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WCM Site Management - Version Management
By default, WCM is configured to create a version of an item in the following
scenarios –
- Every time an item is saved
- If an item is going through a workflow, every time it's states changes to
be published
The WCM Versioning feature does not take a "snap-shot" of the entire WCM
site. Versioning occurs only at the item level. Any hierarchical relationships
to other items are not saved. For example, if you save a version of a site area
that has child site areas and you delete the child site areas, the child site
areas will not be restored if you restore the parent site area.
You cannot create versions of external resources (e.g. IBM Content Manager
Resources) linked to from WCM items as WCM does not store a copy of the
external resources in the version index.
You can alter the default behavior of WCM by configuring it to not create
versions of items automatically. This can be done by editing the
WCMConfigService.properties file located in the
/PortalServer/wcm/shared/app/config/wcmservices/ directory and changing the
following settings –
####################################################################
# 2c. Versioning - START
####################################################################
# Enable version control for the following types.
# options are always | never | manual
versioningStrategy.Default = always
versioningStrategy.AuthoringTemplate = always
versioningStrategy.Component = always
versioningStrategy.Content = always
versioningStrategy.PresentationTemplate = always
versioningStrategy.Site = always
versioningStrategy.Taxonomy = always
versioningStrategy.Workflow = always
#####################################################################
# 2c. Versioning - END
#####################################################################
You have the option to disable the versioning feature completely or to
configure it to be a manual option. Each setting applies to an individual item
type thus allowing you to control the versioning behavior at the item type
level. It is a best practice to disable automatic versioning if it is not
required to improve the WCM authoring performance.
The two main areas of discussion are –
- Restoring an Item
- Library Version Management
Restoring an Item
In this section we will discuss how to view, restore, delete, preview and
label versions at an item level.
Once an item is saved, the Versions action 
is visible on the item only when in read mode.
Figure: Versions Action Only Visible In Read Mode
You can access the versions of an item in the following ways –
- Open the item in Read mode as described above
- If the item is deleted, navigate to either My items - Deleted view or the
All items - Deleted view, select an item and click Versions as shown in the
figure below.
Figure: Versions Action Visible from the All Items - Deleted
View
Notice the Read Latest Version 
action available from the All Items - Deleted view. This action
will open the latest version of the item.
The figure below illustrates how the list of versions will be displayed. You
can select the version you like to restore from the Current versions view.
Figure: List of Versions to Restore
We will now take a look at the various actions available from the Current
versions view.
Read
The Read action allows you to open the selected version of an item in Read
mode.
Edit Label
The Edit action allows you to add one or more labels separated by
semi-colons. Labels allow users to distinguish between versions of items.
Restore
The Restore action allows you to restore the selected version of an item.
Workflow-enabled items are restored to the draft stage, whereas the
non-workflow-enabled items are restored to the published stage. When restoring
items that contain references to other items you can replace references to
items that no longer exist or accept the existing values. The figure below
illustrates the options available when restoring an item version.
Figure: Restore an item version
Restore as Published
If the item you are restoring is participating in workflow, Administrators
and Managers can restore the item as a published item by clicking Restore as
Published.
Delete
The Delete action allows to you to delete the selected version of an item.
Preview
The Preview action allows to you to preview the selected version of an item.
Library Version Management
In this section we will discuss how to work with versions at the WCM library
level.
| Please note that you will need
Administrator access to work with WCM libraries.
|
You can restore a set of items within a library that either have the same
label or were versioned at, or before, a specified date and time.
Only one set of items can be restored or labeled at a time. It is not
possible to execute a second restore or label request until the first request
has been completed. Restoring or labeling a large number of items may take some
time. When restoring items that contain links or references to other items you
will be prompted to select a new item to link or reference if the original item
no longer exists. Before restoring items at the library level ensure that the
items are not currently locked or checked out by users. If there are locked
items, please unlock them before using versioning actions at the library level.
At the library level, the versioning actions are available from the WebSphere
Portal Administration portlet in the Web Content Libraries portlet as shown in
the figure below.
Figure: Web Content Libraries – Additional Tasks
Additional Tasks
The Additional Tasks action allows you to perform versioning related tasks
at the library level.
The figure below illustrates the Additional tasks portlet that is opened when
the additional tasks action is used.
Figure: Additional tasks portlet with Versioning actions
Label library
The Label library action allows you to apply a label to the most recent
versions of all items in a library. The figure below illustrates how to set a
label to the library using this action.
Figure: Label library
The figure below illustrates the portlet when the library labeling process is
active. Notice the Status column in the view displaying the labeling process is
active and none of the other actions available (except for the View Report
action) are enabled. Use the Refresh action 
to update the status in the view.
Figure: Library labeling
View Report
The View Report action displays a report of the respective actions in the
view. The figure below illustrates an example of the Label library action
report.
Figure: Label library action report
Restore library by date
The Restore library by date action will restore the most recent version of
all items in a library saved prior to the specified date and time. The figure
below illustrates the Restore library by date portlet that is displayed when
this action is used. Select the default values for replacement of references to
items that no longer exists. All the fields are mandatory and are prefixed by a
red asterisk (*).
Figure: Restore library by date
Use the View Report action to view the report generated by the Restore library by label action.
Restore library by label
The Restore library by label action will restore all items that match the
specified label. The figure below illustrates the Restore library by label
portlet that is displayed when this action is used. Select the default values
for replacement of references to items that no longer exists. All the fields
are mandatory and are prefixed by a red asterisk (*).
Figure: Restore library by label
Use the View Report action to view the report generated by the Restore library by label
action.