SOLVED

Communications Site "Promote Page" feature flaw

Brass Contributor

Hello,

 

We are currently developing our Intranet using the Modern Communications site template.  Overall, we are pleased with the functionality but I have noticed that when a user clicks 'Promote' on a page, there is no way to demote it afterward.  

 

I have been able to create a custom column the calculates the 'promotedstate' property but I am unable to change the value from 2 (promoted) to 0 (not promoted).

 

Does anyone have any experience or insight?  I currently have several pages that were promoted in testing which should not have been promoted and as the Site Collection Administrator I would really love the ability to demote pages if they were promoted in error.

 

21 Replies
I hope this is something the team fixes soon. I have mentioned this elsewhere but logic dictates there *should be* an undo action or the ability to hide Promote. I find the feature useful but this is a flaw that needs addressing.
Good call.

Work around would be use the new Copy page feature I guess and delete the promoted page, "Unless it copies the promoted state too" haven't tested just idea off top of head lol.

Try this: Add the PromotedState column to the All Pages view of your Site Pages library. Then, Group By Promoted State and save the view. You can drag the promoted page back to whichever state you want it to go back to using the feature that "auto-assigns" metadata when you move an item in a Group By view.


This worked for me!

I am wondering how it got worked for you. Today I have tried to add PromotedState column to my view which I am not able to find it.  Are you sure still this exists?

Yes, I am sure. Be sure you are adding Promoted State from the "modern" view. Then check the Promoted State box and Apply.Add-New-Columns.jpg

 Select-Promoted-State.jpg

 

Yes I am able to add this. But I am not able to edit the promoted value from 2 to 0 in quick edit.

best response confirmed by Meg Simmons (Brass Contributor)
Solution
Quick edit will only work in a “flat” view. Only the default All Pages view of Site Pages is flat, so be sure you are looking at a flat view. Or, in a grouped view that has items grouped by Promoted State, you should be able to select and drag items between groups. That will also “re-set” the Promoted State.
This is cool. Thanks

@Susan Hanley, thank you for this.  Perfect solution for items promoted in error.

Good afternoon!  from the Site Pages view, if you have the "Promoted State" as column in the view, click that drop down and click "Group By".  Then click the drop down of the view, and save this view as "By Promoted State".  Now, in this view, if you want to change the promoted state, just drag and drop it.  I'm currently looking for an index of what the promoted states mean, i.e. 0,1,2,3...  Hope this helps!

 

 

Hey there,

This was working perfectly but, now pages that I move from the Promoted State:2 to Promoted State:0 group are still showing up as news. anyone else?
Still works fine. If your talking about hub news it uses search index and you have to edit and publish the page for the index to catch it as change and update.

I'm not able to add grouping by promoted state, even though the field is visible. Am I doing something wrong? It just isn't a choice.

 

Also, could anyone tell me what a Promoted State value of 1 means?

Try doing this from the "front end." Use the dropdown in the view to "Group by Promoted State" and then select "Save as" and save to the current view. 

 

I am pretty sure that Promoted State = 1 is for unpublished pages.

The field "Promoted State" does not appear in the drop down.

I have the field shown in the view too. It is also not available to filter on, only to view.

 

 

You will not see this in the check list until you "expose" the field from the modern front end. First, from the Site Pages library (I usually start with the All Pages view), select + Add column. Then, from that drop down, select Show/hide columns. You will now see Promoted State as an option and you can select it and then be sure to save the view. Once you have done this, you can group by Promoted State (from the "front end," not from Edit View) and then save the view again using the "modern" Save As experience. This should do it!

@Susan Hanley  thank you for taking the time to explain in such detail. I never knew such a thing existed! That worked perfectly, THANK YOU!

Hello All,

 

Recently we observed that the moving the pages between the Promoted State grouping view was not working, but were able to find another workaround to fix the same.

 

Step1 :

Go to Site Pages and library and Change the view to “By Promoted State” which will show the Promoted State Column on the view.

 

If the view is not available then create one using the steps below once you are on the All Pages view.

select + Add column. Then, from that drop down, select Show/hide columns. You will now see Promoted State Column, select it and then be sure to save the view.

 

Step2: Left click on the Promoted State Colum and choose Column settings and then Edit.

 

Step3: On the Edit Column panel, go to Default Value Field and replace 0 with blank value and click Save.

 

Step4: Repeat Step 2 again and Update the Default Value Field back to the Value 0.

 

Step5 : Select the Page that you wanted to Un-Promote and go to the properties and Select Edit Item to Change the Promoted State Value to 0 (un-promote).

 

Outcome : The above page will no longer appear in the News Web part.

1 best response

Accepted Solutions
best response confirmed by Meg Simmons (Brass Contributor)
Solution
Quick edit will only work in a “flat” view. Only the default All Pages view of Site Pages is flat, so be sure you are looking at a flat view. Or, in a grouped view that has items grouped by Promoted State, you should be able to select and drag items between groups. That will also “re-set” the Promoted State.

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