DocumentationAEM as a Cloud ServiceUser Guide

Managing Content Fragments managing-content-fragments

Last update: Fri Jun 21 2024 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

CREATED FOR:

  • User
  • Developer

Learn how to manage your Content Fragments in Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) as a Cloud Service, from the dedicated Content Fragments console, and Content Fragment editor. These Content Fragments can be used as the basis of your headless content, or for page authoring.

NOTE
Your project team can customize the console and editor if necessary. See Customizing the Content Fragment Console and Editor for further details.

After defining your Content Fragment Models you can use these to:

NOTE
Content fragments can be used:
NOTE
Content Fragments are stored as Assets. They are primarily managed from the Content Fragments console, but can also be managed from the Assets console.

The Content Fragments Console content-fragments-console

The Content Fragments console is dedicated to managing, searching for, and creating Content Fragments. It has been optimized for use in a Headless context, but is also used when creating Content Fragments for use in page authoring.

The Content Fragments console provides direct access to your fragments, and related tasks. The console can be directly accessed from the top level of the Global Navigation.

Global Navigation - Content Fragments console

For detailed further information see:

NOTE
This console only displays Content Fragments. It does not display other asset types such as images and videos.
CAUTION
This console is only available in the online Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) as a Cloud Service.

Basic Structure and Handling of the Console basic-structure-handling-content-fragments-console

Selecting Content Fragments opens the console in a new tab.

Content Fragments console - Overview

Here you can see that there are three main areas:

  • The top toolbar

    • Provides standard AEM functionality
    • Also shows your IMS organization
    • Provides various actions

  • The left panel

    • Here you can hide, or reveal, the folder tree
    • You can select a specific branch of the tree
    • This can be resized to show nested folders
    • You can select between viewing Content Fragments or Assets

  • The main/right panel - from here you can:

    • See the list of all Content Fragments in the selected branch of the tree:

      • Content Fragments from the selected folder, and all child folders will be shown:

        • The location is indicated by the breadcrumbs; these can also be used to change the location:

      • Information is shown about each fragments

      • Various fields of information about a Content Fragment provide links; depending on the field, these can:

        • Open the appropriate fragment in the editor
        • Show information about references
        • Show information about language versions of the fragment

      • Certain other fields of information about a Content Fragment can be used for Fast Filtering:

        • Select a value in the column and is immediately applied as a filter
        • Fast filtering is supported for the Model, Status, Modified By, Tags and Published By columns.

      • By using mouse-over on the column headers a drop-down action selector, and width sliders, will be shown. These allow you to:

        • Sort - select the appropriate action for either ascending or descending
          This will sort the entire table according to that column. Sorting is only available on appropriate columns.
        • Resize the column - using either the action, or width sliders

      • Select one, or more, fragments for further action

    • Use the Search box

    • Open the Filter panel

Actions actions

Within the console there is a range of actions that you can use, either directly, or after selecting a specific fragment:

Actions (unselected) actions-unselected

Certain actions are available from the console - without selecting a specific Content Fragment:

  • Create a new Content Fragment

  • Filter the Content Fragments according to a selection of predicates, and save the filter for future use

  • Search the Content Fragments

  • Customize the table view to show selected columns of information

  • Use Open in Assets to directly open the current location in the Assets console

    note note
    NOTE
    The Assets console is used to access assets, such as images, videos, and so on. This console can be accessed:
    • using the Open in Assets link (in the Content Fragments console)
    • directly from the global Navigation pane

Actions for a (selected) Content Fragment actions-selected-content-fragment

Selecting a specific fragment opens a toolbar focused on the actions available for that fragment. You can also select multiple fragments - the selection of actions will be adjusted accordingly.

Content Fragments console - toolbar for a selected fragment

NOTE
Use Open to open the selected fragment in the original editor.
NOTE
Actions such as Publish, Unpublish, Delete, Move, Rename, and Copy each trigger an asynchronous job. The progress of that job can be monitored via the AEM Async Jobs UI.

The Information provided about your Content Fragments information-content-fragments

The main/right panel (table view) of the console provides a range of information about your Content Fragments. Some items also provide direct links to further actions and/or information:

  • Name

    • Provides a link to open the fragment in the editor.

  • Model

  • Folder

    • Provides a link to open the folder in the console.
      Hovering over the folder name will show the JCR path.

  • Status

  • Preview

    • Information only:

      • In sync: Content Fragment is in-sync on the Author and Preview services.
      • Out of sync: Content Fragment is out-of-sync on the Author and Preview services. You need to Publish to Preview to ensure that the two instances return to being in-sync.
      • blank: The Content Fragment does not exist on the Preview service.

  • Modified

    • Information only.

  • Modified By

  • Tags

    • Information only.
    • Shows all tags related to the Content Fragment; both Main and any variations.
    • Can be used for Fast Filtering.

  • Published At

    • Information only.

  • Published By

  • Referenced By:

    • Provides a link that opens a dialog listing all parent references of that fragment; including referencing Content Fragments, Experience Fragments and pages. To open a specific reference, click the Title in the dialog.

      Content Fragments console - References dialog

  • Language: indicate any Language copies

    • Indicates the locale of the content fragment, together with the total number of local/Language copies associated with the content fragment.

      Content Fragments console - Language indicator

    • Select the count to open a dialog that displays all the language copies. To open a specific language copy, click the Title in the dialog.

      Content Fragments console - Language dialog

Creating Content Fragments creating-content-fragments

Before creating your Content Fragment, the underlying Content Fragment Model must be created.

Creating a Content Model creating-a-content-model

Content Fragment Models must be enabled and created, prior to creating content fragments with structured content.

Creating a Content Fragment creating-a-content-fragment

To create a content fragment:

  1. From the Content Fragments console, select Create (top-right).

    note note
    NOTE
    To have the location of the new fragment predefined you can navigate to the folder where you want to create the fragment, or you can specify the location during the creation process.

  2. The New Content Fragment dialog opens, from here you can specify the:

    • Location - Auto-completed with the current location, but you can select a different location if necessary.
    • Content Fragment Model - Select the model to be used as a basis of the fragment from the drop-down list.
    • Title
    • Name - Auto-completed based on the Title, but you can edit it, if necessary.
    • Description

    New Content Fragment dialog

  3. Select Create, or Create and open to persist your definition.

Statuses of Content Fragments statuses-content-fragments

During its existence a Content Fragment can have several statuses, as shown in the Content Fragment Console and Content Fragment editor:

  • New (grey)
    A new Content Fragment has been created, but has no content as it has never edited, nor opened, in the Content Fragment editor.
  • Draft (blue)
    Someone has either edited or opened the (new) Content Fragment in the Content Fragment Editor - but it has not yet been published.
  • Published (green)
    The Content Fragment has been published.
  • Modified (orange)
    The Content Fragment has been edited after it was published (but before publishing the modification).
  • Unpublished (red)
    The Content Fragment has been unpublished.

Editing the Content of your Fragment (and Variations) editing-the-content-of-your-fragment

IMPORTANT
For full details, see Authoring Content Fragments

To open your fragment for editing:

  1. Use the Content Fragments console to navigate to the location of your content fragment.

  2. Open the fragment for editing, by selecting the fragment, then Open in new Editor from the toolbar.

  3. The fragment editor opens. Select your required Variation amd make your changes as required (they will be auto-saved):

    Fragment editor

View and Manage Tags manage-tags

From the Content Fragments console you can view any applied tags in the Tags column; after ensuring that the column is showing.

Manage Tags (Console) manage-tags-console

To manage the tags:

  1. Navigate to the Content Fragment console.

  2. Select a Content Fragment.

  3. Select Manage Tags in the toolbar.

  4. Use the Tag selector to select tags to apply, or remove:

    Manage Tags

  5. Save updates. This will return you to the console.

Viewing, and Editing, Tags (Editor) viewing-and-editing-tags

You can also view, and edit, the tags applied to a fragment using the Properties tab of the editor. The information shown differs between Main and any Variations.

Viewing, and Editing, Properties (Editor) viewing-and-editing-properties

You can view, and edit, the properties (metadata) of a fragment using the Properties tab of the editor. The information shown differs between Main and any Variations.

Publishing and Previewing a Fragment publishing-and-previewing-a-fragment

You can publish your Content Fragments to:

  • the Publish Service - for full, public access

  • the Preview Service - to preview the content prior to full availability

    note caution
    CAUTION
    Publishing Content Fragments to the Preview Service is only available from the Content Fragments console; using the Publish action.
    note note
    NOTE
    For more details about the Preview environments, see Manage Environments.
CAUTION
If your fragment is based on a model, then you should ensure that the model has been published.
If you publish a content fragment for which the model has not yet been published, a selection list will indicate this and the model will be published with the fragment.

Publishing publishing

You can publish your Content Fragments using the Publish option from either:

After selecting the Publish action:

  1. Select either of the following options to open the appropriate dialog:

    • Now - select either the Publish service, or the Preview service; after confirmation, the fragment will be published immediately
    • Schedule - in addition to the required service, you can also select the date and time when the fragment will be published

  2. Provide all details in the dialog. For example, for a scheduled publish request:

    Publish dialog

    note note
    NOTE
    When necessary you will be required to specify the references to publish. By default, references also get published to the Preview service to ensure that there is no break in the content.

  3. Confirm the publish action.

After publication the fragment status will be updated and visible in the editor and console. If you have specified a scheduled publication, information will be shown.

NOTE
In addition, when you publish a page that uses the fragment; the fragment will be listed in the page references.

Unpublishing a Fragment unpublishing-a-fragment

You can unpublish Content Fragments:

In both cases, select Unpublish from the toolbar, followed by either Now or Scheduled.

When the relevant dialog opens you can select the appropriate service:

Unpublish dialog

NOTE
The Unpublish action will be only visible when published fragments are available.
CAUTION
If the fragment is already referenced from another fragment, or from a page, you will then see a warning message and be required to confirm that you want to proceed.

Find and Replace find-and-replace

The Replace action is available (in the top toolbar) to find, and replace, specified text in your selected Content Fragments.

Find and Replace

Before replacement, validation criteria are checked and you are informed of any conflicts, allowing you to change the replacement string or only replace the validated instances.

NOTE
The find and replace action can only be performed on a maximum of 20 selected Content Fragments (at a time).
If you select more than 20 Content Fragments, you will see the message Unable to find and replace.

Confirm Replace

Deleting a Fragment deleting-a-fragment

To delete a fragment:

  1. In the Content Fragments console navigate to the location of the content fragment.
  2. Select the fragment.
  3. Select Delete from the toolbar.
  4. Confirm the Delete action.
NOTE
The Delete is not available for fragments that are currently published, they must be unpublished first.

Finding Parent References of your Fragment parent-references-fragment

Details of parent references can be accessed from the

Both provide a link that opens a dialog listing all parent references of that fragment; including referencing Content Fragments, Experience Fragments and pages. To open a specific reference, click the Title, or the link icon, in the dialog.

For example:

Content Fragments console - References dialog

Finding Language Copies of your Fragment language-copies-fragment

Details of Language Copies can be accessed from:

The icon indicates the locale of the content fragment, together with the total number of locales/language copies associated with the content fragment. For example, from the console:

Content Fragments console - Language indicator

Select the count to open a dialog that displays all the language copies. To open a specific language copy, click the Title in the dialog.

Content Fragments console - Language dialog

Select columns shown in the console select-columns-console

As with other consoles you can configure the columns that are visible, and available for action:

Content Fragments console - column configuration

This will present a list of columns that you can hide or show:

Content Fragments console - column configuration

Filtering Fragments filtering-fragments

The Filter panel offers:

  • a selection of predicates;

    • including content fragment models, localization, tags, status fields, among others
    • one, or more, predicates can be selected and combined to create the filter

  • Exclude sub-folder items, giving you the option of excluding content fragments stored in sub-folders

  • the opportunity to Save your configuration

  • the option to retrieve a saved search filter for reuse

Once selected, the Filtering by options are shown (under the Search box). They can be deselected from there. For example:

Content Fragments console - Filtering

Fast Filtering fast-filtering

You can also select a predicate by clicking on a specific column value in the list. You can select one, or more, values to combine predicates.

For example, select Published in the Status column:

NOTE
Fast filtering is only supported for the Model, Status, Modified By, Tags, and Published By columns.

Content Fragments console - Filtering

Once selected, this will be shown as a filter predicate, and the list will be filtered accordingly:

Content Fragments console - Filtering

Searching Fragments searching-fragments

The search box supports full-text search. Entering your search terms in the search box:

Content Fragments console - Searching

Will provide the selected results:

Content Fragments console - Search Results

The search box also provides quick access to Recent Content Fragments and Saved Searches:

Content Fragments console - Recent and Saved

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