Publish your content

After structuring and developing your content in Inspire, you can publish components in a format your customers can read. You can select a transformation configuration provided by Inspire or use your own plug-in to transform DITA content into formats such as PDF and HTML output.

An Inspire administrator can define at the user and role level whether the Publish action is available.

    • By default, only administrators can publish content in Inspire.
    • If a user is an administrator or has been added to the can_publish module property, that user can publish in the following places:
      • Content Browser — from the right-click menu, the Options menu, and the Selected components panel
      • Projects — from the right-click menu, the Options menu, and the Selected components panel
      • Publishing — for a publishing Profile from the right-click menu, and the Options menu
    • The ability to publish from a snapshot is not affected by this module property.

If you have changed any default notification settings, before you publish content, make sure you have configured your publishing notifications if you want to see them.

Follow the steps in Set notification preferences for publishing.

A new notification preference has been added:

  • Notify when a publishing request is queued

By default:

  • Existing users don't have this new notification feature selected. This means that they are not notified in Inspire, email, or Slack if a job is queued when they send a component to be published.

    There is a known issue with this new notification feature. Existing users can't publish until they select at least one option for the new Notify when a publishing request is queued notification:

    1. In the top right corner of the Inspire menu bar, click the Settings option.
    2. On the Notifications screen, scroll down to the Publishing notification settings, and in the grey title bar, select On if it isn't selected.
    3. In Notify when a publishing request is queued, select at least one option, such as In-app.
    4. Click Save.

      Results:

      • Existing users can now publish.
      • Existing users can go back to Settings and clear the options for Notify when a publishing request is queued if they don't want to receive the notification. Clearing the options for this notification will no longer impact an existing user's ability to publish.
  • New users will have this feature checked by default and are notified when they send a component to be published.

FAQs

I'm using profiling attributes, how do I produce the version I need?

  • You can choose filtering options when you publish content that you've assigned profiling attributes to.
  • To learn about applying profiling attributes, read Use profiling attributes.
  • The filtering options you use are explained in the publishing steps.

How do I publish a previous version of a component?

  • If you have a snapshot of a previous version, you can use the Publish option from the snapshot's context menu.
  • You can use the filtering options when you publish a snapshot to re-create a version you published in the past.

    You may not be able to re-create a previous version if any of the following changes occur:

    • If content was removed from Inspire, the content may not appear in the deliverable, whether you use filtering or not.

    • If your stylesheets change, the deliverable won't look the same as it did before.

  • Follow the steps in Publish a previous version from a snapshot.

What publishing configurations does Inspire provide?

When you want to publish content from the Components browser you can tell Inspire how to transform it using two options:

  • Publish Configuration—You use this new option to identify the publish settings you want to use. This configuration is created by an administrator and may include settings such as:
    • A default Publish Name
    • Skip or validate XML in the components you want to publish
    • Profiling filters
    • Optionally, an administrator can also specify which Export Configuration (Publish) option to use.

      The same settings on the Publish Component screen can also be set by an administrator in the Publish Configuration.

      • If you select options on the Publish Component screen, your settings are used even if they are in conflict with the Publish Configuration that an admin creates.
      • If you select options on the Publish Component screen that don't conflict with the Publish Configuration that an admin creates, then both sets of options are used.
  • Export Configuration (Publish)—You use this option as you normally would, to run the actual export process for publishing content. For example, you can choose options similar to:
    • PDF
    • HTML
    • Zoomin

    The user's configuration choice is used to create the output, even if it is in conflict with the Export Configuration (Publish) set in the Publish Configuration by an administrator.

  • For some customers, Inspire provides a Publish Configuration and a publishing plug-in for DOCX.
    • DOCX is the file format used by Microsoft Word to store documents.
    • If the DOCX publishing option is supported for your organization, when you publish a component, on the Publish Component screen, you can select the Publish Docx option.
    • If published successfully, you can download a deliverable in the DOCX file format that you can open in Microsoft Word.

Do I have to validate my XML content?

  • You can choose to optionally validate content before you publish.
  • Keep in mind that your publishing job might fail if Inspire can't generate a valid XML document.

Can I create a publishing job to use over and over again?

You can create publishing profiles to make it easier to re-publish content.

  • A publishing profile lets you specify a component, a default Publish Name, an export configuration, filters, and XML validation options once so that you can use it repeatedly.
  • To learn more about publishing profiles, read Work with publishing profiles.
  • If you want to re-run a job you've already published without changing any of the details, you can also open Publish Server. Just select the job and click Re-run publish .

Can I import the published deliverable back into Inspire automatically?

Yes. When you select publishing options on the Publish Component screen, select Create Attachment.

After the publishing job completes successfully:

  • A copy of the published deliverable is imported back into Inspire automatically as a binary file.
  • Inspire saves the deliverable in the Target Folder you select.

    The file is named using the following format: Publish-{ComponentName}-YYYY-MM-DD-HHHHMM

  • A relationship between the component you published and the deliverable that was imported is created.
    • In the Component's Browser, the component you published now has a black paperclip before its name. This indicates it references another component as an attachment.
    • In the Component's Browser, the published deliverable has a green paperclip before its name. This indicates it is referenced by an another component as an attachment.
    • For more information on attachment relationships, read See component attachments.

For Publishing Profiles, this option is available when you right-click a publishing profile, and select Publish. On the Publish Component screen you can select the Create Attachment option to import the deliverable.

How do I know the name of my publishing job?

Inspire creates a Publish Name in the following ways:

Publish Name is the component's File Name without the GUID IF:

  • You select a single component to publish and you don't select a Publish Configuration.
  • You select a single component to publish and the Publish Configuration you select does not have a default Publish Name.

Publish Name is defined in the Publish Configuration IF:

  • You select a single component to publish and the Publish Configuration you select has a default Publish Name.
  • You select multiple components to publish and the Publish Configuration you select has a default Publish Name.

Publish Name is empty IF:

  • You select multiple components to publish and the Publish Configuration you select does not have a default Publish Name.
  • You can enter your own Publish Name with or without tokens.

For example, if you selected a component named Chpt1_Charge_battery_2696b8b3-0040-463b-abad-6aa200a4fa5e.xml, and use the Options menu to select Publish:

  • By default, the value in the Publish Name field is Chpt1_Charge_battery.
  • You see this Publish Name on the Publish portal in the Title column.
  • Optionally, you can change the Publish Name to a different set of characters.
    • Use 100 characters or less
    • Use underscores (_) instead of spaces
  • If you leave Publish Name empty and are publishing one component, Inspire uses the component's File Name without the GUID.

  • If you leave Publish Name empty and are publishing multiple components, Inspire leaves the Publish Name empty.

A Publish Name can also contain a token to configure how your Inspire content is sent to the Publish portal to reduce the amount of manual entry.

  • You can use characters reserved for XPath and system variables in Publish Name.
  • Examples of ways you can use a token in the job's Publish Name field:

    • To add the name of the MyMap component, use {$componentname}

      Example Publish Name = MyMap

    • To add the topic title of the MyMap component, use {$title}

      Example Publish Name = UserManual

    • To add the file name of the MyMap component, use {$filename}

      Example Publish Name = MyMap_ceb80930-0712-48d2-92a5-9c2ee7d2ff7d.xml

    • To add the current date and time to the job name for MyMap, use {$datetime}

      Example Publish Name = MyMap2024-04-30-111017

    • To add the name of the user who created the publishing job for MyMap, use{$username}

      Example Publish Name = MyMapjanedoe@mycompany.org

    • To add the code for the language used in the component MyMap, use {$langcode}

      Example Publish Name = MyMapen-US

    • To add the name of the language used in the component MyMap, use {$langname}

      Example Publish Name = MyMapEnglish

    • If you need a system variable that isn't in the list of examples, contact your Inspire support representative.
  • This lets you pull in data so you don't have to type it in every time you send the component out for publishing.
  • The Publish Name you use on the Publish Component screen is shown on the Publish portal in the Title column.
  • If you use a token in Publish Name, and Inspire can resolve it, the token appears in the following places with the token replaced by actual data:
    • On the Publish portal in the Title column.
    • In the deliverable name using the following format: Publish-{ComponentName}{token}-YYYY-MM-DD-HHHHMM.
  • If you add a variable to the publishing job Publish Name that XPath can't find, Inspire adds the unknown variable as text to all names and notifications except for the deliverable name.

For steps on creating tokens, refer to the following topics:

Keep the following naming issues in mind:

  • The job's Publish Name is not the same as the deliverable (published content) name.
    • You can create whatever job Publish Name you want.
    • Deliverables are named by Inspire using the following format: Publish-{ComponentName}-YYYY-MM-DD-HHHHMM.
  • When you publish from a Publishing Profile, you see:
    • The Publish Name you use on the Publishing Profile tab is shown on the Publish portal in the Profile column.
    • The Publish Name you use on the Publish Component screen is shown on the Publish portal in the Title column.

Can I track my publishing jobs?

After you publish content in Inspire, you can use Publish Server to:

  • See job status and histories
  • Download files related to a job
  • Re-publish content from an existing job

You can open Publish Server from a link in the following places:

  • In any notification you receive (Inspire, email, Slack) after you submit a publishing job
  • In Inspire, open and manage messages on the Notifications tab
  • On the Publishing tab by clicking Go to Publish Server

To learn about job management, read Welcome to Publish Server.

How do I access the published output?

When a publishing job has a Status of Success, you can download the completed publication in the following places:

Tips and tricks

  • If you want to download the run log and artifact files, follow the steps in Download publishing job files.
  • When you download a publication, the file is saved in your browser's download tray.
  • For the following Inspire publishing formats, you download a ZIP file that includes multiple files:
    • HTML
  • For the following publishing formats, you download a single standalone file:
    • PDF
    • DocX (the file format used by Microsoft Word to store documents)
    • DocBook PDF
    • DocBook HTML
  • When you use the Zoomin publishing option, you must open the notification and use the link to go to the Zoomin site.
  • For custom publishing options, you can configure the publishing deliverables.

How do I customize the published output?

As an administrator, you can define what format you want to publish content in using a publish export configuration.

  • You can select a transformation configuration provided by Inspire or use your own plug-in to transform DITA content into formats such as PDF or HTML.

Why did my publishing job fail?

The publication process might fail if your filtering options or validation fails to generate a valid XML document.