In this week’s release, we introduced the ability to save content with empty required fields. Let’s understand this feature in detail.

What Is an In-Progress Entry?

An entry is a piece of content that you create using a content type. An in-progress entry is an entry that includes one or more mandatory fields with no set value. Previously, Contentstack did not allow saving entries if the required fields were left blank. While it was helpful for validation, such an implementation made it impossible for content managers to navigate away from content entry midway, for example, to edit content later or to create entry references.

Note that the “mandatory” field validation is checked when publishing the entry.

Why Allow Saving In-Progress Entries?

The following lists some situations where saving in-progress entries is beneficial.

Avoid data loss: The ability to save entries with no values in mandatory fields allows you to save data at any time while editing. Being able to save data helps guard against data loss that may arise to a sudden power outage or a system crash.

Edit in multiple sessions: You may want to work on an entry over a long period of time, due to the size or complexity of the entry. In such cases, you can save the entry as incomplete and come back later for further editing.

Create references on the go: While creating an entry, you may want to create reference entries on the go. However, to do that, you have to navigate away from the parent entry page. Saving in-progress entries makes this easier and helps ensure content is up to date without any loss of data.

How to Save In-Progress Entries

Saving in-progress entries is not different than saving a normal, complete entry. To save an in-progress entry:

• Go to the entry page
• Add content (you can choose to skip adding values to the mandatory fields)
• Click "Save"

This saves the entry as being in progress.

There are, however, certain limitations on the actions that you can perform on in-progress entries. Read more about them below.

Note: This feature is not available by default. To enable in-progress entries for your organization, contact us a support@contentstack.com.

What You Cannot Do with In-Progress Entries

An important point to note is that entries cannot be published until they are complete. In fact, all the actions related to publishing the entry cannot be performed for in-progress entries. This means that the in-progress entries:

• Cannot be published
• Cannot be added to release
• Cannot be scheduled for publishing
• Cannot be part of bulk publishing
• Cannot be sent for publishing as reference

So all rules that were applicable to publishing are still the same, ensuring that only complete content can go live.

Read more about saving in-progress entries.

The Rich Text Editor (RTE) is a key component of any content management system. With RTE, a content manager doesn't have to worry about content formatting and styling from the code-end. It makes life easier for content managers to apply styles and formatting to content without needing the help of a developer.

Better yet, we have taken it one step further to give developers the flexibility to customize and control the formatting options in the RTE, including only the ones that content managers are likely to use while omitting the ones that are unnecessary.

Customization Options for RTE

Until now, when you create a content type and add a Rich Text Editor field, you only had the option to choose either the Basic or the Advanced editor with pre-set formatting selections. We have now introduced the Custom editor option so that you can choose the desired formatting options that are specific to your needs.

The customizable Rich Text Editor (RTE)  gives developers more control and provide content managers with a smoother and more tailored editing experience. 

Let’s look at how developers can customize the RTE field through the web app. 

Steps to Customize the RTE

1. Create a content type
   Log into your Contentstack account and create a content type.
2. Add an RTE field
   Click on the field and edit the field properties that are available on the right side panel.
   
   1. In Editor Version, select Latest.
   2. Inside Editor Type, select Custom.
   3. Select the Formatting or Inserting options that you want. If you want all the options, click on Select All.
3. Save your settings
   Once you have added the required options to your editor, click Save and Close.

Now, on the entry page, the content managers would be able to see the RTE field with only the options that you selected in the above step. 

Note: Only the roles that have permission to create content types can customize the RTE field. 

Read more about the customized RTE on our documentation site.