DocumentationExperience Cloud KCS

Locked content causes persistent ‘Publication Pending’ status

Last update: July 13, 2026

In Adobe Experience Manager as a Cloud Service Sites, pages or experience fragments can remain in a Publication Pending state when a publish workflow fails on locked content. To fix the issue, unlock the affected content and terminate the failed workflow instances.

Description description

Environment

  • Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) as a Cloud Service - Sites

Issue/Symptoms

  • Publication Pending entries remain visible in the Sites UI for specific pages or fragments.
  • The publish and preview replication queues are healthy and empty.
  • The affected content is already published and accessible.
  • The workflow console shows failed workflow instances with errors related to locked content, such as: “ReplicationException: The page … is locked and cannot be replicated. The owner needs to unlock the page first.”

Cause

The issue is caused by failed workflow instances triggered by locked content within the publication tree. These failed workflows keep the Publication Pending status visible until the content is unlocked and the failed workflows are terminated.

Resolution resolution

To fix the issue where published content remains in Publication Pending after a workflow fails on locked content, follow these steps:

  1. In AEM Author, navigate to the affected page(s) or experience fragment(s).
  2. If any item is locked, have the owner or an administrator unlock it using the Unlock action.
    • To identify the owner of locked content, check the lock information in the page or fragment properties. You must have appropriate permissions to unlock content. If you do not have access, contact your AEM administrator.
  3. Go to the workflow console in your AEM Author environment.
  4. Click the Failures tab.
  5. Filter by payload containing the affected path.
  6. Select and terminate the failed workflow instances related to the locked content. You need workflow administration permissions to terminate workflows.
  7. Refresh the AEM Sites UI and confirm that the Publication Pending entries are cleared. Confirm that the page or fragment is published and accessible in the publish environment.
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