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CMS: Save, preview and publish your website changes

  • Updated

The Site Editor saves your changes automatically as you work, but visitors don't see them until you click Republish, the orange button in the top-right corner of the editor. Check your changes with Preview first: Republish puts every saved change on your live website at once.

Applies to: Org admins with Site Editor access · All plans, for organizations with Editor 2.0 (the CMS module) · Editor 2.0 (CMS)

Where: Content > Site Editor (Preview and Republish are at the top right)

How saving works

  • The editor saves every change as you make it: text edits, image replacements, layout changes, new and deleted elements, and new pages. There's no Save button. The checkmark icon in the top bar shows that your latest change is saved.
  • Saved isn't published. Saved changes wait in the editor, and visitors don't see any of them until someone clicks Republish.
  • Several admins can work in the Site Editor, but each person's changes save on their own. Two people editing the same page at the same time can overwrite each other's work, so split the work by page.

Publish your changes

  1. Go to Content > Site Editor and make your changes.
  2. Click Preview, next to Republish, to see your website the way visitors will. The preview is read-only.
  3. Use the desktop, tablet and mobile icons at the top to check how each page looks on different screen sizes.
  4. Click Republish, the orange button in the top-right corner.
  5. Open your website in a private (incognito) browser window to check the change.

What you'll see: your website updates, and the changes go live for every visitor. This applies to every kind of change, such as editing text, swapping a picture, adding a page, changing a button's link or adjusting a layout.

Republish puts your whole website live. You can't publish one page on its own: every saved change on every page goes live together, including other admins' changes. Finish or undo other edits before you republish.

The first publish

TeamSideline publishes your new website the first time, as part of setting it up and taking it live. After that, every change made in the Site Editor waits until someone clicks Republish. To get ready for go-live, see CMS: Checklist for reviewing your new website.

When to republish

  • After any change you make in the Site Editor: text, pictures, buttons, pages and the menu, the theme, Business Info and SEO settings.
  • After you fix a link, such as a button or menu item that opened the wrong page.
  • After you add, change, pause or delete a personalization rule (More > Personalize), such as a Top Bar message or a pop-up.
  • After TeamSideline Support changes something in your Site Editor for you, such as a locked header or footer, new pages or your business details. Their change waits in the editor like yours, so ask whether they republished, or click Republish yourself.
  • After you restore a site backup.

Changes that don't need Republish

The TeamSideline sections of your website show information from your admin site, so changes you save there show without republishing: programs, calendar events, Downloads, Entry Forms, Store and Donations items, policies, schedules and standings. A browser that already loaded the page can keep showing the old information for up to about five minutes. A private window, or a new visitor, sees the change right away.

Check the tablet and mobile layouts

  • Your website picks its desktop, tablet or mobile layout by the width of the screen, so a narrow desktop window can show the tablet or mobile layout.
  • The tablet and mobile layouts are edited separately. To change a section for one of them, choose the tablet or mobile icon at the top of the editor, then make the change in that view.
  • Some things look different on smaller layouts. For example, a photo gallery's captions that appear only when you hover over a photo on a desktop show all the time on the tablet and mobile layouts.
  • Preview can be set to a screen size, so you can check each layout before you republish.

Undo a change

  • Click Undo (the curved left arrow in the top bar) to reverse your most recent change. You can undo several changes in a row.
  • Click Redo (the curved right arrow) to put back a change you undid.
  • To go back further, or after you republished a mistake, restore an earlier version of your website and then republish. See CMS: Restore an earlier version of your website (Site Backup).

If it doesn't work

  • Your change isn't on your live website. Click Republish. Then reload the page or open it in a private window: a browser that already had the page open can show the old version for a few minutes.
  • A new document, event or schedule change doesn't show yet. These come from your admin site and don't need Republish. Wait a few minutes, or check in a private window.
  • A Top Bar message or pop-up didn't change. Republish after any change to a personalization rule, and check that the rule is active.
  • The page looks wrong on a phone or tablet. Switch the editor to the tablet or mobile view and fix it there, then republish.
  • Someone's changes disappeared. Two admins probably edited the same page at the same time. Restore the work from a site backup if you need it, and split the work by page from then on.
  • Something went wrong after you republished. Restore an earlier version from Site Backup, then republish.
  • You can't open the Site Editor, or part of a page shows View Only. See CMS: How to open the Site Editor (and what to do if you can't) and CMS: Why can't I edit the header, footer or some page text? (View Only and locked areas).

Good to know

  • Republishing changes only what you edit in the Site Editor. It doesn't change your registrations, programs or schedules, and it doesn't change your web address: TeamSideline Support connects domains.
  • If you change a page's address, keep the redirect the editor offers before you republish, so old links still work. See CMS: Find, share or change a page's URL (and add a redirect).
  • Every admin who can open the Site Editor can republish.

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