We'll walk through how to create, configure, populate, display, and manage databases tailored to your team's needs.
This guide provides the essentials to start building and connecting your content with databases in Confluence.
What is a Confluence database?
Databases in Confluence allow you to store structured data in a native format. Databases are similar to pages and other content types. They live in the content tree, can be searched and linked, and have permissions set at the space level.
A database organizes content into fields and entries:
Fields define the structure and are shown as columns. They describe the data type, like text, numbers, or dates.
Entries make up the content and are shown as rows. Each entry represents a set of values stored in the fields.
With databases, you can connect and organize structured data like customer IDs and unstructured data like meeting notes and images. This makes them a powerful way to bring all your content together in one place or even within your other Confluence pages and content.
Database tour
Every Confluence database has the same sets of options. Here's a quick walkthrough.
Views — Create and save views accessible to anyone using the database that defines the data you see, using different layouts, filters, and sorting options.
Quick search - Use this to find entries in the database quickly.
Layouts — Select the way your database is displayed by picking one of the layouts in the menu:
Table — Structure your content in a table.
Card — Display your entries as separate cards.
Board — Create simple Kanban workflows with columns based on a single field in your Database.
Filter entries — Filters allow you to define specific data display criteria. When defining multiple filters, you can decide whether the entries should be displayed based on matching all or any specified filters.
Sort by field — Define the order of your entries based on a field value. You can sort a field in ascending (arrow up) or descending (arrow down) sequence. Switch between both options by using the arrow next to the field name.
Hide fields — Hide fields from your view by deselecting them in the menu list.
More —The More menu contains the following other actions available to the database:
Undo
Redo
Lock structure
Copy structure
Import
Export
Get help
Give feedback
Finding databases in Confluence
All databases live within Confluence spaces.
You can find your database via:
Space content tree (formerly known as the page tree)
Space content view
Quick Search
Advanced Search
Recent activity
Recent menu in the navigation
Home page
Create a new database
There are three ways to create a database in Confluence:
Option 1 — Select the Create button in the navigation, and select Database. This will create a database in the space you are currently in or will default to your personal space/whichever space you have edit permissions.
Option 2 — Select the + button next to the Content section in the space sidebar and select Database to create a database in your space. You can also create a database under an item in the content tree using the + button that appears when hovering over the content’s title in the sidebar.
Option 3 — When editing, select + from the toolbar and find Create database or enter ‘/database.’ This will create a new database as a child of the page that you are currently editing and add the database as a SmartLink on the current page.
Edit the database structure
Each database in Confluence has a structure defined by the field types you configure. Each field type can hold different kinds of information. For more details on the available fields, see Field types.
To add a new field:
In the table layout, select the + button in the upper right corner of the database.
Search or select the type of field.
Enter a name for the field.
To edit a field:
In the table layout, select the three dots next to the field name.
Select Edit field.
Edit any of the values in the Field settings dialog.
Close the Field settings dialog.
To delete a field:
In the table layout, select the handle at the top of each column to select one or more field columns.
Select the trash can icon on the floating toolbar.
All the selected field columns will be deleted.
Deleting a field also removes that field’s data from all entries.
Field types
Basic fields
Description
Field options
Text
The text field is best for summaries or descriptions. For example, describing what a project is about.
Allow line breaks
Image
Within the image field, you can add visual assets to your Database. For example, logos or pictures of team members.
Insert images
Number
The number field can be used for values that should only contain numbers in a consistent format. For example, the expected project costs in dollars.
Format
Select the custom format if you need more control over how the number values are shown. This provides six additional settings:
Minimum fraction digits
Maximum fraction digits
Thousands separator
Decimal separator
Prefix
Suffix
Date
The date field type lets you add dates to entries.
Tag
Tags offer a configurable list of predefined options to select from. This allows entries to be described in more detail with keywords or assigned to specific categories such as teams.
Add item
Enable create option
Enable multi-select
User
The user field type adds specific users to each entry.
Enable multi-select
Link
Connect entries to external links outside of Confluence. You can link articles or pages from other tools to your Confluence database.
Automatic link text
Enable multi-select
Page fields
Page link
Page link fields allow you to link entries to existing Confluence pages or create new pages on the fly. For example, when managing projects, you can connect and create a more detailed, project-specific page with each project entry directly in the Database.
Enable page creation
Page location
Initial content
Enable multi-select
Page status
You can reference those in your Database if you activated and defined page statuses in Confluence. Just like the page labels field, it displays the status of the Confluence page linked in the page link field.
Page link
Enable status editing
Page label
The page label field type displays all of a page referenced in the Database within the page link field.
Page link
Enable label editing
Page details
The page details field enables you to display the metadata of a linked Confluence page. For example, to share who created this page and when or to display rich text from your excerpt macro.
Page link
Displayed detail
Jira fields
Jira issue
The Jira issue field allows you to link your database entry to one or multiple Jira issues. For example, if your team uses Jira to track their development efforts, you can use the Jira issue field to create a simple roadmap in Confluence.
Jira instance
Enable multi-select
The Jira issue field now only supports issues from Jira Cloud sites. Any existing issues from Jira Data Center will no longer sync in the database.
Jira issue details
Similar to the entry details field, the Jira issue details field enables you to display Jira field details from a linked Jira issue in the same entry.
For example, if you have linked a Jira issue in your entry, you can display its assignee in your Database. If the assignee is changed in Jira, it will automatically be updated in your Database.
Jira issue
Jira field
Only standard Jira fields are shown. Custom fields can also be used by typing the text field name into the select field.
Other databases fields
Entry link
The entry link field allows you to link to entries from another database. For example, if you have a customer database and a database for customer projects, you can link a customer project in one Database with a customer from the other.
Database
Enable multi-select
Entry details
The entry link details field lets you look up values from another database. The entry link details field automatically inserts all values of a chosen field from a different database based on your added entry field.
For example, suppose you have connected the two databases described in the entry link field documentation. In that case, you can then reference all entries for a chosen field from the customer database within the customer projects database, for example, the people location.
Entry link
Entry values
Entry backlink
The backlink field is the complementary field type to the entry link field. Adding a backlink field to your Database displays where the respective entry is referenced in an entry link in another database. For example, this can be useful when you connect two databases reciprocally; for example, you want involved people to be displayed in the projects database and see which projects a customer is part of.
Database
Display
Add entries and values
Entries and values can be added directly to or modified when viewing a database linked on a page.
To add an entry to a database:
Select + Add entry at the bottom of the database.
Enter the values for the new entry.
In the table layout, you can enter or update values directly in the table.
In the card or board layout, an entry dialog will open.
There is no limit for fields or entries for a database, but be aware that large databases can take longer to load and quickly become very complex.
To delete an entry:
In the table layout, select the handle to the left of each row to select one or more entry rows.
Select the trash can icon on the floating toolbar.
All the selected entry rows will be deleted.
Display databases in other places
How your information is presented can be critical to your team's success. Databases enable you to show data logically and use sorting or filtering to display the most relevant information to your team. You can display full database tables or data entries anywhere Smart Links are used.
Currently the ability to use the embed database or the database Macros is not enabled for Confluence Templates.
Display a database, entry, or value
There are two ways to embed a database, entry, or value:
Use the Embed database option:
When editing a page, select + from the toolbar and find embed database, or enter /embed and select embed database embed.
Search or paste a link to the Database you want to embed in the database field.
Select or create an entry from the entry field if you want to display an entry or value.
If you want to display a value, select a value from the value field.
Select Embed.
The selected database, entry, or value will be shown as a Smart Link.
With a Smart Link:
Open the Database, view, entry, or value that you want to embed.
Copy the URL from the address bar of your web browser or use the Copy link button for entries and values.
Open the Confluence page or other place where you want to embed the content.
Paste the URL.
It will automatically create a Smart Link to the Database, view, or entry.
More about Smart Links
Smart Links are dynamic links that automatically update when the content they link to changes. This makes them a great way to embed content, as you don't have to worry about manually updating the links if the content changes.
See the following topic for more information on Smart Links in Confluence. Smart Links in Confluence
Database views
Database views allow you to customize how your Database is displayed in embeds and links. Views let you define options like layout, filtering, sorting, and visible fields that will apply across all usages of that Database.
When you first create a database, all entries are displayed in a default table view. You can then create other views to control how the Database appears.
Views are stored and edited for each Database. Any changes to a view will apply to all links and embeds using that view.
To create a new view:
Navigate to a database.
Define any layout, filtering, sorting, and visible field options.
Open the view selection from your toolbar.
Select Add view.
Name your new view.
To update a view:
Navigate to a database.
Select the view you want to edit.
Update the view options.
Select the Save view button that will appear beside the view options.
Select Update view for everyone to save the changes.
When opening a database, the view selected right away is called the default view.
To change the default view:
Open view selection.
Hover over the view you want to select as the default.
Select the three dots at the view's right to open the menu.
Select Make default view.
When embedding a database using its URL, the view used when the URL is copied is automatically set as default for your embed.
Manage databases
This section covers actions like moving, deleting, restricting access, and sharing databases.
Move or copy a database
You can move or copy databases within or across Confluence spaces, just like pages. Any incoming links are maintained. You can also copy or move child pages, boards, and databases under the parent.
You can copy only the structure by selecting Copy structure from the Database More menu. This will create a new blank copy of the database with the same fields but without any entries or values.
Delete, archive, or restore a database
Deleting a database moves it to the space's trash. It can be restored until permanently deleted.
