Content statuses
Topics move through a three-stage status workflow.
Status | Meaning | Badge color | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|
Draft | Work in progress — not finalized | Gray | Author is actively writing or editing |
Review | Ready for feedback — awaiting review | Amber | Content is complete enough for peer review |
Published | Finalized — approved and current | Green | Content has been reviewed and approved |
Allowed transitions
From | To | Who can change |
|---|---|---|
Draft | Review | Author, Admin |
Review | Published | Author, Admin |
Published | Review | Author, Admin |
Review | Draft | Author, Admin |
Published | Draft | Admin |
Status transitions are not gated — any Author or Admin can move a topic forward or backward in the workflow. The workflow is a team convention, not an enforced approval chain. Admins can additionally skip directly from Published back to Draft.
Changing status
Use the status dropdown in the topic editor header. The transition path is:
Draft → Review → Published
You can also move backward: Published → Review → Draft.
Status and publishing
Topic status is independent of publishing. All topics in a map are included when you publish, regardless of their status. Status is a workflow signal for your authoring team, not a publishing gate.
Because status does not control publishing, a topic marked "Draft" will still appear on your published site if it is included in the map. If you need to exclude work-in-progress content from output, use conditions rather than relying on status.
Status on the topics list
Status badges appear on the Topics listing page. Filter by status to find all drafts, all topics in review, etc.
See also
Content health and governance — use statuses alongside health indicators for comprehensive content governance
Content health indicators — automated checks for staleness, broken references, and structural issues
Create a review session — move topics to Review status and gather feedback from reviewers
Classify content with tags — combine status filtering with tags for targeted content audits