Basics
Basic concepts of the Page Gardener Companion for Confluence
Page Gardener
The Page Gardener is the person who is responsible for a certain page tree. Their task is to ensure that the content of their pages is kept up to date or the pages are archived when they are no longer needed.
The gardener is automatically notified when the pages they are responsible for are getting out of date and the exact pages that have been marked as outdated are displayed. By utilizing a Confluence macro on an arbitrary page, they can obtain a summary of the current status of all their pages.
How to view the current page condition and gardener
Navigate to the root of the page tree you wish to see the condition and gardeners for.
Look at the top of the page for the colored (or greyed out) watering can.
Next to the watering can the profile pictures of the gardener responsible for that page will be displayed.
What do the different page conditions mean?
There are three different possible page conditions:
Up to date - the page tree's (i.e. the page and all subpages) content is up to date and relevant.
Outdated - the page content is outdated. The page gardener for this page should either bring the page up to date or archive it.
Sub page outdated - some sub page of this page is updated.
Excluded from gardening - the page content is excluded from gardening. The status of the page is not managed by the Page Gardener Companion.
How to set the gardening behavior for a page tree
Navigate to the root of the page tree you wish to set the gardener for.
Look at the top of the page for the colored (or greyed out) watering can.
Click on the watering can.
Click Expiration Behavior
Now you can chose your desired expiration behavior. Submitting will add a respective label to the page.
Alternatively, you can edit the expiration behavior via page labels:
Navigate to the root of the page tree you wish to set the gardening behavior for.
Click on the Labels button or press the letter l on the keyboard.
Add the desired label from the table of possible labels below.
Click Close.
Refresh the page to see the behavior appear on the watering can and the pop up menu you get from clicking on it.
Possible gardening behavior labels
Label | Description | Example Usage |
---|---|---|
noexpire | This page and any sub-pages below it in the hierarchy are excluded from the gardening process. | noexpire (page and subpages do not age) |
noexpire-single | This single page does not age, all subpages keep their aging strategy. | noexpire-single (this particular page does not age) |
expire-<EXPIRY_DATE> | This page should expire on the given date.
| expire-2025-05-04 (page expires on May the forth 2025) |
expire-<TIME_PERIOD> | This page should expire if the given time period has elapsed from when the page was last edited. By editing the page this time period is reset.
| expire-3m (page expires 3 months after it was last edited) |
How is a page's gardening behavior evaluated
The gardening behavior for a page is given by setting labels on a page from the labels above. Labels are inherited from parent pages when there are no valid labels on that page. For more on Inheritance and what happens if there are multiple labels see Advanced Usage.
How to set the standard expiry period for a whole space
Set a label with expire-<TIME_PERIOD> on the start page of the space.
How to quickly mark a particular page as up to date
Navigate to the root of the page tree you wish to set the gardener for.
Look at the top of the page for the colored (or greyed out) watering can.
Click on the watering can.
Click Mark as up to date.
You will be reminded about that page after the expiration period, again.
How to archive a page
Archiving must be enabled by an administrator. Learn more about enabling archiving.
Navigate to the root of the page tree you wish to archive.
Look at the top of the page for the colored (or greyed out) watering can.
Click on the watering can.
On the pop up that appears click on Archive Page.
In the new window click Archive.
How to assign or change the gardener for a page tree
Navigate to the root of the page tree you wish to set the gardener for.
Look at the top of the page for the colored (or greyed out) watering can.
Click on the watering can.
On the pop up that appears click on Assign Gardener or Change Gardener.
Enter the name or username of the person you want to make the gardener of that page.
Select the correct user from the auto-completion drop down list.
Click Submit.
How to dismiss the gardener for a page tree
Navigate to the root of the page tree you wish to set the gardener for.
Look at the top of the page for the colored (or greyed out) watering can.
Click on the watering can.
On the pop up that appears click on Dismiss Gardener.
In the new window click Delete.
You can only dismiss gardeners which have been explicitly assigned. If the page gardener is inherited from a parent page you cannot dismiss the gardener.
What you can do is:
assign another gardener to this page
exclude this page from gardening by using a noexpire label
How to get an overview of all of the pages you are a gardener for
Navigate to a page you wish to place your overview on (your personal space is a good place for this).
Edit that page.
Click “Insert More Content” (the + button on the toolbar) and select Other Macros from the menu
Search for Gardening User Overview
Add the Gardner overview by entering your name in the box on the left "Username". Tick the box ActionRequired if you only want to see the pages that require your action.
If you do not set any username, then the page status for the current user is displayed.
How to view an overview of all pages gardened by a particular user in a particular space (Space administrators only)
Under the Space tools menu on the left sidebar click on Gardening.
Enter the username of the user you want to see the pages they are gardener for (toggling Only show pages that require action shows only pages that have Outdated status).
Select the user from the drop-down list.
Click on Find Pages.
If you press Send notification mail an email will be sent to the user, containing an overview of the pages requiring action.