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Updating a released topic

Your content changes all the time, but some changes lead to another version of the content, so that the old version remains available. Here is how it happens in everyday authoring tasks.

Before you begin

This task requires that you opened a publication in Publication Manager, and this publication contains at least one released topic.

About this task

Topics, maps, images and resources all have a status (publications also have a status but it behaves differently). The status can have any name, but it can be categorized as one of two types: the Draft type and the Released type. In the draft situation, you can modify the content any number of times, the new content will replace the old one. Then someone, possibly a publication coordinator, decides that this content must not change anymore and must be published as is with the appropriate version of the documentation. The object (topic, map, etc.) is therefore set to a released status, and can no longer be modified. Any further change of this content requires the creation of a new version or a new branch for the object.

How to change the status of an object is described in Getting started: publication management.

In Publication Manager you can easily spot the objects that are released. A tick in a green circle appears at their left.

Procedure

  1. Select the released topic you want to update, right-click on its name and select Check Out. Before the topic opens in your favorite XML editor, a dialog presents you with a choice.
  2. Select the desired option.
    • Create a new version? If you are checking out a version 1 released topic, choosing this option will create a version 2 and open it in your XML editor. Any change you make then will be saved in a version 2 of the topic and leave the old content untouched in the version 1.
    • Create a new branch? If you are checking out a version 1 released topic, choosing this option will branch the version. This creates a version 1.1.1 of the topic and open it in your XML editor. Any change you make then will be saved in a version 1.1.1 of the topic and leave the old content untouched in the version 1. You are still able to create a verison 2 of the topic later on. The details of the branching behavior are described in the Tridion Docs documentation.
  3. Make your changes and check the topic back in.
  4. In Publication Manager, select the topic you changed and check in the top right-hand pane that the correct version of this topic is selected.
  5. Save the publication by using the Save icon in the top left tool bar.

Results

Now the version of the publication you are working with references the new version or branch of the topic that you have just created. The same procedure applies to maps. If you create new versions for topics that are included in a released map, you will first need to create a new version or branch for the map. For this, follow Publication Manager's instructions.

The new version or branch is automatically selected by your publication because it has been created from the publication itself (you selected a topic from the publication tree). If the version or branch is created in the Repository outside the context of a publication, the publication will not jump to the new version or branch, you will need to select it manually.