Understanding Drafts and Autosave

Overview

ArtSites automatically saves your work as a draft while you edit. This means you never lose changes if you accidentally leave the page, close a browser tab, or lose your internet connection.

How Drafts Work

  • When you make changes in the editor, they are automatically saved as a draft
  • The draft is your working copy: separate from the published version of your page
  • Visitors see the published version until you explicitly publish your changes
  • You can close the browser and come back later; your draft will still be there

Draft vs Published

Draft Published
Who sees it Only you (in edit mode) All visitors
When it's created Automatically while editing When you click Publish
Can be discarded Yes, anytime No (but you can restore previous revisions)
Overwriteable Yes, new edits overwrite the previous draft No, each save creates a new revision

Publishing Your Changes

When you're satisfied with your edits:

  1. Review your changes in the editor
  2. Click Publish in the editor toolbar
  3. Your draft becomes the new published version
  4. A revision snapshot is created so you can revert later if needed

Discarding Changes

If you want to throw away your current draft:

  1. Click Discard in the editor toolbar
  2. Confirm the action
  3. Your page reverts to the last published version

Unpublished Changes

When you have draft changes that haven't been published yet, the Publish and Discard buttons in the toolbar become active. This reminds you to either publish or discard before leaving edit mode.

This "draft" is your unsaved working copy, not a visibility status. It's separate from whether the page itself is Public, Unlisted, or Hidden. A Hidden page can have unpublished changes waiting to be published, just like a Public one: the two work independently of each other.

Tips

  • Autosave happens frequently; you don't need to manually save your draft
  • Drafts are per-page, so you can have different unsaved changes on different pages
  • If you return to a page with a pending draft, you'll be prompted to continue editing or discard
  • The draft system is a safety net, not a publishing mechanism; always click Publish when you're ready for visitors to see your changes

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