Paste a ChatGPT or Claude answer into Confluence

Two kinds of copy: Markdown or formatted text

AI chat apps write their answers in Markdown and show them formatted. When you copy an answer, your clipboard holds one of two things, depending on the app and on how you copy:

Markdown text: the answer with its #, **, | and ``` characters.
Formatted text (rich text): what you get when you select the answer on the screen with your mouse and copy it, like copying from any web page.

Confluence treats the two differently, so it helps to know which one you have. A quick check: paste into a plain text editor such as Notepad, or TextEdit in plain text mode. If you see # and **, you copied Markdown.

Copy as Markdown: usually the best result

When the clipboard holds Markdown, Confluence Cloud converts it while pasting. In our test on 1 November 2026, these came through as real Confluence formatting:

Headings, bold, italic, strikethrough, inline code and links
Bullet and numbered lists, including nested items
Task lists: - [ ] and - [x] became Confluence tasks, open and done
Tables, with the first row as header row
Code blocks: a block marked ```python kept its language, so the code was shown in colour
Quotes and dividers

Use the app's copy button or a "copy as Markdown" option if it has one, and check what you got with the plain text editor test above.

Copy as formatted text: what changes

When we pasted formatted text with the same kinds of elements, Confluence kept the headings, bold, inline code, lists and the table. Two things were lost:

Checkboxes became plain bullets. The task list arrived as a normal bullet list.
Code blocks lost their language, so the code was shown without colours. You can set the language again in the code block's menu.

The formatted text that each chat app puts on the clipboard is a bit different, so your result can differ in details. If tasks or code matter, copy as Markdown.

What breaks either way

In the answer	In Confluence
A Mermaid diagram (```mermaid)	A plain code block with the Mermaid code; no diagram
Math such as `$$E = mc^2$$`	Plain text, dollar signs included
Footnotes (`[^1]`)	Plain text
HTML tags in the Markdown	Plain text, tags and all
Column alignment in a table (`:--`, `--:`)	Dropped; all columns left-aligned
The whole answer wrapped in ```markdown	One big code block

And one thing to know before you paste: Confluence does not keep the Markdown. The pasted answer becomes ordinary Confluence content. That is fine for a page people will edit as a normal page, but you cannot open it later and edit the Markdown. More on that in Markdown in Confluence Cloud: what works and what doesn't.

Step by step

Copy the answer as Markdown (check it with a plain text editor if you are not sure).
If the answer starts with ```markdown and ends with ```, remove those two lines.
Put the cursor on an empty line in the Confluence page and paste.
Check the result. If you wanted the raw Markdown instead, use the menu that appears after pasting: Paste as, then Plain text.
Look over code blocks (language set?), tasks and tables, and replace any Mermaid code block with a real diagram (see below).

Tips for the prompt

A few words in your prompt save cleanup later:

"Reply in Markdown. Do not wrap the whole answer in a code block." This avoids the one-big-code-block problem.
"Write tasks as a Markdown task list with - [ ]." These become Confluence tasks when pasted as Markdown.
"Put the language name after the opening backticks of each code block." Then Confluence can show the code in colour.
"No HTML." HTML ends up on the page as text.
Keep table cells short. Long text in a cell makes a wide table that is hard to read on a Confluence page.

Mermaid diagrams from an AI answer

AI assistants are good at writing Mermaid code for flowcharts, sequence diagrams and timelines. Confluence shows that code as text. To see the diagram, export it as an image, or use a Marketplace app that draws Mermaid on the page. How to add Mermaid diagrams to Confluence Cloud walks through the options, with an example prompt.

When the Markdown should stay editable

If people will keep updating the answer, for example a runbook or a checklist that started in an AI chat, consider a Markdown macro app from the Atlassian Marketplace. Several exist. The Markdown stays in the macro on the page, so the next person can edit it as Markdown instead of rich text. Points worth comparing: a preview while you type, support for task lists and Mermaid, and whether your text is rendered in the browser or sent to a server outside Atlassian.

FAQ

Why did my whole answer become one code block?

The answer was probably wrapped in a fence: ```markdown at the top and ``` at the bottom. Confluence then makes one code block of everything. Copy only the lines between the fences, or ask the assistant not to wrap the answer in a code block.

Why did my checkboxes turn into bullets?

In our test, task lists only became Confluence tasks when the clipboard held Markdown (- [ ] and - [x]). Formatted text with checkboxes came in as a normal bullet list. Copy the answer as Markdown, or convert the bullets to tasks by hand.

Can Confluence show a Mermaid diagram from an AI answer?

Not on its own. A Mermaid code block arrives as a plain code block with the code as text. To see the diagram you need an image of it or a Marketplace app that draws Mermaid: see Mermaid diagrams in Confluence Cloud.

How do I undo the conversion and keep the raw text?

In our test, a small menu appeared right after pasting Markdown. Under Paste as, choose Plain text: the text is pasted again as typed, with the # and * characters.

Questions

Spotted something wrong on this page, or did your paste behave differently? Email support@dortus.com.

Disclosure: Dortus makes Markdown Live Editor for Confluence, one of those Markdown macros. You paste the answer as it is, see it formatted as you type, and Mermaid code blocks are drawn as diagrams. It is not on the Atlassian Marketplace yet. About Markdown Live Editor for Confluence.

How to paste a ChatGPT or Claude answer into Confluence without losing the formatting