Upgrade
Read the upgrade notes for important info about this release and see the full list of issues resolved.
This is also a good time to start switching away from the documentation theme, which will be removed in Confluence 6.0.
Say goodbye to ugly tables, cry no more over that narrow, hard to read column. Get your table columns under control once and for all with the Wikis new resize options. Drag column borders to resize them and make your table look the way you want. For even more control you can pick a table mode from the table toolbar. Responsive adjusts the width to fit the page viewer's browser window, while fixed width keeps the exact width you set, regardless of the size of the browser window.
Confluence has reduced the amount of emails that the Wiki sends when there are a lot of changes happening to the same page or blog post. The Wiki will now send just one email with the changes that have happened during the batch window (10 minutes). You'll still receive immediate notifications for the most important things, like mentions and new pages.
Sometimes its necessary to control who can do what in a space, but this can come with an administrative burden.
To help with this, you can now allow people to delete their own content (pages, blogs and attachments) in a space. Give individual users the power to delete content they have created, but nothing else, easing the load for space admins and super users.
Head to Space Tools > Permissions to turn on the Delete own permission in your space, or 
> General Configuration > Space Permissions to turn on Delete own permission for all new spaces.
Maybe you want to help new members in your team get off to a good start by watching some important spaces on their behalf, perhaps you want to help someone who is getting too many notifications from a space.
Now, space admins can add and remove space watchers. Previously space admins could only manage watchers for individual pages, not a whole space.
In this release, new filters make it even easier to get to the page you need, especially when there's lots of pages in your recently worked on, visited or saved for later feeds. Start typing part of the page title and you'll find your page in no time.
The Multimedia macro now uses the HTML5 <video> and <audio> tags that are supported by modern browsers. This means that your browser will decide what player controls – like play/pause and full screen – appear with your media.
You can also now play MP4 video and MP3 audio files in the file preview (as long as your browser supports playing these files).
In Confluence 5.9, we made it possible for space admins to add custom content to the sidebar, header, and footer of any space using the default theme. In this release, we've given you more control, by allowing space admins to also hide the built-in page tree. Create the 100% custom sidebar of your dreams in the default theme.
Within the new version of the Wiki you can customize your personal profile experience. The User Profile menu provides access to a range of personal customization options.
You can find the Profile link by clicking on the Profile icon at the top-right corner of any Wiki page and then selecting 'Profile'. From there, you can edit some of the following options:
We recently upgraded the Wiki to Confluence version 5.6.6. Along with the upgrade came several interface changes, but the core functionality of the Wiki remains the same. Among the more commonly used features that have since been re-positioned in Wiki's new layout are space tools and the create button:
A) Space Tools (as well as space permissions, nested within Space Tools) was previously placed on the left-side menu in the default Wiki layout. In the new layout, it is still located to the left, but at the lower-left hand corner. To locate Space Permissions:
B) The create button has several new options, including inserting a community forum (for discussion) and gliffy diagrams, by default. To utilize these features simply:
The new version of the wiki brings a whole host of new features including task management, user search, improved sidebar, page watch options, and the ability for users to request access to restricted pages.
We'll be expanding our help articles in the coming days and weeks to reflect the new changes, but in the meantime a walk through of the new version can be found in the Atlassian Confluence 5.6 Documentation.
If you get stuck any point, click on the 
icon in the upper right. Selecting Online Help will bring you to the Wiki Help space.
For a preview of Tasks in the Wiki, watch the following video.
Or view this slideshow for a summary of new features.
The University Wiki will be upgraded to a new version (5.6.4) on Thursday, January 8th, 2015. As a result, the Wiki will be offline during the day of Thursday, January 8th, from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.
During the day of the upgrade, you will be able to access all of your current Wiki materials at https://test-wiki.its.uiowa.edu/.
The upgrade will contain with it several bug fixes, interface changes, and feature enhancements to existing tools. Some of the new enhancements include the following:
Some other small improvements:
i. Support for Editing & Importing Office 2013 docs
ii. Improved Sidebar with page tree and child page modes
iii. Ability for users to request access to restricted pages
iv. Improved Search and layout options
v. Page watch options: watch individual page or watch all content on this space
Please see the following link for more details about what's new in version 5.6: https://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence/whats-new-iframe/56?od=false&a=true
If you have any questions or concerns about the potential impact of this upgrade, please contact the ITS Help Desk (http://its.uiowa.edu/contact)
~ The Wiki Team
As the Spring 2013 semester commences, here are some useful links for instructors who are using the wiki in their courses:
Linking your Wiki Space with ICON
In the wiki, when you edit a page you are automatically signed up to 'Watch' that page. This means that anytime someone else edits that page, you will receive an email notification.
If you don't like this behavior, you will need to adjust your email settings located in your personal menu (top right) under Settings > Email. On the email settings page, select 'Edit', de-select 'Auto-watch', and press 'Submit'.
This will disable you from 'Watching' any page you edit in the future. However, changing this setting does not affect any current 'Watches' you have in place, and you will need to edit those by visiting your personal menu and selecting 'Watches'. Click on 'Stop Watching' to no longer receive notifications for that Page or Space.
Want to know more? Take a look at Watching a Page or Blog Post in the documentation area.
As of Friday, August 23rd, the issue affecting special characters within the wiki has been resolved. This issue was responsible for inserting strange symbols prior to a special character. Upon consecutive page edits, the symbols would double in number.
Pages that were affected will need to have the strange symbols deleted, but they will no longer reappear.
If you are still seeing issues, please contact the ITS Helpdesk
On Tuesday, August 13th from 7 a.m. - 7:30 a.m. the wiki was unavailable due to system maintenance. This downtime was necessary to fix an ongoing issue with symbols and to integrate the wiki with HawkID Login tools.
When you click 'Login' on the wiki, it will check to see if you have already signed in to another UIowa service (ICON, MAUI, etc). If you have an active login on another service, you will be automatically signed in to the wiki without having to re-enter your HawkID and password. Guest users will still be able to authenticate using the right-hand login box on the login page.
The wiki is still seeing issues with symbols. We will continue to work with the vendor on this issue to find a fix soon. Currently, when a symbol is added to a wiki page, a 'ÃÂÂ' character is added in front of that symbol.
If you have any questions or issues, please contact the ITS Helpdesk at (319) 384-4357 or its-helpdesk@uiowa.edu.
Enjoy these keyboard shortcuts, designed to help you get things done more quickly:
Press 'c' on your keyboard to open up the Create menu. This is helpful when adding a new page.
Even better: select 'c' followed by 'Enter' or 'Return' to open up a blank page
To edit a page or blog post, hit 'e' on your keyboard. This will open up the editor screen allowing you to jump right in!
Save your edits by holding down 'Ctrl' (or 'Command' on a Mac), and select 's'. This saves your edits and shows you the finished product.
Selecting '/' on your keyboard will move your cursor to the Search box. Start typing to find your results.
Want to add a comment? Choose 'm' on your keyboard to open up a new comment.
These shortcuts are great at streamlining your editing and content creation. Want more? Press 'Shift' + '?' to see more shortcuts.
The wiki has a lot of great help resources only a click or two away. From any page, you can locate help resources one of two ways:
In the upper right of the page, select the help menu:
The Online Help link navigates to the help tutorials and wiki documentation area.
At the bottom of every page, there are three links:
Select the option that's best for you.
If you can't find something, send us an email at its-helpdesk@uiowa.edu.
The new version of the wiki brings a whole host of new features including an improved editor, enhanced usability, mobile compatibility, and more! You may want to try the Getting Started (Wiki Basics) tutorials to get your feet wet.
We'll be expanding our help articles in the coming days and weeks, but if you get stumped, click on the 
icon in the upper right. Selecting Online Help will bring you to the Wiki Help space.
Watch this video or see a summary of what's new
Interested in what it will look like? Watch this video:
What's improved?
Here's a short video that demonstrates the new table functionality:
