Using Publisher Explorer

Publisher Explorer is the central interface for viewing, searching, creating, and managing all Publisher objects.

This chapter provides an overview of Publisher Explorer and includes the following topics:

About Publisher Explorer

Publisher Explorer provides a central interface for viewing and managing all Publisher objects.

Any user who has access to the Publisher Administration portlet can access Publisher Explorer. Users’ access to specific folders and Publisher Explorer functions depends on their Publisher roles.

Depending on your Publisher role, you can use Publisher Explorer to do the following:

View and manage the Publisher folder hierarchy, including setting security and attaching workflow to folders.
Create, edit, copy, move, delete, rename, check in, check out, and view all Publisher objects.
Search for content items by name, text content, workflow assignment, and Data Entry Template.
View status information for content items and other Publisher objects.
Publish content items and folders and set them to expire.
Override workflow for a content item.
Remove a content item from the search index.
Edit or detach a portlet from a portlet folder or portlet item.

Publisher Explorer also provides multiple display preference settings, along with QuickLinks and integration with Windows Explorer using the Map a Web Folder feature.

For more information on Publisher security and its relationship to Publisher Explorer functions and display, see Setting Up Security.

Navigating Publisher Explorer

The Publisher Explorer is divided into two panes: the navigation pane on the left and the table pane on the right. The table pane contains objects that belong to the node that you select in the navigation pane.

Using the Path Bar

Near the top left of Publisher Explorer, the Path displays the folder you are currently browsing. To navigate to a parent folder, click the folder in the path. For example, if the path displays BEA/Folder1/Subfolder1, you can click BEA to display the contents of the BEA folder.

Using the Navigation Pane

The navigation pane contains two tabs for navigating to your folders and searching for content items.

Using the Table Pane

The table pane displays the contents (folders, content items, Data Entry Templates, selection lists, and Presentation Templates) of the folder you are browsing or the results of your search. To view an object, click its name.

Using the Action Bar

The action bar at the top of Publisher Explorer contains menus that enable you to perform the following actions:

Table 3-1 Action Bar Options
Option/Menu	Action
New	Create the following objects in the folder you are currently browsing: folder, content item, file content item, Data Entry Template, selection list, Presentation Template, and Web folder.
Edit	Modify the selected Publisher object.
QuickLinks	Add or remove QuickLinks. For more information, see Setting Display Preferences.
Preferences	Display or hide objects, set the current folder as the default home page of Publisher Explorer, and limit the number of items displayed in the table pane. For more information, see Setting Display Preferences.
Refresh	Update your view of Publisher Explorer with the most current information.
Search	Search for content items by name. Type the name of the content item that you want to find in the text box and click. Your results appear in the table pane.

You can also display the New and Preferences menus by right-clicking any blank area in the table pane of Publisher Explorer.

Using the Context Menu

You can right-click on any Publisher object name in either the navigation pane or the table pane to display a menu of the actions that you can take on the selected object. The actions displayed depend on the type of object and your security for the object.

Table 3-2 Context Menu Options
Option	Action	Available for Object
Check Out/Check In/Cancel Check Out	Check out a content item for editing. If you have already checked out the item, you can check in the item to save it as a new version or cancel check out to revert the content item to its previous version.	Content items
Content Security	Specify which users and groups have access to objects in this folder, and what role each of these users or groups has in this folder.	Folders
Copy to	Copy this object into the same folder or another folder.	All objects
Create Copy	Create a duplicate of this object in the same folder.	All objects
Delete	Remove this object from Publisher.	All objects
Detach Portlet	Detach portlets or portlet templates associated with a content item or folder. The folder must be a portlet folder and the content item must be a portlet item.	Folders and Content Items
Edit <object>	Modify the object.	Content items, Data Entry Templates, Selection Lists, Presentation Templates
Edit Portlet	Edit portlets or portlet templates associated with this content item or folder. The folder must be a portlet folder and the content item must be a portlet item.	Folders and content items
Move	Move this object into another folder.	All objects
Preview	Folders: view folder content as it would appear when published. Content items: view content item as it would appear when published.	Folders and content items
Publish	Publish the selected content items. If you select a folder, all content items in the folder will be published.	Folders and content items
Publishing Target	Specify where content items in the folder will be published and where they can be previewed.	Folders
Publish to Directory	Add this content item to the portal Knowledge Directory.	Content items
Remove from Search Index	Remove the content item from the search index. Items that you remove from the search index are never returned in search results.	Content items
Rename	Change the name of this object.	All objects
Schedule	Set up a time to publish a content item or all content items in a folder.	Folders and content items
Set to Expire	Remove the content item or the contents of an entire folder from the last location to which it was published. Expiration does not delete the content item from the Publisher.	Folders and content items
Undo Expiration	Republish an expired content item.	Expired content items
Workflow	Folders: Select workflow properties to apply to the folder. Content items in workflow: Override the workflow assignment.	Folders and content items

For more information, see the sections of this Administrator Guide that discuss these actions in detail.

Viewing the Status Icons

The icons in the first column and in the Status column of the table pane indicate the status of the content item:

Setting Display Preferences

To display or hide columns from the table pane, right-click to open the context menu, click Columns, then select the column. A check mark next to the column name indicates that the column is currently displayed in the table pane.
To display or hide objects (such as folders, content items, Data Entry Templates, and so on), click Preferences in the action bar or in the context menu and select the objects to display or remove.
To limit the number of items displayed in a page of the table pane, click Preferences in the action bar or in the context menu and click Items Per Page. Use the page scrolling arrows at the bottom of the table pane to scroll through table pane pages.
To sort the objects in the table pane by column, click on the column heading.
To display the contents of a particular folder every time you launch Publisher Explorer, click Preferences in the action bar or in the context menu and click Set Home to Current Folder.
To bookmark frequently used objects or folders for quick access, select the object or folder and click QuickLinks | Add QuickLink in the action bar.