This Is a Long Page

... and it has a lot of helpful information on it, especially if you find yourself stuck. But if you're only going to come away from this page knowing one thing, it needs to be this:

Save and publish your page when you're done editing. Always. Every time. Forever. 

If you don't save your page, no one else will be able to work on that page. If you don't publish, no public visitor will be able to see the updated page. Without saving and publishing, your website will grind to a painful, messy halt. You don't want that on your conscience, so get in the habit of saving and publishing. 

Saved, Editing, Checked Out, Checked In, Published...?

As you work in your website, it's important that you can control what the public sees: you don't want everyone to be reading a draft copy of your half-completed page, but you do want to make sure that when your work is completed the updated page is visible to everyone who visits it. 

You manage this process through three actions:

1. Edit a page you want to change
2. Save a page that you've changed 
3. Publish the saved page to make it public (and check your changes)

Each of those actions (editing, saving, and publishing) impacts what you, other editors, and public visitors can do or see:

If you (and the other editors at your school) always move directly from Step 1 to 2 to 3, you won't need to worry about most of the details here. If you want to work on a draft of a page before making it public, though, or if any editor for your site forgets a step, this can help you find out where the page is stuck and how to fix it. 

Edit (Checked Out)

What Does It Mean?

A page that has been checked out is open for editing by the person who checked it out. 

• It is editable by the person who has it checked out
• No one else can edit it (It is locked)
• Updates on the page are only visible to the person who checked it out (not to other editors or the public)
• The public see the last published version of the page (if it's a new page that has never been published, the public can't see it at all)

How Do I Check Out a Page?

You can check out a page by clicking Edit Page (using either the gear icon or the button at the bottom of the page):

      

How Can I Tell if a Page is Checked Out?

Show Ribbon

This step is very important because it will always show you your status of the web page you are working on and if another user has it checked out.  Once it has been turned on you don't have to worry about doing this step again. 

1. To turn this feature on use the SharePoint Settings (gear) and tell it to show that ribbon!

2. In the editing view, the ribbon says "Checked out to you. Only you can see your recent changes." There is no way to tell in the public view. 

3. The SchoolBundle gear icon (in the page content area) only gives you the option to save the page:

4. The editing buttons at the bottom of the page give you the option to save or cancel:

How Do I Use a Checked-Out Page? 

Think of the checked out status as a working copy or draft. A page must be checked out to be edited, so any time you edit a page the system will check it out for you. No one else will be able to see your changes until you save the page. Never check a page out unless you are actively editing it. 

If you edit a page, you must save your changes or they will be lost. Save your  changes before navigating to another page, closing your browser, or shutting down your computer. 

If you don't save your changes, you will lose your work. We can't recover it for you. No one can. Not even Batman. 

 If you are editing a page and have 20 minutes of inactivity, your session will end and any unsaved changes will be lost. Sometimes, being interrupted by another task is unavoidable, but losing your work IS avoidable. If you are not actively editing your page, save it. 

Hey - It's Checked Out by Another User!

If you try to edit a page that another user has checked out, you'll see this error message:

If someone else has checked out a page that should be published or that you need to edit, simply contact the person who has checked it out and ask them to check it in (and publish it, if needed). You can see who has checked it out in the ribbon:

Save (Checked In)

What Does It Mean?

A page that has been checked in has been saved and is no longer being actively edited, but the changes aren't yet visible to the public. 

• It has unpublished changes (unless someone checked it out and then saved it without making any changes)
• Any editor can see the most recent version of the page, including any changes that were made
• Any editor can check the page out to make additional changes to it (it's unlocked)
• The public still sees the last published version of the page (without any changes that were made). As with a checked-out page, if it's a new page with no published version, the public can't see the page at all. 

How Do I Check In a Page?

A page becomes checked in when it's saved (after being previously checked out). You can save a page by clicking Save on the gear icon or at the bottom of the page:

  

How Can I Tell if a Page is Checked In?

1. In the editing view, the ribbon says "Recent draft not published. Visitors can't see recent changes." There is no way to tell in the public view. And don't let the "recent" part fool you... you can leave a page in this state for years. Visitors still won't be able to see your changes. 

2. The SchoolBundle gear icon gives you the option to edit the page (this is the same as on a published page):

3. The editing buttons at the bottom of the page give you the option to publish or edit:

When Do I Use A Checked-In Page? 

Rarely! You can keep a page checked in (but not published) when:

• You're not actively editing, but it isn't ready to be shown to the public
• You need another user to be able to edit it or review it before it is shown to the public

In every other case, it's best to get into the habit of saving a page as soon as you're done working on it and publishing it as soon as you've saved it. If you forget to publish your page after you've made updates, you will see the new version of the page when you're in editing mode, but any public visitors to your site will continue to see the old page. 

Publish (Published)

What Does It Mean?

A published page is one that has been published and made visible to all website visitors. 

• The page is visible to all users (including the public)
• It is available for editors to check out if any updates are needed (its unlocked)

How Do I Publish a Page?

You can publish a page by clicking Publish through the SchoolBundle gear icon or using the button at the bottom of the page:

        

How Can I Tell if a Page is Published?

1. In the editing view, the ribbon does not show any yellow status bar (you can make sure the ribbon isn't just hidden by clicking on Site Actions and selecting Show Ribbon if that's an option). There is no way to tell in the public view. 

2. The gear icon only gives you the option to edit the page:

3. There are no editing buttons shown at the bottom of the page

When Do I Publish a Page? 

Publish a page whenever it's ready to be visible to the public. No public visitors (like parents or students) will be able to see your page until it's been published, so get in the habit of publishing every page you edit unless you have a specific reason to keep it hidden. 

Once a page is published, that version of the page is kept and shown to the public until it is replaced with another published version. If the page is checked out, modified, or checked in, public visitors to your website will continue to see the published version of your page. 

After You Publish 

After you publish a page, navigate to it in the public view to make sure that your changes all appear correctly. If there are issues with spacing or formatting (especially before or after images or tables), open your page to edit it again, make the changes you need, and save and publish it, then refresh your public view. Rinse and repeat until it looks right.    

It's also helpful to view the page on a phone or just make your browser window narrow enough to simulate the mobile view to make sure that all of your content - especially tables - works well for all viewers. 

While you're checking, review any links to other pages within your site to make sure that you haven't used the school-edit (editing) address for any page, or your visitors won't be able to get there.    

Whoops - I Shouldn't Have Published That 

If you publish a page by mistake and it contains information that shouldn't be publicly visible, the quickest way to correct the situation is to:

1. Go to the page in editing view and open the editor
2. Copy all the content from the page editor and paste it into Word (if you want to save the content or work on it another time)
3. Edit the content so only the correct information is there
4. Save your changes
5. Publish the page

Watch out - if you edit the page and save it but don't publish it, public visitors still see the "I shouldn't have published that!" version.