Page Comparison

This article walks you through the following topics:

Introduction

The MultiExcerpt app performs similarly to the excerpt macro while also allowing for multiple excerpts from multiple spaces. 

The MultiExcerpt function is a two-step process involving two macros, both of which come with purchasing the MultiExcerpt app from the Marketplace:

1. Create the MultiExcerpt key containing the content you want to leverage by reusing/displaying it in other locations. To know more on how to create MultiExcerpt content, click here.
   The following are the available MultiExcerpt macros:

   1. MultiExcerpt Macro

   2. MultiExcerpt (Advanced)

   3. MultiExcerpt (Advanced Inline)

2. Inserting the MultiExcerpt Include to reuse/display the excerpted content. To know more on how to reuse MultiExcerpt content, click here.
   The following are the available MultiExcerpt Include macros:

   1. MultiExcerpt Include

   2. MultiExcerpt Include (Advanced)

   3. MultiExcerpt Include (Advanced Inline)

Difference between MultiExcerpt and MultiExcerpt Advanced

Summary:

• for legacy pages, you should prefer the "Advanced" macros

• for new "fabric" pages you should prefer the regular macros (MultiExcerpt, MultiExcerpt Include) because there is no speed advantage in the Advanced macros on new pages and dynamic macros have limitations.

Explanation:

In a past Confluence version, Atlassian made changes to the rendering of pages which slowed down page loading for pages with several MultiExcerpts or MultiExcerpt Includes. MultiExcerpts are "static" macros and, for pages created with the old legacy page editor, page rendering was blocked until all "static" macros were ready. We resolved this issue by implementing the MultiExcerpt (Advanced) and MultiExcerpt Include (Advanced) macros within the MultiExcerpt app. The "Advanced" versions are based on dynamic Connect app technology that does not block page rendering for pages created with the old legacy page editor.

Fast forward to today and Atlassian has introduced a new page editor (a.k.a. the fabric page editor). Pages created with the new page editor do NOT block rendering for "static" macro processing.  It is not necessary to use the "Advanced" (dynamic) versions of the MultiExcerpt macro for new/fabric pages. It may be preferable to stick with the "static" MultiExcerpt and MultiExcerpt Include macros for new/fabric pages because the Advanced macros have some limitations due to the nature of dynamic macros (rendered in an iFrame).

As an added complexity: there are many behaviours of new/fabric pages that are undesirable and inconsistent with the behaviours of legacy pages. In some cases, you may be forced to use a legacy page to get a feature or behaviour that has not been implemented or does not work in the new/fabric pages. When you are forced to use a legacy page you should prefer the "Advanced" versions of the macros but beware that they come with some limitations:  for example, if you nest a Confluence Table macro inside of a MultiExcerpt then table sorting will not work in the "Advanced" version because the iframe containing the content does not have access to the CSS styling of the containing page and Confluence's Table macro depends on the CSS styling of the containing page.  In a case like that, you must choose the simpler, but not as performant, "static" macros.

For information on how to tell the difference between an old page and a new page, see Confluence Cloud documentation. 

• Which editor does your page use?

• How to get legacy pages enabled for your Cloud instance

• Change to your content is in your hands

• Learn about Confluence Cloud editing improvements

Difference between inline and block

The MultiExcerpt Advanced macros provide you with two different options inline and block. The following table provides the differences between inline and block macros:

Inline	Block
Inline allows the excerpt to be inserted in line with the content around it.	Block allows the insertion of content into separate blocks.
Edit mode View Mode After Saving Page	Edit mode View Mode After Saving Page

Limitations

Performance

There is a limit on the number of MultiExcerpt Includes that you can use on a single page with satisfactory rendering times. This is due to a combination of the capabilities of web browsers, Confluence, and the MultiExcerpt Include macro.

There are many variables to consider so there is no specific limit but if you are approaching 100 includes on a page you are probably pushing the limits of your web browser, Confluence, and the MultiExcerpt Include macro. If you are approaching 150 you are probably past the limit.

We are currently considering approaches to increase the performance of the MultiExcerpt macro to allow even more includes. However, if you are using large numbers of includes on a single page then you may want to reconsider your page design.