Published

In Drupal, a published item is live on the site. Editors see the status as the Published checkbox on the edit form, and code reads it from a boolean field on the entity. Turning it off makes the item unpublished: it is hidden from visitors without special access, but it is not deleted.

How published status works in Drupal 11

Entity types that support publishing implement EntityPublishedInterface. It declares three methods: isPublished(), setPublished() and setUnpublished(). NodeInterface extends it and defines the constants PUBLISHED (1) and NOT_PUBLISHED (0). On a node, the field is named status.

The field is labeled Published, it defaults to on, and it is revisionable and translatable. Each revision and each translation therefore carries its own status.

Visibility comes from the node access handler. For an unpublished node it grants access to the owner only when the account is authenticated and holds the View own unpublished content permission. The Bypass content access control permission overrides this, and so does View any unpublished content when Content Moderation is enabled. The Drupal user guide gives an example setup: all site visitors might be able to see published items, while only content creators and editors can see unpublished ones.

Changing the status needs Administer content or, since Drupal 11.3, the narrower Administer node published status permission. A content type sets the default under Structure › Content types: edit the type and open Publishing options, where Published is one of the Default options.

Example

An editor opens a page at Content, selects Edit and unchecks Published. After saving, the page stays in the database and remains editable, but visitors without special access can no longer view it. Checking the box again puts it back. The Content overview has a Published status filter and the bulk actions Publish content and Unpublish content.

Common mistakes

• Expecting the own-content permission to work for anonymous users. The access handler ignores it for anonymous visitors, so an author must be logged in.
• Using the checkbox on moderated content. Content Moderation sets the status from the moderation state and forbids edits to the Published field. The bulk Publish and Unpublish actions are swapped for versions that skip moderated items with a warning.
• Treating published as the same as the newest edit. A published page can have a newer draft that nobody outside the team can see.

For marketing and content teams

Unchecking Published lets you prepare a page without showing it to the public. On a site with an editorial workflow, you will see a state selector instead of a checkbox. Ask your site builder which model your site uses, and which role may publish.

Sources

• EntityPublishedInterface, Drupal API
• NodeInterface, Drupal API
• EntityPublishedTrait, Drupal core source (11.4.x)
• NodeAccessControlHandler, Drupal core source (11.4.x)
• Node permissions, Drupal core source (11.4.x)
• Drupal User Guide: Concept: Editorial Workflow
• Drupal.org: Content Moderation overview
• Content overview view, Drupal core source (11.4.x)