The authoring collection

The authoring collection in the content collection of the Content Repository contains DITA content, images, and resources that are currently in the Authoring cycle (those whose statuses begin with "Authoring:"). This is where all working copies of the content live.

When you expand this collection to see all objects, it can take a long time for the content to appear. To find a specific object in the long list, you can filter the list.

Important: As tempting as it might be, never edit content from this location. By doing so, you bypass the system logic built into IXIASOFT CCMS and you risk corrupting the content.

Working with content objects

You can work with objects in the content/authoring collection in these ways:

  • Right-click an object locked by someone else and select Break Lock to make the object available for editing by another user.

    This is useful when the user who locked the object is not available. It's the most common reason for using the content/authoring collection.

  • Expand the object to see every revision and compare the content of two revisions.

  • Right-click and select Open Custom Properties to see the object's custom properties file that describes object's current status, original file name and path (if it was imported), labels, revision history, and assigned to users.

    When you export content, the custom properties file is also exported. When you generate output, the custom properties file is copied to the Output Generator's temp collection so that is is available to the build process.

  • Right-click and select Open Indexed Content to see the object's indexed content file that is essentially a copy of the content object but with additional information such as the full DITA class.

    When you export content, the indexed content file is also exported. When you generate output, then indexed content file is copied to the Output Generator's temp/ collection so that is is available to the build process.