Pressgate for Confluence: documentation
Pressgate keeps two Confluence spaces apart: a draft space where authors write and reviewers approve, and a published space that readers use. Approved pages are copied into the published space in the same place in the page tree, with their attachments, labels and links.
Where to find it
- Publishing in a space's sidebar (Apps): set up the pairing (space admins), check the whole space for changes and publish, scheduled publishes, history, audit log and settings.
- Publishing (Pressgate) in a page's "..." menu: the state of that page, approve it, compare it with the published copy, publish it (alone or with every page under it), or unpublish it. On a published page it shows which draft page it comes from.
Set up
- In the draft space, open Publishing in the sidebar. Space admins see the setup form.
- Pick the published space. It must be a different space; it can't already receive pages from another draft space.
- Approval before publishing
- Each page version needs approval (default) or No approval step.
- Reviewers: name the people who may approve. Leave empty and anyone who can add pages in the published space may approve.
- Also accept the Confluence page status Approved or Verified: on plans with Confluence's own page approvals, a page whose status is Approved counts as approved.
- Let people approve their own edits: off by default, so the person who made the last edit can't approve it.
- Published pages
- Lock published pages: published pages get an edit restriction that lists only the Pressgate app (and the people you name), so every change goes through the draft space. Space admins can still remove a restriction in Confluence.
- Copy attachments and Copy labels.
- Default version message, used when the person publishing leaves it empty.
- Press Pair the spaces. The two homepages are paired from the start.
The Pressgate app must be allowed to add pages in the published space. If a space's permissions leave apps out, add the app there first.
Approve a page
Open the draft page, then ... > Publishing (Pressgate). Reviewers see Approve version N (with an optional note). An approval covers that exact version: any edit afterwards shows "Approval out of date" until someone approves again. Ask reviewers posts a page comment that mentions the named reviewers, so Confluence notifies them. Withdraw approval is available to the reviewer who approved and to space admins.
Publish
- One page or one branch: from the page's Publishing (Pressgate) panel, choose This page or This page and every page under it, then Preview and publish.
- The whole space: Publishing > Publish > Check for changes in the whole space.
The preview lists every page with what will happen:
| In the preview | Meaning |
|---|---|
| New page | Not published yet; it will be created under the published copy of its parent |
| Update | Published, and the draft changed since (or its title changed) |
| Move | Unchanged, but its place in the page tree changes |
| Update same-title page | The published space already has a page with this title that Pressgate didn't create; it will be updated and linked to the draft |
| Needs approval | Not approved at its current version; it is left out |
| Edited in published space | Someone changed the published copy directly since the last publish; it is left out unless you tick Replace edits made directly in the published space |
| No changes | Nothing to do; it gets no new version |
Tick the pages you want (a new page whose parent isn't published yet brings its parent along), type a version message, and press Publish N pages now. The job runs in the background; you can close the page. Updated pages get one new version with your message. When it finishes you see what was published, what needs a look, and a CSV report.
Show changes on the page panel compares the draft with its published copy line by line, with links already pointed at the published space.
What is copied
- Title and content. Links to other published pages (by title, page id or page URL) are pointed at the published copies; references to the draft space itself point at the published space. Links to pages that aren't published yet keep pointing at the draft space and are listed in the report.
- Attachments: new and changed files (by file name). Files over 20 MB are listed instead of copied. Files deleted from the draft stay on the published page.
- Labels (not personal "my:" labels). Labels removed from the draft are removed from the published page if Pressgate added them.
- Position: under the published copy of the nearest published parent, else under the published space's homepage. Folders in the draft space are skipped over.
- New pages start at version 1 (Confluence has no version message on create).
Safety rules
- A page is only ever published at the version that was previewed. If someone edits it after you opened the preview, it is skipped ("Edited after the preview"). Preview again to publish it.
- Pages in the draft space are never changed.
- The published space's homepage is paired with the draft homepage and is never locked or unpublished.
Schedule a publish
In the preview, press Schedule for later, pick a date and time (your time zone) and Schedule publish. At that time Pressgate builds a fresh preview and publishes every approved change in that scope, so pages approved after you scheduled are included and pages edited after their approval wait. Pressgate checks every 5 minutes, so a schedule runs within 5 minutes of its time. The person who scheduled it must still be allowed to add pages in the published space. See and cancel waiting schedules in Publishing > Scheduled.
Unpublish
From the draft page's panel or the published page's panel, Unpublish..., choose this page only or this page and the pages published under it, then confirm. Published pages are moved to the trash in the published space (restore them from the trash if needed). Draft pages are not touched. Pages written directly in the published space are not removed; Confluence moves them up one level.
History and audit log
- History: every publish and unpublish job with its result and CSV report.
- Audit log (space admins and people who can publish): pairing, settings changes, approvals and withdrawals, review requests, every published and unpublished page with its version, schedules and scheduled runs. Export as CSV. Kept 365 days.
Confluence's "Require approval before publishing"
Confluence Premium and Enterprise can require approval before publishing in a space. Atlassian has announced that API updates to pages in such a space will be refused (HTTP 409) once enforcement starts. Pressgate's approval happens in the draft space, so leave that setting off in the published space (it can stay on in the draft space). A page that fails with 409 says so in the report.
Licensing
Billed by Atlassian per Confluence user, with Atlassian's free trial. Without an active subscription, unpublishing, cancelling schedules and the history keep working.
Privacy
Pressgate runs entirely on Atlassian Forge and sends nothing outside Atlassian. See the privacy policy for what it stores in your site's Forge storage.