In this story
Where: Stories → All stories
Open this page: admin.<your-site>/articles (replace <your-site> with your site address)
Check 1: the status
- Open Stories and choose Articles.
- Find the story and read its status. The statuses are Draft, In review, Scheduled, Published, Unpublished, Retracted, Archived and In trash.
- Only Published stories are live.
| Status | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| In review | "Sent for review. An editor will publish it." | An editor publishes it. |
| Scheduled | "Scheduled for {time}." | It goes live at that time. To publish now, choose publish now. |
| Unpublished | Readers see "story no longer available" | Move it back to draft, then publish. |
| Draft | Not sent yet | Publish it. |
Reporters can send a story for review but can't publish. Contributors write as guests, and an editor reviews and publishes their stories.
Check 2: the publishing checklist
If publishing fails, you see "Fix these before publishing." followed by items such as:
- "Add a headline."
- "Add at least one author."
- "Choose a main section for the story."
- "The publish date is in the future. Schedule the story instead."
- "A poll or form in this story is not open yet, so readers will not see it."
- "An editor has to approve the AI-assisted text."
- "Add the sponsor and disclosure."
Fix each item, then publish again. See Publish, schedule and review and Publishing checklist.
Check 3: embargo and schedule
A story under embargo is kept out of feeds, sitemaps, push alerts and apps until the embargo ends. A scheduled story stays hidden until its time.
Check 4: section and language
- The checklist asks for a main section: "Choose a main section for the story."
- If your site has several languages, check that you wrote the story in the language you expect. See Sites in other languages.
Check 5: is your whole site public?
If your site is Coming soon, Private or Maintenance, readers see no stories. Open Settings → Site & brand → Site visibility. See My site shows a coming soon page.
Check 6: where it shows on the home page
A published story is live at once. It appears on the home page only where your home page layout puts it. Open the story's address directly to confirm it is live. Stories appear instantly and don't need a new site version. Design changes do.
Messages you may see
- "This action isn’t possible for an article in this state." The story is in a state that can't take that action. Check its status.
- "A published article can only be unpublished."
- "A scheduled article can only go back to draft or be published now."
- "Someone else is editing this story right now. Wait, or ask an editor to take over."
- "This story can’t be changed: it is retracted or in the trash."
- "Your role can’t move stories to this stage." Ask an editor.