All You Need To Know About Smart Links: A Deep Dive Into Atlassian's New Confluence Functionality

Atlassian has a comprehensive suite, crafted to streamline teamwork and propel productivity. Among its formidable features, Smart Links in Confluence is one of the best. The tool allows seamless collaboration throughout the Atlassian ecosystem.

 Smart Links interlink content across Atlassian's applications, allowing a harmonious flow of information. With a few keystrokes, you can integrate relevant data from Jira, Bitbucket, and Trello into a single place.

Smart Links in Confluence allow users to create, edit, and view work across Atlassian and third-party products. For example, a user can copy a URL from Confluence, Jira, Atlas, Trello, or another third-party tool and paste it into another Atlassian product to display up-to-date information. The link can allow the user to preview the page, embed the page directly, or edit it directly. Moreover, Smart Links extends its reach beyond Atlassian's ecosystem. It seamlessly integrates with external platforms like Google Drive, Dropbox, and Lucidspark. This unparalleled interoperability empowers your team to consolidate your digital assets, streamline workflows and minimise context-switching.

What is Smart Links used for?

Smart Links enhance your workflow by simplifying content creation, modification, and review within Atlassian and external applications. When you use Confluence, Jira, and other Atlassian tools, each link you make, automatically becomes a Smart Link. 

These links empower you with the ability to:

• Preview rich content by hovering over links, and directly interact with elements such as updating Jira issue statuses.

• Customise link presentations on your pages with versatile display settings.

• Seamlessly collaborate on assignments and initiatives right from your Confluence page, ensuring a streamlined process.

How do Smart Links work?

Smart Links are created by default when pasted in a link to a page on Confluence cloud. You do not need to do anything on the admin level. 

Integrating Smart Links into your workflow is straightforward. 

Copy the URL of the desired content and paste it into the relevant space within Atlassian's products. 

With options to choose between inline, card, or embed views, users can customise how the linked content appears, tailoring it to their specific needs.

Different Views of Smart Links

Inline View: A Closer Look

The inline view, perhaps the most common Smart Link format, renders the linked content directly within the page, providing a concise preview without disrupting the workflow.

Card View: Enhancing Context

For a richer experience, the card view offers additional context by displaying a preview of the content along with relevant details such as project summaries and actionable items.

Embed View: Seamless Integration

Embedded Smart Links take integration a step further, allowing users to interact with linked content without leaving the current page. Whether it's editing a Google Drive document or reviewing a Figma design, users can access external content seamlessly within Atlassian's environment.

Creating and Inserting Links

To create a hyperlink, highlight the words or phrases you want to link. Then, use the following keyboard shortcuts based on your operating system:

• Mac: Cmd + K

• Windows: Ctrl + K

Alternatively, you can select the link icon from the top menu of your text editor.

Linking to Headings or Sections

If you want to link to a specific heading or section within a page, follow these steps:

• Hover over the heading until the link icon appears next to it.

• Click the link icon to copy the URL of the heading link.

• Use the copied URL to create your hyperlink where needed.

Linking to Email

To create a hyperlink that opens a new email to a specified address, follow these steps:

• For Mac users: Press Cmd + K. For Windows users: Press Ctrl + K.

• Click on the link icon (🔗) if available.

• In the link field, enter mailto: followed by the desired email address. For instance: mailto:iamawesome@email.com.

• Highlight the text you wish to turn into a link.

• Click Insert to create the email link.

• This will embed an email link into your text, allowing recipients to click and directly compose an email to the address provided.

Linking To the latest version of an attachment from another page

• Navigate to the published version of the page that has the attachment you wish to link to.

• Click on More and select Attachments from the dropdown menu.

• Find the attachment, right-click on its name, and choose Copy Link Address.

• Go to the page where you want to create the link and enter edit mode.

• In the link tool pop-up, paste the copied URL.

• Remove any extraneous text that appears after the file extension in the URL.

• Optionally, rename the link to something more user-friendly.

Why should you use Smart links?

1. Effortless Integration: Smart Links seamlessly integrate data from various applications within the Atlassian ecosystem, such as Jira, Bitbucket, and Trello, into Confluence pages with just a few keystrokes. This saves time and effort by eliminating the need for manual data entry and updates.

2. Up-to-date Information: By embedding live, up-to-date information directly within Confluence pages, Smart Links ensures that teams always have access to the latest and most accurate data. 

3. Optimised Teamwork: Smart Links enhance team collaboration by centralising digital resources from various platforms, including Google Drive, Dropbox, and Lucidspark. By integrating these tools, teams can streamline their processes, reduce the need for shifting between contexts, and concentrate more efficiently on their tasks.

4. Real-Time Visibility: Smart Links provide real-time visibility into the progress of projects, sprints, epics, and user storeys, enabling teams to track their work and make adjustments as needed. This promotes transparency and accountability within the team, leading to improved project outcomes.

5. Operational Excellence: By leveraging the functionality of Smart Links, teams can enhance their operational excellence by conquering complexity, harnessing collective intelligence, and unlocking new realms of productivity and innovation. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, Smart Links in Atlassian's Confluence represent a paradigm shift in how we navigate and interact with digital content. From enhancing collaboration within the Atlassian ecosystem to facilitating seamless integration with third-party applications, Smart Links empower users to break down silos, streamline workflows, and unlock new possibilities for innovation and growth. 

Feel free to reach out to onpoint via email or any of our social channels if there’s anything you require help with about Smart Links. As organisations continue to embrace digital transformation and the future of work evolves, Smart Links will undoubtedly play a pivotal role in shaping the way we collaborate and communicate in the digital age.