---
title: Control the publishing process
slug: cms-12/docs/control-the-publishing-process
docTags: 
createdAt: 2026-08-10T15:56:03.000Z
---

Large organizations with geographically distributed editors often benefit from process support when creating, reviewing, publishing, and translating content. Optimizely Content Management System (CMS) is built for a distributed way of working, with various options for managing content creation and publishing depending on the size and setup of organizations.

Ways of controlling the publishing process:

- [Approve content](docId:8REViwwWCYnXrJKy_1PwK)
- [Approve changes](docId:8REViwwWCYnXrJKy_1PwK)
- [Restrict access rights](docId:8REViwwWCYnXrJKy_1PwK)

The following features can be used to control the publishing process:

- **Content must be approved before it can be published**
  Content approvals are a way to ensure that content is reviewed and approved before publication. When an editor has finished working on a content item, the item is set to **Ready for Review**. One or more appointed reviewers must then approve the content item before publication. The reviewers are defined by an administrator in **an approval sequence**.
- **Changes must be approved before they are applied**
  Change approvals are a way to make sure that certain changes are reviewed and approved before they are applied. The changes applicable for review affect how your website looks to visitors, such as moving a page to another parent item in the structure (as that can affect menus) or changes to access rights, language settings, or expiration dates.
- **Restrict publishing access rights**
  Access rights let you control **what** editors can do **where** in the content structure. A typical example is restricting the right to publish content to editor groups. This means that the publish option is not available for editors. Instead, they use the **Ready to Publish** status option. You can then view the content under **Tasks**.
- **Use the Tasks tab**
  The simplest way to monitor content creation activities is to use tasks. The **Tasks** option lists changes to content filtered by [content status](docId:8REViwwWCYnXrJKy_1PwK).

  ![the Tasks tab](https://api.archbee.com/api/optimize/BrbvVORKJ5iIeSMZye5kI/fDzd3F1wWHoCZQd1Z5b8D-20260720-145548.png)

:::Paragraph{indent="1"}
You can use the following options for monitoring content creation and content approvals:
:::

- **Draft** – List draft versions that you have created or changed.
- **Rejected** – Lists content items in the Rejected status that you created or changed. Items are set as Rejected when set to **Ready for Review** or **Ready to Publish** and then are declined. You can edit and update content in **Rejected** status before you set it to **Ready to  Publish** or **Ready for Review** again.
- **In Review** – Lists content items on the website that are set as **Ready for Review**. See Content approvals.
- **Ready to Publish** – Lists content items on the website that are set as **Ready to Publish** and that you have publish rights to.
- **Marked as Being Edited** – Lists content items on the website that you have set as being edited. See **Tools** under **Basic information** properties.
- **Recently Changed** – Lists the last items that you or any other editor have changed for the website.
- **Awaiting Review** – Lists the content items you sent for review and are in content status **In Review**.
- **Declined Reviews** – List the content items you sent for review and are declined items in content status **Rejected**. When the item is updated, it is no longer displayed in this list.
- **Approved Reviews** – Lists the content items you have sent for review and are approved that is in content status **Ready to Publish**. When the item is published (or updated), it is no longer displayed in this list.
- **Awaiting Your Review** – Lists the content items of which you are one of the designated approvers.
- **Approved by You** – Lists the content items you have approved. When the item is published (or updated), it is no longer displayed in this list.

Clicking a content item in the filtered task list displays the item in the main area. Use the [versions gadget](docId:8REViwwWCYnXrJKy_1PwK) to see the version history for that particular content item. If you have publishing access rights, you can decide upon further publishing actions from the **Versions** gadget.