Macro Body: None vs Plain Text & Rich Text

Understanding Macro Body Types

A macro body is the content that users can edit within a macro. Depending on the configurations, a Confluence macro body can contain plain text, rich text, or even other Confluence elements.

Currently Supported Body Types

User Macro for Confluence Cloud currently supports single-bodied macros with the following body types:

Body Type	Description
RICH-TEXT	Allows users to add formatted content, including other Confluence elements.
PLAIN-TEXT	Accepts only plain text without formatting.
NONE	The macro does not have a body.

Users can select body type in the Settings tab when creating a user macro:

Body Type Limitations in Dynamic and Static Macros

Dynamic macros can have NONE and PLAIN-TEXT as the body type.
Static macros can use NONE, PLAIN-TEXT, and RICH-TEXT.
{"timestamp":1792799573669,"msg":"A unknown Exception Occurred","errorMsg":"The provided AtlassianHostUser did not specify a user to act as.","code":"500"}

To render a macro body in a Confluence page, the macro template should include the $body reference. The $body helper becomes available when any body type other than NONE is selected in Settings.

Comparison: NONE vs PLAIN-TEXT & RICH-TEXT

The table below outlines the key differences between macros with NONE and RICH-TEXT body types:

Feature	NONE	PLAIN-TEXT	RICH-TEXT
Text content	❌	✅	✅
Basic Confluence media: images, videos, files, and emojis	❌	❌	✅
Confluence built-in macros: Table, Mention, Date, Create Jira Issue, and all others except those listed below ⤵	❌	❌	✅
Confluence built-in macros: Code Snippet, Panels (Info, Note, Warning, etc.), Layouts, Jira Issues, Assets, Insert Confluence List, Two Dimensional Filter Statistics, JSM Incident Timeline, Average Age Chart, Version Report, Sprint-related macros, Heat Map, Voted Issues, Excerpt, Watched Issues, Page Information Macro, Smart Button, Create Confluence Page, Dropbox, Create Roadmap, Flowchart, Brainstorming, etc., Embed Database, Create Database, Resolution Time, Recently Created Chart	❌	❌	❌
Other macros created via User Macro for Confluence Cloud app	❌	❌	✅
Works in page exports	✅	✅	✅