Confluence 4.1 : Linking to Pages

This page describes how to create a link in your Confluence page to another page.
You can create links on your page to:

  • Other pages in the Confluence site.
  • Webpages outside of Confluence.
  • Anchors or headings, on the same page or other pages.

You can also create a link to a non-existent Confluence page.

You can use the following methods to create links:

  • Autocomplete - to link to Confluence pages or a non-existent page.
  • The 'Insert Link' dialog - to link to Confluence pages and webpages.
  • Cutting and pasting a link from your browser - to link to Confluence pages and webpages.

Linking to Confluence Pages

Adding a Link using Autocomplete

You can use autocomplete to create a link to any page in the Confluence site, if you know the name of the page you want to link to.

You can type [ to see a list of suggested links. For details, see Using Autocomplete.

Adding a Link using the Insert Link Dialog

To create a new link using the 'Insert Link' dialog:

  1. While editing the page, place your cursor at the point where you want to create the link, or highlight the text that you want linked.
  2. Click Link in the toolbar, or press Ctrl+K. See keyboard shortcuts for more information.
  3. Choose one of the tabs on the left to help you find the page or other location that you want to link to:
    • Search– Use this option to link to a page or file in Confluence.
      • Start typing the page name into the text box. Confluence will suggest options as you type.
      • If necessary, limit the search to the current space.
      • Select your link destination from the autocomplete results, or click Search and select the link destination from the search results.
    • Recently Viewed– Use this option to link to a page in Confluence.
      • Select your link destination from recently-visited pages.
  4. Enter link text that will be displayed on the page, if required. If you have not highlighted text in the page, and leave the 'Link Text' text box empty, the link will display the destination page name or URL.
  5. Click Insert.

Copying and Pasting a Link from your Web Browser

To paste a link from your web browser:

  1. In your web browser, select and copy the title of a Confluence page.
  2. Edit your Confluence page and paste the title where you want the link to appear.

Linking to Webpages

Use the 'Insert Link' dialog to link to an external web page.

To create a link to a webpage:

  1. While editing the page, place your cursor at the point where you want to create the link, or highlight the text that you want linked.
  2. Click Link in the toolbar, or press Ctrl+K. See keyboard shortcuts for more information.
  3. Click Web Link and enter or paste the web address into the URL text box.
  4. Enter link text that will be displayed on the page if required. If you have not highlighted text in the page, and leave the 'Link Text' text box empty, the link will display the destination page name or URL.
  5. Click Insert.

You can also simply copy and paste a link to a webpage into your Confluence page, as described above.

Linking to an Anchor or Heading

You can link to an anchor or heading that is on the same page, on another page in the same space, or on a page in another space of the same Confluence site.

To link to an anchor or heading:

  1. Click Link in the toolbar, or press Ctrl+K, while editing the page.
  2. Click Advanced and enter the anchor name (or heading) into the Link box, using the following syntax:

    Anchor or heading location

    Link syntax for anchor

    Link syntax for heading

    Same page

    #anchorname

    #headingname

    Different page

    pagename#anchorname

    pagename#headingname

    Page in another space

    spacekey:pagename#anchorname

    spacekey:pagename#headingname


    For more information about link syntax, see Confluence Wiki Markup.

  3. Enter link text that will be displayed on the page, if required. If you leave the Link Text box empty, the link will display the destination page name or URL.
  4. Click Insert.
  • Note that when linking to a heading, headingname is case-sensitive and must be entered without spaces
  • Note that when linking to an anchor, anchorname is case-sensitive, and pagename must be entered with spaces as in the title.


See Working with Anchors for more information.

Linking to an Undefined Confluence Page

You may want to insert a link pointing to a Confluence page that does not yet exist, but which you intend to create later. This type of link is called an undefined link.

To add an undefined link for later creation of a page:

  1. Edit the page in which the link should appear.
  2. Type '[' to trigger autocomplete, and type the name of the undefined page.
  3. Choose Insert Link to Create Page.

When you save the page, Confluence colours the undefined link red. When someone clicks on the link, the new page is opened in 'Edit' mode. You can then enter the page name, add content and save the page, as usual.

If you have configured shortcut links on your Confluence site, then you can link to an external site using a shortcut link that looks like this: CONF-17025@jira. Our Confluence site (where this documentation is housed) is configured to allow shortcut links to our JIRA site, using the shortcut @jira. So the shortcut link CONF-17025@jira produces this link.

To add a shortcut link using the 'Insert Link' dialog:

  1. Click Link in the toolbar, or press Ctrl+K. See keyboard shortcuts for more information.
  2. Click Advanced and enter or paste the shortcut link into the Link box. Shortcut links are case-insensitive.
  3. Enter link text that will be displayed on the page, if required. If you leave the Link Text box empty, the link will display the destination page name or URL.
  4. Click Insert.

You can also type '[' and choose Insert Web Link > Advanced  to enter a shortcut link.

See Configuring Shortcut Links for more details.

Related Topics

Working with Links
Trackback
Linking to Confluence Pages from Outside Confluence

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