Confluence (software)#Features

{{Infobox software

| name = Confluence

| logo = Atlassian Confluence 2017 logo.svg

| screenshot =

| developer = Atlassian

| released = {{Release date and age|2004|3|25|df=yes}}

| latest release version = {{Confluence (software) version}}

| latest release date = {{Confluence (software) version|releasedate}}

| programming language = Java

| operating system = {{unbulleted list|Android|iOS|Linux|Microsoft Windows{{cite web |url=https://confluence.atlassian.com/doc/supported-platforms-207488198.html |title=Supported Platforms |website=Confluence Support |publisher=Atlassian |access-date=2018-06-11}}}}

| language = English, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Czech, Finnish, French, German, Russian, Swedish, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish{{cite web|url=http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DISC/Language+Pack+Translations/ |title=Language Pack Translations | work = Atlassian Documentation |publisher=Confluence User Community |access-date=2011-09-19}}

| genre = Wiki (Knowledge management software, Collaborative software)

| license = Proprietary

| website = {{URL|https://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence}}

}}

Confluence is a web-based corporate wiki developed by Australian software company Atlassian.{{cite book | author1=Krishna Sankar | author2=Susan A. Bouchard | title=Enterprise Web 2.0 Fundamentals | url=https://archive.org/details/enterpriseweb20f0000sank | url-access=registration | date=24 April 2009 | publisher=Cisco Press | isbn=978-1-58705-763-2 | page=[https://archive.org/details/enterpriseweb20f0000sank/page/47 47]}} Atlassian wrote Confluence in the Java programming language and first published it in 2004. Confluence Standalone comes with a built-in Tomcat web server and hsql database, and also supports other databases.{{Cite web|url=https://confluence.atlassian.com/doc/configuring-a-datasource-connection-937166084.html|title=Configuring a datasource connection | Confluence Data Center and Server 7.10 | Atlassian Documentation|website=confluence.atlassian.com}}

The company markets Confluence as enterprise software, licensed as either on-premises software or software as a service running on AWS.{{Cite web|url=https://aws.amazon.com/quickstart/architecture/atlassian-standard-infrastructure/|title=Atlassian Standard Infrastructure on AWS|website=Amazon Web Services, Inc.}}{{cite book | author1=Anja Ebersbach | author2=Markus Glaser | author3=Richard Heigl | author4=Alexander Warta | title=Wiki: Web Collaboration | year=2008 | publisher=Springer | isbn=978-3-540-35150-4 | pages=337–349}}

History

Atlassian released Confluence 1.0 on 25 March 2004, saying its purpose was to build "an application that was built to the requirements of an enterprise knowledge management system, without losing the essential, powerful simplicity of the wiki in the process."{{cite web | url=http://www.theserverside.com/news/thread.tss?thread_id=24701 |title=Atlassian releases new wiki: Confluence 1.0 |publisher=Theserverside.com |access-date=2011-09-19}}

In recent versions, Confluence has evolved into part of an integrated collaboration platform{{cite web |url=http://www.kmworld.com/Articles/PrintArticle.aspx?ArticleID=57533 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120907014746/http://www.kmworld.com/Articles/PrintArticle.aspx?ArticleID=57533 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-09-07 |title=Wiki tools are not all the same |publisher=KMWorld.com |date=2009-10-28 |access-date=2011-09-19 }} and has been adapted to work in conjunction with Jira and other Atlassian software products, including Bamboo, Clover, Crowd, Crucible, and Fisheye.{{Cite web|url=http://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence/overview/jira-users|title=Integrate Jira and Confluence Wiki|website=Atlassian.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120513014509/https://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence/overview/jira-users|archive-date=13 May 2012|url-status=dead}}

In 2014, Atlassian released Confluence Data Center to add high availability with load balancing across nodes in a clustered setup.

Features

The book Social Media Marketing for Dummies in 2007 considered Confluence an "emergent enterprise social software" that was "becoming an established player."{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/socialmediamarke0000sing |url-access=registration |title=Social Media Marketing For Dummies |page=[https://archive.org/details/socialmediamarke0000sing/page/214 214] |first1=Shiv |last1=Singh |first2=Michael |last2=Becker |first3=Ryan |last3=Williams |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |date=2009-09-26 |isbn=978-0-470-28934-1 }} Wikis for Dummies described it as "one of the most popular wikis in corporate environments," "easy to set up and use," and "an exception to the rule" that wiki software search capabilities don't work well.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5VXgXlU7g-YC |title=Wikis for dummies |first1=Dan |last1=Woods |first2=Peter |last2=Thoeny |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=5VXgXlU7g-YC&pg=PA193 193] |date=2007-07-23 |isbn=978-0-470-04399-8 }}

eWeek cited in 2011 such new features in version 4 as auto-formatting and auto-complete, unified wiki and WYSIWYG, social network notifications and drag and drop integration of multimedia files.{{cite web |url=http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Enterprise-Applications/Atlassian-Delivers-Confluence-4-603258/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130122195012/http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Enterprise-Applications/Atlassian-Delivers-Confluence-4-603258/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=22 January 2013 |work=eWeek |title=Atlassian Delivers Confluence 4 |first=Darryl K. |last=Taft |date=2011-09-19 |access-date=2012-03-24 }} Use cases include basic enterprise communication, collaboration workspaces for knowledge exchange, social networking, Personal Information Management and project management. The German newspaper Computerwoche from IDG Business Media compares it to Microsoft SharePoint and finds it "a good starting point" as a platform for social business collaboration, while SharePoint is better suited to companies with more structured processes.{{cite web |language=de |url=http://www.computerwoche.de/software/office-collaboration/2507049/ |title=Sharepoint versus Confluence und Jive |first1=Jörg |last1=Schmidl|first2=Johannes |last2=Reebs|first3=Oliver |last3=Wucher |name-list-style=amp |work=Computerwoche |date=2012-03-16 |access-date=2012-03-24 }}

Confluence includes setting up CSS templates for styles and formatting for all pages, including those imported from Word documents. Built in search allows queries by date, the page's author, and content type such as graphics.

The tool has add-ons for integration with standard formats, with a flexible programmable API allowing expansion. The software is relevant as an outline tool for requirements that can be linked to tasks in the Jira issue tracker by the same company.{{Cite web|url=https://www.atlassian.com/blog/archives/confluence-5-4-jira-integrates-confluence-like-never-before|title=Confluence 5.4: Integrated with Jira like never before|date=3 December 2013|website=Work Life by Atlassian}}

Discontinuation of wiki markup

As of version 4.0, in 2011,{{cite web|url=https://confluence.atlassian.com/doc/confluence-4-0-release-notes-228622806.html|title=Confluence 4.0 Release Notes|publisher=Atlassian.com}} Confluence ended support for wiki markup language.{{cite web | author=Atlassian |url=https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/CONF40/Confluence+4+Editor+-+What%27s+Changed+for+Users+of+the+Old+Rich+Text+Editor |title=Confluence 4.0 Editor - What's Changed for Users of the Old Rich Text Editor |publisher=Atlassian.com |access-date=2018-03-28}} This led to pushback by some previous versions' users who objected to the change.{{cite web|author=Atlassian |url=https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/CONF43/Confluence+4+Editor+-+Customer+Feedback|title=Confluence 4 Editor - Customer Feedback |publisher=Atlassian.com |access-date=2013-04-16}} In response, Atlassian provided a source code editor as a plugin, which allows advanced users the ability to edit the underlying XHTML-based document source.{{cite web |author=Atlassian |url=http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DOC/Specification+-+Confluence+Advanced+Editor |title=Specification - Confluence Advanced Editor |publisher=Atlassian.com |access-date=2012-04-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120412131456/http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DOC/Specification+-+Confluence+Advanced+Editor |archive-date=12 April 2012 |url-status=dead }} The new source markup is XHTML-based, but it is not XHTML compliant.{{cite web|author=Atlassian |url=https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DOC/Confluence+Storage+Format|title=Confluence Storage Format|publisher=Atlassian.com |access-date=21 Mar 2014|quote=We refer to the Confluence storage format as 'XHTML-based'. To be correct, we should call it XML, because the Confluence storage format does not comply with the XHTML definition.}}

Additionally, wiki markup can be typed into the editor, and Confluence's autocomplete and auto-format function converts the wiki markup to the new format.{{cite web | last=Atlassian | title=Confluence 4.0 Editor - What's Changed for Wiki Markup Users | url=https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/CONF40/Confluence+4+Editor+-+What%27s+Changed+for+Wiki+Markup+Users | access-date=2018-03-28}} After the real-time conversion, content cannot be edited as wiki markup again.

Security

Confluence Cloud data is encrypted in transit and at rest.{{Cite web|url=https://www.atlassian.com/trust/security/security-practices|title=Security Practices|website=Atlassian}}

In June 2022, Atlassian disclosed a zero-day vulnerability in Confluence Server allowing remote code execution, which had been present for over a decade.{{Cite web |title=Atlassian: Unpatched critical Confluence flaw under attack |url=https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/03/atlassian_confluence_critical_flaw_attacked/ |access-date=2022-11-24 |website=www.theregister.com |language=en}}

In October 2023, Atlassian disclosed a critical broken access control vulnerability allowing exploitation remotely.{{Cite web |title=Atlassian warns users: patch critical Confluence flaw |url=https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/31/critical_atlassian_confluence_flaw/

|access-date=2023-11-08 |website=www.theregister.com |language=en}}