CMS: Saving Collection Changes as Drafts First

The CMS (Content Management System) gives you a safe way to work on your collection content before it goes live on your site. When you enable drafts for a collection and select Save changes as draft first, new items and edits are saved as drafts until someone with the right permission publishes them. Your team can draft and preview content together before it goes live.

You can set who can edit, publish, or delete content in each collection. Team members without publishing permissions can still make changes, but those changes are saved as drafts until someone with publishing permissions publishes them.

Notes:

• Per collection: You can turn on Save changes as draft first for each collection separately, in the collection's settings.

• Item level only: Draft changes apply to collection items. Changes to the collection structure (fields and schema) are not saved as drafts.

Understanding item statuses

In a collection that saves changes as drafts first, each item shows a status so you can see where it is in the flow.

• Draft: An item that cannot appear on your live site since it is not published. This includes new items that have not been published yet, and previously published items that were later unpublished.

• Changed: A published item that has unpublished edits saved over the live version. The live site keeps showing the published version until you publish the changes.

• Published: The item is live on your site.

Enabling the 'Save changes as draft first' setting

Only site admins, or collaborators with permission to manage collection settings, can change this setting.

Important:

You can't use input elements to add or edit items in collections set to Save changes as draft first. To collect content with input elements, select Publish changes immediately and set new items to Draft by default.

To enable saving changes as drafts:

1. Go to CMS in your site's dashboard.

2. Click the relevant collection.

3. Click More Actions at the top and select Collection settings.

4. Enable the Enable drafts toggle.

5. Select Save changes as draft first.

6. Click Save.

Tip:

Continue to the next section to learn how to set permissions for your team members.

Setting collaborator and role permissions

When a collection is set to Save changes as draft first, a Collaborators & specific roles permissions table appears below the existing Advanced permissions table in the collection settings.

Use this table to control what each collaborator or role can do with the collection's content.

To set permissions for saving changes as drafts:

1. Enable the Save changes as draft first collection setting (see the section above for steps).

2. Go to the Permissions & privacy collection settings:

   1. Go to CMS in your site's dashboard.

   2. Click the relevant collection.

   3. Click More Actions at the top and select Permissions & privacy.

3. Select the relevant checkboxes in the Site visitor permissions table to choose what visitors can view, add, update and delete on your live site.

4. (Optional) Set different permissions for specific collaborator roles:

   1. Click + Set permissions for specific roles at the bottom of the Collaborators & specific roles permissions table.

   2. Select the relevant CMS access roles.

   3. Click Done.

5. Select the relevant checkboxes in the Collaborators & specific roles permissions table to choose what team members and collaborators can access:

   • View: Team members with the role can view items in this collection.

   • Create & edit drafts: Team members with the role can create, edit and delete draft items in this collection.

   • Publish: Team members with the role can publish or unpublish items in this collection.

   • Delete: Team members with the role can delete items in this collection.

1. Click Save.

Previewing an item before publishing

Before you publish a draft or changed item, you can preview how it looks on your dynamic item pages. The preview shows your unpublished content, so you can check the design and text without changing your live site. You can also switch to the live version to compare the two.

Notes:

• Dynamic item page required: Your collection must be connected to a dynamic item page. If it is not, Preview item is unavailable.

• Draft items: For items that have never been published, you can only view the Edited version.

To preview an item:

1. Go to CMS in your site's dashboard.

2. Click the relevant collection.

3. Hover over the relevant item and click Open.

4. Click the More Actions icon

   

   at the top right and select Preview item.

5. Check your item using the options at the top of the preview:

   • Preview on: Select the dynamic item page you want to preview the item on.

   • Edited version: View the item with your unpublished changes.

   • Live version: View the item as it currently appears on your live site.

1. Click the X at the top right to close the item preview.

Updating the status of draft and changed items

Once Save changes as draft first is on, the items you add or edit are saved as drafts instead of going live. With the relevant permissions, you can then review and publish the draft items to update them on your live site. Alternatively, you can revert changed items to their live version or unpublish an item to remove it completely from your live site.

To update an item's status:

1. Go to CMS in your site's dashboard.

2. Click the relevant collection.

3. Add or edit a collection item.

   Note: The item status updates. New items are saved as Draft, and edits to live items are saved as Changed over the published version.

4. Update the item's status:

   1. Click the status for the relevant item.

   2. Choose the relevant option:

      • Publish item: Allow the updated item to appear on your live site.

        Tip: Learn more about connecting elements to your collection items to make them appear on your live site.

      • Revert to live version: Revert the item in your collection to the version that is on your live site.

      • Unpublish: Remove the item from your live site and revert it to the Draft status.

Updating the status of multiple items at once

When you have several items to review, you can select them together and update their status in one action, instead of item by item. The same permissions apply as when you update items one by one, so you need Publish permissions to publish or unpublish content in the collection.

Note:

Available options: You only see the options that apply to the items you select. If you select items that are all in the Draft status, only Publish selected items appears. If your selection mixes statuses, you see every option that applies to at least one of the selected items, and any item an option does not apply to keeps its current status.

To update the status of multiple items:

1. Go to CMS in your site's dashboard.

2. Click the relevant collection.

3. Hover over each item you want to update and select its checkbox.

   Note: Change Status isn't available when every item is selected. Select only the items you want to update.

4. Click Change Status at the top of the table.

5. Choose the relevant option:

   • Publish selected items: Allow the selected items to appear on your live site.

     Tip: Learn more about connecting elements to your collection items to make them appear on your live site.

   • Revert to live version: Revert the selected items in your collection to the versions that are on your live site. Click Revert to confirm. Any unpublished changes in those items are lost.

   • Unpublish selected items: Remove the selected items from your live site and revert them to the Draft status. If any of the selected items have both a live version and unpublished edits, choose which version to keep as the draft: Keep latest edits or Keep live versions.

Scheduling item status changes

Schedule items to go live or return to Draft at a date and time you choose. For example, prepare an item ahead of time and schedule it to go live on launch day, or schedule a seasonal item to return to Draft when the season ends. You can schedule one item at a time or several items at once.

Important:

We are releasing scheduling gradually, so it is not available to all users yet.

Notes:

• Publish permissions: You need Publish permissions to schedule items. Team members without them can see that an item is scheduled, but can't change the schedule.

• Time zone: The date and time are based on your computer's time zone, not your site's time zone.

• New items: Save a new item before you schedule it.

• Calendar icon: Scheduled items show a Calendar icon

  

  next to their status. Hover over the icon to see when the status changes.

• Wix app: You can't schedule items from the Wix app in collections set to Save changes as draft first.

To schedule a status change for an item:

1. Go to CMS in your site's dashboard.

2. Click the relevant collection.

3. Click the status for the relevant item and select Set Schedule.

   Tip: You can also hover over the item and click Open, then click the arrow next to Save & Publish at the top right and select Set Schedule.

4. Select a date in the calendar and enter the time in the Time field.

5. Click the option that appears. It depends on the item's current status:

   • Schedule 'Published': Publish a Draft or Changed item, with its latest edits, at the time you set.

   • Schedule 'Draft': Remove a Published item from your live site and set it to Draft at the time you set.

Notes:

• Which items change: Each option applies only to the selected items it fits. The other selected items keep their current status.

• Items already scheduled: Items scheduled for the same change move to the new date and time. Items scheduled for the opposite change keep their current schedule.

To schedule status changes for multiple items:

1. Go to CMS in your site's dashboard.

2. Click the relevant collection.

3. Hover over each item you want to schedule and select its checkbox.

4. Click Change Status at the top of the table.

5. Select the relevant option:

   • Schedule 'Published': Publish the selected Draft and Changed items, with their latest edits, at the time you set.

   • Schedule 'Draft': Remove the selected Published and Changed items from your live site and set them to Draft at the time you set.

6. Select a date in the calendar and enter the time in the Time field.

7. Click Schedule 'Published' or Schedule 'Draft'.

Note:

One item at a time: You can change or remove a schedule for one item at a time, not for several items at once.

To change or remove a schedule:

1. Go to CMS in your site's dashboard.

2. Click the relevant collection.

3. Click the status for the scheduled item and select Set Schedule.

   Tip: You can also hover over the item and click Open, then click the arrow next to Save & Publish at the top right and select Set Schedule.

4. Choose what you want to do:

   • Change the schedule: Select a new date and time, then click Reschedule 'Published' or Reschedule 'Draft'.

   • Remove the schedule: Click Remove Scheduling.

FAQs

Click below to learn more about saving changes as drafts before publishing.

How do I check an item's unpublished changes before publishing?

Open the item, click the More Actions icon

and select Preview item. The preview shows the unpublished version on your dynamic item pages. Use the Edited version and Live version options at the top to compare it with your live site. Learn more about previewing an item before publishing.

Note: Your editor's preview mode displays the live versions of your collection items. Go to your collection to view the item drafts and unpublished changes.