Restrictions on promotion and demotion
Promoting or demoting a content item is not always possible, for a number of reasons.
- The user does not have permission to perform the operation (for example, the user has no write access to the target Publication).
- The user does not have permission to delete the item in the current Publication.
- The content item is currently checked out.
- The content item is currently in workflow.
- The content item depends on another item that does not exist in the target Publication (for example, a Page to promote lives in a Structure Group that does not exist in the target child Publication).
- A content item with the same name exists in the target Publication in the same organizational item (that is, in the same Folder, Structure Group or Category).
- The content item is not a shared item in its target Publication.
- The content item has been published in its original context.
- The shared item in the target Publication has local application data associated with it.
- The item to demote is an organizational item and is not empty.
- The content item is the root Structure Group of the Publication.
- The content item is a Page that is being used as a Page Type. This is true if Use this Page as a Page Type is selected on the General tab of the Page).
- The content item is a Component, Schema, Component Template or Folder that is in use by a Content Type. This is true if the Publication's Content Types tab contains a Content Type that references this Component (as a Prototype Component), Schema (as a Prototype Component Schema), Folder (as a Storage Location) or Component Template.
- The content item is used by another content item (possibly by an older version of that content item) in its original context. For example, the Format Area of a Component references the Component you are attempting to demote.
The two lists above enumerate the most common scenarios in which promotion or demotion is impossible. These lists are not exhaustive; with enough imagination, you can produce more (unlikely) scenarios that would prohibit promotion or demotion.
For example, imagine the (unlikely) scenario in which the same Folder exists on two different BluePrint levels, but has a different linked Schemas on each level. In this setup, a Component with the correct Schema in the current Publication could not be promoted or demoted to the target Publication because it would have the wrong Schema for the Folder.
Exhaustively listing all of these kinds of rare scenarios would be counterproductive. If you see that a promotion or demotion fails, and none of the listed reasons apply, examine the error message description to determine why the operation failed.