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Standard content types

Document collections

When to use this content type

Use a document collection for grouping GOV.UK content on a single page:

  • for a specific audience
  • around a specific theme or topic

A collection could be used to publish:

  • a set of forms
  • publications in the same series
  • different content types related to the same task or event

You can add content to more than one collection.

Do not create a collection:

  • for content that users do not need, or would not expect, to find together
  • in place of a records management system
  • for a single piece of content
  • for editions of the same publication (these should be multiple attachments on a single publication page)

Create a draft

To create or update this content type, you’ll need a Signon account with access to Whitehall Publisher.

If you’re creating a new document collection

  1. Go to Whitehall Publisher.
  2. Select the ‘New document’ tab.
  3. Select ‘Document collection’ and then select the ‘Next’ button.
  4. If the document collection is not in English, tick ‘Create a foreign language only document collection’ and select the language.
  5. Add the title and summary. You can add a further description of the collection to the body. Read the tone of voice guidance and formatting guidance for help.
  6. Select ‘Limit access’ under ‘Settings’ if your draft is sensitive. This means only users from organisations tagged to the content can see it before it’s published. It will not be copied across to Integration.
  7. Select the ‘Save’ button at the bottom of the page.

After saving the page, you can start adding the collection itself.

If you’re updating an existing document collection

  1. Go to Whitehall Publisher.
  2. Select the ‘Documents’ tab.
  3. Search for the document collection you want to edit, and select the ‘View’ link next to it. This will take you to the edition summary page. If you only want to update the topic tags and nothing else, select ‘Change tags’ under ‘Topic taxonomy tags’. Otherwise, keep following these steps.
  4. Select the ‘Create new edition’ button. If a new edition has already been created, select the ‘Go to draft’ link. You can then select ‘Edit draft’ or, if you do not want to use this draft, select ‘Delete draft’ and then select ‘Create new edition’.
  5. Make any changes to the title, summary and body as needed. Read the tone of voice guidance and formatting guidance for help.
  6. Do not change anything under the ‘Political’ heading. This is related to history mode and it will only need to be changed if your organisation is asked to take part in an audit of content before a general election.
  7. Select ‘Limit access’ under ‘Settings’ if your draft is sensitive. This means only users from organisations tagged to the content can see it before it’s published. It will not be copied across to Integration.
  8. Decide whether you need to write public change notes. Go to the bottom of the page and select the relevant option under ‘Do users have to know the content has changed?’, and add your change notes if needed (you can edit them again before you publish the draft).
  9. Select the ‘Save’ button at the bottom of the page.

After saving the page, you can start editing the collection itself.

Note:

If you select ‘Create new edition’ and you get a message telling you that the ‘document is in history mode’, you cannot update it without help from the Government Digital Service (GDS). See the guidance on removing history mode for more details.

Add or edit the content items in a collection

After you’ve created a draft, go to the ‘Collections’ tab.

You organise content by listing them under different headings, or ‘groups’.

You can change the default group names to something that better describes the content you’re linking to, for example ‘Annual reports 2015 to 2020’.

You can also add a one line description for each group. This will appear under the heading. For example: ‘These reports give an account of activity and services for each year, including financial statements.’

Add or edit a group

To add a new group:

  1. Select ‘Add group’.
  2. Enter the name of the new group in the ‘Name’ field.
  3. You can choose whether to add a description of the group in the ‘Description’ field.
  4. Select ‘Save’.
  5. You’ll need to add content to the group for it to show on the page.

To reorder groups:

  1. Select ‘Reorder group’.
  2. Select the ‘Up’ and ‘Down’ buttons or drag and drop the groups.
  3. Select ‘Save’.

To edit the name or description of a group:

  1. Select ‘View’.
  2. Select the ‘Group details’ tab.
  3. Select the ‘Edit’ link.
  4. Update the name and description.
  5. Select ‘Save’.

Add or edit content within a group

To add content to a group:

  1. Select ‘View’ next to the relevant group.
  2. Select ‘Add document’.
  3. You can then either select ‘By URL’ and enter the full URL of the page or select ‘By title’ and search for the full or partial title of the page.

To remove content from a group:

  1. Select ‘View’ next to the relevant group.
  2. Select ‘Remove’ next to the content you want to remove.
  3. Select ‘Remove’ again.

To reorder content in the group:

  1. Select ‘View’ next to the relevant group.
  2. Select ‘Reorder document’.
  3. Select the ‘Up’ and ‘Down’ buttons or drag and drop the groups.
  4. Select ‘Save’.
Note:

Select ‘Back’ when you’re ready to stop editing the content within a group.

Attachments

You cannot add attachments to this content type. If you want to include a link to a file, think about whether you can upload it as a separate piece of content.

Images

You cannot add images to this content type.

Change the ‘first published date’

You can change the first published date if the same content was available on another webpage before, like on another GOV.UK page you’re unpublishing or a campaign site you’re closing.

Under ‘First published date’, tick the ‘This document has previously been published on another website’ box. Select the new date.

The new date will show when you publish the draft.

Add or remove tags to organisations and events

You can tag your content under the ‘Associations’ heading. You do this by adding or removing associations.

These associations include:

  • topical events – use this if you want the content to appear on a topical event page
  • lead and supporting organisations – your own organisation will be set as a lead organisation as default, but you can change that or add any other organisations if they’re responsible for the content

Update settings of the draft

Under the ‘Settings’ heading, you can:

  • change the ‘Email address for ordering attachment files in an accessible format’
  • select ‘Schedule publication’, if you want the draft published at a certain time and date
  • select ‘Review date’, if you want to get an email asking you to check the content at a later date after you’ve published it

Add or remove topic tags

You need to tag your draft to at least one topic page before you can publish it.

Your content will appear on the tagged topic pages when:

  • the draft is published, if it’s new content
  • you save the new tagged topic pages, if you’re updating existing content

See the ‘Education, training and skills’ topic page for an example of what these topic pages look like.

To add tags:

  1. Select ‘Save and go to document summary’ on your current draft.
  2. Under the ‘Topic taxonomy tags’ heading, select ‘Add tags’ or ‘Change tags’.
  3. Tick the boxes next to each topic that applies. The arrows next to each topic will expand the topic out, showing all sub-topics in that topic ‘tree’.
  4. Select ‘Save’.

To remove tags, select ‘Remove topic’ next to the one you want to remove and then select ‘Save’.

Choose topic tags:

  • based only on what the content is about
  • from anywhere in the topic ‘tree’, not just the areas that your organisation uses the most

Try to choose the most specific topics you can.

You can tag your content to as many topic pages as are relevant. There’s no limit.

Add or edit translations

Add a new translation

Read the guidance about deciding whether to add a translation.

If you want to add a translation, you’ll need to create a completely separate draft and select ‘Create a foreign language only document collection’.

Add the link to the foreign language version at the top of the English version. Use this format: “View this document collection in Arabic”.

Repeat the steps to link the English version to the foreign language version. If you have multiple translations, make sure all the translations are linked.

Edit an existing translation

Search for the translated version on Whitehall Publisher and create a new draft. It will exist as a completely separate piece of content to the English version.

Update the URL

URLs are automatically created from the page title when you first publish the content. You might want to update the URL if there’s a spelling mistake or if it no longer reflects the content.

If the content has never been published before

You can update the draft title and the URL will change.

If the content has been published already

You can:

  1. Create a new piece of content with the desired title and URL.
  2. Copy over the current content to this new draft.
  3. Publish the new draft.
  4. Unpublish the page with the incorrect URL. When you unpublish it, you’ll be able to set up a redirect to the new page.

The change notes history will be lost if you do this. If you need to keep that history, contact the Government Digital Service (GDS) and ask them to change the URL instead.

Publish the draft

Find out how to send the draft for review.

If you need to publish it urgently without a review, find out when you can publish your own draft.