Question

I have a simple requirement to be able to setup and preview pages in advance. The pages are for publication on a particular day and are one-off publications. They must not be visible prior to publication.

How can I preview the item prior to publication without making anything public?

If I restrict the version (i.e. version 1) from being published, I still get a published page showing standard values i.e. version 0 of the item.

If I restrict the item from being published, I can no longer preview it. It seems that the preview function has a dependancy on the item being publishable.

Am I missing a trick here?

Update : I’m particularly interested in why I can’t preview the item when the item is restricted, as this is possibly the most intuitive restriction a user can use.

Answer 1

You can set a date restriction on the version or the item.

Then go to the preview mode and use the date selector to select a different date.

When you select a date that falls within the publication date range, your item will be visible in the preview.

Update:
As you’re particularly interested in previewing restricted items; it can be done if you setup a new site and point it to the master database instead of the usual web database.

This is explained in a blogpost by Mark Ursino.