Document management in Confluence

Whether you're in human resources (HR), product development, or IT, teams require all kinds of documents to get their work done. A clear overview and structure are particularly important as this is the only way business processes can function smoothly.

By using Confluence, processes can be modernized and simplified while also improving collaboration. As an Atlassian specialist, I go one step further and say that Confluence is also suitable for document management as it is individually extendable with specific apps.

What is document management?

Basically, document management describes the administration of all documents and includes processing, storing, and archiving. Typically, you would use a document management system for this.

Why is a document management system (DMS) so important?

Thanks to digitalization, the days of huge file collections and piles of paper are coming to an end. Instead, electronic documents are growing in numbers. These digital files must be managed, which is why document management systems (DMS) exist.

Document administration should not only be digital but more efficient. Sharing documents via shared network drives or email is no longer an adequate solution. Digitizing documents in one system reduces the amount of paper required and saves storage space in the company's own systems.

A document management system standardizes the organization and coordination of documents. From creation, editing and publishing to versioning and a centralized storage, a DMS provides a clearly structured and traceable status of each document.

It also comes with many other practical functions which make the management of documents more efficient. A search engine, for example, makes it easier to find documents with conciseness.

Links to other documents or issues make it easier to connect pieces of information relevant to a certain context. Last but not least, comment functions allow for a quick digital exchange with other team members, thus promoting collaboration.

Confluence as an all-round solution

There are plenty of specialized systems available on the market, some of them quite extensive in terms of functionality and administrative options. However, sometimes flexible and simple solutions are the better choice.

Thanks to its flexibility and scalability, Confluence serves many as a corporate wiki, intranet, and collaboration platform. With Confluence, practically everyone has a central place to find, create and manage content. Thus, it serves as a central document storage location just like classic document management systems.

Uploading and managing documents as files in Confluence

In Confluence, documents of any size and type can be attached to a page. The attachments and the pages themselves are both versioned. In this way, Confluence pages can be considered as folders in a system and their attachments as files.

Creating documents directly as Confluence pages

Anyone who creates documents directly as Confluence pages does not only close possible information gaps in terms of version history, but also automatically structures the electronic document management into the right subject areas.

Another point that can often cause bad moods in case of non-compliance are files that can no longer be created in different formats or files that end up in long-forgotten e-mail inboxes or network drives.

Spaces and pages serve as a structure in Confluence and can be extended as desired. This allows topic areas to be displayed in the best possible way.

On the Confluence pages themselves, content can be edited, for example, with the common font functions of Word, but with diverse layouts, links, action items, and more.

Scroll documents: Create individual documents directly from Confluence pages

To take your document management in Confluence to the next level, I recommend the app Scroll Documents by K15t, which allows you to create new documents, export a predefined space or page structure in Confluence as a document, or compose a document from existing pages across spaces to make content reuse easier.

The most important functions of Scroll Documents at a glance

• Create and manage versions
• Track changes
• Set document status
• Native integration with other scroll exporter apps (PDF, Word)
• Reuse created content

Scroll Documents provides advanced version management and change tracking for Confluence documents. The app makes it easy to create custom user manuals, product documentation, and more. For example, HR teams can combine all the important information from various Confluence pages for an employee on-boarding and hand it out to newcomers.

Example use cases for Scroll Documents

First of all, Scroll Documents can be integrated into the sidebar menu of any space for which it has been enabled. It is possible to create as many documents as you like from the menu.

Overview and creation

The document builder can be used to create new documents, define a page tree as a document, or compile a document from existing Confluence pages across page trees and spaces.

Create a document

A title, summary, cover image, and labels can be added.

Overview of created documents

All documents created with Scroll Documents are located in the "document library" and can be managed from there.

Overview of a document in an open state

While open, you can see the entire scope of the document at a glance in the "document outline" on the left-hand side of the screenshot below.

You can interact with the outline as well as scroll through the document and it is no longer necessary to click through the different Confluence pages because the content of the selected pages is loaded into a single document without any loading times.

Edit the document and add pages

The document can be edited at any time, and pages can be flexibly added, expanded, moved, or deleted.

Versioning

Documents can be versioned quickly and easily in Scroll Documents and changes can be tracked by managing multiple versions. If you compare different versions, all changes, updates and comments that have been made to the pages over time are transparent and traceable.

Set a status

A workflow status can be set and tracked in order to manage the approval and publishing process. Additional read confirmations make working with colleagues easier. As a result, Scroll Documents provides its own workflow in document management.

Confluence was designed to be an enterprise wiki

Primarily, it focuses on features that improve the editing experience and promote the sharing of online content. This means that the wiki software from Atlassian, through its many features, makes sure that companies can really profit from Agile document management.

The software allows the storage as well as the organization of attached files with built-in file versioning. Some of the other features for document management worth mentioning are search, commenting, and issue linking.

In order to implement proper document management within Confluence, it is advisable to create documents directly as Confluence pages.

Additionally, Confluence can be easily expanded by using apps. Apps such as Scroll Documents can then be used to compile individual content directly from Confluence pages into a separate document. This could be user manuals, onboarding scripts, or other documents created, versioned, and managed quickly and easily.