Manage and Publish Versions
Outline
In this module, you will learn how to effectively manage and publish different versions of your content in Optimizely CMS. You’ll explore how to mark content as ready for review, schedule future publishing, revert to previously published versions, and implement approval workflows to ensure quality and compliance before content goes live.
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
Understand the publishing options available in Optimizely CMS PaaS
Withdraw, edit, or revert to a previously published version
Set up and manage approval sequences for structured content review and approval
Track the publishing status of your content across workflows
Optimizely CMS offers flexible publishing controls, allowing content creators and editors to manage the publication process according to their workflow needs. Whether you want to prepare content for later review, schedule a future release, or enforce a multi-step approval process, these tools help maintain content accuracy and governance.
Managing Content Versions and Publishing Options
When editing content, you can access publishing options from the Publish dropdown:
Ready to Publish – Use this when your content is complete but requires final review or approval before going live. This is useful when you need feedback from team members or managers.
Withdraw and Edit – Revert a “Ready to Publish” version back to draft to make additional changes.
Schedule for Publish – Choose a specific date and time for automatic publishing, ensuring timely releases even when you’re offline.
Revert to Published – If recent changes are not satisfactory, revert to the last published version to restore previously live content.
Once a version is published, you can also view it on the live website to verify how it appears to users.
Setting Up Approval Sequences
Approval sequences ensure that content is reviewed by the right people before publication. You can create multi-step workflows involving individuals or user groups, such as content reviewers, translators, or department heads.
Steps to create an approval sequence:
Enable Approval Sequence for a page or content type.
Define the workflow steps (e.g., content review, translation, final approval).
Assign specific users or groups to each step.
Optionally, require comments when content is declined for better communication.
Once the sequence is active, content must go through each approval stage before it can be published. Users assigned to a step can approve, decline, or cancel review requests. Only after completing all steps will the content become Ready to Publish.
Approval workflows are ideal for teams managing multi-language sites or organizations with strict review requirements, such as legal or compliance teams.
The following demo video will walk you through marking content as ready to publish, scheduling publication, reverting changes, and setting up a multi-step approval sequence: