Cherry picking from different spaces to create a hybrid document in a new space
Hello,
For each of our products, we have a separate space and we are looking at Scroll Versions to handle the versioning of the documents in each of these spaces. But, every client has a different mix of modules from each one of our products. So, we'd like to create a custom overview document by cherry picking pages from different spaces and publishing them to a new space. The Include Plus macro looks promising, but I couldn't find any mention of making an include library that accesses multiple spaces. Is this something possible to do with Scroll Versions?
Thanks,
Deborah
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Hi roman, First Short feedback
in my opinion thee are two use cases.
a) I have different handouts, which contains in 60% the same content
b) i often use for different projects some standardised information / snippets (e.g. written by third party authors. This can’t be organised by blueprints, because therefore I need to add a page (I often not want to do)
one solution, in my opinion, can be a libary space (or more than one, because of different themes).
-every tree can be a information or a container (subtrees) of information. This means, that the Titel is used for the search but not part of the content to copy (to discuss)
- in a Macro i can search for the snippets or scroll and pick
etc.
BEST Henry
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Hi Deborah,
thanks for contacting us.
The includeplus macro does currently only work within one single space - it's not possible to include pages from other spaces. (Please vote and watch the following improvement: https://k15t.jira.com/browse/VSN-766).
Have you thought about using variants in your master space and then publish each customer specific information from multiple spaces into one space (and make this one available for the corresponding customer)?Would that work?
Best,
Nils -
Hi Deborah, Nils,
I'm an already known fan of the non existing / compatible include excerpt/page macros. Nils was already waiting for my comment ;-) I wish to have it working too.
The variant way only works for products that are nearly of the same kind. Otherwise you mix up content that doesn't belong together. We speak of "agile content creation", which also means, that "documentation only" team members might be (already) reduced. The variant way would insert content that belongs to a total different team/product. Ok it broadens one's horizon but it doesn't push productivity or helps keeping the content manageable.
It is a workaround for some use cases but we successfully used the include page and excerpt macro in the past .... suddenly it was gone when we started using scroll translations.
Regards
Martin
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Hi Deborah,
as Martin (Hi Martin ;)) already pointed out, content reuse is a big requirement especially in the techcomm industry. As we're aware that Scroll Versions can be improved in its content reuse capabilities, we plan to have a closer look at the reuse functionality as soon as possible. Most likely that will be part of our next version of Scroll Versions, however I can't give you an ETA on this currently.
Please feel free to vote the mentioned issue to get a notification on every status change.
Best,Nils
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Hi Nils,
I understand the process of agile software development good enough to predict this answer ... you can't give an ETA for a feature that is still in your backlog.
But ...
- Reuse is always an aspect of your product presentation (https://www.k15t.com/blog/2014/02/how-to-reuse-content-in-atlassian-confluence-with-scroll-versions). Of course you showed up the variants workaround - doesn't always work ... we already discussed this
- you made the confluence integrated macros for content reuse unusable
- All the isssues around content reuse are 2 to 3 years old now.
- Both issues are in the top 10 of user voting of open issues at the moment. This isn't a bad position for 322 open issues. But don't tell me that the sample space is too small for good statistics ... ;-)
Regards
Martin
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Hi Nils,
are there any news about this issue? Ticket was created in 2013 and last updated here in 2015... I still can't find a option to include content from other spaces using the include+ macro. Are there any workarounds for that? Using variants to manage reusable content is no option for us.
Best, Eugen
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Hi Nils,
i am also interessed in a solution. We discussed it different times before we started using Scorll Versions and the other Tools.
We have different Handouts / Books, which based on a mix of reused parts. To pick it up from a Special Space (libary space) or to pick it up from another space would be very good.
In my opinion, a Standard in technical documentation. Something you are writing on your banner for your tools.
Best, Henry -
We moved to Confluence nearly five years ago and one of the promised advantages was the reuse of content. This worked until we started using Scroll Versions / Translations for versioning and translation management. Perhaps using Scroll Translations would have been enough to choose from our 2018 view. Translation management works quite good with the newly adopted XLIFF format but content reuse is still an error-prone manual job which requires a lot of time.
But there is not even a roadmap to show that the content reuse feature (including content from other spaces) will ever come back.
Variants are not an option at all. We already have spaces with 400-500 pdf equivalent pages. We don't want monster spaces with 1000+ pages which contain content that only shares let's say 10-25% of its pages between different variants. The other content is disjunctive.
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Hi Martin, Henry.
Thanks for the feedback, great to hear that you are still interested in content reuse in Scroll Versions. We are trying to improve the transparency regarding the roadmap, however a quick reply on the mentioned topic.
We have already started working on this issue as it is one of the top voted and watched ones. We can't currently provide you a release date but I can say that we are actively working on the feature. Please watch this Jira issue to be notified on upcoming updates.
We would also be happy to get your input on this feature. If you are open for a call so you could describe your use-case and the feature you would like to see, this would help us a lot :-)
Cheers,
Roman. -
Hi Martin,
I have talked with Tobias and he clarified what you have discussed during the phone calls. The requirements hasn't changed since that time, and what we are working right now is still aligned to those discussed features and capabilities.
I will reach out to you directly to provide more information.
Cheers,
Roman. -
Hi Roman,
i have to decide how to go on.
The Scroll include macro wont work, because i have different Versions (Libary and Handbook). And also it seems to be limitted to a libary fo one space.
Is there any workarround?
- Copy and Paste of a tree seems not working, because of scroll Versions.
Need Help. at this Moment i have to write the same thing different times. If i have to Change something, it is absolutely uncomfortable to make the changes at every Point wich related to.
Best Henry
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Hi Henry.
If you are using a separate space as a library space, the only way to achieve this currently is to either use Include macro or manually type the content.
You could create a space without Versions as a library space and use the built-in Include macro to include the text or pages.
Would this work for you?
Cheers,
Roman. -
Hi Henry.
Include macro works in all spaces. If you are including pages from a versioned space, you would have to specify a certain versioned page. So, in this functionality, the macro is not dynamic. That is why I would recommend creating a non-versioned Include Library space. You can then use Include macro to select pages from a non-versioned space.
To workaround the incompatibility with Scroll Translations, you could create a page per language in the Include Library space (which doesn't have Versions or Translations installed).
Cheers,
Roman.
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