Publishing and Unpublishing Components

There are two types of components in Tridion: static and dynamic. 

• Static components are the kind you have to insert into a page in order for them to appear on the page. 
  
  
• Dynamic components do not need to be inserted into a page, but simply published and they will show up on pages that have been built to display them. 
  
  

Both type of components can be published or unpublished from the 050 publication area, but will have different impacts based on component type. Below is a breakdown of what will happen when you publish or unpublish a component, based on its type.

Static Components

Static components have to be inserted into a page, and then the page republished, in order for the content to show up. Examples of static components include (but aren't limited to) General Content, Code Block, Flex Spotlights, and Location.

• Publishing a static component from the 050 area will publish out all pages that contain the component. This is handy if you have more than one page that uses the component, because then you can update all the pages in less clicks.
  
  
• Unpublishing a static component from the 050 will unpublish all the pages that contain the component. This is generally not what you want to do! It will result in broken links on your website. When you need to remove content from a page, we recommend that you remove the component from the page and republish the page, rather than unpublishing the component.
  
  

Dynamic Components

Dynamic components are not inserted into pages. Instead, they are linked to associated List components (for example, a Document component must have an accompanying Document List component), and that List component is what is inserted into a page. Through linking the two component types, you can then publish dynamic components individually, without ever touching the page, and the page will update. Examples of dynamic components include (but aren't limited to) Articles, Documents, Legislation, and Courses.

• Publishing a dynamic component from the 050 area will publish it to all pages that contain the linked List component. 
  
  
• Unpublishing a dynamic component from the 050 area will unpublish it from all pages that contain the linked List component.
  
  

Generally, publishing and unpublishing dynamic components is a safe thing to do and they are built to handle these publishing actions.