Publishing & saving collection items

When you edit a Collection item (such as a publication, lab member, or news post), Webflow gives you several options for saving or publishing it. These controls apply only to that individual item, not the entire website.

This means you can publish, update, or unpublish one item at a time without affecting anything else on your site.

Publishing a Collection Item

When you finish editing an item:

1. Open the item in the Collection list.
2. After making your changes, click the Green Publish button.
   
   1. Make sure it is the button for the collection item, not the main blue publish button.
3. The item will go live immediately on your website.

This publishes just that item, not the entire site.

Unpublishing a Collection Item

If you want to temporarily remove an item from your live site:

1. Open the item.
2. Click the Unpublish option (visible for items that are currently live).

The item will no longer appear on your website, but it remains stored in your account and can be republished at any time.

Item Save States Explained

When editing or creating a Collection item, you’ll see several options:

1. Save as Draft

• The item is not published and not visible on your website.
• You can continue editing it later.
• Useful for items still being written or reviewed.

2. Stage for Publish

• Saves your changes and marks the item as ready to be published.
• The item will be included the next time you publish the entire site (using the Publish button in the Editor or Designer).
• Use this only if you're coordinating a batch of updates or want someone else to publish them later.

3. Publish

• Makes the item live immediately.
• Best for quick updates that don’t affect other parts of the site.

4. Unpublish

• Removes the item from your live website.
• Commonly used for outdated announcements, past lab members, or old resources.

5. Schedule

• This will allow you to schedule a specific time and date for the item to go live.
• This is useful for announcements.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Assuming item edits automatically go live
  You must publish the item for it to appear on the site.
• Using “Stage for Publish” accidentally
  If you choose this, the item won’t appear until the full site is published.
  If you want immediate changes, use Publish, not Stage for Publish.
• Deleting items instead of unpublishing
  Unpublishing hides an item but keeps the content.
  Deleting removes it permanently.

Extra Tips

• If you're making updates to many items at once, staging them and publishing everything together can help keep your site changes organized.