Skip to main content

Publish your collection

What you'll learn​

By default, a new Uwazi instance is private. Only people who log in can see its content. As an admin, you decide when to open the instance to the public and which entities visitors can read. We'll make the instance public, publish a few entities, and build a simple landing page for visitors to land on. By the end of this tutorial, we'll have a public instance with a welcoming front page.

Prerequisites​

  • A link to a live Uwazi instance
  • An admin username and password for that instance
  • A few entities already in your Library

Only an admin can change these settings. If you don't see the Settings menu, ask your instance manager for access.

Part 1: Make your instance public​

A public instance lets visitors read your content without logging in. We'll turn this on with a single setting.

  1. Go to Settings, then select Collection.

    The page opens with the collection settings, including toggles and text fields.

  2. Find the Public instance toggle and select it.

    A tooltip explains it: non-logged-in users can now see public documents and entities.

  3. Select Save at the bottom of the page.

    A success message confirms the change. The instance is now public.

Making the instance public doesn't expose every record. Visitors see only the entities you publish. We'll publish some next.

Part 2: Publish your entities​

A published entity is one that public visitors can see. New entities start out private. We'll publish several at once from the Library.

  1. Go to the Library.

    The library opens in card view and shows your entities as cards.

  2. Hold the Control key (or Command on Mac) and select each entity you want to publish.

    Each card you select stays highlighted. To select a range, select the first card, then hold Shift and select the last one.

    note

    A plain select without a held key opens a single entity instead of adding it to your selection.

  3. With two or more cards selected, find the action panel on the right and select Share.

    The Share modal opens and lists who can reach the selected entities.

  4. Select the Public entry, marked with a globe icon, and set its access to Can see.

    The Public row now shows Can see, which means anyone can read these entities.

  5. Select Save.

    A success message confirms. The selected entities are now published.

  6. Look at the top of the filters panel on the left.

    The Published count rises to include the entities you published. Anonymous visitors can now find them.

To hide an entity again, reselect it, open Share, remove the Public entry, and save.

Part 3: Create a custom landing page​

A landing page is the first page a visitor sees at your web address. We'll build a simple welcome page with plain HTML, then set it as the landing page.

  1. Go to Settings, then select Pages.

    The page lists any custom pages you already have.

  2. Select Add page.

    The editor opens on the Configuration tab. It shows a Title field with the default text New page.

  3. In the Title field, replace New page with a title such as Welcome.

    The title names the page in your settings. It doesn't appear as a heading on the page itself.

  4. Select the HTML tab.

    A note reminds you to use HTML only, since the editor doesn't read Markdown. A numbered editor opens below the note.

  5. In the editor, type a short welcome in plain HTML:

    <h1>Welcome to our archive</h1>
    <p>We document cases, events, and sources from across the region.</p>
    <p>Use the library to search and browse the records.</p>

    The editor keeps your HTML as the page body. A heading and two short paragraphs are enough for a first landing page.

  6. Select Save & Preview at the bottom of the editor.

    Uwazi saves the page as a draft and opens a preview in a new browser tab. The preview shows your heading and two paragraphs.

  7. Return to the editor and select the Configuration tab.

    The tab now shows the saved page's URL, which looks like /en/page/<id>/welcome.

  8. Select Publish, type a short release message, and confirm.

    Publishing makes the page visible to the public. Without this step, visitors can't see it.

  9. Copy the page URL shown on the Configuration tab.

    You'll paste it into the collection settings next.

  10. Go to Settings, then select Collection.

    The collection settings open again.

  11. Paste the URL into the Custom landing page field.

    The field shows your pasted path, with a https://yourdomain hint before it.

  12. Select Save.

    A success message confirms the change.

  13. Open your instance web address in a new tab.

    Your welcome page now loads as the landing page instead of the default library.

What you've done​

  • Made your instance public so visitors can read content without logging in
  • Published several entities at once from the library
  • Confirmed the published count rose in the filters panel
  • Built a simple HTML page, previewed it, and published it
  • Set that page as your instance's custom landing page
tip

Want richer pages later? Uwazi can show live entity counts, charts, and lists on a page. These use a dynamic data tag and suit a follow-up guide.

Next steps​