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Publish for multiple audiences

By the end of this tutorial, you'll Publish a web site two versions of the same documentation from a single source — one for administrators and one for end users — using conditions and variables.

Before you begin

What you'll build

A three-topic guide that shows admin-only content to admins and hides it from regular users. Variables swap out the product name and support URL so each audience sees their own values.

Set up conditions

Conditions define the dimensions along which your content varies.

  1. Go to Filters in the sidebar.

  2. Click New Dimension and name it "Audience."

  3. Add two values: "Admin" and "End User."

Each value gets a distinct color — these colors appear in the editor to show which content is conditioned.

Set up variable sets

Variables hold values that differ between Publication target settings — like product names, URLs, or version numbers.

  1. Go to Variables in the sidebar.

  2. Create a Create variable sets called "Admin Edition."

  3. Add these key-value pairs:

  4. Create a second variable set called "End User Edition" with:

The two sets as JSON:

{
  "product_name": "Acme Pro Admin Console",
  "support_url": "https://admin-support.acme.com"
}
{
  "product_name": "Acme Pro",
  "support_url": "https://support.acme.com"
}

Both variable sets must contain the same keys (product_name and support_url). If a key is missing from one set, the raw key name appears in the published output for that target.

Write conditioned content

  1. Go to Topics and create a topic called "Dashboard Overview."

  2. Write a paragraph that applies to everyone: "The dashboard shows your recent activity and key metrics."

  3. Below it, write a paragraph intended only for admins: "The admin panel at the top provides access to user management, audit logs, and system configuration."

  4. Select that admin-only paragraph.

  5. Click the condition button in the toolbar.

  6. Choose the "Audience" dimension and select "Admin."

The paragraph is now wrapped in a colored conditional block labeled "Audience: Admin." End users won't see it.

Insert variables

  1. In the same topic, type "Welcome to " then place your cursor.

  2. Type / and select Variable. Pick product_name from the picker.

  3. A styled pill appears showing the variable key. At publish time, it resolves to the value from the selected Create variable sets.

  4. Add another variable reference for support_url in a "Need help?" sentence.

You can also use the Editor slash commands /variable to insert a variable token without reaching for the toolbar.

Preview conditions in the editor

  1. Click the eye icon in the editor toolbar to open Preview conditioned content.

  2. Select "Audience: Admin" to see the full content including the admin paragraph.

  3. Switch to "Audience: End User" — the admin paragraph disappears from the preview.

This lets you verify conditioned content without publishing.

Create two more topics

  1. Create "Account Settings" — add general content plus an Admin-conditioned section about managing other users' accounts.

  2. Create "Getting Help" — use the support_url variable so each audience sees their own support link.

Build a map and publish two targets

  1. Go to Maps and create a Create and organize a map called "Product Guide."

  2. Add all three topics.

  3. Create two publication targets:

Admin Docs (Web):

  • Condition profile: Audience = "Admin"

  • Variable set: "Admin Edition"

{
  "Audience": ["Admin"]
}

End User Docs (Web):

  • Condition profile: Audience = "End User"

  • Variable set: "End User Edition"

{
  "Audience": ["End User"]
}

  1. Publish a web site both targets.

Compare the results

Open both published sites. The Admin version shows all content including the admin-only sections, with "Acme Pro Admin Console" as the product name. The End User version hides the admin sections and shows "Acme Pro" with the standard support URL.

Both sites are generated from the same source topics. When you update a topic, republishing updates both variants.

After editing a conditioned topic, always republish all targets that use that topic. If you only republish one target, the other targets show stale content until they're republished too.

What you learned

  • Conditions control which content blocks appear per audience, platform, or any dimension you define

  • Variables substitute different values (names, URLs, versions) per publication target

  • Preview conditioned content lets you check audience-specific content without publishing

  • Each publication target selects a condition profile and variable set

  • One source produces any number of output variants

Next: Collect feedback from reviewers to learn how to get subject matter expert input before publishing.

See also

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