Manage content items

XM Cloud Explorer lets you navigate a website entire content, create new content or new versions of existing content, and edit content items and publish them to make them available publicly.

In the top right of XM Cloud Explorer, you can see which project and which environment you are currently exploring.

On the toolbar, you can filter the content you want to display, based on language, type of website, or collection, for example.

You can also choose to display the content as cascading tiles or as a table .

View items as cascading tiles

In the left pane of Explorer, cascading lists let you browse all of your website's content. Each item is represented by a tile that includes the type of content (Collection, Site, Folder, or Content, for example) and the name of the item. You can also decide to show a thumbnail for the item, as well as information about the language and the workflow state for the item.

A tile in Explorer

The first column to the left lists the sites that exist in the environment and that you are authorized to see and edit. Click on the folders to open the next column until you reach the item you want to work with.

Note

In the left pane, only the three right-most columns are visible unless the user scrolls left.

Screenshot of XM Cloud Explorer with an item open in the editor view

To the right of the cascading lists, you can inspect and edit the selected item's Details, Content, and Version.

View items in a table

In table view, items are displayed as a traditional content tree, where a child item opens under a parent item. For each item, you have access to Rename, Duplicate, and Delete actions in the three dots menu at the end of the row.

You can decide to show a thumbnail for the item, as well as information about the language and the workflow state for the item in the table.

Click on an item in the list to inspect and edit the item's Details, Content, and Version in full view.

Work with language versions

An item might exist in various languages so it can show on a website in a specific language.

To work with a particular language version of an item:

  1. To see the language version(s) of an item as a label underneath the item or folder's name, in the Show drop-down menu, select the Languages check box.

  2. On the top toolbar, select the language of the website you want to work with.

  3. If the language version of the item does not exist yet, click Add this version.

When the item you want to work with is displayed in the editor in the relevant language version, you can edit it.

To add a language to your site so it is available in the language drop-down menu, go to the Content Editor.

Work with workflow states

Workflows are created and applied to content items by Sitecore admins in the Content Editor. When an item is assigned to an approval workflow, it can go through various workflow states. In Explorer, you can see which state an item is in, and you can move an item from one state to another.

To change the workflow state of an item:

  1. To see the workflow state of an item as a label underneath the item's name, in the Show drop-down menu, select the Workflow state check box.

  2. Click through the folders to find the correct item.

  3. In the editor view of the item, click Approve or Reject to change the item state. In a custom workflow, the action names might be different.

    Screenshot of an item awaiting approval

Display additional content

You can use the Show menu to show - or not - additional categories of items in the cascading lists.

For example, Sitecore websites created in the Content Editor or Sites have an out-of-the-box structure including folders and items that do not hold content but are responsible for the site configuration. These are called advanced items, and you can choose whether to display them in XM Cloud Explorer or not.

Similarly, in the Content Editor, sites are grouped in collections. A site collection can include public sites, such as the sites you publish for online delivery of content, and template sites, which are the templates you use to build new sites in Sites. You can choose to display in the cascading lists the entire site collection(s), or only the template sites.

Finally, you can choose to show hidden items.

Note

Hidden items are created in the Content Explorer by clicking Hide item on the Configure tab.

To show additional sites, folders, and items:

  • In the Show drop-down menu, select the Advanced items, Hidden items, Collections , or Template sites check boxes.

Show content items as thumbnails

To make searching for items easier, it is possible to see them as thumbnails in the cascading lists.

Note

You can create item thumbnails in the Content Explorer, in the Appearance standard field.

To see items as thumbnails:

  • In the Show drop-down menu, select the Thumbnails check box.

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