Sitecore Content Editor Overview

This is a brief overview of the Sitecore Content Editor. It is an editing tool that is used for managing and editing the content on the Site. Experience Editor is also used for managing and editing the content but it is mostly used by Content authors who do not have much experience with Sitecore Content Editor. It is designed for more experienced developers who have experience with Sitecore and its functionality.

The Content Editor can be accessed in two different ways - 

1. Sitecore Launchpad (Sitecore Experience Platform)

2. 'Sitecore Launchpad/Desktop/Content Editor'

Ribbon in Content Editor

The ribbon is located at the top of Content Editor and it consists of different tabs which have different categories under each. Each category is used for different functionalities. The ribbon can be customized by Sitecore Admin for different users. Users can see different tabs based on the rights admin has provided. Hence you may see different tabs from other user.

Sometimes the ribbon is minimized so you can expand it  to see the different categories for editing the page.

On the top of the ribbon, you will find a button and 11 tabs based on the role you are assigned. The 12th tab i.e. Developer tab can be seen by right-clicking on the ribbon and selecting the Developer.

The Buttonhas some features - 

1. Item properties - It is used to view the properties of the selected item.
2. Application options - It is used to select which element you want to display in the Content Editor.
3. Licenses - It is used to view the License name and its expiration date.
4. License Details - It is used to view the License Details.
5. Exit - It is used to log out of the Sitecore.

Home Tab

• Save - It is used to save the changes that you have done on the pages.
• Edit - It is used to lock or unlock the item for editing. Its dropdown has functions that are related to Workflow. Workflow is described in Review Tab.
• Insert - It is used to insert a folder, template page item, or sample item.
• Tag item - It is used for tagging the item content.
• Duplicate - It is used for duplication of a page or a folder. It will duplicate the item and append 'Copy of' to the duplicated item.
• Copy to - It is used to copy a folder or a page item to another location.
• Move to - It is used to move a folder or a page item from one location to another.
• Delete - It is used to delete the folder or a page item.
• Rename - It is used to rename the name appearing in the URL for the site.
• Display name - It is used to change the display name of the item. The display name is different from the name of the item.
• Up - It is used to move the selected item one step up in the content tree.
• Down - It is used to move the selected item one step down in the content tree.
• First - It is used to move the selected item to the first place in the content tree.
• Last - It is used to move the selected item to the last place in the content tree.

Navigate Tab

• Open - It is used to open folders or page items or files that are recently opened or navigate to files or folders from the content tree.
• Back - It is used to go to the previously selected item. It is grayed out if there is no option to go to the previous item.
• Forward - It is used to go to the next selected item. It is grayed out if there is no option to go to the next item.
• Up - It is used for navigating to the parent item of the selected item. For sitecore in the content tree, there is no option to go up as it does not have any parents.
• Subitems - It is used to navigate to a subitem of the selected parent.
• Home - It is used to go Home item. There is only a single default Home in the Sitecore content tree.
• Favorites - It is used to navigate to files that you have marked as "favorites".
• Links - It is used to display links on the pages or any associated content on the page that originates from another item.
• Search - It is used to perform search operations.

Review Tab

• Spelling - It is used to run a spellcheck on all the content and HTML fields of the page.
• Markup - It is used to check whether HTML markup is valid or not by sending all HTML fields to the W3C validator.
• Validation - It is used for viewing the W3C validator results.
• Subscribe - It is used for subscribing to the RSS feeds for the selected item.
• My items - It is used to view the items that are locked by you. It also helps in the unlocking of items. You can unlock selected one only or you can unlock all items at once.
• Workflow - A workflow is a series of predefined states that are used to reflect the work processes and procedures for creating web content in the organization. If an item is newly created then there is the option of Edit, History, and Submit. When an item is submitted for review the admin will decide whether to Approve or Reject the item. When an item is accepted then it will be ready for publishing.
• Reminder - It is used to set an email reminder or to clear an email reminder.
• Archive - It is used to archive the item. You can have three options here to archive the item now, archive a version, or set an archive date for the item.

Analyze Tab

• Goals - It is used for associating goals with the selected item.
• Attributes - It is used for associating attributes with the selected item.
• Details - It is used to view the attributes assigned to the selected item.
• Page Analyzer - It is used for the analysis of the selected item.

Publish Tab

• Change - It is used to change the restriction on a page.
• Publish - It is used to publish a site or to publish the item.
• Experience Editor - It is used to open the page in experience editor.
• Preview - It is used to preview the page.
• Publishing viewer - It is used to view the publishing date of each version of the page.

Version Tab

• Reset - It is used to reset all the field values in the content area of the page.
• Versions - It is used to view all the versions of the current page.
• Add - It is used to add a new version of the page.
• Compare - It is used to compare versions of the page.
• Remove - It is used to remove the current version of the page.
• Language - It is used to modify the current language.
• Translate - It is used to show the translate mode.
• Compare - It is used to compare two versions of the page.

Configure Tab

• Icon - It is used for assigning an icon to the selected item.
• Help - It is used for writing the help texts for the current item.
• Editors - It is used to select the custom editors for the current item.
• Tree node style - It is used for defining the appearance in the content tree.
• Contextual tab - It is used to specify a contextual tab in the ribbon.
• Context menu - It is used to specify the context menu.
• Bucket - It is used to convert this item into an item bucket.
• Revert - It is used to convert this item bucket into a normal item.
• Sync - It is used for synchronization of the current item bucket.
• Current item - It allows you to store the current item as an unstructured item in an item bucket. 
• Standard values - It allows every item based on the sample item template to be stored as an unstructured item in an item bucket.
• Clone - It is used for creating a clone of the current item.
• Unclone - It is used to change the clone and its subitems into real items.
• Assign - It is used for assigning insert options.
• Reset - It is used for resetting the insert options defined on the template.
• Change - It is used to change to another template.
• Edit - It is used to open the template editor.
• Hide Item - It is used to make the items hidden or visible.
• Protect Item - It is used to protect or unprotect the item from changes. When it is protected then no one can change the content of the item.

Presentation Tab

• Details - It is used for viewing and editing the layout details for the current page item.
• Reset - It is used to reset the layout details to settings defined at the template level.
• Preview - It is used for previewing the current item presentation.
• Aliases - Is helps in creating or removing URL aliases for the page.
• Design - It is used for setting up the design of the RSS feed for the current item.

Security Tab

• Presets - It is used to apply layout preset. Creating presets is part of the Experience Marketing profiling strategy.
• Assign - It is used for assigning security rights for the selected item.
• Details - It is used to view the assigned security rights for the selected item.
• Change - It is used for changing the ownership of the item.
• Access Viewer - It is used for access management. We can change the read, write, rename, create, delete and administer rights for items in the content tree.
• User Manager - It is used for user management. We can add a user, delete a user, assign a role to users, and many more.

View Tab

• Content tree - It is used to show or hide the content tree in the left pane.
• Entire tree - It is used to show or hide all the sections in the content tree.
• Hidden items - It is used to show or hide items that are marked with hidden attributes.
• Standard fields - It is used to show or hide the fields from the standard template. 
• Raw values - It is used to show or hide field values as input boxes or as raw values.
• Buckets - It is used to show or hide the bucket repository items. A bucket is a special type of item that acts as a container for other items.

My Toolbar Tab

• Customize - It is used for customization of the tab. We can add or remove commands on this tab using this option.

Content Area

The content area is an area where we can edit an item. When we click an item in the Sitecore content tree then two tabs appear in the content area. These two tabs are - 

1. Content tab - The content tab allows you to edit the item field values.
2. Search tab - The search tab is where you can search for any field or value in the selected item.

At top right corner of the content area, there are some more functions available for the currently selected item. These functionalities are:

• Navigate  - It allows you to navigate to a specific section or field in the current item.
• Language  - It allows you to toggle between the different language versions of the item and also allows you to create a new language version.
• Versions  - It allows you to toggle between different versions of the item and also allows you to create a new version.
• Edit Profile Cards  – It allows you to edit the profile cards that are associated with the current item.

Content Tree

The content tree contains all the items, forms, layouts, media library, templates that are created in your Sitecore. Content will contain all the website content, forms will contain all the forms created in Sitecore, layouts will contain all the information related to the rendering of the website, media library will store all the images and files that are uploaded in Sitecore, the system will contain system information about the website and Sitecore, templates will store all the templates which are composed of fields and their data type.

The Sitecore content tree has a similar structure as Windows Explorer. We can expand and collapse every folder in the Sitecore content tree just as we do with the folders in Windows Explorer.

We can also search for an item from the search bar present at top of the content tree. Searching can be done on the item name, item id, or any text.

References

The Content Editor - https://doc.sitecore.com/xp/en/users/90/sitecore-experience-platform/the-content-editor.html

That's all for Now 😉