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User Guide - Doc Review Manager for Confluence

Complete guide to using Doc Review Manager for managing document review schedules in Confluence Cloud.

Related Documentation:

Getting Started

What is Doc Review Manager?

Doc Review Manager is a Confluence Cloud app that helps teams keep their documentation current by:

  • Tracking review schedules for individual pages
  • Sending automated reminders when reviews are due
  • Providing dashboard oversight for administrators
  • Maintaining audit trails of all reviews

Who Should Use This App?

Document Owners - Anyone responsible for maintaining specific Confluence pages:

  • Policy authors
  • Procedure writers
  • Technical documentation teams
  • Knowledge base contributors

Administrators - People responsible for compliance and oversight:

  • Compliance officers
  • Quality managers
  • Documentation leads
  • Space administrators

First Steps After Installation

  1. Verify Installation
    • Look for "Document Review Dashboard" in your Confluence sidebar
    • Look for "Document Review Settings" in your Confluence sidebar
    • If you don't see these, contact your Confluence admin
  2. Configure Global Settings (Administrators only)
    • Navigate to Document Review Settings
    • Review default settings
    • Click Save Settings if you make changes
  3. Add Your First Review Schedule
    • Open any Confluence page you own
    • Follow the steps in Adding Review Tracking

For Document Owners

Adding Review Tracking to a Page

Step 1: Insert the Macro

  1. Open the Confluence page you want to track
  2. Click Edit in the top-right corner
  3. Click in the page where you want the review status to appear
  4. Type / to open the macro browser
  5. Search for "Doc Review Manager"
  6. Click the macro to insert it
  7. Click Publish to save the page

Step 2: Set Up the Review Schedule

After publishing, you'll see the macro display with a setup prompt:

  1. Click "Set up Review Schedule"
  2. The macro will configure with default settings:
    • Review interval: 90 days (customizable in settings)
    • Owner: Your Confluence user
    • Reminders: Enabled
  3. The macro now shows current status, next review date, and days until review

Understanding the Macro Display

Once set up, the macro shows several key pieces of information:

  • Review Schedule (e.g., "Every 90 days")
  • Next Review Due date with countdown
  • Review Owner
  • Review History
  • Action buttons: Confirm Review Complete, Edit Schedule

Status Badges:

  • Current (Green) - Review not due for more than 14 days
  • Review Soon (Yellow) - Review due within 14 days
  • Overdue (Red) - Review date has passed

Confirming a Review

When you've reviewed the page content and confirmed it's accurate:

  1. Scroll to the Doc Review Manager macro
  2. Click "Confirm Review Complete"
  3. The macro automatically:
    • Records your confirmation with timestamp
    • Adds entry to review history
    • Calculates the next review date
    • Updates the status badge
    • Captures the current page version number

Editing a Review Schedule

You can change the review interval at any time:

  1. Click "Edit Schedule" in the macro
  2. A form appears with:
    • Interval (number) - How many units between reviews
    • Unit (dropdown) - Days, Months, or Years
  3. Examples:
    • Every 30 days: Interval = 30, Unit = Days
    • Every 6 months: Interval = 6, Unit = Months
    • Every 1 year: Interval = 1, Unit = Years
  4. Click "Save"
  5. The next review date recalculates immediately from today's date

Responding to Reminder Comments

When a review is approaching, the app creates a comment on your page. What to do:

  1. Read the comment notification (you'll receive Confluence notifications)
  2. Review the page content thoroughly
  3. Update any outdated information
  4. Confirm the review using the macro
  5. The reminder system will automatically stop sending reminders for this cycle

For Administrators

Accessing the Admin Dashboard

  1. Click Document Review Dashboard in the Confluence sidebar
  2. The dashboard loads with:
    • Summary statistics (4 cards at top)
    • Filters and search
    • Table of all tracked documents

Understanding Dashboard Statistics

Four Key Metrics:

  • Total Documents: All pages with review tracking enabled
  • Overdue: Reviews past due date (immediate attention needed)
  • Review Soon: Reviews due within 14 days
  • Current: Reviews not due yet (more than 14 days away)

Using Filters and Search

Status Filter (Dropdown):

  • All Documents - Show everything
  • Current - Only pages not needing review yet
  • Review Soon (≤14 days) - Pages approaching due date
  • Overdue - Past due pages only

Search Box:

  • Type page title or keywords
  • Searches as you type (real-time)
  • Case-insensitive
  • Searches page titles only (not content)

Understanding the Documents Table

Column Description
Page Title Clickable link to page
Space Confluence space name
Owner Review owner (clickable)
Status Current review status
Next Review Due date with countdown
Frequency Review interval
Last Reviewed Most recent review date

Configuring Global Settings

Navigate to Document Review Settings to customize:

1. Enable/Disable Reminders

  • ON (Green): "Reminders are enabled"
  • OFF (Gray): "Reminders are disabled"

2. Reminder Thresholds

Three input fields (days before review):

  • First threshold (14): Early warning reminder
  • Second threshold (7): Final reminder
  • Third threshold (0): On/after due date

3. Default Review Interval

Controls the default when users set up new reviews.

Recommended Defaults:

  • Policies: 365 days (annual review)
  • Procedures: 180 days (semi-annual)
  • Runbooks: 90 days (quarterly)
  • Dynamic content: 30 days (monthly)

4. Scheduled Job Statistics

  • Last Run: Timestamp of most recent job execution
  • Pages Processed: How many pages were scanned
  • Reminders Sent: Number of comments created
  • Errors: Failed operations count

Monitoring Compliance

Weekly Oversight Workflow:

  1. Monday Morning Check: Open Dashboard, check "Overdue" count, filter to show only overdue items
  2. Contact Owners: Note who owns overdue reviews, send friendly reminders
  3. Review Trends: Are the same pages always overdue? Do intervals need adjustment?
  4. Monthly Reporting: Track compliance percentage over time

Compliance Metrics:

Compliance Rate = (Current + Review Soon) / Total Documents

Example: (31 + 8) / 42 = 92.9% compliance

Understanding Review Status

Status Lifecycle

Set Up Review

↓

[Current] ← Review confirmed

↓ (time passes)

[Review Soon] ← 14 days before due

↓ (more time passes)

[Overdue] ← Due date passes

↓ (owner confirms review)

[Current] ← Cycle repeats

Status Calculation Logic

  • If days until review < 0: Overdue
  • If days until review ≤ 14: Review Soon
  • Otherwise: Current

Edge Cases:

  • Exactly 14 days: "Review Soon"
  • Due today (0 days): "Overdue"
  • Disabled review: Shows as "Disabled"

Version Tracking

When a page is modified after the last review:

  1. User edits page content and publishes
  2. Confluence increments page version number
  3. Macro detects version mismatch
  4. Yellow warning appears: "Page modified since last review"

Best Practices

For Document Owners

1. Choose Appropriate Intervals

Content Type Suggested Interval Rationale
Security policies 180-365 days Slow-changing, compliance-driven
API documentation 30-90 days Fast-changing with releases
Onboarding guides 90-180 days Moderate changes
Meeting templates 365+ days Rarely needs updates
Incident runbooks 30-90 days Must stay current

2. Review Promptly

  • Respond to first reminder (14 days out)
  • Don't wait until overdue
  • Batch reviews if you own many documents
  • Calendar blocking for review time

3. Make Meaningful Reviews

  • Actually read the content
  • Check links aren't broken
  • Verify procedures still work
  • Update statistics or dates
  • Remove deprecated information

For Administrators

1. Set Realistic Defaults

  • Survey teams about review capacity
  • Start conservative (longer intervals)
  • Adjust based on compliance rate data
  • Balance thoroughness vs burden

2. Monitor and Adjust

  • Weekly dashboard checks
  • Identify struggling teams
  • Provide training if needed
  • Adjust thresholds if too aggressive

3. Communicate Expectations

  • Announce the tool rollout
  • Explain why reviews matter
  • Share compliance metrics
  • Celebrate good compliance rates

For Teams

1. Establish Standards

  • Define review interval standards by doc type
  • Create review checklists
  • Document what "review" means
  • Share best practices

2. Integrate with Workflows

  • Add macro during page creation
  • Include in templates
  • Part of quarterly planning
  • Linked to compliance audits

Advanced Features

Page Version Awareness

How It Works:

  1. When you confirm a review, the app captures the current page version number
  2. Stores it in the review metadata
  3. On subsequent page loads, compares current version to last reviewed version
  4. If different, displays warning banner

Use Cases:

  • Collaborative docs: Someone else edited, you should re-review
  • Compliance: Ensure reviews reflect current content
  • Audit trail: Know exactly which version was reviewed

Review History Audit Trail

Data Stored:

  • Reviewer account ID and display name
  • Review timestamp (ISO 8601 format)
  • Page version number at time of review

Retention:

  • Last 10 reviews stored per page
  • Older reviews automatically pruned

Compliance Benefits:

  • Prove regular review occurred
  • Identify who reviewed
  • Show content state at review time
  • Meet audit requirements

Smart Reminder Logic

Prevents Duplicate Reminders:

  1. 24-Hour Cooldown: Won't send same reminder type twice in 24 hours
  2. Escalation-Only: Won't downgrade from "overdue" to "warning"
  3. Single Notification Per Day: Maximum one comment per page per day

Scheduled Job Details

Execution:

  • Runs once per day
  • Default time: 00:00 UTC
  • Takes 1-5 minutes depending on page count

What It Does:

  1. Fetches all Confluence pages (paginated)
  2. Filters pages with review metadata
  3. Calculates review status for each
  4. Determines if reminders needed
  5. Creates comment notifications
  6. Updates reminder history
  7. Logs statistics

Getting More Help

Documentation:

Support:

Last updated: November 2, 2025

Doc Review Manager: v7.10.0