Exporting, publishing, and processing

The terms exporting, publishing, and processing refer to different forms of what PageSeeder calls "publishing" (for historical reasons) because they use publish scripts.

Publish scripts run on PageSeeder and typically extract data from a document, publication, or the entire group. They can also leverage the PageSeeder API to perform additional operations.

The difference between these terms comes down to the effect of the script on the content:

• Exporting – Is used when content is meant to be downloaded by the user – either directly as PSML or transformed into formats like Word, PDF, or Markdown. It generally involves minimal processing beyond the format transformation.

• Publishing – Refers to using more complex processes to distribute content to different locations. It might involve multiple stages to assemble content into a coherent output, such as publishing to a website or app.

• Processing – Is used when content remains within PageSeeder. This could involve transforming content in place or generating derived outputs such as reports that compile different types of data.

In the PageSeeder interface, the icon represents publishing functions in general.

Publishing scope and selection methods

PageSeeder lets you run publish scripts at various levels, from individual documents to entire groups. The source for publishing determines which content is included in the publish operation.

• Single document/URL – Run on individual documents or URLs.
• Publication – Run on an entire publication.
• Folder – Operate at the folder level, processing all applicable documents within that folder.
• Batch – Apply to documents selected from search results, making it possible to publish a specific subset of documents across different locations.
• Group – Used to publish entire groups – these affect all applicable content within the group.
• Project – Used for scheduled publish scripts only.

This flexibility lets PageSeeder accommodate a wide range of publishing scenarios, from simple one-off exports to complex, automated publishing pipelines.

Selection method

Document, URL, and publication

When viewing documents or URLs, the document publish panel provides options to process, publish, or export the current document.

If the document is part of a publication, an option to publish the entire publication is selected by default.

Folder

You can publish folders from the documents page.

Batch

Batch publishing is only available from the group search page, when the results are narrowed down to documents and the results are viewed as a table.

Group

The group publishing options are available in the toolbar of the group homepage.

Scheduled publish

Any publish action can be programmed to start at a specific date/time and can repeat at regular intervals. Scheduled publishes run at the project level and are ideal for automated workflows.

This option is not available in the user interface and needs to be configured by a developer.

Default publish actions

While many publish actions need to be defined and specified by developers, PageSeeder’s default template includes several default publish actions for exporting your documents.