Unpublish or Hide a Page

There may be times when a published page needs to be removed but the user does not want to delete the page data from the system. In other cases, there may be a need to hide a page so that only individuals with the URL are able to view it.

Read below for information on how to handle these situations.  

In Content Editor:

1. Click the page in the Content Tree to select it.
2. In the Publish Ribbon Navigation, click Change.
3. In the Publishing Settings dialog box, in the Items tab, uncheck Publishable. Click OK to close the dialog box.
4. Click Save on the navigation ribbon to save all changes.
5. After the next automatic publishing cycle runs, the page will no longer be published.

It is sometimes necessary to publish a page so that non-Sitecore users can review it, while making sure it isn’t visible to the public. After the page is published, it should be available via its URL but should not appear in the website’s navigation.

In Page Builder:

1. Locate the page in the Site map listing in the left side panel.
2. Click the three-dot icon to the right of the page name.
3. Click Page content on the flyout menu.
4. In the Metatags section:
   1. Toggle on the No Index switch. It will appear purple.
   2. Toggle on the No Follow switch. It will appear purple.
5. Scroll to the Navigation section:
   1. Toggle on the Hide Breadcrumb on Page switch. It will appear purple.
   2. Click to expand the Check to hide in navigation filters dropdown menu.
   3. Check Breadcrumb Navigation, Sidebar Navigation and Sitemap Navigation.
6. Click Actions button and Submit to save the changes and route them to the publishing workflow.

If, later, you do want the page to be visible, reverse these steps to include the page in navigation, sitemap, breadcrumb and to allow search engines to index and follow the page.

In Page Builder:

1. Locate the page in the Site map listing in the left side panel.
2. Click the three-dot icon to the right of the page name.
3. Click Page content on the flyout menu.
4. In the Metatags section:
   1. Toggle off the No Index switch. It will appear gray.
   2. Toggle off the No Follow switch. It will appear gray.
5. Scroll to the Navigation section:
   1. Toggle off the Hide Breadcrumb on Page switch. It will appear gray.
   2. Click to expand the Check to hide in navigation filters dropdown menu.
   3. Uncheck Breadcrumb Navigation, Sidebar Navigation and Sitemap Navigation.
6. Click Actions button and Submit to save the changes and route them to the publishing workflow.

In Content Editor:

1. Locate the page in the Content Tree. Click to select it.
2. Click Lock and Edit to create a new version of the page in draft status and enable editing.
3. In the Metatags section, check both boxes: No Index and No Follow. This prevents the page from being visible to search engines.
4. In the Navigation section, check all boxes: Hide Breadcrumb on Page, hide in navigation filters for Breadcrumb Navigation, Sidebar Navigation and Sitemap Navigation. This ensures that visitors to the website cannot find the page using standard navigation tools.
5. Click Save on the navigation ribbon to save all changes.
6. Click the Edit button on the Home tab of the navigation ribbon.
7. Click Submit to submit the change to the publishing workflow. This will ultimately publish the page while omitting it from navigation, hiding the page from view without a known URL.
8. Enter a comment describing the update. Comments assist reviewers in understanding what changes were made to the page.
9. Click OK.

If the page has already been indexed by Google, wait for the page to drop out of search results. If needed, a redirect could be added to one of the site's redirect maps to force the visitor to another page. Contact University Communications and Marketing if assistance is needed.

If, at a later time, you do want the page to be visible, reverse these steps to include the page in navigation, sitemap, breadcrumb and to allow search engines to index and follow the page. Click Save, Edit and Submit to submit the change to the publishing workflow.

Documentation updated: May 29, 2026

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