How to: Build a Tabbed Knowledge Base Page

A step-by-step workflow for building a tabbed hub page that organises content across multiple sections - the most common pattern for IT runbooks, product docs, and team wikis.

Design: Three-Layer Structure

A well-built tabbed page combines three macro layers:

Step 1 - Prepare Your Child Pages (for Auto-Tab Approach)

1. Create a parent page in Confluence (this will be your hub)
2. Create child pages under it - one per tab section (e.g., Overview, Setup Guide, Troubleshooting, Reference)
3. Name each child page clearly - the page title becomes the tab label

→ Tab Parent Content Mapper

Step 2 - Insert Tab Parent Content Mapper

1. Open the hub page in edit mode
2. Type / → search Tab Parent Content Mapper → insert it directly on the page
3. In the config panel, confirm the parent page (defaults to current page)
4. Set Sort Order to page tree order or Alphabetical
5. Preview - each child page appears as a tab

→ Tab Navigation Overview

Step 3 - Add Formatting Inside Tabs

Edit each child page and add rich formatting macros:

• Use Alert for warnings, notes, and important callouts
• Use Background to visually distinguish different sections within a tab
• Use Buttons to link to related Jira boards, external tools, or other pages
• Use Advanced Expand to collapse long reference tables or optional details

→ Alert Macro · Background Macro

Step 4 - Add Audience Visibility (Optional)

If different teams need to see different content within the same tab:

1. On the child page (in edit mode), select the content meant for a specific group
2. Type / → Conditional Show → insert it around the selected content
3. In the config panel, search for and select the specific users or groups who should see this content
4. Test in View mode with a matching user and a non-matching user

→ How to: Create Role-Based Content Visibility

Step 5 - Publish and Verify

1. Publish each child page
2. Publish the hub page
3. Verify tabs appear correctly in view mode
4. Test tab navigation - each tab should load the corresponding child page content inline

Maintaining the Hub

• Add a new tab: Create a new child page under the parent
• Remove a tab: Delete or move the child page out of the parent
• Reorder tabs: Drag child pages in the Confluence page tree to reorder them