Publishing a consultation makes it live and visible to respondents. Before publishing, make sure the consultation's details are complete, the survey is ready, and the open and close dates are set correctly.
Consultation Status Lifecycle
A consultation moves through the following statuses:
- Draft: created but not yet published. Not visible to the public.
- Published: live. If the open date is in the future, it shows as Upcoming in the index. Once the open date is reached, it becomes Open and accepts responses.
- Closed: the close date has passed and the consultation no longer accepts responses.
- Results: the We Asked, You Said, We Did content has been published, completing the consultation's public lifecycle.
How to Publish
- Open the consultation from the Consultations index.
- In the header, click Publish.
- A confirmation prompt appears. Click Yes, Continue to proceed.
The consultation status changes from Draft to Published. The Publish button is replaced with a Published badge in the header.
Note: Publishing cannot be undone through the interface. Once published, the URL field is locked and cannot be edited. If you need to take a consultation offline, contact your account administrator.
Previewing Before Publishing
To check how the consultation looks to respondents before you publish, click Preview in the consultation header. This opens the public-facing page in a new tab.
After the Consultation Closes
Once the close date passes, the consultation status changes to Closed and responses are no longer accepted. The Publish Results button then appears in the header, allowing you to publish the We Asked, You Said, We Did content.
See We Asked, You Said, We Did for guidance on preparing and publishing your results.