ManagingTopics < System

%STARTINCLUDE%
---+ Managing Topics

_Browser-based rename, move, copy, and delete for individual topics_

%TOC%

---++ Overview

You can use browser-based controls to change a name of a topic, move it to another web or delete it to a hidden =Trash= web.

%STARTSECTION{"PowerUserGuide"}%
---++ How to rename or move a topic

   1. *Select* the ==[More topic actions]== link (normally located in an action toolbar at the top or bottom of page) on the topic to be changed. Then, in the new screen, click ==[Rename or move topic...]== or ==[Delete topic...]==. You can now rename and/or move in one operation:
      * *Move:* Select the target web if other than the current web
      * *Rename:* Enter the new topic name - default is current name
      <blockquote class="foswikiHelp">%X% You'll be warned if any of the topics to be affected are locked (being edited), or if there is a name conflict.</blockquote>
   1. *Prevent updates* by unchecking individual items on the list of referring links - these topics will NOT to be updated with the new name (by default, *only links in the same web* will be updated).
   1. *Click* on ==[Rename]==: the topic will be renamed and links to the topic updated as requested.
      * If any of the referring pages are locked then they will be listed: you can correct these later by again pressing ==[Rename]==.
<blockquote class="foswikiHelp">%T% There is a *Put back* feature that allows you to undo a ==rename/move/delete== action - an instruction line and an undo link will appear under the ==[Rename or move topic]== section of the ==[More topic actions]== page. This allows you to revert from the _last modification only_.</blockquote>

---++ How to delete a topic
Foswiki deletes topics by moving them to the hidden =Trash= web.
   1. *Select* the ==[More actions]== link (normally located in an action toolbar at the top or bottom of page) on the topic to be changed. Then, in the new screen, click ==[Delete topic...]==. That will bring up the "rename" form prepopulated with the =Trash= web and a suitable topic name.
   1. *Click* on ==[Delete]==: the topic will be renamed and moved to the =Trash= web as requested.

#CopyTopic
---++ How to copy a topic
\
   1 *Select* the ==[More actions]== link (normally located in an action toolbar at the top or bottom of page) on the topic to be changed.
   1 On the "More actions" page, scroll down to the "Copy topic" section. In the "Name of copy" text box, enter in the new topic name. To copy the topic to another web, fully qualify the topic name with the web name, separating the two with a period (for example, =<noautolink>Web.TopicName</noautolink>=).
   1 *Select* the ==[Copy topic]== button. You will be directed to an edit page for the newly-created topic. You can save the new copy immediately, or make some changes and then save it.

#DeleteTopic
---++ Deleted topics: How to clear the trash

Deleted topics are moved to a special ==Trash== web - they are NOT physically erased from the server. All webs share the same =Trash= - in case of a name conflict with a topic already existing in the =Trash= web, the user is alerted and asked to choose a new name.

The =Trash= web should be be cleared periodically, by archiving (saving) the text and RCS files if required (recommended), then deleting them from the =pub/Trash= and =data/Trash= directories. 

<blockquote class="foswikiHelp">%X% This can only be done from on the server, not through the browser. %T% Be sure to recreate the empty !TrashAttachments after you remove it.

%T% Since simple FTP access to the ==Trash== directory is all that is required for maintenance, it is possible to grant =Trash= admin privileges to multiple users, while strictly limiting server access.</blockquote>
---++ Redirecting from an old topic

The default "new topic" screen tells the user when a topic being created
used to exist, but was moved. So if anyone follows a link to a moved topic,
they will be able to click through to the new name.

---++ How rename/move works

   1. %<nop>SEARCH%, with a special template, finds and displays all occurrences of the topic name in other topics, either web- or site-wide. These referring links are by default automatically changed to the new topic and/or web name. This includes relevant MetaData definitions.
      * User can omit one or more topics from the update list by unchecking them.
      * =&lt;pre&gt;= and =&lt;verbatim&gt;= are honoured - no changes are made to text within these areas.
        %BR% %X% Foswiki will therefore _not_ change any references in [[Macros][macros]] defined in =&lt;pre&gt;= and =&lt;verbatim&gt;= blocks
   2. The topic is moved (if locks allow).
   3. References are changed (locks and permissions permitting).
   4. Any referring topics that cannot be changed due to locks are listed - user can take note and change them at another time.

---+++ How referring topics are found

First, matching topics in the current web are listed - matches are to ==topic==.  Next, all webs (including the current one) are listed that match ==web.topic==. _All_ webs will be searched during rename, even if =NOSEARCHALL= is defined on a web, though access permissions will of course be honoured.

Changed references are kept as short as possible, for example: =topic= is used in preference to =web.topic=.

---+++ Effect of user access settings

User permissions affect the 'rename' functions in various ways. To rename a topic, you need all of ==VIEW==, ==CHANGE== and ==RENAME== access to that topic. To alter referring topics, you need ==CHANGE== access. See AccessControl for information on setting up access permissions.

---++ Special considerations

Consider carefully whether to make browser-based *rename/move/delete* widely available, or to restrict it to an administrator/moderator group. Allowing all users to easily manipulate topics can be extremely useful in refactoring a busy web or site. However, there are at least two significant potential drawbacks to take into account: 
   1. When referring links are updated, the modified topics appear in WebChanges, creating the impression that editorial changes were made. This can undermine the usefulness of WebChanges.
   2. Due to [[#RenameLimitations][current limitations]], fairly heavy use of rename/move/delete functions can lead to an accumulation of minor technical problems (such as broken links) and usability issues (e.g. user confusion). If rename... is used heavily, these negatives will obviously increase, in number and effect.

Ultimately, the size, objectives, and policies of your site, the real-world behavior of your user group, and most importantly, the initial Foswiki site management leadership, will determine the most effective implementation of this feature, and the success of the site overall.

#RenameLimitations
---++ Known issues

*Rename/move* is fairly complicated due to the dynamic generation of links. Ideally, it would be possible to run the required part of rendering in a way that would allow identification of the text to be changed. Unfortunately, these hooks don't exist at present. Instead, %<nop>SEARCH% is used with a special template to show the text to be changed, and the selected topics are then altered. One drawback is that =search= can show matches that will not be updated due to case differences. Other mismatches with actual rendered output are also possible as the approaches are so different.

The following shows some limitations of square bracket processing.

<!--%JQREQUIRE{"chili"}%--><verbatim class="tml">
[[Old Topic]]  => [[NewTopic][Old Topic]]
[[old topic]]  => [[NewTopic][old topic]]
[[old t opic]] => not changed
[[OldTopic]]   => [[NewTopic]]
</verbatim>

#RevisionRollback
---++ Reviewing and Reverting
<blockquote class="foswikiHelp">%T% The previous version of this documented recommended copy/paste from the raw view of a prior version to revert.  This is *not* recommended as it fails to revert changes to the topic metadata.
Note howver that no method actually reverts attachments as they are stored separately from the topics.</blockquote>
Foswiki's revision control saves all topic changes. To view earlier versions of a topic, click on the =%MAKETEXT{"History"}%= link in <a href="#topic-actions" class="foswikiLink">topic actions</a>. If you would like to revert to an earlier version or reclaim part of an earlier version, just copy from the old topic revision to the current topic revision as follows:
   1 If necessary, using the =History= view, find the revision number you want to restore.
   1 Visit the ==[More topic actions]== page, ==[Restore topic]== section.
   1 Enter the desired revision number and click ==[Restore]==.  This action creates a new revision from the specified version.
<blockquote class="foswikiAlert".%X% *Caution:* This action does not "rewrite history".  A new revision is created, and the rollback can still be reverted.  If the is some highly sensitive data that must be removed from the history, this operation will not remove the information.
In order to completely expunge data from history, there are several possible options:
   * Move the topic to trash, and create a new version of the topic by cut/paste from the raw view of the trashed topic.
   * _or_ the site administrator can use the =cmd=delRev= option of the edit script to permanently remove the last revision of a topic. 
   * _or_ a server admin can remove the =topic.txt,v= rcs file from the file system after removing the offending information from the topic.
</blockquote>
%ENDSECTION{"PowerUserGuide"}%

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*Related Topics:* UserDocumentationCategory, AdminDocumentationCategory
This topic: System > WebHome > ReferenceManual > ManagingTopics
Topic revision: revision 1 (raw view)
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