Customize document sections

You can fine-tune your template's appearance using the visual editor on the Document Sections tab.

Edit the page layout

Page layouts consist of three main elements – header, content, and footer. These comprise one or several content boxes where you can add static content (text and images) in addition to placeholders.

The Content document section contains an extra element that visualizes where your Confluence content will be exported.

Using the tab on the left hand side, you can change the section name and via the section menu ••• you can:

• Delete a section
• Rename a section
• Copy a section
• Use a different first page
• Use different even and odd pages
• Use different landscape pages

Using the header, body and footer section menus to the right of the page editor, you can edit the elements' size and layout, and add a border. 

Additionally, by clicking and dragging the onscreen sliders, you can manually adjust the size of the content boxes depending on your requirements – a percentage indicator will display the current size of the content boxes as you change the size. 

Create a custom background

You can apply a custom background to the current section by clicking the Background field within the Page settings in the top-right corner of the screen.

You can apply a full-page single-color background, use an image as a background, or use a combination of both (an image on a full-color background).

Set a single-color background 

To give the section a full-page single-color background, either click on the color panel or define a color code in the color field where it states #ffffff.

You can define the background color using either the RGBa, HEX, or HSLa color models – switch between them using the arrows at the bottom-right of the menu.

Use an image as a background

To use an image as a background, click the Select image button:

Once you have selected and uploaded a background image, you can adjust its size, position, and margin.

Add static content

You can add static content (text and images) to any content box in your template, by simply clicking in the editable content field. Adding images is easy – click the insert image icon in the toolbar and upload by drag and drop.

If you want to add text with a custom typeface, you first have to create a custom text style in the Styles tab, and then apply that style to the text.

Add placeholders

Besides static content, you can also add placeholders. Placeholders reference metadata, and insert this metadata into content boxes. To add placeholder, click the icon in the toolbar and choose your placeholder from the available list. Alternatively, you also add placeholders via the / or { keyboard shortcuts.

If you are an app developer and want to create your own placeholder for our Scroll PDF Exporter, please have a look at our Create custom template placeholders documentation page.

Default placeholders

The following placeholders are available to all PDF exporter users:

Name	Description	Settings
Table of contents	Displays a table of contents for the document.	Control the depth of the TOC and define how many heading levels should be displayed. This number is shown on the placeholder.
Table of Tables	Displays a table of tables for the document	Define the Alternate text and style to be rendered if the exported content contains no tables
Table of Figures	Displays a table of figures for the document	Define the Alternate text and style to be rendered if the exported content contains no figures
Index	Displays an index with the index terms you defined for this export.
Document Title	Displays the document title.
Document URL	Displays the document's Confluence URL.	Select between the full URL or a tiny URL, and display the link as the plain URL text, the page name, or custom text.
Current page number	Displays the number of the current page in this document.	Choose the page numbering format - numbers, letters or roman numerals
Document Page Count	Displays the total number of pages in this document.	Choose the page numbering format - numbers, letters or roman numerals This placeholder is not compatible when using the segmentation mode on Confluence Server/Data Center.
Document Last Modifier Username	Displays the username of the last modifier of the exported root page.
Document Last Modifier Full Name	Displays the full name of the last modifier of the exported root page.
Document Last Modification Date	Displays the last modification date of the exported root page.
Document Page ID	Displays the ID of the exported root page.
Page ID	Displays the ID of the current page	Only available in Content section for templates.
Chapter Heading	Displays the current chapter's heading (Heading 1).
Section Heading	Displays the current section's heading (Heading 2).
Export Date	Displays the date when the export was created.	Enter a custom string using the supported date formats
Export User Username	Displays the username of the user who performed the export.
Export User Full Name	Displays the full name of the user who performed the export.
Space Name	Displays the name of the Confluence space that the content belongs to.
Space Description	Displays the description of the space that contains the exported pages.
Space Key	Displays the Confluence space key for the exported pages.
Document Creator Username	Displays the username of the creator of the exported root page.
Document Creator Full Name	Displays the full name of the creator of the exported root page.
Creator Username	Displays the username of the creator of the current page.	Only available in Content section for templates.
Creator Full Name	Displays the full name of the creator of the current page.	Only available in Content section for templates.
Last Modifier Username	Displays the username of the last modifier of the current page.	Only available in Content section for templates.
Last Modifier Full Name	Displays the full name of the last modifier of the current page.	Only available in Content section for templates.
Page Revision	Displays the revision of the current page.	Only available in Content section for templates.
Document Revision	Displays the revision of the exported root page.
Include page	Insert the content of a certain page.	Specify the space key of the included page Specify page title Add a heading offset number, which is added to the rank of the heading on that page (e.g. if offset = 2, a heading 1 becomes a heading 3.)
Page Property	Displays the specified page property on the root page.	Enable the Space Home Fallback option to use a page property on space home page if it is not defined on export root page Within the Alternate text field you can enter specific text to show if the page property does not exist on the export root page or space home page
Creation date	Displays the creation date of the current page.	Enter a custom string using the supported date formats. Only available in Content section for templates.
Document Creation Date	Displays the creation date of the exported root page.
Last Modification Date	The last modification date of the current page.	Enter a custom string using the supported date formats. Only available in Content section for templates.
Space logo	The logo of the exported space (or a fallback logo if none is defined).	Define the size Select a fallback logo for if no space logo is defined Choose if you want the logo to be rounded or square
Metadata	The specified Metadata value on the root page.	Enable the Space Home Fallback option to use a page property on space home page if it is not defined on export root page Within the Alternate text field you can enter specific text to show if the page property does not exist on the export root page or space home page
Content Property	The specified content property on the root page. You cannot set content properties manually by yourself – they are only set by third party add-ons.
JSON Content Property	The specified JSON content property on the root page.	The path of the content needs to be defined with a forward slash e.g. /name

Scroll Versions placeholders 

If you are using Scroll Versions, you can use the following placeholders in your template:

Scroll Translations placeholders 

If you are using Scroll Translations, you can use the following placeholders in your template:

Comala Workflows placeholders

If you have integrated Comala Workflows with Scroll PDF Exporter, you can use the following placeholders in your template:

Communardo Metadata placeholder

If you have installed Communardo Metadata for Confluence, you can use the following placeholder in your template:

Enable different first page for content section

If you need your exported content to start on a page that has a different layout to the rest of the document, you can add a first page to your template. 

To do this, simply remove the Title and TOC sections by clicking on the respective section menu ••• icon and choosing delete. Following this, in the Content section, click on the section menu ••• and check Use different first page. You can then navigate to the First Page tab to customize the layout for the first page of your export. In the All other pages tab you can customize the layout for the subsequent pages of your export:

Define different page numbering

You can choose to set different page numbering styles in your PDF export by selecting the option Restart page numbering option on the chosen page in the Document Sections. This option can be found in the Page Settings for the specific section:

When enabled, it means the page numbering will be reset from the chosen page. You can then add the related page numbering placeholders to define the number format that appears in the PDF export (e.g. roman numerals, numerical, or alphabetical). 

Please note, due to technical limitations, restarting the page numbering does not affect the Document page count placeholder. This means the Document page count placeholder will always output the total number of pages in the document.

For instance, for a PDF export that contains 10 pages, if the page numbering was restarted on the second page in the template, the output for the numbering on the last page of the document would be as follows:

• Current page number placeholder output: 9
• Document page count placeholder output: 10

Customize the look of rotated pages

When using the Scroll Portrait, Scroll Landscape or Scroll Table Layout macros you can set the opposite page orientation for a specific page. Within the template editor it is possible to customize the alternate page orientation. You can define the look of these rotated pages by clicking on the cog icon and selecting Use different landscape pages or Use different portrait pages (depending on your template setting):

Add a Table of Tables and a Table of Figures 

If you require your PDF export to include a Table of Tables and/or Table of Figures, you can add this content using the respective Table of Tables and Table of Figures placeholders.

You can add these placeholders to your template by selecting the content box on the page in your template where you wish to include the placeholder(s) and then click the  icon in the toolbar and choose the placeholder from the available list. The specific Table of Tables and/or Table of Figures will be automatically generated in the export when you use the Scroll Title macro to caption your Confluence content. You can style how the Table of Tables and the Table of Figures are exported within Styles section of the template editor.  For further information, see our Style text documentation.