Creating a content report (WCMS 2)
- Sarah Cooper
- Shalyn Fluttert
How to create a Content Report
The WCMS 2 content report is a CSV file that lists every page on a site. It
displays useful information such as the node ID of each page, the
title, the content type, the URL path, and the published status. Site
managers can download the file and open it using Excel. When preparing
your site for migration to WCMS 3, it is recommended that you use the
content report to review the content on your site. For more information
on how to prepare your site for migration, visit the WCMS 3 migration prep checklist.
Create usable hyperlinks
The content report includes URL paths to each page, but it is not a usable hyperlink. It may be convenient to create hyperlinks on the spreadsheet to easily access any page immediately from the doc.
After you have downloaded and opened the document, enter https://uwaterloo.ca/site-name/ in cell H1, replacing 'site-name' with the URL of your site. Include the trailing slash (/) at the end.
e.g. https://uwaterloo.ca/web-resources/
Enter =HYPERLINK($H$1&D2) in cell H2.
With cell H2 selected, use the small green square in the lower right corner of the cell to autofill the formula into the rest of the column.
Save the document as an Excel Workbook (XLSX) to retain functionality of the hyperlinks when you reopen it.
Review unpublished content
Unpublished content does not migrate to WCMS 3. Review unpublished pages and publish any content that you want to migrate.
In the Dashboard, select Content report (CSV) from the Site Management section.
Open the file using Excel.
Select the column that contains the published status, which should be column E.
Select Sort & Filter in the Home toolbar.
Select Sort A to Z.
If prompted, select Expand the selection then select Sort. Unpublished content will now be displayed first on the sheet.
Review published content
Published content will migrate to WCMS 3. Review published pages and archive any content that you do not want to migrate.
In the Dashboard, select Content report (CSV) from the Site Management section.
Open the file using Excel.
Select the column that contains the published status, which should be column E.
Select Sort & Filter in the Home toolbar.
Select Sort Z to A.
If prompted, select Expand the selection then select Sort. Published content will now be displayed first on the sheet.
Unpublished versions of published pages saved as 'Draft' or 'Needs Review' do not migrate to WCMS 3. It is recommended to review published pages and publish or delete any unpublished revisions of those pages.
Review old content
It is recommended that you regularly review old pages and archive or delete them if they are not relevant anymore. News items, Events, and Blog posts are some content types that may be in most need of review. To review old pages in each content type:
On the content report, select Column C containing the content types.
Select Sort & Filter in the Home toolbar.
Select Sort A to Z.
Select Expand the selection then select Sort. This will sort the spreadsheet by content type.
Navigate to the content type you are reviewing.
Select all pages for that content type, spanning columns A to H.
Select Sort & Filter in the Home toolbar.
Select Custom sort...
Under Column, select either Column F (Date created) or Column G (Last updated).
Under Order, select either Oldest to Newest or Newest to Oldest.
Select OK.
Repeat for other content types as needed.
The cells in columns F and G may appear as '########' at first but increasing the size of the column will display their actual values. You can do this by selecting the column then selecting Format and AutoFit Column Width.
Review duplicate paths
If two paths are identical in WCMS 2, a number is added to the end of
it automatically starting from 0. For example, if two pages are given
the path contact-us, the one created later will have the alias
contact‑us‑0. This could lead to issues during remediation if the URL
Alias checkbox is checked for these pages. Ideally, the only paths that
end with numbers on your site would be for pages that have numbers in
the title, such as a page called “Engineering 3” having the path
'engineering-3'.
On the content report, select Column D containing the Paths.
Select Sort & Filter in the Home toolbar.
Select Sort A to Z.
Select Expand the selection then select Sort. This will sort the spreadsheet by Paths, putting similar paths close together.
Increase the width of column D until you can see the end of each path.
Navigate through the content report and find any duplicates that end with '-0' or another number.
If you have found any duplicates, there are multiple options:
You can delete the duplicate page if it is not needed or is not up to date.
Rename one of them and resave it (with the URL alias checkbox checked) to change its path. If the URL alias checkbox is unchecked, you can change the path directly without changing the title of the page.
You can uncheck the URL alias checkbox of both pages. This ensures they will retain their paths.
Other recommendations
On the content report, select Column C containing the content types.
Select Sort & Filter in the Home toolbar.
Select Sort A to Z.
Select Expand the selection then select Sort. Published content will now be displayed first on the sheet.
Navigate to Web forms and review each one.
If a form is closed and will not be re-opened, unpublish it.
If a form redirects to a different site such as Jira or Qualtrics, you can safely unpublish it. The redirect will still work.