Document Publishing controls when edits to Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files become visible to Readers in OnBoard.

Organization Publishing Settings

What Do the Organization Publishing Settings Control?

The organization publishing settings control the default publishing behavior for all meeting documents and Resource folder documents.

Organization Admins can choose one of these settings:

• Automatically Publish Edited Documents: Saved edits become available to everyone who can access the document.
• Manually Publish Edited Documents: An Admin or Contributor must publish saved edits before Readers can see them.

The organization setting becomes the default for:

• All meetings
• All Resource folders

Meeting Admins can override this setting for an individual meeting. Resource folders always use the organization setting.

How Do Organization Admins Change the Default Publishing Setting?

Organization Admins can change the default publishing setting from the Feature tab in Organization Settings.

The Edited Document Publishing setting is available when the Microsoft 365 Integration is enabled.

1. Select Settings from the OnBoard navigation.
2. Select the Feature tab.
3. Scroll to Edited Document Publishing.

4. Select one of the following options:
   • Automatically Publish Edited Documents
   • Manually Publish Edited Documents

What Happens When Automatic Publishing is Selected?

When Automatically Publish Edited Documents is selected, edits to a Microsoft document become available to everyone who can access the document after the changes save back to OnBoard.

Readers, Contributors, and Admins will all see the updated document.

What Happens When Manual Publishing is Selected?

When Manually Publish Edited Documents is selected, edits must be published before Readers can see them.

Before the draft is published:

• Admins and Contributors can view the edited draft.
• Readers continue to see the last published version.
• The document remains in Draft status.

What Happens When the Organization Changes From Manual to Automatic Publishing?

When the organization changes from manual to automatic publishing, existing unpublished drafts remain unpublished.

A confirmation message explains that:

• Existing drafts will not publish automatically.
• An Admin or Contributor must manually publish each existing draft.
• Future edits will use automatic publishing after the setting is changed.

Meeting Publishing Settings

Can a Meeting Admin Override the Organization Setting?

A Meeting Admin can override the organization publishing setting for an individual meeting.

By default, each meeting uses the organization setting. Changing the setting for one meeting does not change the organization setting or the settings for other meetings.

How Does a Meeting Admin Change the Setting for One Meeting?

A Meeting Admin can change the publishing behavior from the meeting’s Settings.

1. Open the meeting.
2. Open the meeting Settings.
3. Scroll to Edited Document Publishing.

4. Change Set Using Organization Setting to one of the following:
   • Automatically Publish Edited Documents
   • Manually Publish Edited Documents

The selected option applies only to that meeting.

What Happens When a Meeting Changes from Manual to Automatic Publishing?

When a meeting changes from manual to automatic publishing, existing unpublished drafts remain unpublished.

A confirmation message explains that:

• Existing drafts will not publish automatically.
• Each existing draft must be manually published before Readers can see it.
• Future edits in the meeting will use automatic publishing.

Automatic Publishing

How Does Automatic Publishing Work?

Automatic publishing makes saved document edits available without requiring a separate publishing action.

When Automatically Publish Edited Documents is selected:

1. An authorized user edits a Microsoft document.
2. The edits save back to OnBoard.
3. The updated document becomes available to everyone who has permission to access it.

Manual Publishing

How Does Manual Publishing Work?

Manual publishing keeps document edits in Draft status until an Admin or Contributor publishes them.

After a document is edited:

• The edited document enters Draft status.
• Admins and Contributors can view the draft.
• Readers continue to see the last published version.
• The draft is not visible to Readers until it is published.

How Can I Identify a Draft Document?

You can identify a draft document by its Draft indicators.

When a draft exists:

• A purple pencil appears on the document icon.
• The word Draft appears next to the document title.
• The Draft indicator appears:
  • In the meeting agenda
  • In Resource folders
  • At the top of the document viewer

Draft Publishing Menu

Where Can Admins and Contributors Find Publishing Options?

Admins and Contributors can find publishing options in the document’s three-dotted menu.

Select the three-dotted menu beside a document in:

• A Resource folder
• A meeting agenda

The menu provides the following options:

1. View Draft
2. View Published
3. Publish Draft
4. Discard Draft
5. Download Published

What Does View Draft Show?

View Draft opens the document with all unpublished edits.

Only document Admins and Contributors can access the draft before it is published.

What Does View Published Show?

View Published opens the version currently available to Readers.

Use this option to compare the published version with the unpublished draft.

How Do I Publish a Draft From the Document Menu?

Publishing a draft makes all current edits available to everyone who can access the document.

1. Select the three-dotted menu beside the document.
2. Select Publish Draft.
3. Review the confirmation message.
4. Confirm that you want to publish the draft.

After the draft is published:

• The edited version becomes the published version.
• Readers, Contributors, and Admins can access the updated document.
• The Draft status is removed.

How Do I Discard a Draft From the Document Menu?

Discarding a draft permanently removes all edits made since the document was last published.

1. Select the three-dotted menu beside the document.
2. Select Discard Draft.
3. Review the confirmation message.
4. Confirm that you want to discard the draft.

After the draft is discarded:

• All unpublished edits are deleted.
• Only the last published version remains available.
• The Draft status is removed.

What Does Download Published Download?

Download Published downloads the version currently available to Readers.

This option does not download the unpublished draft.

Viewing Drafts

How Do I Publish a Document While Viewing its Draft?

You can publish a document directly from the draft view.

When viewing a draft:

1. Review the unpublished edits.
2. Select Publish at the top of the document.
3. Confirm that you want to publish the draft.

You can also select the three-dotted menu to:

• View Published
• Discard Draft

Viewing Published Documents

How Do I Switch From the Published Version to the Draft?

You can use the View Draft button to switch from the published version to the unpublished draft.

When viewing the published version:

• A banner states that you are viewing the published version.
• The Publish button is unavailable.
• The View Draft button opens the unpublished draft.

The three-dotted menu also provides these options:

• View Draft
• Discard Draft

Meeting Book Updates

What Happens to the Meeting Book When an Agenda Document is Published?

Publishing a document in a meeting agenda also schedules an update to the Meeting Book.

A Meeting Book is the combined meeting document that includes the agenda and its attached materials.

After an agenda document is published:

1. The Build Scheduled 30-minute timer begins.
2. When the timer ends, OnBoard builds an updated Meeting Book.
3. The new Meeting Book includes the published version of the document.

How Do I Make the Updated Meeting Book Available Immediately?

You can build the Meeting Book immediately when invitees need the updated version before the scheduled build begins.

1. Publish the updated agenda documents.
2. Select Build Scheduled.
3. Select Build Book Now.

The updated Meeting Book is built and made available to the meeting invitees.

Meeting Visibility

Does Changing Meeting Visibility Publish Draft Documents?

Changing meeting visibility does not publish draft documents.

Each draft agenda document must be published separately before Readers can see its edits.

For example, changing a meeting to All Visible:

• Makes the meeting content available according to the meeting’s permissions.
• Does not publish unpublished document drafts.
• Does not replace the published versions with the drafts.

What Should Meeting Admins Check Before Making a Meeting Fully Visible?

Meeting Admins should review every agenda document before changing the meeting to All Visible.

Before making the meeting fully visible:

1. Review the documents in each agenda section.
2. Look for purple pencil icons and Draft labels.
3. Open each draft and confirm that it is ready.
4. Publish every draft that Readers should receive.
5. Verify that the correct published versions are available.
6. If needed, select Build Book Now to update the Meeting Book immediately.
7. Change the meeting visibility to All Visible.

FAQs

What is Document Publishing?

• Document Publishing controls when edits to Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents become visible to Readers in OnBoard.

What is the difference between automatic and manual publishing?

• Automatic publishing makes saved edits available without a separate publishing action. Manual publishing keeps edits in Draft status until an Admin or Contributor publishes them.

Who can see a document in Draft status?

• Document Admins and Contributors can see a draft. Readers continue to see the last published version until the draft is published.

Can Readers see that a draft exists?

• Readers cannot access the draft. They continue to see the currently published version of the document.

Who can publish a draft?

• Admins and Contributors with permission to manage the document can publish its draft.

Can I set different publishing behavior for each meeting?

• Yes. A Meeting Admin can set an individual meeting to use automatic publishing, manual publishing, or the organization setting.

Can I set different publishing behavior for each Resource folder?

• No. All Resource folders use the organization-wide publishing setting.

What happens to existing drafts when I enable automatic publishing?

• Existing drafts remain unpublished. An Admin or Contributor must publish each existing draft manually. Future edits will use automatic publishing.

How can I tell whether I am viewing the draft or published version?

• The draft view displays the unpublished edits and provides an active Publish button. The published view displays a banner stating that you are viewing the published version, and the Publish button is unavailable.

Can I compare a draft with the published version?

• Yes. Use View Draft and View Published to switch between the two versions.

What happens when I select Discard Draft?

• Discard Draft deletes the draft and all edits made since the document was last published. Only the last published version remains.

Can I recover edits after discarding a draft?

• The discard action deletes the current draft and its unpublished edits. Confirm that the edits are no longer needed before discarding the draft.

Does Download Published include unpublished edits?

• No. Download Published downloads the version currently available to Readers.

Will changing a meeting to All Visible publish its drafts?

• No. Meeting visibility and document publishing are separate. Each draft must be published before Readers can see its edits.

When does a published agenda document appear in the Meeting Book?

• Publishing an agenda document starts the Build Scheduled 30-minute timer. When the timer ends, OnBoard builds the updated Meeting Book.

How can I update the Meeting Book without waiting for the scheduled build?

• Select Build Scheduled, and then select Build Book Now.

What happens if an automatically published editing session is left inactive?

• If the editing session remains open but inactive, the edits become available in OnBoard after 5 minutes of inactivity.

Why are Readers still seeing an older document?

• Readers may still see the older published version if:
  • The document is in Draft status.
  • The draft has not been manually published.
  • The existing draft remained unpublished after the setting changed from manual to automatic.
  • The Meeting Book has not finished rebuilding.
  • The meeting’s visibility or the Reader’s permissions do not provide access to the updated content.

What should I do before making a meeting visible to all invitees?

• Review every agenda document, publish each draft that Readers should receive, verify the published versions, and update the Meeting Book if needed.