Schedule the start and end date for a published page

After you create a page, it must be published before site viewers can see it. You can specify the date when a published page becomes available, and you can also specify when a published page becomes unavailable. To schedule a page for publication, you need Approve permissions for the list or library that contains the page.

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Overview of page scheduling

Schedule the start date and end date for a published page

Overview of page scheduling

Feature dependencies     The ability to schedule the publication of a page is part of the Publishing feature set of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. Page scheduling specifically depends on the Versioning and Moderation features of Office SharePoint Server 2007. For scheduling to work correctly for a particular item, the list or library that contains that item must have Versioning and Moderation enabled. In a publishing site, the Pages library has Versioning and Moderation enabled by default and supports page scheduling.

Page Versioning     When Versioning is enabled, each page has a version number. Versions can be major or minor. A major version number has the form x.0, where x is any positive integer, for example, 2.0. A minor version number has the form x.y, where x is any nonnegative integer and y is any positive integer, for example, 0.4.

Every time you edit a page, a new minor version of that page is created. The new minor version number is an increment of 0.1 greater than the previous version of the page, whether that previous version is major or minor. For example, if you edit a page that has a version number of 2.0, the new version number is 2.1.

Note: A new minor version is created whether you edit a page's content or edit its properties.

When a page is approved, a new major version of that page is created. The new major version number is the next positive integer that is greater than the previous version of the page, whether that previous version is major or minor. For example, if you approve a page that has a version number of 3.5, the new version number is 4.0.

Page Moderation     When Moderation is enabled, pages must be submitted for approval before they can be published. Each page has a status that denotes its stage in the Moderation process. There are five page statuses, and they generally progress in the following order:

1. Draft     A page with Draft status has been created but has not been submitted for approval; or the page has been approved, but it has a publishing end date that is in the past. All pages with Draft status are minor versions.

2. Pending     A page with Pending status has been created and submitted for approval, but either it has not yet been approved or rejected, or it has been approved with a publishing start date that is in the future.

3. Scheduled     A page with Scheduled status has been created and approved, but it is scheduled for publication in the future. When the publication date arrives, the page status changes to Approved.

4. Approved or Rejected     A page with Approved status has been created and approved for publication, either has been scheduled for immediate publication or has a publication start date that is in the past, and either has no publication end date or has an end date that is in the future. All approved pages are major versions. A page with Rejected status has been created and submitted for approval and has been rejected for publication. All rejected pages are minor versions.

Page scheduling     When a page is approved, it is scheduled for publication. By default, approved pages are published immediately, with no publication end date. Your site defaults may vary. When you edit a page's contents or its properties, you can change the scheduled start date and the scheduled end date.

When a page is approved for publication, but the publishing start date is in the future, the page has a Scheduled status. When the start date arrives, the page status changes from Scheduled to Approved. When the publishing end date for an approved page arrives, the page status changes from Approved to Draft.

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Schedule the start date and end date for a published page

You can schedule the start date and the end date for a page by doing the following:

1. Browse to the page that you want to schedule.

2. If the Page Editing toolbar is not visible, click Show Page Editing Toolbar on the Site Actions menu.

3. On the Page Editing toolbar, click the link that is labeled Publication Start Date. The Page Settings page opens.

4. On the Page Settings page, in the Schedule section, you can set the following properties:

   • Start Date     If you want the page to be published now, click Immediately.

     If you want to schedule the publication for a future date, click On the following date, and then choose a date by clicking the calendar icon. You can also choose a specific time of day for publication to start by using the menus next to the calendar icon. If you choose a date but do not specify a time, midnight is used.

   • End Date      If you want the page to remain published indefinitely, click Never. If you have notification set up for your site, you can also specify an interval at which the Page Contact receives periodic reminders to check the page to ascertain that its content remains current and appropriate. To do this, select Send a content review request mail to the Page Contact every interval, and then specify an interval. The Page Contact receives a reminder to review the page each time the specified interval passes.

     If you want publication to end on a specific date, click On the following date, and then choose a date by clicking the calendar icon. You can also choose a specific time of day for publication to end by using the menus next to the calendar icon. If you choose a date but do not specify a time, midnight is used. If you choose for publication to end on a certain day, and you have notification set up for your site, you can also specify an interval at which the Page Contact receives a reminder that the publication end date is approaching. To do this, select Notify Page Contact, and then specify an interval. The Page Contact receives a reminder at the specified interval before the publication end date.

5. When you finish scheduling the page, at the bottom of the Page Settings page, click OK.

Note: If a page has been published and has a publication end date that is in the past, you cannot change the properties of that page unless you change the publication end date so that it is not in the past. This is because you are creating a new minor version when you edit the properties of the page, and minor versions cannot be published.

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