Links
You can create links to pages, blog posts, anchors, attachments, external websites, JIRA issues and more. Links can be text or images, and can be added in many different ways.
Links to pages within weCollaborate site are relative, which means that you can move pages and rename pages without breaking links.
This page explains the most common ways to create links.
Insert a text link
To insert a link on a page:
- Select some text or position your cursor where you want to insert the link
- Choose Link on the toolbar or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+K
- Select a page, blog post or attachment, or enter an external URL (see below for how to link to particular types of content)
- Enter or modify the link text (this is the text that will appear on the page. If this field is left blank, the page name or URL will be used as the link text.)
- Choose Insert
Alternatively you can type [ followed by the page or attachment name. Autocomplete will suggest matching items for you.
You can also paste a URL directly onto your page. Confluence will automatically create the link, and if the URL is for a page in the current site, the page name will be set as the link text.
Insert an image link
- Select an image on your page
- Choose Link on the Image Properties toolbar
- Select a page, blog post or attachment, or enter an external URL (see below for how to link to particular types of content)
- Choose Insert
Modify a link
- Select the link text or image
- Choose Edit from the link properties toolbar
- Modify the link and choose Save
Remove a link
- Select the link text or image
- Choose Unlink from the properties toolbar
Link to specific types of content
weCollaborate supports many methods for creating links. Some of the common ones are listed here.
| Type of link | Ways to do this |
|---|---|
| Link to a page | Choose Link > Search then enter part of the page name. Choose Link > Recently viewed and select a page from the list. Type [ and enter part of the page name then select the page from the list. Paste the URL of the page onto your page (weCollaborate will automatically create the link). |
| Link to a page in another space | Choose Link > Search enter part of the page name and select All Spaces from the drop down. Choose Link > Advanced then enter the space key followed by the page name Type [ and enter part of the page name then select the page from the list. |
| Link to a blog post | Choose Link > Search and enter part of the blog post name. Type [ and enter part of the blog post name then select the blog post from the list. |
| Link to an attachment or image on this page | Choose Link > Files then upload or select an attachment from the list. Type [ and enter part of the attachment file name then select the attachment from the list. |
| Link to an attachment on another page | Choose Link > Search and enter part of the attachment name. Type [ and enter part of the attachment file name then select the attachment from the list |
| Link to a website | Choose Link > Web Link then enter the website URL. Type or paste the URL onto the page (weCollaborate will automatically create the link). |
| Link to an email address | Choose Link > Web Link then enter the email address. Type or paste the email address onto the page (weCollaborate will automatically create a 'mailto:' link). |
| Link to an anchor on a page | Choose Link > Advanced then enter the anchor name in one of the formats below. For an anchor on this page: For an anchor on another page in this space: For an Anchor on another page in another space: See LINKS AND ANCHORS for more information on using anchors. |
| Link to a heading on a page | Choose Link > Advanced then enter the heading in one of the formats below. Heading text is case sensitive and must be entered without spaces. For a heading on this page: For a heading on another page in this space: For a heading on another page in another space: Be aware that these links will break if you edit the heading text. Consider using the Table of Contents macro or an Anchor instead. |
| Link to a comment on a page | Go to the comment, right click the Date at the bottom of the comment and copy the link. Paste the link directly onto your page or choose Link > Web Link and paste in the URL. Type [$ then enter the Comment ID ('12345' in this example): |
| Link to an undefined page (a page that does not exist yet) | Choose Link > Advanced then enter the new page name (a page will be created on click). Type [ then enter the new page name then choose Insert link to create page . See Undefined Page Links for more information on undefined pages. |
| Link to a personal space or user profile | Choose Link > Search then enter the user's name and select their personal space homepage or their profile from the list. Type [ then enter the user's name and select their personal space homepage or their profile from the list. |
Link to weCollaborate pages from other websites
The best way to link to a weCollaborate page from outside weCollaborate, for example from another site or in an email, is to use the share link which is a permanent URL. This ensures that the link to the page is not broken if the page name changes.
To access the permanent URL for a page:
- View the page you wish to link to.
- Choose Share.
- Copy the Share link.
You do not need to use the share link to link to pages within your weCollaborate site. weCollaborate automatically updates links when you rename or move a page to another space.
If you want to link to specific content such as anchors, headings or comments you need to use the following link syntax. Note that there are no spaces in the page name, anchor name or heading text.
In the examples below, the anchor name is 'InsertLinkAnchor' and the heading text is 'Insert a link'.
| Purpose | Link syntax |
|---|---|
| Link to an anchor (from an external website) |
Example from this page:
|
| Link to a heading (from an external website) |
Example from this page:
|
| Link to a comment (from an external website) |
Example from this page: https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DOC/Working+with+Links?focusedCommentId=368640803#comment-368640803 |
Some things to note when linking to anchors from a website or email message:
- The page name is repeated in the URL, after the # sign. The second occurrence of the page name is concatenated into a single word, with all spaces removed.
- There is a single dash (hyphen) between the concatenated page name and the anchor name.
- The anchor name in the full URL is concatenated into a single word, with all spaces removed.
- The anchor name is case sensitive. You must use the same pattern of upper and lower case letters as you used when creating the Anchor.
Link to a comment
You can add a link to a comment by using the comment URL (a permanent link), or by using wiki markup to link to the Comment ID.
To find out the comment URL and comment ID:
- Go to the comment you wish to link to
- Choose the Date at the bottom of the comment and examine the URL
The number after 'comment-' is the Comment ID. An example is shown here.
https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DOC/Working+with+Links?focusedCommentId=368640803#comment-368640803You can use wiki markup directly in the editor to link to a comment. Enter [$ followed by the Comment ID, for example [$12345] where '12345' is the Comment ID.
Using shortcut Links
If you have configured shortcut links on weCollaborate site, then you can link to an external site using a shortcut link that looks like this:CONF-17025@jira.
To add a shortcut link using the 'Insert Link' dialog:
- Choose Link > Advanced and enter or paste the shortcut link into the Link field (shortcut links are case-insensitive)
- Modify or enter link text (this is the text that will appear on the page)
- Choose Insert
You can also type '[' and choose Insert Web Link > Advanced to enter a shortcut link.
See Configuring Shortcut Links for more details.
Trackback
Trackback enables two sites can stay informed each time one site refers to the other using trackback 'pings'.
In weCollaborate, Trackback can be enabled by a site administrator in the Administration Console. When Trackback is enabled, any time you link to an external webpage that supports Trackback Autodiscovery, weCollaborate will send a Trackback ping to that page to inform it that it has been linked to.
weCollaborate pages also support Trackback Autodiscovery, and when Trackback is enabled, can receive trackback pings sent by other sites.
To see who has sent a Trackback ping to a weCollaborate page:
- Go to the page
Choose Tools > Page Information
Any Trackback pings the page has received will be listed under the page's Incoming Links.
Anchors
You can use anchors to enable linking to specific locations on a page, and they can be especially useful for allowing your readers to navigate to specific parts of a long document. Anchors are invisible to the reader when the page is displayed.
There are two steps to using an anchor:
Step 1: Create the anchor
Add the Anchor Macro to mark the location you want to link to:
- Do either of the following in the Confluence editor:
- Choose Insert > Other Macros, then find and select the Anchor macro
- Type { and the beginning of the macro name, then select the Anchor macro
- Enter the Anchor Name (For example, 'bottom' or 'important information')
- Choose Insert
Macro options (parameters)
Parameters are options that you can set to control the content or format of the macro output. Where the parameter name used in Confluence storage format or wikimarkup is different to the label used in the macro browser, it will be listed below in brackets (example).
Parameter | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
Anchor Name | None | This is the anchor name that you will use when creating the link.
|
Step 2: Create a link to the anchor
You can link to an anchor from:
- A page on the same Confluence site. The link may be on the same page as the anchor, another page in the same space, or a page in another space on the same Confluence site.
- Another web page or another Confluence site, using a specifically formatted URL.
Link to an anchor on the same Confluence site:
- Select some text or position your cursor where you want to insert the link
- Choose Link in the toolbar or press Ctrl+K
Choose Advanced and enter the anchor name in the Link field, following the format below.
Anchor location Link syntax for anchor Examples Same page #anchor name #bottom
#important information
Page in same space page name#anchor name My page#bottom
My page#important information
Page in different space spacekey:page name#anchor nameDOC:My page#bottom
DOC:My page#important information
- Enter or modify the Link Text (this is the text that will appear on the page. If this field is left blank, the page name or URL will be used as the link text)
- Choose Save
- Anchor names are case sensitive
- Enter page and anchor names with spaces when you link to them in the same Confluence site
- If you're linking to an anchor on a different page that has special characters in its name, where the URL displays a page ID rather than a name, you should still enter the page name when linking to it
Screenshot: The 'Advanced' option in the link dialog
Link to an anchor from another web page or another Confluence site:
Use a full URL in the following format:
Notes about the full URL:
- The page name is repeated in the URL, after the # sign. The second occurrence of the page name is concatenated into a single word, with all spaces removed.
- There is a single dash (hyphen) between the concatenated page name and the anchor name.
- The anchor name in the full URL is concatenated into a single word, with all spaces removed.
- The anchor name is case sensitive.
- If the page name contains special characters, where the URL displays a page ID rather than a name, the link to an anchor will look more like this
http://myconfluence.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=54689987#Test-page1!-anchor
In this example the page title isTest - Page 1!and the anchor name isanchor.
Notes
- Table of contents on a page: Consider using the Table of Contents Macro to generate a list of links pointing to the headings on the page. The list of links will appear on the page, and will be automatically updated each time someone changes the wording of a heading.
- Linking to headings: You can link directly to the headings of a page. See Links. However, if someone changes the wording of a heading, those direct links will be broken. Use the Anchor macro to ensure a lasting link within the body of a page.
- Site welcome message: If you are adding an anchor to a page that you are using in the site welcome message, you can only link to that anchor from another page. Internal links within that page will not work.
- Templates: When you are previewing a template, a link to an anchor is displayed as a 'broken' link. However, when you create a page using the template the resulting page will have the correct link.