Carnegie Mellon University

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CMU Web  ›  How to Use the CMS  ›  Build Your Site  ›  Manage Your Site  ›  Tasks  ›  Edit, Submit & Drafts

Edit, Submit & Drafts

The process of making edits in the CMS includes the option to preview edits (in a smaller window) in real-time or to defer the preview until after you complete your edits. 

After completing your edits, you have the option to preview your draft in full screen (as it would appear live) or to bypass the preview (for quick edits) and directly submit. 

Note: Submitting/saving a page in the CMS does not update the live version of the page on your website; a separate step called publishing is required to push your updates live. More on publishing.

Edit

There are a couple of methods to edit a page. 

Method 1: Edit Before Previewing (Default Editing Experience)

Hide Edit Preview Window

  1. Click the edit button to edit a page
  2. After completing your edits, use one of the methods below to submit your changes

Method 2: Edit While Previewing (Show Edit Preview)

*Available only on previously submitted pages (not available on newly created pages)

Show Edit Preview Window

  1. Click the Edit button to edit a page.
  2. Click the Show Edit Preview button at the upper right. A preview panel will appear on the right side of your screen. Scroll to the section you are editing. 

  3. Make your edits in the editing panel to the left, and you will see your updates in real time on the right.

  4. After completing your edits, use one of the methods below to submit your changes.

Submit/Save

There are a couple of methods to submit/save a page.

Method 1: Preview Draft (view page before final submit)

Save & Preview button
  1. When you are ready to view your page, click Preview Draft at the upper right
  2. A draft of the page will display; review page and proceed with one of the following
    1. If no further edits are needed, click Submit; add comments (optional) then click Submit or Check Content & Submit to perform a spell check before the final submit
    2. If additional edits are needed, click Edit in the Action Toolbar and proceed with edits
    3. To discard your edits and revert the page back prior to your edits, click Discard in the Action Toolbar

Method 2: Submit (bypass preview of draft and go straight to final submit)

Edit bar with kabob menu highlighted.

  1. When you are ready to save your page, click the kabob menu ⋮ at the upper right
  2. Add additional comments (optional) then click Submit or Check Content & Submit to perform a spell check before the final submit

Drafts

Drafts are pages that are works in progress and can be stored in the CMS for an indefinite period of time. A draft will not interfere with the current version of a page until a final submit is committed, at which point the draft becomes the current version.

Saving a Draft

The CMS automatically saves a draft of your page as you make edits, and will store the draft until actions are taken to either submit or discard it. As you edit your page, look for the Draft saved message at the upper right to confirm your last edit has been saved in the draft.

Draft saved message

Editing a Draft

If a page contains a draft version you created, you will be shown the draft by default when previewing the page. Click on Edit to continue to edit the draft.

Note: You can toggle between your draft and the current version of the page by using the dropdown at the upper left of the preview.

Dropdown menu to choose which version to edit

If the page was edited and submitted by another individual while you worked on a draft, a message will appear when previewing your draft:

This draft is out of date with the Current Version. Would you like to Start a new one or Discard?

Finding Your Drafts

All of your page drafts can be accessed by clicking My Content > Drafts in the Main Toolbar, or on the Dashboard in the My Content widget under Drafts.

My Content widget showing drafts

Click on a draft and proceed with edits.

Tips

For sites which are maintained by multiple website managers, coordinating updates is key to preventing accidental overrides.

Unfortunately no, you can only view your own drafts. However, with proper coordination they may submit the page and you may review the updated version in the CMS before it is published. You may also use the versions feature to compare the current version with the previous version.

The CMS cannot combine drafts or consolidate edits made by multiple people, so keeping an eye out for potential conflicts is very important. If you edit a page that another person has a draft of, a warning will appear:

Warning when another person is working on a draft of the page

Communicate with the person to coordinate the edits; you may use the @username mention feature to comment on the page directly within the CMS.

This is usually caused by copying and pasting content that contains invalid code into a WYSIWYG. Please see tip on fixing invalid XML code.

The option to edit while previewing is only available on previously submitted pages. After you submit your changes to a page for the first time, you will have the option to edit while previewing.