Conditional publishing
Description
In structured content environments, conditional publishing allows authors to define rules that control how content appears in different versions of a publication. Rather than maintaining separate documents for each audience or region, authors can assign conditions or variables – such as "Product A," "Region EU" or "Beginner Guide" – to individual components.
When it’s time to publish, the system automatically selects and assembles only the components that meet the chosen criteria, producing customized outputs for each target context. For example, a manufacturer of two coffee machines can publish user manuals for both models simultaneously. The publication manager sets conditions based on the product type, and the CCMS automatically pulls the correct components for each manual. This approach eliminates duplication, ensures consistency and drastically reduces time-to-market – especially when content must also be translated, localized and reviewed for regulatory compliance.
Example use cases
- Product documentation: Generate multiple manuals or guides for product variants simultaneously.
- Regulated content: Create Clinical Evaluation Reports (CERs) or policies for multiple markets.
- Digital experiences: Serve region- or language-specific content across digital channels.
- Compliance: Produce tailored policy versions aligned with local regulations.
- Access control: Restrict sensitive or internal information to specific audiences.
Key benefits
RWS perspective
At RWS, conditional publishing lies at the heart of scalable, intelligent content operations. Through Tridion Docs, we help organizations manage, localize and publish content that automatically adapts to market, product or audience needs – all from one trusted repository.
Our Human + Technology approach brings together information architects, technical writers and automation experts to design structured workflows that maximize content reuse while ensuring every variant meets compliance and quality standards. By combining structured authoring, automation and metadata-driven publishing, RWS enables enterprises to deliver accurate, personalized information everywhere – faster, with less effort and greater confidence.