---
title: "Markdown from a URL macro"
canonical: "https://support.appfire.com/space/MARKDOWN/72384808/Markdown%20from%20a%20URL%20macro"
format: markdown
---
> Macro (aura-html)

> ❌ **Removal notice (applicable for Markdown from a URL macro):**
> ❌ 
> ❌ Please note that the URL user and URL user password parameters were removed in 3.8.2 (see [Deprecation notice: URL user and URL user password parameters](https://bobswift.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/info/pages/2537850172/Deprecation+notice%3A+URL+user+and+URL+user+password+parameters)). We recommend using [profiles](https://bobswift.atlassian.net/wiki/x/CwD6B#Configuration-Profiles)<span style="color: #000000"> </span>to access external data.

<span style="color: #000000">The </span>*<span style="color: #000000">Markdown from a URL </span>*<span style="color: #000000">macro renders Markdown content from URLs or from profiles. Profiles are a means of retrieving data </span><span style="color: #000000">from other external sources such as other applications or even databases.</span>

> ⚠️ - <span style="color: #000000">Markdown content containing links or images referring to a public location can be accessed and then rendered. </span><span style="color: #000000">Currently, any links or images that refer to a private repository, or a location that must be logged in to, </span><span style="color: #000000">cannot be accessed and thus, rendered</span><span style="color: #000000">.</span>
> ⚠️ - <span style="color: #000000">Due to the architecture of Confluence cloud, the cloud app macros cannot access any of the private repositories maintained on Enterprise servers. Pages that refer to such repositories or locations after migration will show errors as the content cannot be accessed.</span>

> ℹ️ **Points to remember!**
> ℹ️ 
> ℹ️ - <span style="color: #000000">Only raw URLs must be given in either, the</span><span style="color: #000000"> </span>*<span style="color: #000000">URL</span>*<span style="color: #000000"> </span><span style="color: #000000">field in profiles or the</span><span style="color: #000000"> </span><span style="color: #000000">*URL to markdown file*</span><span style="color: #000000"> </span><span style="color: #000000">field, in the macros. </span><span style="color: #000000">A raw URL is defined as the part of the URL following the domain information and includes the query string, if present. </span><span style="color: #000000">For example, in the URL string </span>*<span style="color: #000000">http://www.contoso.com/articles/recent.aspx</span>*<span style="color: #000000">, the raw URL is </span>*<span style="color: #000000">/articles/recent.aspx</span>*<span style="color: #000000">.</span>
> ℹ️ - <span style="color: #000000">It is recommended to specify absolute URLs to access files from public locations and to use profiles to access files from private sources. For example, a raw URL that can access a Markdown file in a public Bitbucket repository is valid. But to render a Markdown file located in a private repository, we recommend using a profile.</span>
> ℹ️ - <span style="color: #000000">Profiles are a means to access and retrieve contents from external applications such as Bitbucket, GitLab or GitHub. </span><span style="color: #000000">A profile already contains the base URL and the required credentials (user credentials or an access token) to access the relevant application.</span>
> ℹ️ - <span style="color: #000000">This method allows multiple users to access a profile across pages and instances of the macro.</span>

# <span style="color: #000000">Parameters</span>

| <span style="color: #000000">**Macro editor label**</span> | <span style="color: #000000">**Parameter**</span> | <span style="color: #000000">**Default**</span> | <span style="color: #000000">**Description**</span> |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| <span style="color: #000000">Profile</span> | <span style="color: #000000">profile</span> |  | <span style="color: #000000">Specify a profile to be used with the macro. Administrators set up profiles to connect to other applications such as GitHub or GitLab. </span><span style="color: #000000">Profiles contain a basic set of parameters used to access a remote location such as the type of URL, user credentials, and so on. </span><span style="color: #000000">Some profiles may be restricted. Since 2.0. </span><br>> ⚠️ - <span style="color: #000000">Contact your administrator to know more about the profiles used in your instance.</span>
> ⚠️ - <span style="color: #000000">If a profile is specified, it is recommended to provide the relative path to the location of the Markdown file to be rendered.</span> |
| <span style="color: #000000">URL to Markdown file</span> | <span style="color: #000000">url</span> |  | <span style="color: #000000">Enter the relative path to the Markdown file to be displayed. </span><span style="color: #000000">If a valid path is entered here, the macro accesses the given location and processes the Markdown content accordingly.</span><br><span style="color: #000000">A profile comprises a base URL and other credentials that are required to access a specific application. These details point to the actual location where the required Markdown file is available. The contents are then accessed and displayed through the macro.</span><br>> ℹ️ - <span style="color: #000000">For Markdown files available on apps linked to Confluence, entering the username and password parameters may not be necessary.</span>
> ℹ️   - <span style="color: #000000">If you are rendering the file in the Markdown macro for the first time, you are asked to authorize the app via </span>*<span style="color: #000000">Cl</span>**<span style="color: #000000">ick to authorize</span>*<span style="color: #000000"> link. For subsequent requests, the app works seamlessly.</span>
> ℹ️   - <span style="color: #000000">File permissions are applied based on the user profiles and respective levels of access in the linked app.</span>
> ℹ️ 
> ℹ️ <span style="color: #000000"> To know more about linking apps with Confluence, refer to</span> [Application links](https://confluence.atlassian.com/applinks/link-atlassian-applications-to-work-together-785449117.html)<span style="color: #000000">. Since 3.4</span><br>> ⚠️ - <span style="color: #000000">Specify only raw URLs referring to a Markdown file in a public location (that does not require to be logged in) here! </span><span style="color: #000000">A raw URL is defined as the part of the URL following the domain information and includes the query string, if present. </span><span style="color: #000000">For example, in the URL string </span>[*<span style="color: #000000">http://www.contoso.com/articles/recent.aspx</span>*](http://www.contoso.com/articles/recent.aspx)<span style="color: #000000">, the raw URL is </span>*<span style="color: #000000">/articles/recent.aspx</span>*<span style="color: #000000">.</span>
> ⚠️ - <span style="color: #000000">If an absolute URL is entered here, the macro reads content from the specified URL. If </span><span style="color: #000000">a profile is also </span><span style="color: #000000">specified, the macro ignores the given profile and processes the </span><span style="color: #000000">Markdown </span><span style="color: #000000">content through the given URL.</span>
> ⚠️ - <span style="color: #000000">URLs are processed using a fixed precedence explained as follows:</span>
> ⚠️   - <span style="color: #000000">If the given URL is linked to a specific application like Bitbucket, GitLab, or GitLab with application links, the macro does not require any user credentials, and processes and renders the given </span><span style="color: #000000">Markdown </span><span style="color: #000000">file.</span>
> ⚠️   - <span style="color: #000000">If</span><span style="color: #000000"> </span>*<span style="color: #000000">Profile</span>*<span style="color: #000000"> </span><span style="color: #000000">is specified, the macro appends the URL given here with the URL specified in the profile configuration, and accesses the location to render the required </span><span style="color: #000000">Markdown </span><span style="color: #000000">file.</span>
> ⚠️   - <span style="color: #000000">Lastly, if application link or </span><span style="color: #000000">profile is not specified, the given URL is processed as-is and the required </span><span style="color: #000000">Markdown</span><span style="color: #000000"> file is rendered.</span> |
| <span style="color: #000000">URL user</span> | <span style="color: #000000">user</span> |  | <span style="color: #000000">Enter the user name for the given URL to access the required Markdown file.</span><br>> ❌ **Removal notice (applicable for Markdown from a URL macro):**
> ❌ 
> ❌ Please note that the URL user and URL user password parameters were removed in 3.8.2 (see [Deprecation notice: URL user and URL user password parameters](https://bobswift.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/info/pages/2537850172/Deprecation+notice%3A+URL+user+and+URL+user+password+parameters)). We recommend using [profiles](https://bobswift.atlassian.net/wiki/x/CwD6B#Configuration-Profiles)<span style="color: #000000"> </span>to access external data. |
| <span style="color: #000000">URL password</span> | <span style="color: #000000">password</span> |  | <span style="color: #000000">Enter the user password for </span><span style="color: #000000">the given URL to access the required Markdown file.</span><br>> ❌ **Removal notice (applicable for Markdown from a URL macro):**
> ❌ 
> ❌ Please note that the URL user and URL user password parameters were removed in 3.8.2 (see [Deprecation notice: URL user and URL user password parameters](https://bobswift.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/info/pages/2537850172/Deprecation+notice%3A+URL+user+and+URL+user+password+parameters)). We recommend using [profiles](https://bobswift.atlassian.net/wiki/x/CwD6B#Configuration-Profiles)<span style="color: #000000"> </span>to access external data. |
| <span style="color: #000000">URL connection timeout</span> | <span style="color: #000000">timeout</span> |  | <span style="color: #000000">Enter time in milliseconds such that URL connections does not disconnect before getting data. Use this to increase the access time needed for slow connections. Note that if a zero is given the connection may wait infinitely.</span> |
| <span style="color: #000000">File encoding</span> | <span style="color: #000000">encoding</span> | <span style="color: #000000">UTF-8</span> | <span style="color: #000000">Specify the encoding for an external file, if different from </span><span style="color: #000000">default </span><span style="color: #000000">system handling.</span> |
| <span style="color: #000000">Show URL</span> | showURL | <span style="color: #000000">Off</span> | <span style="color: #000000">Enable this option to display the absolute path of the Markdown file. The URL given in the </span>*<span style="color: #000000">URL to markdown file</span>*<span style="color: #000000"> parameter is appended to the URL given in the specified profile to form the absolute path of the required Markdown file.</span> |

> ⚠️ <span style="color: #000000">It is mandatory to specify either a profile or a URL for this macro.</span>

> ℹ️ **How profiles and URLs are processed in the macro**
> ℹ️ 
> ℹ️ <span style="color: #000000">Depending on the values provided for the </span>*<span style="color: #000000">Profile</span>*<span style="color: #000000"> and </span>*<span style="color: #000000">URL to Markdown file</span>*<span style="color: #000000"> parameters, the following process applies:</span>
> ℹ️ 
> ℹ️ > Macro (legacy-content)

# <span style="color: #000000">Common parameters</span>

> Macro (include)

# <span style="color: #000000">Basic use</span>

<span style="color: #000000">This macro can be deployed using one of the following methods:</span>

| <span style="color: #000000">**Selected from the macro browser**</span> | <span style="color: #000000">*Markdown from a URL*</span> |
| --- | --- |
| <span style="color: #000000">**Markup shortcut**</span> | <span style="color: #000000">*{markdown-url} *</span> |

### <span style="color: #000000">Screenshot</span>

- <span style="color: #000000">Example using a public Bitbucket file: </span>[<span style="color: #000000">https://bitbucket.org/bob_swift/gint/raw/tip/README.md</span>](https://bitbucket.org/bob_swift/gint/raw/tip/README.md)

![image](media://4a5f5c0c-d5d2-4431-9858-d1bc80144171)

> Macro (__confluenceADFMigrationUnsupportedContentInternalExtension__)