Convert legacy editor content
Convert legacy editor content
This step-by-step guide is intended to take web editors and admins at Warwick through the process of converting their existing SiteBuilder content from the legacy editors (the old "Classic" visual editor and raw editor) to the Components Editor.
Step 1: Identify pages you need to convert
As a first step, we recommend you download a site content report, which provides an overview your site, and lets you see which pages are still using the legacy editors. We suggest you focus on the following information. which will help you prioritise pages for conversion:
- The Page title and URL, and whether the page is Live (not deleted).
- Page visibility and Search Engines allowed, so you can identify the content visitors are most likely to see.
- Components Editor status. Pages with a
TRUEresult in this column already use the Components Editor, and won't need to be converted. - The Last modified date, to show currently-relevant content (or pages that might be in need of an update soon!).
- The content Type. Only SiteBuilder pages (those listed in the report as
text/html) are affected by this change - all other files, including forwarding pages, will remain as they are.
Reminder: Although we're retiring the legacy editors, nothing is going to happen to pages created with those editors. If you do nothing to a legacy editor page before the editors are retired, you will simply need to convert the page to the Components Editor the next time you want to edit.
At this stage, we recommend you focus on active, high-traffic pages that are either regularly updated, or that you expect will need to be updated in future.
Step 2: Bulk convert simple pages
If you have admin permissions on the site homepage, you have the option to bulk convert pages to the Components Editor.
This process is safe to perform on your live site - to ensure a high quality of conversion, this option only applies to pages below a certain complexity threshold. Pages with complex layouts or features will be labelled as Unable to convert - to deal with those, move on to step 3.
Step 3: Copy & convert complex pages
Before you move on to pages that can't be handled by bulk conversion, we recommend that you first make a copy of the page.
When making the copy, be sure to select the options to hide the copy from local navigation and search, and remove view permissions. This will ensure visitors don't stumble onto the copy while you're working on it.
Tip: We recommend you create the copy at the same level of your site as the original. This will ensure that relative links still work as expected when you copy updated content back to the original location.
Once the page has been copied, follow the instructions for how to convert a single page to the Components Editor.
Step 4: Recreate custom content
Some legacy editor pages use custom HTML or scripting to achieve more complex functionality - some of which are now standard features in the Components Editor, such as content tabs or accordions.
Converting these pages using the processes described above can be time-consuming, and it may be faster and more straightforward to start with a new blank page, and rebuild the content using content blocks and other available components. This will ensure that the page remains simple to update in future, and its content is as accessible as possible.
Tip: If your site commonly uses HTML or code to create the same kind of custom functionality, use the Editor Feedback form to let us know what problem(s) you're trying to solve this way - if the option doesn't exist in the Components Editor yet, we might be able to add it in a future update.
We also recommend you create the new page at the same level of your site as the original. This will ensure that relative links still work as expected when you copy updated content back to the original location.
Step 5: Copy updated content back to the original location
Once you're done converting or recreating a page, the Copy page contents feature enables you to overwrite the content of the original page with your updated version. This also converts the original page to the Components Editor, leaving its properties and permissions intact.
Note: The Copy page contents feature rewrites relative links to point to the source page's location. For this reason, we recommend that you create copies or new pages at the same level in your site tree, and double-check URLs after copying to make sure everything links to the correct location after copying page content.
Step 6: Delete copies
Once you've copied your converted content back to the original location, the copy page is probably no longer required - be sure to delete any pages you don't need.