Status Labels in Confluence (Draft, In Review, Approved)
Show the status of a requirements page at a glance with a Confluence status label: type a slash and status, name it, and pick a colour. Grey for draft, yellow for in review, green for approved.
Step by step
Why a status
- Status labels. Readers should be able to tell whether a requirements page is a draft or approved in 1 second, before they read a word. A status label shows them.
Add a status
- Edit. Open the page and click Edit.
- A new line. Click in the first line of the page, press End to jump to the end of that line, and press Enter to start a new line.
- Slash status. Type Page status: and then /status. Press Enter. A grey label appears, with a box for its name and a row of colours.
- Pick a colour. Pick a colour. Many teams use grey for draft, yellow for in review and green for approved. This page is in review, so pick yellow.
- Name it. Type the status in the box: In review. Press Enter to finish the label.
Share it
- Update. Click Update so everyone else can see the change.
- Status at a glance. Anyone who opens the page now sees that it is in review. When sign-off comes, edit the page, click the label, make it green and change the text to Approved.
Recap
- Slash, colour, name. In short: type /status, pick a colour and name the label. Grey for draft, yellow for in review, green for approved. Change the label every time the page's status changes.
Common mistakes
- Forgetting to click Update. Until you click Update, the label is only in your edit and readers still see the old page. Always click Update after you change the status.
- A label that is out of date. A page that says In review weeks after sign-off misleads people. Change the label to green Approved at the point you get sign-off.
- Different colours on every page. If one author uses green for in review and another uses it for approved, readers can't trust the colours. Agree on one key with your team, such as grey draft, yellow in review, green approved, and stick to it.
- Using a page label instead of a status label. Page labels are keywords for grouping and finding pages, and they don't show a coloured status at the top of the page. To show status, use /status in the page itself.
When a business analyst uses this
Before a sign-off meeting, set each requirements page under review to yellow In review. Once the business owner signs a page off, change it to green Approved, so developers and testers can see which pages are final and which may still change.
Questions people ask
How do I add a status label in Confluence?
Edit the page, type /status and press Enter. Pick a colour, type the status such as In review, press Enter, then click Update.
What are labels in Confluence?
Labels are keywords you add to a page so that related pages can be grouped and found more easily. A status label is a different thing: a coloured tag in the page text that shows whether the page is a draft, in review or approved.
How do I change a Confluence status label from In review to Approved?
Edit the page and click the label. Pick green, change the text to Approved, then click Update.
