Excalidraw for Confluence Cloud
Excalidraw, Mermaid, PlantUML - Whiteboard for Confluence lets teams create and maintain seven kinds of diagrams directly on a Confluence Cloud page. Use a visual canvas for free-form work, or keep a diagram as text when source review and repeatable structure matter.
How the app fits into Confluence
Section titled “How the app fits into Confluence”Every diagram is a Confluence macro:
- Edit a page and insert the macro that matches your task.
- Create or update the diagram in its editor.
- Save the diagram to the page draft.
- Publish or update the Confluence page so readers can see the result.
Saving the diagram and publishing the page are separate steps. This workflow is shared across the seven macros, although DrawIO labels its editor action Save & Exit.
Choose an editing style
Section titled “Choose an editing style”| Editing style | Macros | Good fit |
|---|---|---|
| Visual canvas | Excalidraw Diagram, Mind Map, BPMN Diagram, DrawIO Diagram (Powered by draw.io) | Sketching, brainstorming, process modeling, and diagrams built from shapes |
| Text-defined | Mermaid UML Diagram, Graphviz Diagram, PlantUML Diagram | Diagrams whose structure should be readable and editable as source |
See Choose the right diagram macro for a comparison of all seven options.
Start with the current Cloud app
Section titled “Start with the current Cloud app”Cloud version 3.0.0 is the published Forge release.
- Follow Create your first Excalidraw drawing for the shortest path to a published result.
- Use Create and edit canvas diagrams for Excalidraw, Mind Map, BPMN, and DrawIO.
- Use Create diagrams from text for Mermaid, Graphviz, and PlantUML.
- Use Mermaid editor tools for configuration, preview control, export, sharing, and Local history.
- Follow Upgrade existing diagrams from Connect before the first Forge save of existing content.
- Use Troubleshooting when an editor, save, or preview does not behave as expected.
Upgrading an existing site
Section titled “Upgrading an existing site”Sites still using Connect can follow the legacy Connect guide. The Forge editor opens directly from the macro and has a different save flow. Administrators may need to approve additional permissions during the upgrade. Do not uninstall the app or recreate existing macros as an upgrade step; follow Upgrade existing diagrams from Connect to review your content before its first Forge save.
Install or evaluate the app from its Atlassian Marketplace listing.
If you use Confluence Data Center, see the Data Center guide.