Publish a Page

Content additions and changes save automatically as content authors work in the system. These must be published before they will appear on the website.

Content is saved in the Sitecore Master database. Published items are copied from the Master database (where content is maintained and stored) to the publishing target, usually the website (i.e., the web server).

Content authors publish one item at a time, such as a page, a folder or an entire site. The user decides whether to publish subitems or subpages and related items at the same time. Usually, all subitems are published with an item, but there are exceptions, such as when creating an alert message for the MSU.edu website.

The most basic way to publish a page is using the Publish function in Pages. This is appropriate if no advanced publishing settings are needed. Users should also review and familiarize themselves with the advanced publishing options available in Content Editor using the section below and choose whichever publishing option is best for the situation.

To publish in Pages: 

1. Click on the page in the site Content Tree within Pages. 
2. Click the dropdown arrow next to the Publish button at the top right corner to view and select publish settings.
   1. Checking Page will only publish the visible page.
   2. Checking Subpages will publish the page(s) nested under the visible page. 
3. Click Start Publish. 
4. Wait for publish to complete before moving to or publishing another page. A brief pop-up message will display at the top of the screen to indicate when publishing has completed. 

Users can publish a specific item, page, page component or asset from Content Editor:

1. Click the item in the Content Tree.
2. On the Publish ribbon, select Publish > Publish item.
3. Check the publishing setting boxes noted below. These will vary slightly, depending on the Sitecore environment.
4. Click Publish.

For publishing in production, check the following:

• Smart publish — This will only publish changes and is faster than Republish. 
• Publish subitems — This publishes items nested under the selected item, such as nested pages.
• Publish related items — This refers to the item’s clones, media used by the item, published item links and the item’s aliases. Related items of a related item are not published.
• Languages and Targets are controlled by the system and can be ignored.

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

This is accomplished by “hiding” the page from public view. To do this:

1. Locate the page in the Content Tree. Click to select it.
2. In the Metatags section, check both boxes: No Index and No Follow. This prevents the page from being visible to search engines.
3. 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.
4. Click Save and republish the page.

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 created to force the visitor to another page. Contact University Communications and Marketing if assistance is needed.

Unhide a Hidden Page

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 and Publish.

Users can restrict the publication of items using publishing restrictions in Content Editor. Publishing restrictions let users specify that a specific item or a version of an item is publishable or unpublishable, either within a specific date range or indefinitely. In this way, users can control which items and pages are available for publishing at any given time.

For example, if a user has set up Sitecore to periodically publish the entire site to make sure it is always up to date, the user can create publishing restrictions on the items that they do not want to publish. This can be done for items that are still in progress or for finished items that should only be published when a certain campaign is rolled out. 

Restrict Publishing of a Particular Page

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, uncheck Publishable.
4. Click Save.

Users may want to publish an item on a specific future date and have the item appear in chronological order based on assigned date rather than created date. 

For example, an article may be set to publish in January 2026 but is added to the website in September 2025. The content author wants the article to display in the proper order. Placing the article in the 2026>January folder does not tell Sitecore the proper order to sort for the publishing date. The “Publishable from” date needs to be set. 

Prevent Publishing or Unpublish an Item

1. In Content Editor, navigate to the item you want to prevent from publishing.
2. Click to select the item.
3. In the Navigation Ribbon, click the Publish tab.
4. Click Change.
5. In the Publishing Settings dialog box, click the Item tab. Set the “Publishable from” date range. Click OK.

Publishable Dates Do Not Equal Scheduled Publishing

If a user specifies a date range for when an item or item version is publishable, it does not mean that the item is published on the start date and removed again on the end date. Instead, it means that the item is available for publishing and included when the user publishes that item or the entire website. 

To make an item appear on the website on the start date and be removed again on the end date, the user must publish the item in the system on both dates to push the changes live to production. 

Documentation updated: Nov. 1, 2024