Schedule page changes
You can schedule changes to a page to publish at a specific time in the future instead of immediately. This feature is useful for cases such as:
- Publishing lecture notes on a module web page automatically after the appropriate lecture takes place.
- Publishing problem sheet answers automatically after a submission deadline.
- Preparing notes and lecture material in advance (say, during vacation), and scheduling changes for the appropriate time during the term; you can schedule multiple changes to the same page.
Note: If you want to a link to a file as part of a scheduled change - for example, a Word document of lecture notes - you must upload the file first.
In this article:
Types of scheduled change
There are three types of change you can schedule:
- Content: Edit centre, right-hand or surrounding content
- Page properties: Change visibility of the page in local navigation or search.
- Permissions: Add or remove page permissions
Note: you need admin permissions for the page concerned to schedule a change. Once an administrator has created the change, they can define an editor to update the same page, if necessary.
Create a scheduled change
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Browse to the page you want to schedule changes for.
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Go to Edit > More:
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Under Manage content, select Schedule changes:
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SiteBuilder displays a list of any existing changes scheduled for the page:
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Select Create a new set of changes.
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You see the Create a scheduled change screen:
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Enter a Description of the change. Make sure you provide enough information for others to understand what the change covers.
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The Change owner is the person who appears in the scheduled changes list. By default, this is the person creating the change, but you can clear the box and choose someone else. This is useful if you want someone else to be able to edit the content of the scheduled change. Note that the change owner is the person who is notified when the scheduled change occurs.
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Specify the Scheduled date of change and Scheduled time of change. There are five defined times to choose from: 4am, 8am, 12 noon, 4pm and 8pm.
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Select Create scheduled change to return to the list of scheduled changes.
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Under Possible changes, select the link for the type of change you want to schedule:
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Change the main page content
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Change the right-hand side content (old visual editor only)
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Change the page permissions or properties
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If you select to change main or right-hand content, the page opens in the editor. Make the required changes as normal, then select Publish.
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If you select to change permissions or properties, you see the Schedule permission & property changes screen:
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To add or remove permissions from the page:
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Use the radio buttons to specify the person or web group you want to update permissions for, and the permission type you want to grant.
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Select the appropriate button to add or remove the selected permissions:
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Add permission to page: Add permission to the current page
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Add permission to page & sub-pages: Add permission to the current page and all pages below
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Remove permission from page: Remove permission from the current page
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Remove permission from page & sub-pages: Remove permission from the current page and all pages below
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To change the page's visibility in local navigation and search engines, select or deselect the appropriate checkboxes, then select the Update properties button.
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Each change you schedule is added to the Included permission changes or Included property changes box on the right, as appropriate. When you're finished scheduling changes, select Done.
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You're returned to the Scheduled changes screen, with the details of your new scheduled change displayed in the list.
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Select Done to return to the Current page tab in SiteBuilder. A banner at the top of the page alerts you of pending changes, and any aspects of the page with scheduled changes are marked with a There are scheduled permissions changes for this page icon:
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Select Done to return to the published page.
Manage scheduled changes
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Browse to the page you want to schedule changes for.
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Go to Edit > More:
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Under Manage content, select Schedule changes:
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You see a list of any existing changes scheduled for the page:
Tip: Select the (preview) link for an entry to see what changes are scheduled to page content.
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To delete a scheduled change:
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Locate the scheduled change you want, then select the Remove from schedule button:
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You see a confirmation screen with a summary of the scheduled change you're deleting:
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Select Delete scheduled edit.
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To alter the Description, Change owner or date and time of a scheduled change:
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Locate the scheduled change you want to modify, then select the Edit schedule button:
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Enter the updated information as when Creating a new scheduled change.
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To edit the type of changes that will be made:
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Locate the scheduled change you want, then select the link for the type of change you want to alter:
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Change the main page content
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Change the right-hand side content (old visual editor only)
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Change the page permissions or properties
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Make the required changes, as when Creating a new scheduled change.
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To apply a scheduled change immediately, instead of waiting for the selected date and time to arrive, select Apply now:
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Select Done.
