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Staging Global Settings Changes

A change to Global Settings repaints every page on the site. Staging lets you hold that change as a draft instead: you see it across the whole site next to the live version, send a link to someone to review, and apply it when you are ready or at a time you choose. Every applied change is recorded, so you can bring back an earlier version.

When to use it

Section titled “When to use it”
  • A colour, font or other site-wide change that someone else needs to approve before it goes live.
  • A rebrand or seasonal change that should go live at a set date and time.
  • Any change where you want to check pages other than the one open in the editor.

For a small change you have already checked, Save Settings still applies it straight away. Staging is optional.

How to stage a change

Section titled “How to stage a change”
  1. Open a page in the editor and select the gear button in the toolbar (Global settings).
  2. Change the settings you want. The open page updates as you work, as it always does.
  3. Select Preview across site in the toolbar, beside Save Settings. Your current values are staged and the Preview staged design settings window opens.

Nothing changes for visitors at this point. The live site keeps its current settings until you apply.

How to preview the staged site

Section titled “How to preview the staged site”

In the Preview staged design settings window:

  1. Choose a page from the page list. It offers the home page and your published Promptless WP pages.
  2. Choose how to view it: Side by side, Live site or Staged.
  3. Select Close to leave the window. The change stays staged.

The staged frame is rendered by the site itself, so it shows the change everywhere the design settings reach: Promptless WP sections, the Promptless theme’s header and announcement bar, and Promptless Forms.

Section titled “How to share a review link”
  1. In the preview window, select Copy review link.
  2. Send the link to your reviewer.

The reviewer opens the link without signing in and sees the site with the staged settings. Anyone else, including visitors on the normal address, sees the live site. There is no approve or reject step inside Promptless WP: the reviewer tells you, and you apply or discard.

The link has no time limit of its own. It shows the staged design for as long as that change stays staged; once you apply or discard it, there is nothing staged left for the link to show.

How to schedule, apply or discard

Section titled “How to schedule, apply or discard”

In the preview window:

  • Schedule for — pick a date and time, then select Schedule. The settings apply automatically at that time.
  • Apply now — makes the staged settings live on every page.
  • Discard — throws away the staged settings. The live settings do not change.

While something is staged, a strip at the top of the Global Settings panel reads Staged design changes (or Scheduled design changes, with the time it applies). It shows who staged it, when, and which settings changed, with Preview, Apply and Discard buttons.

How to restore an earlier version

Section titled “How to restore an earlier version”
  1. In the Global Settings panel, open the History tab.
  2. Find the version you want. Each entry shows when it was applied, who applied it, where it came from (for example saved in the editor, applied from staging, or applied by the connector) and which settings changed.
  3. Select Restore. The version is staged, not applied, and the preview window opens.
  4. Check it, then select Apply now.

A restore goes through the same preview and apply steps as any other change, and the restore itself is recorded in the history. The oldest entry, labelled Original settings, holds the settings as they were before the first recorded change, so you can always get back to where you started. It shows no name, because it records the starting point rather than a change someone made.

Limits and common problems

Section titled “Limits and common problems”
  • You do not see Preview across site, Apply, Discard, Schedule or Restore. These need the WordPress permission to customise the site, which administrators have by default. Without it you can still preview and copy the review link.
  • The site has one staging area. Header, footer and other edits left unpublished in the WordPress Customizer share it with staged design settings. Applying publishes all of it.
  • History keeps the last 30 applied changes. Older entries are removed as new ones are added. Changes saved with Save Settings, by the AI connector and from color presets are recorded too.
  • Visitors still see the old design after you apply. The change is live on the next page request. If your host runs a full-page cache that ignores the plugin’s cache clearing, visitors may see the old design until that cache expires. Purge the host’s cache after applying.

Available since Promptless WP 1.8.1.