Collections

Introduction

A collection is a group of related Google Docs used to create, manage, and publish content to the web. Different collections can be used to service different content types, projects, or use cases.

After logging into the Content Publisher dashboard, Administrators will land on the Collections page.

Create new collection

1. Login to the Content Publisher dashboard, then from the Collections page click + New collection:
   
2. Select an account to connect
   1. Learn more about Connected Accounts
3. Choose your preferred configuration for who can access this new collection.
   1. Learn more about Publishing Permissions
4. Success! Your new collection has been created!

Collection-wide settings

The following configurations are managed at the collection-level:

• Content tree: organize and structure content
• Webstyles: enables applying custom CSS directly from Google Docs
• Collection settings: manage collection name and where content gets published
• Page metadata settings: create custom metadata configurations
• Publishing permissions:
  • Access: manage who can connect and publish new content to a collection
  • Approvals: allow users to publish content directly or require approval by an admin before publishing

Content tree

Manage structure

Found in the Content Publisher dashboard after selecting your desired collection, then going to the Content tree tab.

Administrators can manage content structure by organizing content by sections and subsections. This can also be done via the Google Docs add-on while editing or publishing an individual document.

Once published, the updated content structure is made available for your site to consume via the content delivery API.

For a developer example based on Next.js, see this related documentation. Our Content Publisher docs site uses this feature to serve our global site navigation:

Manage content

Administrators can easily get back to Google Docs and/or edit metadata from the collections Content tree page:

1. Login to the Content Publisher dashboard then from the Collections page find and select the collection you want to manage.  
2. From the Content tree tab, click any page:
   
3. Use this page to quickly access the source document for the given content in Google Docs and/or edit metadata:  
   

Authorized users can similarly find content in Google Docs easily from the Google Docs add-on by browsing published pages.

Webstyles

Managed in the Content Publisher dashboard after selecting your desired collection, then going to the Webstyles tab. Administrators can create new styles here in the Content Publisher dashboard:

Once added to a collection, any user can apply the style to content straight from the Google Docs add-on:

For more detailed usage guidance, see Webstyles.

Collection Settings

General

Edit Collection Name and Collection URL anytime after collection creation:

1. Login to the Content Publisher dashboard then select a collection, and go to Collection Settings
2. From the General tab, click Edit next to Collection Details:
   

Webhooks

Here you can manage your configured webhook and see log activity for your integrated website.

Content Publisher uses webhooks to communicate with connected websites. Webhooks are notifications sent to a configurable URL to inform the service of a special event.

In Content Publisher’s case, the webhooks are triggered upon article publishing, article updates and article delete actions. They allow the consumer website to “take action” and reflect the changes made on the content collection.

While webhooks might be setup automatically by the different systems we provide, users can still configure the webhooks using the CLI or the Admin Interface.

Page Metadata Settings

Found in the Google Docs add-on for Content Publisher, requires administrator role to manage. For more information, see Metadata documentation.

Publishing permissions

Found in the Content Publisher dashboard under Permissions. For more information, see Publishing permissions.

Approval Workflow

Once enabled via Publishing Permissions in the Content dashboard, administrators can access the Pending approval and Pending publication tabs from the Collection:

Administrators will receive email notifications when new content is submitted for publication. Email notifications are also sent to the contributor along the way, so they are notified when content is rejected, accepted, and/or published.

Approving submissions

In the pending approval tab, you can see all content submitted by contributors for publication. Select a submission to either reject or approve:

After clicking Approve, administrators are prompted to either publish instantly or publish later:

Selecting Publish later will move the content from the Pending approvals tab to the Pending publication tab.

See related documentation for publishing from the Google Docs add-on as a contributor.