SharePoint Publishing

A SharePoint repository must be published before Document Central can upload documents to SharePoint. During publishing, Document Central creates the required SharePoint artifacts, such as metadata (site columns), content types, and document libraries and subsites.

Publishing can be executed in the background (recommended) from the repository card or directly from the related setup pages (Metadata, Content Types, Document Libraries, or Subsites).

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Each entry (metadata, content type, document library, subsites) has its own publishing state, for example Unpublished, Published, or Error.
Publishing is a required process for SharePoint repositories. Other repository types are excluded and do not require publishing.

Important

Please be sure that before publishing, every Metadata, Content Type and Document Library is correct configured.

Repository Configuration

On the Repository Configuration card, you can execute and monitor publishing. The fields in the Publishing group show the current session information and the overall publishing status of the repository. Use the actions to start publishing or to review issues if publishing fails.

Publish All

To publish the entire repository configuration, follow these steps:

Navigate through the Document Central - Administrator role center.
Open Repository Definition.
Select the repository by clicking its Code.
In the Publish group, choose Publish All.

Publish Queued

To publish only entries that are already queued for publishing, follow these steps:

Navigate through the Document Central - Administrator role center.
Open Repository Definition.
Select the repository by clicking its Code.
In the Publish group, choose Publish Queued.

Publishing by Wizard

To simplify the publishing process, Document Central allows you to run a wizard that guides you through the process. At the end of the wizard, publishing is executed.

To use the wizard, follow these steps:

Navigate through the Document Central - Administrator role center.
Open Repository Definition.
Select the repository by clicking its Code.
Use the Configure SharePoint action.

Error Handling

Error handling is separated between the repository configuration and the individual setup objects (Metadata, Content Types, and Document Libraries):

If an error occurs while publishing a specific entry, open the related record to review the error details.
If an error occurs before entries are processed (for example, metadata is not attempted), review the error on the Repository Configuration card.

To show the latest error for the repository, follow these steps:

Navigate through the Document Central - Administrator role center.
Open Repository Definition.
Select the repository by clicking its Code.
In the Troubleshooting group, choose Show Error.

Info

The Show Callstack action displays the call stack for the error. This information is useful when contacting Simova Support.

Stop Publishing if an Error Occurs

You can enable an option to stop publishing when an error occurs during the publishing process. When an error occurs, all administrator users will receive a notification.

To stop publishing if an error occurs, follow these steps:

Navigate through the Document Central - Administrator role center.
Open Repository Definition.
Select the repository by clicking its Code.
Enable the field Break Publish by Error.

Metadata

Publish Direct

Metadata publishing creates the required SharePoint columns for the selected metadata fields. Direct publishing is typically used for single metadata changes or when you want immediate feedback.

To publish metadata directly, follow these steps:

Navigate through the Document Central - Administrator role center.
Click on Repository in the ribbon bar and execute the action Metadata.
Select the metadata entry you want to publish.
Choose Publish to Repository in the Publishing action group.

Info

The Publish to Repository action is only available for SharePoint repositories.

Queue Entries

Queued publishing is recommended when you want to publish multiple entries without running the process immediately.

To queue metadata entries for publishing, follow these steps:

Navigate through the Document Central - Administrator role center.
Click on Repository in the ribbon bar and execute the action Metadata.
Select one or more metadata entries.
Choose Queue for Background Publish in the Publishing action group to queue them for publishing.

Once queued, publish the queued entries from the repository using Publish Queued (see Publish Queued).

Error Handling

If publishing fails for a metadata entry, open the metadata record and review the error details. After fixing the configuration, publish the entry again.

If you need to republish an entry that is marked as published, reset its status first:

Open the Metadata list.
Select the metadata entry.
Choose Reset Status in the Publishing action group.
Publish the entry again using Publish to Repository in the Publishing action group.

Content Types

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Publishing or queueing a content type also automatically publishes or queues the metadata that is assigned to the content type.

Publish Direct

Publishing content types creates the content types in SharePoint and publishes the assigned metadata fields.

To publish a content type directly, follow these steps:

Navigate through the Document Central - Administrator role center.
Click on Repository Setup in the ribbon bar and perform the action Content Types.
Select the content type you want to publish.
Choose Publish in Repository in the Publishing action group.

Info

If the content type is used in a document library, ensure it is added to the document library configuration before publishing.

Queue Entries

To queue content types for publishing, follow these steps:

Navigate through the Document Central - Administrator role center.
Click on Repository Setup in the ribbon bar and perform the action Content Types.
Select one or more content types.
Choose Queue for Background Publish in the Publishing action group to queue them for publishing.

Once queued, publish the queued entries from the repository using Publish Queued (see Publish Queued).

Error Handling

If publishing fails for a content type, open the content type record and review the error details. After resolving the issue, publish again.

If you need to republish content types that are already marked as published, reset the publication status:

Open Content Types.
Select the affected content type.
Choose Reset Status in the Publishing action group.
Publish again using Publish in Repository in the Publishing action group.

Document Libraries

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Publishing or queueing a document library also automatically publishes or queues the content types assigned to the library and their metadata that is assigned to the content type.

Publish Direct

Publishing a document library creates the library (and its structure) in SharePoint and publishes the assigned content types.

To publish a document library directly, follow these steps:

Navigate through the Document Central - Administrator role center.
Click on Repository in the ribbon bar and execute the action Document Libraries.
Select the document library you want to publish.
Choose Publish to Repository in the Publishing action group.

Queue Entries

To queue document libraries for publishing, follow these steps:

Navigate through the Document Central - Administrator role center.
Click on Repository in the ribbon bar and execute the action Document Libraries.
Select one or more document libraries.
Choose Queue for Background Publish in the Publishing action group to queue them for publishing.

Once queued, publish the queued entries from the repository using Publish Queued (see Publish Queued).

Error Handling

If publishing fails for a document library, open the document library record and review the error details. After fixing the configuration, publish again.

Some document library settings cannot be changed while the library is published. If you need to adjust settings and republish, reset the status first:

Open Document Libraries.
Select the affected document library.
Choose Reset Status in the Publishing action group.
Publish again using Publish to Repository in the Publishing action group.

Subsites

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In the Subsites view, document libraries that are in a subsite are also displayed. For each subsite (year), the status of the document library can be shown. However, on the Document Library list itself, only the status of the currently used subsite is represented.

Publish Direct

When cycle-based document libraries are used, Document Central will create yearly subsites and publish the document libraries into those subsites.

To create a subsite directly, follow these steps:

Navigate through the Document Central role center.
Use the search to open Document Central – Subsites.
Select the subsite entry you want to process.
Use the Publish Subsites action in the Process action section.

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If no subsites are present, use the Fill List from Configuration action.
The same publishing mechanism can also be used in the List section, where the document libraries are shown.

Queue Entries

Subsite processing supports queuing automatically.

To queue multiple subsite entries, follow these steps:

Navigate through the Document Central role center.
Use the search to open Document Central – Subsites.
Select the subsite entry you want to process.
Use the Set Queued for Creation action in the Process action section.

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If no subsites are present, use the Fill List from Configuration action.
The same publishing mechanism can also be used in the List section, where the document libraries are shown.

Error Handling

If a subsite entry fails, review its status and error details on the Document Central – Subsites page.

Use the following actions as needed:

Reset: sets the entry back to Not Created so it can be processed again.
Set Created: marks an existing SharePoint subsite as created.

Info

The same error handling mechanism can also be used in the List section, where the document libraries are shown.

Warning

Only use Set Created if you are sure the subsite already exists in SharePoint. Otherwise, this may cause inconsistencies.

State Explanation

The following table describes the different publishing states that can appear for metadata, content types, document libraries, and subsites:

State	Description
Unpublished	The entry has not been published to SharePoint yet. This is the initial state when an entry is created.
Queued for Publishing	The entry has been queued for publishing and will be processed when the next publishing job runs.
Publishing	The entry is currently being published to SharePoint. The publishing process is in progress.
Published	The entry has been successfully published to SharePoint and is now available in the repository.
Error	An error occurred during the publishing process. Review the error details on the entry to identify and resolve the issue.
Update Queued	The entry has been published and an update is queued. During the end of the next or current publishing run, Document Central retrieves required information from SharePoint before the state is set to Published.
Queued for Current Subsite Publishing	The entry has been queued for publishing to the current subsite. This state is specific to subsite-based document libraries.

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You can view the current state of any entry by opening its record in the respective list (Metadata, Content Types, Document Libraries, or Subsites). The state is displayed in the Publishing State field.