Websites & CMS

Using the Draft and Publish Buttons

Control when your content goes live - and when it doesn’t.

Webflow gives you control over whether a CMS item is live on your site, being worked on, or saved for later. You’ll do this using the Draft and Publish features.

Here’s how they work.

Draft mode

When you start a new CMS item, it begins as a draft. You can also turn an existing live item into a draft if you want to remove it temporarily.

To save something as a draft:

  • Open the CMS item
  • Make your edits
  • Click Save as Draft

It won’t appear on your live site until it’s published.

Publishing content

When you’re ready to make your content live, hit Publish at the top right. The change will be pushed to your live site immediately.

You can also publish the whole site using the Publish button in the Editor toolbar - this will push any pending changes across all CMS items and pages.

Staged for publish

If you edit a live CMS item, Webflow will mark it as “Staged for publish.” This means it’s waiting for you to hit the publish button - nothing changes until you do.

You can review your changes and publish when you’re ready.

Keeping things tidy

It’s good practice to:

  • Archive posts you no longer need
  • Use drafts for work-in-progress
  • Only publish when you’ve checked everything looks right

Webflow won’t publish anything you haven’t approved - so you’re always in control.

Related articles in

Websites & CMS

Webflow Editor: A Quick Tour
Logging into Webflow
Editing Text and Images
Adding New Blog Posts
Managing Existing CMS Items
Using the Draft and Publish Buttons
Swapping Out Images (The Right Way)
Changing SEO Titles and Descriptions
Adding Links, Buttons, and PDFs
Undoing Changes Safely
Working With Video
Mobile vs Desktop Edits
Using the Asset Manager
What You Can Safely Edit
How to Request a New Page
Changing Your Domain
Using Site Search
Page Load Speed & Optimisation
Google Analytics & Tracking
Support