Unpublishing and withdrawing ('archiving')
How and when to remove or retire content from GOV.UK.
Read the policy on when content should be unpublished or withdrawn.
Who can unpublish or withdraw content
Only managing editors can unpublish or withdraw content from GOV.UK. If your managing editor is not available, contact GDS using the GOV.UK Support form.
Anyone with a Whitehall publisher account can discard drafts of content that’s never been published.
Unpublishing
Before you start, read the guidance on when to unpublish or withdraw content.
Unpublishing deletes a piece of content from GOV.UK.
To unpublish content:
- Select the ‘Documents’ tab in Whitehall publisher and search for your document.
- Click on the document you want to unpublish.
- Click on the ‘Withdraw or unpublish’ button.
- If you select ‘Unpublish: published in error’ add an ‘Alternative URL’ to avoid creating a ‘404’ error message and write a reason in the ‘Public explanation’ field. Do not redirect the page if it was published too soon and you plan to publish the page again at the same URL.
- If you select ‘Unpublish: consolidated into another GOV.UK page’ you only need to add an ‘Alternative URL’.
You can only redirect to URLs on GOV.UK. You can include Markdown in the public explanation box.
‘Unpublish: consolidated into another GOV.UK page’ and redirect to an appropriate page if you’re unpublishing content that:
- contains sensitive personal data
- breaches copyright laws
- includes material that users find obscene or defamatory
- includes details of convictions - speak to your legal team to find out when it should be removed
Unpublished content will return to a ‘draft’ state in Whitehall publisher. You cannot discard drafts of unpublished content.
Attachments
If you choose ‘Unpublish: consolidated into another GOV.UK page’ all attachments on the document (such as HTML attachments and PDFs) will automatically redirect to the same place as the unpublished document (the ‘Alternative URL’).
How withdrawing works
Withdrawing content means it’s still available at the same URL. You will not be able to create any new versions of the content while it’s withdrawn but you can edit the public explanatory text that appears on the page.
Withdrawn publications will still appear in Google search results and attachments can still be reached directly.
Before you withdraw content:
- Remove any attachments from the document and add a statement or watermark to each attachment - for example ‘This publication was withdrawn on 1 January 2016’.
- Add ‘[Withdrawn]’ to the start of attachment titles.
- Re-upload the attachments to the document.
You do not need to add a ‘withdrawn’ message to HTML attachments. Whitehall Publisher does it automatically when you withdraw a document.
Links to the withdrawn document from within body copy will not be automatically removed from other pages.
To withdraw content:
- Select the ‘Documents’ tab in Whitehall publisher and search for your document.
- Click on the document you want to unpublish.
- Click on the ‘Withdraw or unpublish’ button.
- Always leave a reason in the ‘Public explanation’ field explaining why you’re withdrawing the document. You can include Markdown and provide users with a link to a new page or document.
The withdrawn document will still appear external search engine results but it will not appear in internal site search results. If the withdrawn document is featured on your organisation page, it will continue to be listed there until it’s un-featured.
A withdrawn document will not be visible in:
- document collections it is part of
- related document sections on the public site, for example, an organisation’s ‘Documents’ section
- the list of announcements on a person’s profile page
- specialist browse
- atom feeds
- govdelivery notifications
Withdrawn content will show as ‘withdrawn’ in Whitehall publisher.
Closed organisations
If an organisation closes, only withdraw material that’s no longer relevant. Examples of items that should not be withdrawn are:
- guidance that’s still useful about things people can still do (consider reassigning this to the new organisation if there is one)
- transparency data
- freedom of information responses
How to unwithdraw content
Only managing editors can ‘unwithdraw’ content, for example if a content item was withdrawn by mistake or they need to fix an error in the content.
Find the document in Whitehall publisher and select ‘Unwithdraw’. You do not need to republish the document.
If the document has attachments you’ll need to re-upload them. They will not appear automatically.
If you’re making a change, you must withdraw the content again. This will not email subscribers or give any notification to users.
The withdrawn date will change to the date you last withdrew the content.
Find out when you can edit withdrawn content.
Writing a withdrawn notice
You should always leave a reason in the ‘Public explanation’ field explaining why you’re withdrawing the content.
Give details of newer versions of the page, or help users find related content.
Examples
Use a variation on the following, depending on your reason for withdrawing a page.
When a scheme, programme or fund closes
You can’t apply for this [scheme, programme, fund] anymore. It has been replaced by: http://www.gov.uk/government…
A news story or press release containing guidance
This news article has been withdrawn because the guidance it includes is out of date.
Guidance is any content that tells users how to do a thing, such as how to apply for a thing, how much something costs, or what to take on a plane. This should not be included in news stories, because they go out of date and aren’t edited after being published.
Out of date
This page has been withdrawn because it’s out of date. You can read about X or Y at: http://www.gov.uk/government…
Newer version available
This page has been replaced by a newer version. Go to: [link]
Older news stories or press releases
This news article has been withdrawn because it’s over x years old.
Changing URLs
URLs are automatically created from the page title when you publish the page and can only be changed by a developer. This will only be done in exceptional circumstances.