Action is the common name for tasks such as copying, moving and deleting. You can perform actions on pages and other node types. Actions are available as buttons at the bottom of the AdminCentral page and in a context menu.

• Selecting
• Naming
• Character restrictions
• Refreshing
• Copying
• Moving
• Deleting
• Activating
• De-activating
• Exporting and importing
• Searching
• Versioning

Selecting

To select a node click on any of the elements in the row and it will be highlighted and remain selected until you select another. To deselect all, click Refresh.

Naming

The content in some columns can be changed in AdminCentral, for example the page name and title in Website and the URL and title in Documents.

To rename content:

1. Double click on the current information. A white text box appears.
2. Type the new information in the text box.
3. Click anywhere in the work area to save.

Character restrictions

Website content, documents, configuration and everything else is stored in the content repository. Each item is stored in a node. The node name is generally displayed in the first column in AdminCentral, for example the page name in the website workspace and document name in the documents workspace. Besides being an internal reference to the node, the name is also used for various purposes such to create a page URL.

Character restrictions apply only to node names and not to other user-entered content. For example, you can only use certain characters in a page name but any character in the page title. When a disallowed character is used it is automatically substituted with a hyphen ( - ).

The Path Java class governs character restrictions. All alphanumeric characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9), the hyphen ( - ) and the unscore ( _ ) are safe to use in node names. We recommend that you use lowercase letters seperated by a hyphen.

Specific characters are disallowed in node names for one or more of the following reasons:

• JCR 2.0 specification defines the following invalid characters in a local name.

Character	Name	Unicode
	Space	20
/	Solidus (forward slash)	2F
:	Colon	3A
[	Left square bracket	5B
]	Right square bracket	5D
|	Vertical line (pipe)	7C
*	Asterisk	2A

• Node names are used to create URLs and cannot contain characters that are disallowed or have special meaning in URLs. These conventions are established by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)) Network Working Group on URLs.

Character	Name	Unicode code point
;	Semicolon	3B
/	Solidus (forward slash)	2F
?	Question mark	3F
+	Plus sign	2B
%	Percent sign	25
!	Exclamation mark	21
#	Number sign (pound, hash)	23
^	Circumflex accent	5E

• Characters disallowed by Magnolia CMS.

Character	Name	Unicode code point
@	Commercial at	40
&	Ampersand	26
=	Equals sign	3D

Apart from the exceptions above, Magnolia CMS allows you to use the full UTF-8 character set for node names and other properties, but UTF-8 encoding is disabled by default. See Technical Guide > i18n and l10n for instructions on how to enable it. When enabled, all special characters and notations covered by the Unicode specification can also be used.

Refreshing

The work area reloads automatically after most commands. The Refresh command is useful for example to deselect all nodes and to collapse all expanded trees simultaneously. When you click Refresh the work area reloads and only first-level nodes display.

Copying

Nodes can be duplicated in AdminCentral.

To copy a node:

1. Select the node.
2. Click Copy. A duplicate name and icon attaches to the mouse pointer.
3. Drag the icon to the new location and click on it. To position the duplicate:
• As a sub node, click on the parent node.
• Between nodes, click on the solid line that appears when you point to the location.
4. The work area reloads and the duplicate is displayed in its new location.

Note the following about copying:

• Nodes can generally be copied to and from any location.
• Sub nodes, if any, are also copied and the duplicate has the same structure as the original.
• The name is identical to the original but in some instances an identifying numeral is added to avoid confusion. For example, where the duplicate is on the same level and in the same grouping, and when numerous copies are made.
• The status indicator of a copied node is red and it needs to be activated to be available on the public instance.
• The date of the duplicate and any sub nodes is the date of copying.

Moving

Nodes can be moved by dragging them to a new location.

To move a node:

1. Select the node.
2. Click Move. A duplicate name and icon attaches to the mouse pointer.
3. Drag the icon to the new location and click on it. To position the moving node:
• As a sub node, click on the parent node name.
• Between nodes, click on the solid line that appears when you point to the location.
4. The work area reloads and the moved node is displayed in its new location.

Note the following about moving:

• Nodes can generally be moved to and from any location.
• Sub nodes are also moved.
• The status indicator of a moved node is yellow and it needs to be activated to be available in the new location on the public instance.
• The modification date of a moved node and any sub nodes is the date of moving.

Deleting

To delete a node:

1. Select the node.
2. Click Delete.
3. Click OK in the warning dialog.
4. The work area reloads and the node is removed.

Note the following about deleting:

• Sub nodes are also deleted.
• If activated, the node is simultaneously removed from the public instance.

Activating

Activation is the process of publishing data to the public instance. Nodes are copied from the author to the public instance. Once activated, they are available on the public instance.

Magnolia CMS uses public-key cryptography to ensure the security of the activation process. For more information see Security > Activation.

The activation status is indicated in the Status column and there are three possibilities:

• Green: activated.
• Yellow: modified since activation.
• Red: never activated or de-activated.

The screenshots below compare the page structures in Website on the author and public instances. Note the absence of the un-activated pages and the entire Status column on the public instance.

Two commands relate to activation: Activate changes and Activate incl. sub pages/nodes. As the names imply, the first activates the selected node only, while the second activates the selected node and all sub nodes.

In Website, Documents and Data the activation procedure depends on whether a workflow is set up in the installation. If this is the case, nodes are not activated immediately and an activation request is sent to the appropriate inbox for approval. In all other areas activation is immediate.

To activate a node:

1. Select the node.
2. Click either Activate changes or Activate incl. sub pages/nodes.
3. This step depends on whether workflow is applicable:
• Where there is no workflow, the status indicator of the node/s changes to green and the node is made available on the public instance.
• Where there is a workflow:
• In Website and Documents an Edit dialog opens that allows for an activation comment and other information. Complete the fields and save.
• The Edit dialog is omitted in Data.
• A message dialog opens advising that workflow started. Click OK to return to the work area.
• The status indicator of the node/s will change to green when the request is approved.

For more information see Workflow.

De-activating

De-activation is the process of un-publishing or removing data from the public instance. Nodes remain available on the author instance for future use and modification. When you de-activate a node, the status changes to red and the node is removed from the public instance. When you de-activate a parent node, the children are of necessity also de-activated.

Like activation, in Website, Documents and Data the de-activation procedure depends on whether a workflow is set up in the installation. If this is the case, nodes are not de-activated immediately and a de-activation request is sent to the appropriate inbox for approval. In all other areas de-activation is immediate.

To de-activate a node:

1. Select the node.
2. Click De-activate.
3. This step depends on whether workflow is applicable:
• Where there is no workflow, the status indicator of the node changes to red and it is no longer available on the public instance.
• Where there is a workflow:
• In Website and Documents an Edit dialog opens that allows for a de-activation comment and date. Complete the fields and save.
• The Edit dialog is omitted in Data.
• A message dialog opens advising that workflow started. Click OK to return to the work area.
• The status indicator of the node will change to red when the request is approved.

For more information see Workflow.

Exporting and importing

Single nodes and entire structures can be imported into and exported from most work areas. There are various ways to import and export data in Magnolia CMS that are discussed in Import and export. This functionality is useful in many circumstances, for example when experimenting with different page structures and content, you can export the relevant node to XML and then delete it in Website. On import, the page structure and any content added to pages is recreated entirely. This function can also serve as an additional backup fail-safe.

The XML structure of exported file reflects the hierarchy of the data and the name of the file reflects the path. For example, if you export the entire contents of Website, the file will be named website.xml, whereas the demo-project/about/subsection-articles/article page will be named website.demo-project.about.subsection-articles.article.xml.

To export a node:

1. Select the node. If none is selected the entire contents of the work area is exported.
2. Click Export tree to xml.
3. Click OK in the message dialog.
4. Save the file to your computer.

To import a node:

1. Select the parent node. If none is selected the structure in the XML file is imported as a first-level node.
2. Click Import from xml.
• Browse to the file and select it.
• Click Import.
3. The node and children, if any, are imported into the work area.

Searching

Search is available in Website and Documents. The search box is located to the right of the command bar.

The search function is useful for locating specific content within your pages and files. The following is indexed for search:

• Website: Page names, titles, content, keywords and descriptions.
• Documents: URLs, titles, file meta data and document content.

Searching rules are:

• Capitalization: Searches are not case specific. For example, the term "nEWs", returns results containing "news", "News" or "NEWS".
• Multiple search terms: Only results containing all terms are included. Useful to narrow down searches.
• Specific phrases: When placed in quotation marks, only the exact phrase is returned.
• Excluding: Words preceded by a minus sign ( - ) are excluded. For example, "news -website", includes results containing the word "news", but excludes those that additionally contain the word "website".
• Common words: Common words such as "and", "where" and "how" are automatically excluded.
• Including: Words, including common words, are included if preceded by a plus ( + ) sign. For example, "news +how" will return results containing "news" and "how",
• Word variations: Derivatives are automatically included if they are extensions of the singular, while word shortenings are automatically excluded. For example, the singular “market”, returns both “markets” and “marketing”, but “goose” does not include “geese”. On the other hand, “markets” or “marketing” excludes results containing the word “market”.

Search results display in the search work area and the available options and procedures are discussed in Managing pages.

Versioning

Versioning is an Enterprise Edition feature. Versioning functionality is useful in many instances, for example when you want to display a different version of a page for a defined period, or if you simply decide that you prefer a previous version.

Versions are created on activation and de-activation in Website, and on activation only in Documents and Data.

Versions are automatically saved and can be reverted to as necessary. By default up to 10 versions are stored, but this number is configurable. See Version configuration.

In both editions versions are also created in Website and Documents for the purposes of restoring pages and files prior to deletion. See deleting and restoring pages.

To access versions:

1. Select the node.
2. Click Versions in the context menu.
3. The versions dialog opens.

In the versions dialog:

• Columns are included for the node name, date, user and comment.
• The Comment column contains the comment included in activation or de-activation workflow request, or automatically generated content in the case of deletions and restorations. Version comments are not applicable in Data.
• The gray panel on the right offers grouping and sorting options to the second level. Click User or Date to group and sort the results.
• Two commands are available in all areas: Click:
• Show to preview a page or open the DMS or Data Edit dialog. Pages display in the browser, but editing functionality is disabled.
• Restore to restore the selected version as the current version.

• In Website there are two additional commands. Click:
• Compare with current to compare the selected version with the current version.
• Compare with previous to compare the selected version with the prior version.

Compare with current and Compare with previous open the page in the browser and the differences between the versions are highlighted with the redlining feature. Additions are marked in green and deletions in red.

For more information about the redlining feature see the Diff module documentation.

Watch a video about this feature.