If you're new to Snapshots, work through the four pages here in order. Each takes a few minutes and builds on the previous one — together they take you from a clean Confluence Cloud site to a working first snapshot.
1. Install Snapshots and Access Agent
Installing Snapshots and Access Agent.
Snapshots needs two apps installed by an Atlassian site administrator: the main app on Confluence, and a free companion called Access Agent on Jira. When Confluence and Jira are on the same Atlassian site, the connection between them establishes automatically. When they're on different sites, a few extra configuration steps are needed.
Allow about 5 minutes.
2. Take your first snapshot
Two equivalent paths exist for creating your first snapshot. Pick the one that fits your starting point, both produce the same result.
Taking your first snapshot from Jira. Start in Jira: build a search that returns the issues you want, click Take Jira snapshot in the Apps menu, and Snapshots auto-creates a Confluence page populated with the data. The fastest path to seeing a snapshot in action.
Taking your first snapshot from Confluence. Start in Confluence: create a page, add the Snapshots macro, configure it with a JQL search and the fields you want to display, then take the snapshot. The standard authoring flow when you want to write content around the snapshot.
Allow about 5–10 minutes.
3. Understand how snapshots work
A short concept page that explains the principles behind everything else in this manual: snapshots are static, page versions track each refresh, data lives as a JSON attachment on the Confluence page, and anyone with page-view access can see the data — no Jira license required.
Reading this page now will make every subsequent page in the manual easier to follow.
What's next after getting started
When you're comfortable with the basics, the User guide covers:
-
Building richer snapshots with multi-level hierarchies, grouping, placeholders, and layout options.
-
Reading and exporting snapshots — filter and sort on the page, export to Excel, mark significant versions with stickers, compare two snapshots.
-
Automating refreshes via REST endpoints, Jira Automation, or your CI/CD pipeline.
Administrators should also visit the Admin guide to set the Jira connection, configure site-wide defaults, and review permissions and security.