---
title: "Discussion documentation (Server/DC)"
canonical: "https://support.covectors.io/space/CAD/570163201/Discussion%20documentation%20(Server%2FDC)"
format: markdown
---
Discussion for Confluence is designed to help you build and engage communities inside Confluence. The app gives your teams the ability to initiate and contribute to discussions directly within Confluence. 

The content-rich discussion pages coupled with advanced social features allow users to participate in various discussions and share their thoughts through comments and likes. Discussion can be classified into categories making them easier to locate and access.

The app is available on three hosting options: Cloud, Server, and Data Center. For more information on migration and the differences between the three hosting options please refer to this link.

# Get started with Discussion

Your journey with the Discussion app starts by creating your first discussion page. For this make sure to go through the following steps:

1. Select Create from the top menu
2. Choose “Discussion” from the dialog box

![image](media://948b3e5b-9bec-4ccd-bf18-24c31947d837)

 3. Specify the Discussion title, description, labels, and categories

 4. Click Create

![image](media://2166078c-b3c0-4152-9e3a-d3436a7cd1be)

And there you have it! your first discussion page has been created. Now it is time to start sharing and promoting your discussion page and inviting more people to take part and contribute.

# Discussion page

In this section, we will walk through the discussion page's different macros and the actions you take within each one. 

A typical discussion page consists of two main macros:

**Discussion information:**

This macro displays main discussion information and lets the user change discussion status and category, add feedback, mark useful replies, and keep track of discussion statistics (number of views and comments).

**Contributors:**

This macro contains a list of discussion contributors along with the number of comments they have added. Since the discussion we have just created is yet to have any contributors, the list is empty. Once a user takes an action within the page, his/her name will be added to the contributor's list.

![image](media://22eb54ae-8eb6-490a-8366-9d1ca4cff341)

Upon creating a discussion page, the status is set by default to “New” as the discussion is yet to have any contributions.

Once the discussion starts gaining traction with users contributing with comments, the status will be immediately and automatically set to “In discussion”.

![image](media://13ac8864-218e-409e-9f4e-da14829156da)

The discussion will be marked as "Resolved" when one of the contributors marks a reply as useful. Once this is done, the discussion will be automatically changed to "Resolved" and a green check mark will be displayed alongside the marked reply.


![image](media://684a37bf-172c-4938-aacb-3d1ee52bb3c3)

To move the discussion back to the "In Discussion" status, navigate to the marked comment and click "Unmark".

![image](media://a57ef912-45ad-40a5-bc61-0d39681d87a4)

# Discussion index

The discussion you have just created along with the ones to be created in the future are all listed on the **Discussion Index page.**

Think of the **Discussion Index page** as both a parent page and a dashboard containing all the relevant information about discussions, contributors, categories, and more. 

We brought several enhancements to this dashboard by adding filtering capabilities and some statistics displayed as shown in the following screenshots. 

Similar to the discussion page we have just covered, Discussion Forum is composed of multiple macros, each serving a specific function.


![image](media://b59599eb-3d71-45e6-9fad-284a0542537c)

![image](media://73d17f3b-0219-4998-a711-ce1ed68240d5)

Let’s take a look at the page’s layout and walk through all the actions you can take. 

- **Discussion List: **Here, you can visualize all existing discussions within a given space along with the number of contributors, views, comments, and likes. Additionally, you can choose how discussions are displayed by selecting either the timeline or list views
- **Filter discussions: **You can filter** **discussions based on their status (New, In discussion or Resolved), creators, creation date, and categories.
- **Add discussion: **To create a new discussion page, click “Add discussion”. The “Create a discussion” dialog box will appear where you can add the discussion title and description as well as specify a label and category.
- **Discussion summary: **This macro acts as a summary of all the discussions within a space. It displays the number of discussions, questions, replies, contributors, and comments. It also shows the number of discussions per status and category.
- **Discussion contributors:** This macro contains a list of discussion contributors along with the number of comments they have added.

It is worth noting that you are in control of the page’s layout. You can add, move or remove macros at any time within your space pages. 

# Discussion global dashboard

All discussions created within your Confluence instance are available on the Discussion global dashboard. The latter is accessible from the top menu and contains two main tabs: Discussion and labels. Additionally, at the top of the page, there is a search bar where you can type keywords to quickly access discussions.

- Discussion

Within this tab, you can visualize all discussions created within your Confluence instance or the ones you have marked as favorites. Discussions are classified by space and are presented as cards. 

![image](media://90f6a976-21dd-469b-b42b-b9c526ca252d)

Each card contains: 

- The discussion & space name
- The number of discussions, contributors, and comments
- the creation date along with a star allowing you to mark or unmark the glossary as your favorite

### labels

The labels tab gives you quick access to specific discussions. Upon creating a discussion, you can associate it with a certain label. Clicking on each label will land you on the label page, where you can navigate all the discussions under that specific label.

![image](media://c9158800-2004-4a6d-b3b2-31d6ae2e34b7)

### Search

With the global search bar, you can instantly locate and access discussions across all spaces. The search is based on the discussion title and page content.

![image](media://16b9d516-0756-4996-ac9f-2a6eab723f68)

# Managing discussion categories

Categories are the latest addition to the Discussion app. They allow users to classify their discussions by categories making them easier to locate and access. 

In this section, we will walk through the entire process of creating and managing categories.

## Add a category

Navigate to space tools> Apps > Discussion. You will land in the category dashboard. 

1. Click “Add a new category”.
2. Specify the category’s name and color
3. Assign managers
4. Enable manager's notification when a new discussion is created under this category
5. Click “Add a category”

> ⚠️ Please note a category must have at least one manager.

![image](media://951901ab-c08c-407b-8833-d34df475133e)

The category will be listed within the category's main view. The view consists of a table containing the categories' names, managers, and actions to edit, delete and control notifications. 

![image](media://a24f6722-2f11-4911-9606-a3adcb4300b3)

## Edit a category

1. Click the edit icon in the “Actions” column
2. Change the category name, color and managers
3. Edit notifications settings
4. Validate

![image](media://4907ae5f-db1a-4553-be12-0a03eed56fae)

## Delete a category

1. Click the delete icon in the “Actions” column
2. Validate

![image](media://8e600707-9b76-4b3f-9ee1-611659d9b395)

## Set and change a discussion category

You can set a discussion category during discussion page creation if a category exists. Simply select the category from the drop-down.

![image](media://ae6740fa-b7c2-4c10-a6dc-6a22d0745fda)


If you create a new discussion without specifying its category, the discussion will be added under a default category called “Undefined”.

To change a discussion’s category:

1. Navigate to the discussion page
2. Click on the category
3. Select one from the available categories
4. Validate

![image](media://225a3339-d6fe-4cd1-9cd2-e01285e16900)

## Category index page

With the addition of categories, you can now list and view a tailored dashboard solely based on categories. 

Once a category has been created, a new index page will be created as well containing all discussions under that specific category. 

In the example below, we have created two discussions under two distinct categories: Marketing and Software DEV. Both categories act as parent pages containing the full discussions list. All discussions associated with a category are page children of its index page as displayed in the screenshot below.

![image](media://a7b92070-d4d0-4a9a-b65e-1d649befbb46)

The category index page has the same structure and layout as the discussion index page. You can view discussions either within a timeline or a list view. Discussions can be filtered by status, creators, and creation date.

> ⚠️ The only distinction between the discussion index and category index pages lies in the macros available by default. The category index page does not include the “Add a discussion” or the summary” macros. 
> ⚠️ 
> ⚠️ With this being said though, you have complete control over the page layout. All you have to do is click “Edit” and add the macros related to the discussion app.

# Reorganize discussions

For the latest release of the discussion app, we have granted Confluence admins the ability to reorganize discussions at a global level directly from the space administration panel.

Navigate to Space tools > Reorganize discussions.

Here a discussion can be filtered according to two main criteria:

- Categories (multiple choice)
- Associated labels to discussions (multiple choice)

![image](media://8e639a41-4a78-4912-bea5-310323eb52c4)

Discussions filtering follows specified rules:

- The management rule between the two criteria is an "AND CRITERIA"
- The management rule between the multiple elements chosen in the criterion itself is an "OR CRITERIA"
- Case 1: Categories AND Labels → Returns discussions with one or more categories and one or more labels
- Case 2: Categories are not empty AND Labels are empty → Returns discussions with one or more categories
- Case 3: Categories are empty AND Labels are not empty → Return discussions with one or more labels


Now let’s see how to reorganize discussions:

1. Enter a label, a category or both
2. Discussions that fit the parameters will be displayed along with a “Categorize” button (In this example, we have chosen the discussion label along with the Software DEV category.)

![image](media://969d3bad-ef56-43c0-8362-814eb299baed)

 3. Check the discussion(s) you want to reorganize

 4. Click “Categorize”. Here you have two options

![image](media://747cec6e-d56f-4b4b-902f-0ac6a0c54328)

## Change to an existing category


Reorganize the chosen discussion list under an existing category or delete the category information completely (choose the category "Undefined").


- Select "Change to an existing category"
- Choose a category from the selector list
- Check "Move discussion under a new category", if you want to move the discussion under the chosen category
- Click "Validate"

![image](media://03186b67-3731-4057-8744-47c354ee5ccb)

## Create a new category

Create a new category and associate it with the chosen discussion

- Select "Create a new category"
- Specify the category name, color, managers, and control notifications
- Check "Move discussion under a new category", if you want to move the discussion under the chosen category
- Click "Validate"

![image](media://d0ef9f35-287d-4be5-b0be-e048573c46b7)

> ⚠️ A macro included at the right hand side of the page acts as a reminder of the selected categories and labels.