User's Guide (v 1.12)

Description

User Profiles for Confluence enhances the functionality of Confluence user profiles. User Profiles can be centrally expanded by additional elements. On top of that, the add-on supports the synchronization of any attribute from LDAP-based external user directories (e.g. Active Directory or OpenLDAP) and the user profile by extending the LDAP integration functionality of Confluence. As a consequence, users do no longer need to update their personal data manually.

Thanks to the add-on, each profile element will be searchable, including additional ones. User profiles can be displayed via two different macros, and with the organization chart marcos, you can display hierarchical structures.

The benefit for you: The data of synchronized user profiles is always kept up-to-date and can be used to display business cards or to search for contacts.

Editing the User Profile

The edit modes for user profiles have been extended so that both administrators and users are able to adjust the data for additional profile elements. Elements of profiles for external (LDAP) users that are synchronized are not editable.

Searching the User Profiles

With User Profiles for Confluence, the data of all user profile elements is searchable. Thus, users can be found by any information they have provided in their profile. Hits will be displayed as links to the respective user profile in the search result list.

In the following example, a user was found by her name:

Extended Search

In addition to making all profile elements searchable, User Profiles for Confluence also facilitates searching for specific profile elements. Simply start your search phrase with the title of the profile element (the title of the profile element that is displayed in the user profile), directly followed by a colon (:). Please be aware that the search is case sensitive with respect to the profile element title.

The following examples illustrate how the extended search works

1) Let's assume an additional profile element with the name “Hobby” was created. To find all users whose hobby is tennis, the following query has to be used:

Hobby:tennis

Please note that the search term “tennis” directly follows the profile element title (Hobby), separated by a colon, and that “Hobby” starts with a capital “H”.

2) If you want to search for users having both tennis and soccer as a hobby, the query would look like this:

Hobby:(tennis soccer)

3) If you want to search for a term consisting of two words, add apostrophes around the term:

Hobby:"freefall parachuting"

4) If the title contains a space (or any other character used by Lucene query syntax), it has to be escaped by prepending it with a backslash:

My\ Hobby:tennis

Lucene experts might already have noticed that this is Lucene query syntax. The default title "Hobby" is stored as a Lucene document field and can therefore be used to directly access information for the respective profile element. This is the same for any other profile element. So there are lots of ways to refine your search 

Demonstration of search functionality (If you cannot see the embedded video below, please check whether you have agreed to the privacy policy of this website or if your browser blocks unsafe content.)

Macro “Enhanced Profile”

This macro displays the profile information of a user. Different modes can be used to define which profile information of a user should be displayed.

Parameters

Demonstration of profile macro (If you cannot see the embedded video below, please check whether you have agreed to the privacy policy of this website or if your browser blocks unsafe content.)

Macro “Profile List”

Displays the profile information of several users alphabetically sorted according to given criteria. The configuration options allow for different profile lists for a variety of purposes: birthday list, telephone directory, expert list ...

Please refer to our FAQ article How do I create a phone book with User Profiles for Confluence? if you are interested in this option.

Parameters

 Demonstration of the profile list macro (If you cannot see the embedded video below, please check whether you have agreed to the privacy policy of this website or if your browser blocks unsafe content.)

Macro “Organization Chart”

Data that is maintained in the user profiles can be used to build organizational charts. The organization charts are always calculated on the basis of a particular reference user (This is configured by the Confluence Administrator.). That means starting from a particular user, the hierarchical relationships with superiors, colleagues and employees are visualized. 

To display organization charts, you can use one of two macros: “Organization Chart (compact)” or “Organization Chart”. The charts are displayed for a certain reference user. The reference user is defined by their username.

User information in the Organization Charts

The following information (if available or maintained) will be shown for each user who is displayed in the organization chart:

• Profile picture
• Full name (including a link to the profile)
• Labeling superior (via a yellow star on the profile picture)
  • A superior is marked with a yellow star on their profile picture. Therefore at least your peronal superior has a star. If someone else of your colleagues is a superior, this person will also be marked with a star (as you can see on the screenshot). Please be aware that this star only appears within the org chart, and not on the general profile pictures.
• Position (field from the standard Confluence Profile)
• Department (field from the standard Confluence Profile)
• Highlighting the reference user (only "Organization Chart (compact)" macro)

Please note

• The organizational charts are calculated based on the data you entered in your user profile (one field of your profile, e.g. named “superior” is defined as basis for the hierarchy. All information about superiors, colleagues and employees is automatically calculated based on that field).
• It might take up to 45 minutes until changes to the superior are reflected in the organization chart hierarchy.

Macro “Organization Chart (compact)”

Displays the organization chart for a specified user. The chart is “centered” around this user. This means that all parameters are evaluated relative to this user.

This chart is displayed on a profile page of the user – if configured.

Peers of the specified user are sorted alphabetically. The user will always be displayed first among their peers.

Secondary Manager

Starting with version 1.12, two managers can be displayed for the current user.

To display name and position of the secondary manager, click on their profile image. To display the secondary manager's profile, click on their name afterwards.

Parameters

Macro “Organization Chart”

This macro also displays organization charts for a certain user, but its purpose is to map larger structures (e.g. the company or department structure).

Please Note: The structure shown is based on user profiles that are displayed.

The chart starts at the reference user and will display all hierarchy levels below this user. Connections on the same level or structural levels above the reference user are not displayed.

Parameters

Upload a Profile Picture

The add-on supports larger user photos that are automatically displayed in the user profile and the macros. As a precondition, the user has to upload a large user picture.

The larger user picture has a dimension of 96 x 96 pixels. If you upload a picture smaller than 96 x 96 pixels, the default size of 48 x 48 pixels is used.

Synchronize User Profile Pictures

With version 1.10 of the add-on, the synchronization of user pictures is supported from a central storage.

If this feature is activated by your administrator, users can still upload their own pictures, but after the next synchronization, the picture from the picture storage is displayed again.

If no photo is set for the user within the picture storage, the manually uploaded photo will not be overwritten.

Known Issues