Drafts, previews, and published content

Outcome

You can identify every page state, choose the safe way to review it, and know exactly what ordinary visitors can see.

Access

You need an Admin or Superadmin role to publish, unpublish, or discard page changes. No extra plan or plugin is required. Search and page visibility never grant permission to change a page.

The four page states

A warning dot on a Live page means its working draft differs from the live version. Open Page settings, then History, to see the named Unpublished Changes state.

How content moves from draft to live

1. Open Pages in the Content sidebar group.
2. Select Edit for the page. The visual editor canvas shows the working draft.
3. Wait for All changes saved.
4. Select Publish. The current page and its blocks become the new live version immediately.
5. Return to Pages. The row shows Live and its shortcut is named View live.

Later edits create a new working draft. Visitors continue seeing the last published version until you select Publish again.

Preview without publishing

For a never-published page, open its Pages-row menu and select Preview Draft. BlockNinja opens a temporary share link for the current draft and reports that the link expires in 24 hours. The ordinary public path remains unavailable.

• Treat the link as controlled access: anyone who receives it may be able to view the draft until it expires.
• Use the editor canvas or the Pages-row Preview Draft action before first publication. The editor header's Preview link can open the ordinary path and show Page Not Found.
• A preview proves the draft renders; it does not prove the ordinary public route is live.

Check what visitors can see

1. For a Draft page, open the ordinary public path in a signed-out window. It should be unavailable.
2. Open Preview Draft and confirm the current heading, text, links, and media render correctly.
3. After Publish, use View Live and repeat the check in a signed-out window.
4. Repeat at a narrow width and confirm text, media, and controls do not overflow.

Undo or recover

• Use Unpublish to take a Live page off its ordinary public route without deleting its content.
• To make unchanged content live again after Unpublish, use Publish in the Pages-row menu. The editor's Publish button can remain unavailable when nothing changed.
• Use Page settings, History, then Discard Draft Changes only when every unpublished change should be abandoned. The confirmation warns that those changes will be permanently lost.
• Use History Restore to place an earlier published version into the draft. Review it, then Publish; restoring alone does not change the live site.
• Do not use Delete as an undo for publishing.

Shared blocks need an extra check

Editing a shared block updates the working draft of every page that uses it. Visitors keep seeing each page's last published snapshot until that page is published again. Check every affected page before republishing it.

If it does not work

• If Publish is unavailable, wait for All changes saved and confirm your role is Admin or Superadmin.
• If a new page shows Page Not Found, use Preview Draft rather than the ordinary public path.
• If visitors still see old content, check History for Unpublished Changes and publish the reviewed draft.
• If an unpublished page cannot be republished in the editor, use the Pages-row Publish action.
• If Discard Draft Changes is absent, the page may never have been published.

Next

• Create your first page.
• Preview, publish, unpublish, and discard changes.
• Restore an earlier page version.