Confluence Mentions and Notifications
Mentions and notifications are how Confluence keeps your team informed without burying everyone in irrelevant alerts. This topic explains how to call someone's attention directly and how to control the notifications you receive.
What a Mention Does
A mention tags a specific teammate on a page or in a comment. The person receives an immediate notification with a link to the exact place they were mentioned. Mentions work inside page content and inside comments.
Mention in Action
PAGE CONTENT: "The budget review needs approval before Thursday. @Priya Sharma — can you confirm by Wednesday EOD?" WHAT HAPPENS: ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 🔔 Confluence notification to Priya: │ │ │ │ Raj Mehta mentioned you on: │ │ "Q3 Budget Review" │ │ "...can you confirm by Wednesday EOD?" │ │ [View Page] │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
How to Mention Someone
Type @ followed by the person's name anywhere in a page or comment. Confluence shows a dropdown of matching teammates. Click the correct name to insert the mention.
Mention Steps
STEP 1 → Type @ in the editor or comment box STEP 2 → Start typing the person's name STEP 3 → Select them from the dropdown list STEP 4 → Publish or save the comment RESULT → They receive a notification immediately
You can mention anyone who has access to the space. Mentioning someone without space access does not notify them — they first need to be added to the space.
Mentioning a Whole Team
Confluence supports group mentions if your admin has set up user groups. Type @ followed by the group name (e.g., @Engineering Team) to notify everyone in that group at once. Use group mentions carefully — over-notifying a whole team trains people to ignore Confluence alerts.
Individual vs Group Mention
MENTION TYPE USE WHEN AVOID WHEN ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── @person One person needs to act — @group All team members need to know Minor updates
Watching a Page or Space
Watching sends you a notification every time a watched page or space is updated. You do not need to be mentioned — any change triggers a notification.
How to Watch
WATCH A PAGE: → Open the page → Click the eye icon (👁) in the top-right toolbar → Select "Watch this page" WATCH A SPACE: → Open any page in the space → Click … (more actions) → Select "Watch this space"
What Triggers a Notification When You Watch
EVENT NOTIFIED? ────────────────────────────────────────── Page content updated ✓ Yes New comment posted ✓ Yes Comment resolved ✓ Yes New child page created ✓ Yes (space watch) Page title changed ✓ Yes Page deleted ✓ Yes
Notification Settings — Staying in Control
Confluence sends email notifications by default. Too many emails train people to ignore all of them. Control your notification settings from the start.
Finding Notification Settings
STEP 1 → Click your profile picture (top-right) STEP 2 → Select "Settings" STEP 3 → Click "Email" in the left sidebar STEP 4 → Adjust each notification type
Notification Types You Can Control
NOTIFICATION RECOMMENDATION ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Mentions (@you) Keep ON — always relevant Watched page updates Set to daily digest for busy spaces Comments on your pages Keep ON — quick to action Space updates Set to weekly or turn off Blog posts Turn off unless you read them
The Notification Bell
The bell icon (🔔) in the top-right corner of Confluence shows all your recent notifications in-app. Click it to see what changed across your pages and spaces without checking your email. The number badge on the bell shows how many unread notifications you have.
Notification Bell Summary
🔔 3 ← 3 unread notifications │ ├── @Priya mentioned you on "Q3 Budget" · 5 min ago ├── Raj updated "Team Handbook" · 1 hour ago └── Sam commented on "Leave Policy" · 2 hours ago
Best Practices for Mentions
Mention Etiquette
DO DON'T ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Mention when you need a specific Mention someone just to inform them person to take action (use watching instead) Tag one person per action item Mention 5 people for one decision Explain why you are mentioning them Write only "@Priya" with no context Resolve comments after action taken Leave old mentions open for weeks
Every mention creates work for the person tagged. A clear, purposeful mention respects your teammate's time and keeps Confluence notifications meaningful for the whole team.