How to Use the Publish, Unpublish, and Cancel Approval Tools

To begin with, the Publish, Unpublish, and Cancel Approval tools are active only when a document library has versioning enabled and configured to allow the creation of major and minor (draft) versions. A major version is considered the published version. Versioning is a key component of SharePoint 2010 and other document management applications because it not only keeps track of previous versions of a document but also hides them from end users in the standard views, to make errors less likely when working with the document.

With versioning enabled, there is no question which version is the latest version because the version that appears in the document library is the latest and greatest. The only case where a previous version will show up as the current version in the document library is if a user purposefully looks for an older version of the document, by accessing the Version History tool (covered previously in this chapter) and selects an older version and clicks Restore. This will make that older version the “latest” version, with the highest version number, that will appear in the document library. But it is a safe assumption that a user would only do this if he realizes that this older version contains the most valid version of content for one reason or another.

The process of turning a draft version (for example, 0.1) into a major (for example, 1.0) version is called publishing in SharePoint parlance, and the Publish button is used to either start a workflow or instantly publish the document. It is up to the document library administrator whether to use a workflow for this process, which is more complex and time-consuming, or to enable instant publishing. The following example walks through the process of uploading a document to a document library with major and minor versioning enabled, scheduling enabled, and workflows enabled.

The scheduling feature can be turned off or on for a document library by the library administrator. Scheduling determines when a document will be published and available for general viewing by users of the site. Before the scheduled start date is reached, the item will remain in draft status, and once that date is reached, but before the end date is reached, the document will be promoted to major version published status. After the end date is reached, if there is one set, the document will return to draft status.

The Draft Item Security settings, which are set by the document library administrator and accessible from the Document Library Settings page via the Versioning Settings page, determine who can see draft (unpublished) versions of documents. The options are Any User Who Can Read Items, Only Users Who Can Edit Items, and Only User Who Can Approve Items (and the author of the item). So it is important for a document library administrator to determine the most appropriate combination of settings. This topic will be revisited in Chapter 20.

Some document libraries that are created during the creation of a publishing site or site collection will have major and minor versioning enabled, and will also have Content Approval turned on, which means that a user with approver privileges needs to approve a document before it is published as a major version. And scheduling may also be enabled for the library, which determines when the item, once approved, will be available for the general public. The following example will help clarify the process, as outlined in the following steps:

1. A user of a site collection documents library in a publishing site in SharePoint Server 2010 Enterprise uploads a document to the library. This library has major and minor versioning enabled, requires content approval for submitted items, has a Page Approval workflow configured, as well as scheduling enabled, and so requires a number of steps to take place before an uploaded document is available to the general public.
2. As shown in Figure 19.20, the user is prompted to verify the name and title of the document, and decide whether the scheduling start date should be immediately or a fixed date, and whether the end date should be never or a fixed date. In this example, the user wants the document to not be published to a major version until a given date, and wants it to stay published for only a few weeks. After he likes the setting, he clicks Save.

   Figure 19.20. Finishing the upload process for a document library with Scheduling enabled.

   

3. The document is now saved in the document library, but is in draft status, with a version number of 0.1. Based on the settings of the document library, only users who can edit items in this document library can now see the document, which includes the user himself.
4. The user, having decided that the document is ready to be published, then accesses the drop-down menu for the item in the All Items view, and clicks the Publish button on the Documents tab of the Ribbon.
5. Because the Page Approval workflow was automatically configured as active on this document library, the Workflow.aspx page opens, and provides the Page Approval workflow as the only option in the Start a New Workflow section. The user clicks the Page Approval icon to start the workflow.
6. As shown in Figure 19.21, the user enters additional information to complete the workflow—including request text, a due date, duration for the task—and clicks Start.

   Figure 19.21. Starting a Page Approval workflow in a publishing library.

   

7. The approval status of the document is now set to pending, and will remain that way until an approver approves the document.
8. At this point, members of the approvers group on the site will receive emails that a document needs approval, as shown in Figure 19.22. The approver clicks the Open This Task button in the Outlook 2010 Ribbon for the email, and a form opens up with the options to Approve, Reject, Cancel, Request Change, or Reassign Task. The approver clicks Approve.

   Figure 19.22. Email requesting approval for a document submitted for publishing.

   

9. Now the document is approved to be published on the scheduled start date. As shown in Figure 19.23, the Approval Status in set to Scheduled with the start and end dates shown in the two columns to the right. Note also in Figure 19.23 that the Cancel Approval icon is active, so a user can choose to cancel the approval if needed and start the process once again.

   Figure 19.23. Document that has been approved and is scheduled to be published.

   

This example shows the management possibilities of enabling major and minor versioning in a document library, requiring content approval for documents, using a Page Approval workflow, as well as using Scheduling Start and End dates. Enabling the full combination of features does add overhead and complexity to the process, but helps ensure that content is reviewed by one or more members of the approvers group for that site before the “general public” can see the document in a major, published version. This complexity does require testing and training for administrators, approvers, and end users to avoid frustration during the process.