Troubleshoot Publishing and Branding Problems

This page helps you identify and resolve common problems that affect how your content appears to audiences in a public portal. Use it when published documents are missing, a portal looks unbranded, templates produce unexpected results, or public search does not return expected documents.

Overview

Publishing and branding work together to control the public experience. Publishing determines whether content is available to the intended audience, while templates and branding determine how that content is presented in the portal.

You may need this process when users report that they cannot find a document, see outdated formatting, encounter an unexpected portal appearance, or receive incomplete search results. Start by confirming the affected audience and document, then review the publishing, template, branding, and search experience in that order.

Use the available search tools to locate the relevant project or document before making changes. Depending on where you are working, you may see Search documents..., Search projects..., Search across all projects..., or Search documents, categories, projects....

📷 Screenshot pending: The Publishing area used to review content availability for an audience.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have:

• Access to the project and audience where the issue occurs.
• The name, title, or identifying text of the affected document.
• The affected audience or public portal link, if available.
• Permission to review Publishing, Template Settings, and Templates.
• A way to compare the expected public result with the current portal result.
• Details from the user who reported the issue, including search terms, browser, language, and a screenshot when possible.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Identify whether the problem affects one document or the entire portal.

   Open the affected public portal and check whether the problem is limited to a single document, a category of documents, search results, or the portal’s overall appearance.

   If you know the document title, use Search docs... in the public portal. In the authoring workspace, use Search documents... or Search across all projects... to locate the source document. For broader investigation, use Global Search or Quick Search and enter a distinctive document title, category name, or project name.

   If only one document is missing or looks incorrect, focus on that document’s publishing and template configuration. If multiple documents are affected, review the audience, template, and branding configuration first.

2. Confirm that you are checking the correct audience and public portal.

   A document can appear differently—or not appear at all—depending on the audience viewing it. Open the public portal for the audience reported by the user and compare it with the intended audience.

   In the authoring area, open Publishing and review the publication settings associated with the affected content. Confirm that you are working with the audience that users are actually visiting.

   Problem: Users can see the portal but cannot find the expected content.
   Cause: The content may be available to a different audience, or you may be checking a different public portal than the user.
   Solution: Return to Publishing, verify the intended audience, and then test the matching public portal again using Search docs....

3. Review the template used for the affected content.

   Open Templates to locate the template associated with the affected document or content type. Then open Template Settings to review the presentation settings that apply to that template.

   Compare the affected document with a document that displays correctly in the same portal. Look for differences in the selected template or in the template settings that could explain changes to layout, headings, navigation, or other visible elements.

   Problem: The document is published but has unexpected formatting or structure.
   Cause: The document may use a different template, or the template’s settings may not match the expected public presentation.
   Solution: Review Templates and Template Settings, identify the expected template by comparing a working document, and correct the document or template configuration as appropriate. Recheck the public portal after the change is available.

📷 Screenshot pending: The Templates and Template Settings areas used to compare public document presentation.

4. Check portal branding and confirm the scope of the issue.

   Review the public portal’s visible branding, such as its overall visual identity and the way shared portal elements appear around documents. Compare the affected portal with another portal that has the expected appearance.

   If the branding problem appears on every document in one portal, treat it as a portal-level issue rather than a document-level issue. If it appears only on documents using one template, return to Templates and Template Settings before escalating the issue.

   Problem: The portal branding looks wrong on every public page.
   Cause: The issue is likely associated with the portal or audience configuration rather than one document.
   Solution: Confirm the audience and portal being viewed, document the visible difference, and request assistance from the team responsible for portal branding if you cannot correct it through the available publishing and template settings.

5. Test public search with the user’s exact search terms.

   In the public portal, select Search or use Search docs.... Enter the same words the user entered, including spelling, product names, and phrases.

   Test a few variations:

   • The full document title.
   • A unique word from the title.
   • A phrase from the document body.
   • The category name, if relevant.

   Check whether the document is missing completely, appears under an unexpected title, or appears only for a different search phrase. Also confirm that you are testing the intended public portal and audience.

   Problem: A published document does not appear in public search.
   Cause: The document may not be available to that audience, the search terms may not match the public document content, or the user may be searching a different portal.
   Solution: Verify the audience in Publishing, test the document title and a unique phrase with Search docs..., and compare results with the expected portal. If the document is still unavailable, capture the search terms and escalate the issue.

6. Use support tools when the cause is not clear.

   If you cannot determine why publishing, templates, branding, or public search behaves unexpectedly, open Support Agent or select 🤖 AI Support. Provide the project, audience, document title, public portal link, search terms used, and screenshots of the expected and actual result.

   For issues that require follow-up, use the available issue workspace. You can use Search & Filter to locate existing reports and select Resolve only after you have verified that the public portal now displays the expected result. The All Resolved view can help you check whether a similar problem was previously addressed.

Tips and Best Practices

• Always test through the same audience and public portal used by the affected user. A correct result in one portal does not confirm a correct result in another.
• Use a working document as a comparison point when investigating template or branding problems. This is often faster than trying to identify every setting independently.
• Search using exact user-provided terms before trying alternatives. This helps distinguish a search issue from an audience or publication issue.
• Record the portal link, document title, audience, and visible symptoms before changing templates or publishing configuration.
• When reporting an issue, include whether the problem affects one document, one audience, or all documents in a portal.
• If content processing reports completion with warnings, review the affected content carefully before assuming it is ready for public use. A successful completion result does not replace a visual check of the public portal.

Related Pages

• Publish Content to an Audience
• Manage Templates
• Configure Template Settings
• Use Public Search
• Find Documents with Global Search
• Get Help with Support Agent
• Manage and Resolve Issues

Troubleshooting

A document is visible to authors but missing from the public portal

Problem: You can locate the document in the workspace, but users cannot find it on the public site.

Cause: The document may not be available to the audience being tested, or the user may be viewing a different portal.

Solution: Use Publishing to verify the intended audience. Then open that audience’s public portal and search with Search docs... using the exact document title. If it remains unavailable, provide the document title, audience, and portal link to Support Agent.

The public portal uses the wrong layout or appearance

Problem: Public documents display unexpected formatting, navigation, or portal presentation.

Cause: The affected document may use a different template, or the issue may affect portal-level branding for the audience.

Solution: Compare the document with a correctly displayed document. Review Templates and Template Settings for document-specific differences. If every document in the portal is affected, document the portal-wide symptom and escalate it as a branding issue.

Search returns no results or unexpected results

Problem: Users search for known content but do not find it.

Cause: The search terms may not match the published content, the document may be unavailable to that audience, or the user may be searching the wrong portal.

Solution: Repeat the search with Search or Search docs... using the exact title and a unique phrase from the document. Confirm the audience in Publishing, then test the correct public portal. If results still differ from expectations, submit the exact search query and screenshots through 🤖 AI Support or Support Agent.