Unpublish content

Unpublishing removes the file Acrosite published for a content item from your GitHub repository. The item returns to a draft in Acrosite, with its content, history and media kept. This page explains what Unpublish removes, what it never touches, and when the page actually leaves your website.

Who this is for

Owners, Admins, Managers and Editors, the same roles that can publish. Other roles can see where an item is published but cannot unpublish it.

What Unpublish does

• It removes exactly one file: the file Acrosite manages for that item (the one it last published, or the file an imported Draft is linked to). The dialog shows its path, branch and repository before you confirm.
• It removes the file only if it is still the file Acrosite published. If the file was changed in the repository since then, Acrosite leaves it as it is and tells you.
• It makes one ordinary commit. It never force-pushes, never rewrites history and never touches another file. Images used by the item stay in the repository.
• The item returns to Draft in Acrosite. Nothing in Acrosite is deleted.
• An item imported from your repository and linked to its file is unpublished the same way: Unpublish removes that file, only if it is unchanged since the import.

Unpublish an item

1. Open the content item.
2. Under Published File, check the file, branch and repository shown.
3. Choose Unpublish, read the dialog and confirm.

Unpublish is unavailable while the item is scheduled or publishing. Cancel the schedule, or wait for publishing to finish, first.

When the page leaves your website

Removing the file does not take the page down by itself. Your website shows the page until its next deployment has finished.

• If your host deploys on every commit, that deployment starts on its own.
• If the project uses a deploy hook, Acrosite triggers it and tells you so.
• If the project deploys manually, deploy the website yourself.

Acrosite reports what it changed in the repository and whether a deployment was triggered. It does not track whether the deployment finished, so check your host if you need to be sure.

Changing the address of a published item

Changing the slug of a published item changes nothing on your website until you publish again. The item's Published File panel and the commit plan both show the old and the new path.

When you publish, Acrosite adds the file at the new path first, then removes the old file in a second commit, under the same rule as Unpublish: only if it is still the file Acrosite published. If the old file cannot be removed safely it stays in your repository, so the old address can keep working, and the item shows it as an old file with a Remove Old File action.

Archive, Trash and deletion do not unpublish

Archiving an item, moving it to Trash, deleting it, archiving or deleting its project, or deleting the workspace never removes a published page. The dialogs warn you when a published file would stay online. Unpublish first if the page should go.

Troubleshooting

• There is no Published File panel. Acrosite has no record of a published file for the item. Items that were never published, or were published before Acrosite kept this record, cannot be unpublished from Acrosite; remove the file in the repository yourself.
• The file was changed in the repository. Acrosite left it alone. Remove it in the repository, then choose Unpublish again so the item returns to a draft.
• GitHub refused the change. Branch rules may block direct commits to the branch. Remove the file through your own pull request, then choose Unpublish again.
• The project now uses a different repository or branch. Acrosite does not remove files from a repository or branch the project no longer publishes to. Remove the file there yourself.

Next steps

• What happens when you publish
• Content slugs
• Archive, Trash and restore