Content status: draft to published

Overview of ButterCMS content statuses from draft to published — understanding each status helps you manage your content workflow effectively.

In order to make changes to the status of a piece of content, you have to have the correct permissions assigned to your Role. Read more about default and custom roles and permissions.

Additionally, only users with an admin role can delete Pages and Collection items if localization is enabled.

Content statuses

ButterCMS content can exist in four different states:

Status	Visual Indicator	Description
Draft	🟡 Yellow date	Content saved but not published. Visible via preview function and by passing the preview parameter to the API
Scheduled	🔵 Blue date	Content set to publish automatically at a future date/time.
Published	🟢 Green date	Content is live and accessible via the API.
Published with Draft	🟢🟡 Green + Yellow	Two versions of this content exist; one that is published and returned by the API without the preview parameter, and the in-progress draft, which is available from the API with the preview parameter.

Understanding published with draft

You can have a page that is published with a draft version. For example, version 1 may already be published (indicated by a green checkmark), while version 2 is still being edited as a draft.

Publication workflow

For step-by-step tutorials on saving and publishing drafts, see managing drafts.

Step 1: Create content

An Admin configures your Page or Page Type template, setting up all content fields that editors will need access to. Then an Author (or higher authorization) creates a new Page or content item.

Step 2: Save as draft

The content is saved as a Draft (indicated by a yellow date). At this stage, the content can be previewed to see how it will look on your live site.

ButterCMS does not have an auto-save feature. Remember to save your work frequently.

Step 3: Review and publish

A Publisher or Admin reviews the content, makes any necessary updates, and can:

• Publish immediately - Content goes live right away
• Schedule for later - Set a future date/time for automatic publication

Status visibility

You can always view the current status of your content:

• In the content list - Status is shown as a colored date indicator
• In the editor - Status appears in the upper-right corner of the screen
• Via API - Use the preview=1 parameter to access draft content