Dropbox Paper links become text after pasting into Confluence

Summary

Upon copying and pasting links from Dropbox Paper into Confluence templates or pages, as soon as the content gets previewed or published, certain links become pure text.

Diagnosis

• Confirm that this is not happening with all links pasted.

• Observe that the behavior happens only when links from bullet points/bullet lists are pasted.

Cause

This is caused by the following bug:

• Pasting links from Dropbox Paper in a bullet list converts it to text after publishing a page

Solution

While there is no solution for the behavior until the bug is fixed, different workarounds can be used.

Copy and paste using Word

The first workaround is to copy and paste the Paper links into Word and then, paste them into Confluence:

Templates

1. While on Paper, copy all the content either using keyboard shortcuts (CMD/CRTL+C) or right-click > Copy.

2. Now, open a new Word document and paste the content.

3. While on Word, copy all the content again.

4. Now, in Confluence, create a new template via the gear icon at the top-right > Global Templates and Blueprints > Add Global page template or under a space, via Space settings > Templates > Create new template

   1. ℹ️ The difference is that the global templates can be used for the whole site while the space ones are only reserved for the space where it has been created. The user must be an administrator of the space or Confluence to perform this process.

5. With the editor open (not published or previewed), paste the copied content and publish it. This can be done via keyboard shortcuts (CMD/CRTL+V) or right-click > Paste

Pages

1. While on Paper, copy all the content either using keyboard shortcuts (CMD/CRTL+C) or right-click > Copy.

2. Now, open a new Word document and paste the content.

3. While on Word, copy all the content again.

4. Tap the Create button at the top navigation of Confluence or the "+" icon displayed in the sidebar at the right side of a page's name so a new page will be created.

5. With the editor open, paste the content, and then, tap the Publish option to have the page published.

Exporting and Importing as a Word document

For this alternative, the method will consist of using the Export function from Paper and the Import Word document feature for Confluence.

⚠️ This option is not available for templates.

1. While on Dropbox Paper, tap the ellipsis button at the top-right of the document

2. There, select Export > Word document.

3. After downloading the file, create a new page in Confluence.

4. While editing the page, tap the top-right and select the import option:

   

   1. If this is not available, tap the ellipsis button at the top-right and select Templates & Import doc:

      

5. Select Word document (.docx) and upload the file from your environment.

The user can also import the document while viewing an already published page:

1. View an existing page. The page chosen becomes the parent page of the document imported.

2. From the top right of the page, select ••• > Advanced details > Import word document

3. Select the Select file to import button

4. Find the Word document you want to import

5. Select Import. The confirmation page appears.

6. Choose the import options you want.

7. Select Import

ℹ️ For more information on the import options, the user can refer to this session.