Introducing a new feedback loop in Confluence 5.7

Working with feedback is one of the clumsiest and most difficult parts of getting work done. The feedback is never in one place, the conversations stream through various emails, and then all too often the feedback given is based on an outdated version. You have to fight off a headache just to update a few slides in your sales deck, or change a few numbers in your spreadsheet, or even clean up a couple typos in your product requirement.

Wouldn’t it be so much easier if there was a way to consistently give feedback in context and in one place? We’re excited to announce that in the latest version of Confluence, now there is.

Review and discuss work in one place

Confluence 5.7 introduces a feedback loop where teams can add, discuss, and resolve suggestions on any page or file inline. Review product requirements on a Confluence page line by line and add comments on select words, sentences, or entire paragraphs. Pinpoint feedback on each slide of a sales deck or a particular part of a hero image for your team’s next marketing campaign. Give your feedback in context and in one place so you can spend your time revising and improving, not piecing together comments from various sources.

1. Share and view files in one place

We know that most of you work with files in Confluence, and this release is crammed with improvements that make working with files a breeze. We’ve re-imagined uploading, previewing, reviewing, and versioning files to create a whole new experience.

Check out these improvements:

• Upload – drag and drop files to add them to any Confluence page
• Preview –  add multiple files at once and get a sneak peek with powerful previews
• Review – pin comments to PDFs, Word, Powerpoint, Excel, and images without leaving the page
• Versioning – Confluence keeps track of new file uploads, so you always know that you’ve got the latest version

2. Add feedback inline so there’s always context

One of the hardest parts about working with files is that the feedback and the file almost always live in their own silos. As an author, incorporating suggestions often means decoding which slide, page, or line your colleague was referring to, and then marrying the feedback from an email back to the document. It’s exhausting.

Now, in Confluence, you can pin a comment to any part of the file so that your feedback always has context. You can pin comments to multiple points of one image to suggest changes in design and color, or leave a comment on a particular section of a page of a PDF. Your feedback is finally united with your files, so suggestions are in context and in one place, and incorporating feedback isn’t a tiring game of hide and seek.

Context is not only important in the files you work with, but in the Confluence pages, too. We’ve made it simple to comment inline on pages – just highlight a word, sentence, or paragraph and click the chat bubble icon that pops up. You can pinpoint your feedback so that your suggestions are clear for the author.

3. Discuss feedback and reach consensus

In Confluence, everyone can see and contribute to feedback that has already been given, allowing your teammates to build on others’ comments. No one wastes time repeating other teammates’ feedback and you get the most complete set of suggestions on your work. 

@mentions, likes, and links are really powerful tools that help your team bring in the right people, show approval, and provide more information where necessary.

4. Close your feedback loop and get it done

The final step in a feedback loop is closing it and letting all your contributors know you’ve incorporated their feedback. You can now resolve inline comments on any page or file to indicate you’ve read and reacted to the feedback. The original commenter receives a notification when comments are resolved. Once all the feedback has been resolved, you’ve completed the drafting process and should have your final draft in hand.

Other awesome improvements

Confluence 5.7 is a massive release with a lot of other awesome updates. So while we know you’ll love the new inline commenting, we think you’ll also love the other features we’ve packed in, too.

Plan at a birds’-eye view with the Roadmap Planner macro

We’re excited to introduce a new macro to help you achieve your team’s resolutions for 2015 and beyond. The Roadmap Planner macro is perfect for creating light-weight product and team roadmaps, as well as visualizing timelines for your team’s projects. Learn more…

Connect Confluence and Hipchat, fast

At Atlassian, Confluence and Hipchat connect the people, content, and conversations that drive every team and project forward. We use Confluence spaces to keep every team and major project organized. We use Hipchat group chat rooms for real-time communication with our teams about our projects. While both tools are awesome for helping teams work together, the real power comes when we connect the two together.

As a system admin, it now takes less than two minutes to integrate Confluence and Hipchat, which means that your teams are just another click away from connecting their Confluence spaces with their Hipchat rooms. We’ve made it dead simple to send push notifications from Confluence to Hipchat. It’s never been easier to stay on top of what everyone is working on, and discuss work in real-time. Learn more…

Start your team’s new feedback loop today

Streamline your team’s feedback loop and keep all of your team’s suggestions in context and in one place – do your best work yet.

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Server Customers: Read the full Confluence 5.7 release notes and upgrade today!

Cloud Customers: You’ve been auto-upgraded. Start enjoying these new features right now!