Housekeeping helps publishers keep their CMS workspace organized by automatically removing unpublished or outdated stories that are no longer needed.

Publishers can configure housekeeping rules to identify stories based on criteria such as syndication source, section, author, the number of days since a story was last updated, and story status. This helps publishers manage older content without manually deleting stories.

Note: Housekeeping is not enabled by default. Publishers who want to use this feature must contact the Support team to have it enabled for their publication.

How Housekeeping Works

Housekeeping identifies stories that match the configured rules and removes them from the publisher's workspace and search results. Stories are soft-deleted in the database and removed from the search index.

Housekeeping rules determine which stories are eligible for deletion. Published stories are excluded from housekeeping.

Configuring Housekeeping Rules

Housekeeping rules can be configured using the following criteria:

• Syndication Source: Target stories received from specified syndication sources.
• Section: Target stories assigned directly to specified sections. Stories belonging to subsections are not automatically included.
• Author: Target stories created by specified authors.
• Last Updated: Specify the minimum number of days since a story was last updated. For example, setting this to 60 days targets eligible stories that have not been updated in the last 60 days.
• Story Status: Specify which story statuses should be included in housekeeping.

When multiple criteria are configured in a single rule, a story must match all the specified criteria to be eligible for deletion.

Supported Story Statuses

Housekeeping supports the following story statuses:

• Draft: Stories that are still in draft status.
• Submitted: Stories awaiting approval.
• Approved: Stories that have been approved but not published.
• Rejected: Stories that have been rejected.

If no specific status is configured, all eligible statuses are considered by default. Published stories are excluded from housekeeping deletion.

The statuses included in housekeeping depend on the rules configured for the publication. For example, a publisher can configure housekeeping to target only Draft stories or include Draft, Submitted, Approved, and Rejected stories.

Enabling Housekeeping

Housekeeping is enabled through the backend configuration for the publication and cannot be enabled directly from the publisher's workspace.

To enable housekeeping or update existing rules, contact the Support team with the following details:

Syndication Sources: The sources to target, if applicable.
Sections: The sections to target, if applicable.
Authors: The authors whose stories should be included, if applicable.
Age Threshold: The minimum number of days since the stories were last updated.
Story Statuses: The statuses to include in housekeeping.

The Support team can help enable the feature and configure the rules according to your publication's requirements.

Important: Housekeeping removes eligible stories from the workspace and search results through soft deletion. Review and confirm the required criteria carefully before enabling the feature to avoid removing stories unintentionally.