Atlassian Confluence 2.9 Brings a Lotta Luvin' to Business Users

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Atlassian, makers of Confluence, the world's most widely used enterprise wiki, announced expanded integration with Microsoft Office and SharePoint that introduces Confluence to the masses. The latest release includes a host of goodies for business users looking to flex their productivity muscles and improve collaboration.

Collaboration on steroids

Most wikis let users edit pages with a graphical text editor (known as WYSIWYG) or in a technical language called wiki markup. A few wikis, including Confluence, also have a rich-text WYSIWYG editor for non-technical users.

Confluence 2.9 includes a new alternative that makes editing a wiki page much simpler for everyone. Confluence users can now edit wiki pages directly from Microsoft Excel, Word or PowerPoint, via an exclusive new plugin called Office Connector (http://www.atlassian.com/office), free to all existing Confluence customers. Office Connector, originally created by Benryan Software, was acquired by Atlassian in June.

"Office Connector really ramped up our adoption of the wiki across the company," said Steve Dantzer, Web Services Manager at Sybase. "Those not familiar with wiki editing now have a much simpler way to publish and edit the wiki through Microsoft Office."

To view a short video on the Office Connector and how easily it integrates with Confluence visit: http://www.atlassian.com/office/?s_kwcid=conf29.

Additionally, Confluence 2.9 has several new and polished macros and improved search. "The new search capabilities are a major bonus to users. All around, search is easier, faster and more intuitive," notes Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes. "We've also made improvements to some of our most popular macros: Galleries and Charts. In addition there’s a new Pagetree macro, designed to make documentation management much easier."

Content Creates Communities

Atlassian is also announcing today the official release of the SharePoint Connector for Confluence (http://www.atlassian.com/sharepoint). This extension, on sale starting today, helps users share, discover, and edit files across both Confluence Spaces and SharePoint TeamSites.

Business users who are proficient with the ubiquitous Microsoft Office applications are able to create and edit documents in whichever application they prefer. And technical users who require a more sophisticated wiki collaboration system can deploy and use that wiki directly within SharePoint TeamSites.

"This represents not only the best integration with Microsoft Office of any enterprise wiki application, but also a very smooth experience across both Microsoft and Atlassian products," said Mike Cannon-Brookes, Atlassian co-founder and CEO. "SharePoint and Confluence customers: start your engines!"

Both the SharePoint and Office Connectors highlight Confluence's rich plugin ecosystem. With over 300 free and commercial plugins, Confluence is one of the most expandable platforms for collaboration.

For more information on Confluence 2.9, Atlassian will be holding a webinar on August 19th. Attendance is completely free. For a free 30-day evaluation of Confluence or to sign up for the webinar please visit: http://www.atlassian.com/office/?s_kwcid=conf29.

About Atlassian

Atlassian develops affordable, lightweight software that helps enterprises collaborate better. Its products include Confluence, widely recognized as the most advanced enterprise wiki, and JIRA, one of the world's most popular issue trackers for IT project management. The company has more than 12,000 customers worldwide, including 30 of the world's top 50 corporations. For more information, visit: www.atlassian.com/.