When a page has reached the end of its useful life, you should unpublish it and eventually delete it.
In this article:
- Before Unpublishing a Page
- Unpublishing a Page
- Consider Redirecting the Page
- Deleting a Page
- Additional Information
Before Unpublishing a Page
- Check for referring links.
- Communicate with stakeholders such as the web content teams to let them know your plans for the page in case they have processes that include the use of that page that may need to be adjusted.
Unpublishing a Page
- Log into the Technology Help Website (it.umn.edu/saml_login).
- Find the page you want to archive.
- Select Edit.
- Edit the content to indicate that the page is being archived:
- Add a reason for archiving to the beginning of the Body. For example:
- Archived: Technology no longer supported
- Archived: Information obsolete
- Add a reason for archiving to the beginning of the Body. For example:
- Enter a note in the Revision log message field that the page is being unpublished.
- Scroll to the bottom and un-check the checkbox next to Published to unpublish the page.
- Select Save.
Consider Redirecting the Page
It is helpful to create a redirect when retiring a webpage. This helps users that have old bookmarks or saved URLs get directed to updated information.
The IT@UMN Site Data Usage site allows you to view traffic information on individual it.umn.edu webpages. If a page gets a lot of traffic then it may be helpful to our users to redirect the page's URL to alternate information (another Drupal page or Knowledge Article) after it is retired.
For more information, see: Redirect a Page.
Deleting a Page
After a page is archived for an appropriate period of time it may be time to delete the page. View guidance on when a page should be deleted.
Content editors are not able to directly delete a page. You will need to submit a request. To request a page or collection of pages be deleted, fill out an OIT Digital Content and Communications Request.