When to Use
- You found an error in a published article and want to correct it without the client seeing the edits happening.
- You want to take an article offline temporarily but keep it as active content in editing.
- You want to stop displaying an article without archiving it.
How It Works
Why It’s Not the Same as Archiving
Archiving sends the article to retired content. Unpublishing returns the article to draft, so it remains in the editing queue. It’s the difference between retiring and temporarily taking it offline.
This solves a practical problem: the editor automatically saves after each change. Previously, fixing a wrong article meant editing it while it was live, and each keystroke was immediately visible to the client.
Step-by-Step
Step 1 — Open the Published Article
Go to the Help Center, select the portal and language, and open the article.
Step 2 — Unpublish
There are two ways, both doing the same thing:
- The menu next to the Publish button at the top of the editor.
- The article’s settings sidebar.
Step 3 — Undo if Done by Mistake
After unpublishing, a success message appears with an Undo option, available for 8 seconds, which republishes the article. After that, just publish normally again.
How It Works (Effects)
Unpublishing is not just cosmetic. Three things happen simultaneously:
- The article is removed from the "Most Read" widget immediately.
- The article search in support no longer shows unpublished articles. This prevents agents from sending clients links to articles that have become 404.
- Unpublished translations of the article are removed from public content.
Preview an Article Not Online
You can open a preview of a draft article via a temporary link: it’s valid for 2 hours and not indexed by search engines. Use it to review or send to someone for checking before publishing.
Notes
- An unpublished article responds with a 404 on the public portal for anyone without the preview link.
- Preview counts as no views, so reviewing does not affect your article metrics.
- Unpublishing does not delete anything: text, category, and position remain as they were.