This module expands on Backdrop's core revision handling to support a draft workflow — the ability to create and manage unpublished draft versions of content that is already published.
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This "Current" revision is the version that site visitors will see when they visit your website.
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This version contains changes to the "Current" version that are not yet visible to site visitors. When this revision is ready, you can make it or any other revision your "Current" revision.
The draft workflow is off for every content type until you turn it on. After installing the module, turn it on for the content types that need it, either:
- on the settings page, Admin > Configuration > Content authoring > Draft
Workflow (
admin/config/content/draft-workflow), or - on each content type: Admin > Structure > Content Types, Edit, the Revision settings tab, then check Enable draft workflow.
Then give your editors and publishers the module's permissions (see Permissions below). Content types without the draft workflow keep core's normal revision behaviour.
Sites that used an earlier version of the module keep the draft workflow on for
their existing content types when they run update.php.
There are two ways to start a draft:
- From the Edit tab: open the Revision information section, check Save as a draft, and save. Your changes are saved as a new draft revision, and the current revision stays as it is. While this box is checked, the publishing options, URL settings and authoring information are hidden, because they belong to the content as a whole, not to a draft. On published content, the Edit tab is only available to people with the Publish and unpublish content permission (see Permissions below).
- From the Revisions tab: use Copy current revision, or Copy this revision on any revision. This works for everyone who can create drafts.
After saving a draft, you land on the draft itself, with a message saying it is not yet the current revision, and whether it is marked ready for review.
The draft forms (Copy and Edit this revision) have no Preview button. Saving a draft does not change the live content, and shows you the saved draft, so use Save to preview. If it needs more work, use Edit this revision. (Core's preview page saves through the regular edit form, which would lose the draft's settings.)
Navigate to the Revisions tab on any node to manage its revisions. From there you can:
- Publish or unpublish the content using the buttons at the top of the page.
- Copy the current revision to create a new draft without affecting what is currently live.
- View, edit, or copy any revision using the action links in the revisions table.
- Make any revision the current revision — the version site visitors will see.
When editing or copying a non-current revision, the publishing options, URL settings and authoring information are hidden, because they belong to the content as a whole, not to a draft. Instead, a single "Make this the current revision" checkbox is available in the Revision information section. The draft form has no button that deletes the whole content: when editing a saved draft, Delete this draft deletes only that revision (this needs core's Delete revisions permission).
Good to know:
- Published or not is a setting of the content, not of a revision. Saving a draft never publishes or unpublishes the content.
- The URL alias follows the current revision. Changing a draft's title does not change the page's URL until the draft is made current.
- If you open the regular Edit tab while a newer draft exists, a message warns you, with a link to edit the latest draft instead.
When a draft is finished, check Ready for review when saving it (on the draft forms, or next to "Save as a draft" on the Edit tab). Drafts that are ready for review are marked on the Revisions tab. The mark is removed when the box is unchecked, or when the draft, or a newer revision, becomes current, since the draft has then been overtaken. A save on the Edit tab, a revert, or a copy made current is always the newest revision, so it removes the marks on all drafts. Only drafts newer than the current revision can be marked.
The module provides two lists, each shown as a tab on the Content page:
- Drafts (
admin/content/drafts): all content with drafts newer than the current revision, with the latest draft note, and a Review column for content with a draft that is ready for review. - Ready for review (
admin/content/ready-for-review): only content with a draft that is marked ready for review.
Both are views, so a site can turn either one off, or change it, in the Views UI (Admin > Structure > Views). The settings page shows which ones are enabled. Each list has a matching block, Drafts and Ready for review, with a count and a link to the list. Add them to a dashboard or admin layout. The lists and blocks need the View pending draft revisions permission.
On sites that installed the module before these lists were renamed, the Drafts list
is still called Pending Review, and has no Review column: views are not changed
automatically, since sites may have changed them. Add the "Ready for review" field in
the Views UI if you want it. The Ready for review list is added by update.php.
Go to Admin > Configuration > Content authoring > Draft Workflow
(admin/config/content/draft-workflow) to:
- Turn the draft workflow on or off for each content type.
- Turn on Prominent revision info for each content type (see below).
- See which content types email reviewers (set on each content type; see below).
- Set the module's permissions for each role.
The page requires the Administer content types permission. The permissions table is only shown to people who also have Administer permissions. All of these settings are also available on each content type's edit page and on the main Permissions page.
The module defines four permissions that allow you to separate editorial roles:
| Permission | Description |
|---|---|
| Create draft revisions | Create new draft revisions and edit existing draft revisions. |
| Activate draft revisions | Make a draft revision current on an unpublished node. |
| Publish and unpublish content | Publish and unpublish nodes; also required to activate revisions on already-published nodes, since doing so changes what is publicly visible. |
| View pending draft revisions | See the Drafts and Ready for review lists and their blocks. |
Core's Administer content permission allows all of these actions, whatever these permissions are set to. The settings page names the roles that have it. Give it only to roles that should be able to publish.
A typical two-role setup might look like:
- Editor: Grant Create draft revisions and View pending draft revisions.
- Publisher: Grant all four permissions.
New content created by people without Publish and unpublish content is always saved unpublished, even when the content type is published by default. A publisher can then publish it from the Revisions tab.
Important: Saving the regular edit form makes your changes the current, live version, so people without Publish and unpublish content cannot open the Edit tab of published content. They work from the Revisions tab instead: copy or edit a draft revision, mark it ready for review, and leave it for a publisher to make current.
By default, revision information appears inside the sidebar tabs on the content editing form. If your editorial workflow relies heavily on revisions, you can make this section always visible by enabling a per-content-type setting:
- Go to Admin > Structure > Content Types.
- Click Edit for the content type you want to configure.
- Open the Revision settings tab.
- Check Display revision information prominently.
When enabled, the revision information fieldset will appear above the sidebar tabs on all editing forms for that content type, making it immediately visible without requiring an extra click.
This setting also works for content types that don't use the draft workflow. It is shown when Enable option to create revisions is checked.
The module can email reviewers when a draft is marked ready for review. This is set for each content type that uses the draft workflow (the setting is shown when Enable draft workflow is checked):
- Go to Admin > Structure > Content Types and click Edit for the content type.
- Open the Revision settings tab.
- Check Email reviewers when a draft is ready for review.
- Choose one or more Reviewer roles. Only roles with the Activate draft revisions or Administer content permission are listed.
Each active person in those roles gets an email with links to the draft and to the Revisions tab. The person who marked the draft ready for review is not emailed, and saving the draft again while it stays marked does not send another email. To open the draft from the email, reviewers also need core's View content revisions permission.
Install the Diff module to enable side-by-side comparisons between revisions. When Diff is active, a Diff link appears in the revisions table, letting editors and reviewers quickly see exactly what changed between a draft and the current live version.
The Rules module is optional. When it is enabled, this module provides:
- An event, A draft is marked ready for review, with the draft revision and the person who marked it, for sites that want their own notifications or other actions.
- A default rule, Draft Workflow: email reviewers when a draft is ready for review. It is disabled by default and emails the Administrator role. Enable it and change the role in the Rules UI. Note that, unlike the built-in email, Rules' "Send mail to all users of a role" action also emails blocked accounts and the person who marked the draft.
If a rule reacts to this event while a content type also has Email reviewers turned on, a warning appears on the content type form and the settings page, because reviewers may get two emails. Turn off one or the other.
hook_draft_workflow_review_requested($node, $account) is invoked once when a draft
is marked ready for review. See draft_workflow.api.php.
- Install this module using the official Backdrop CMS instructions at https://docs.backdropcms.org/documentation/extend-with-modules.
- Turn on the draft workflow for your content types (see Getting started above).
Bugs and Feature Requests should be reported in the Issue Queue: https://github.com/backdrop-contrib/draft_workflow/issues.
- Joseph Flatt
- Tim Erickson (@stpaultim).
This project is GPL v2 software. See the LICENSE.txt file in this directory for complete text.