of Contents Zone:  If a document is very large, it might make sense to have a table of contents for each section. This is done using the Table of Contents Zone macro and selecting blocks of text to include in each zone. A table of contents will automatically be created for the selected section of text. Each table of contents can be edited the same way, by using the heading levels above to make changes. (Click here for example)