A concise guide covering the basics of editing with Concrete CMS

Needing more guidance?

This guide is intended to cover common editing tasks and is no way an exhaustive coverage of Concrete's features.

Concrete CMS logo used with permission

To insert headings and paragraphs

Use the Content block to include text headings and paragraphs on a page. Add or Edit a Content block, highlight some text and select the drop down towards the end of the toolbar and select a heading type.

To insert links to pages, files and external URLs

Within a Content block, highlight some text and select the Link button on the Content block toolbar.

From the dialog, you can either:

• Select the sitemap button, to select a page within your site.

• Select the file button, to select a file to link to from the file manager.

• Directly enter the URL that you wish to link to (in particular for external websites).

Adding Images

Images can be added in two ways:

• By adding an Image block.

• By using a Content block and placing an image directly within the content.

Adding YouTube videos

To copy blocks to the clipboard

Blocks can be copied to a 'clipboard' within Concrete CMS, allowing them to be easily copied between pages. To copy a block:

• Put the page into Edit Mode

• Click on the block you wish to copy and select 'Copy To Clipboard' from the popup menu

To place blocks from the clipboard

1. Select the Add Content (Plus) button on the top toolbar. The block toolbar will slide in from the left.

2. At the top of the panel, click the dropdown and select Clipboard from the options.

3. Blocks within the clipboard will be displayed. Drag the block you wish to place into an editable area.

The block panel dropdown where the clipboard can be selected

To change the name or the url of a page

1. Select the Page Settings (Gear) button on the top toolbar.

2. Select the SEO option.

3. Adjust the Name to adjust the page name - this is what appears on navigations and pages lists.

4. The URL Slug can be changed to adjust the address/url of the page.

5. The Meta Title and Meta Description values can also be changed.

6. Select Save Changes.

7. Select the Edit Page (Pencil) button on the top toolbar.

8. Finally, select the blue Publish Changes button.

Note - the Page Name and URL Slug fields are also available under the Composer panel. If this is available for the page you are editing you can use the fields there as well to make the same changes.

What are the 'Meta Title' and 'Meta Descriptions' used for?

A page's metadata is information about a page that isn't displayed directly on the page, but can be automatically read by search engines. Use these fields to specify the title and description of a page that appears within a search engine result. Often these changes are performed as part of Search Engine Optimization, or SEO.

To hide a page from navigation

1. Select the Page Settings (Gear) button on the top toolbar.

2. Select Attributes.

3. Within the sidebar, scroll down to find 'Exclude from Nav'.

4. Click on the option so that it is highlighted with a blue background (if it is not already).

5. On the right hand side, find the 'Exclude From Nav' attribute and check its checkbox.
6. Select Save Changes.

7. Select the Edit Page (Pencil) button on the top toolbar.

8. Finally, select the blue Publish Changes button.

Hiding a page from navigation does not prevent the page from being accessed, it simply stops a link to it from being shown on automatic navigation. You can still create links to the page manually.

Other useful attributes

The attributes panel offers other built-in attributes that are useful for controlling your pages:

• Description

• Exclude From Page List

• Exclude From Sitemap

• Exclude From Search Index

• Exclude Sub-Pages From Nav

Last updated January 2025

A concise guide covering the basics of editing with Concrete CMS

Needing more guidance?

This guide is intended to cover common editing tasks and is no way an exhaustive coverage of Concrete's features.

Concrete CMS logo used with permission

To create a new page

1. Select the Pages (Pages Icon) button on the right of the toolbar.

2. A list of different page types will be presented under the New Page heading.

   Your site is likely to be configured with multiple page types for different purposes.

3. Select the type of page you wish to add, or for a generic new page select Empty Page or Page.

At this point depending on the page type you may be presented with two different ways to continue adding content to the new page:

To publish a page set up for 'Composer'

If the page you have selected has been configured for 'Composer' editing, you will be presented with a new form with the title 'Composer' and the name of the page you have selected.

Complete the form presented and select the blue Publish button.

To publish a page that is directly editable

Page types may also be configured to be initially created through direct editing. In this case after selecting a page type the page will be immediately presented in edit mode. When creating a page this way:

1. Add page content by adding blocks or editing any default blocks

2. Select the Edit Page (Pencil) button on the top left of the tool bar and publish your new page.

When you create a page this way and try to publish it you wil be presented with a message that you haven't entered a page name or selected its location. To complete:

1. Select the Page Composer Interface link. This will bring up the 'Composer' interface where you can enter details for the new page, including selecting the desired location of the new page within the site.

2. Complete these details and press the Publish button.

To edit a page created via the Composer

Pages created via the Composer form can still be edited via the normal editing method. However, the special fields need to be edited by clicking on the Page Settings button on the tool bar and selecting Composer from the panel. The Composer form will be presented again, where you can make further edits and Publish the page.

To make changes to your site you will need to first sign in via the login page. This can be found by adding /index.php/login to the end of your site's address, e.g. www.yoursite.com/index.php/login

Enter your administrator Username (or email if prompted) and Password and press the Sign In button.

Signing in will return you to your site's home page, with a new tool bar across the top of the page.

What browsers can I use to edit my site?

Concrete CMS is designed to work with modern browsers, such as Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Microsoft Edge. It is recommended you use a recently released browser to avoid editing issues. Basic editing tasks are possible on a tablet device, but it is recommended that you use a non-touch device for full editing control.

Signing Out

Once you have completed your editing tasks it is good practice to sign out of your website.

To sign out select the Dashboard (Sliders) button on the top right of the toolbar and select the Sign Out link at the bottom of the panel.

Most editing activities performed on a Concrete CMS website start via one of the top toolbar buttons.

Buttons on the left of the toolbar relate to the current page:

Edit Mode (Pencil)

Composer / Page Settings (Gear)

Add Content (Plus)

The search and buttons on the right relate to site-wide activities:

Pages

Dashboard (Sliders)

Intelligent Search

Some themes offer the ability for the broader page layout itself to be changed.

To change page template:

1. Select the Page Settings (Gear) button on the top toolbar.

2. Select Design

3. Under Page Template you will see a list of available page templates (click the Expand option to see them all)

4. Select the Page Template you wish to use. The page will refresh to preview the layout.

5. Select the green 'Save Changes' button to save the page with the newly selected layout.

Pages can be re-ordered and moved between sections via the Sitemap.

Either:

• Click on the Dashboard button and select the Sitemap option, or

• Click on the Pages button on the toolbar and view the sitemap there.

To re-order pages

Drag and drop pages displayed within the sitemap tree by their page icons. New icons will appear on the sitemap to show where you are moving the page to.

Changing page nesting

If you drag a page and drop it onto another page, you will be given the option to move or copy the page beneath that page. The options are:

Move - if you want to place the page under the page you dropped it on

Alias - if you wish the page to appear in navigation in another section, but keep the page in the same location in the sitemap

Copy - if you wish to make a full copy of the page in the new location (i.e. you wish to then edit it and change content)

There are two common ways of changing the broader layout of a page:

Creating Area Layouts

Editable areas on a page can be split up in further columns of editable areas. To add a layout:

1. Select the Edit Page (Pencil) button on the top toolbar.
2. Hover over the an editable area on the page - a small label will appear beneath it with the name of the area.

3. Click the area label and select Add Layout.

4. The layout controls will appear. Adjust the number of columns needed and resize them by dragging the square handles to the sides of each column.
5. Press the blue Add Layout button to finalise the layout.

6. Blocks can now be placed into the new layout areas.

Note: on some installs new layouts won't immediately appear. In this case simply refresh the page to see the new layouts - changes you have made will not be lost.

To adjust an existing layout

While in edit mode, a layout can be adjusted by clicking on an area label and selecting Edit Container Layout. This will allow you to resize the existing columns. Layouts can also be removed by clicking the trash icon.

Move your blocks before deleting layouts

When a layout is deleted from a page the blocks within it are also deleted. If you wish to keep the blocks within a layout, move them out of the layout to another area first.

Images and files can be uploaded either via the Files section within the Dashboard, or directly at the time that they are added to a page.

To view and manage previously uploaded files

Click the Dashboard button on the toolbar and select Files.

Uploading and managing files

Within the File Manager individual files can be clicked on to be viewed with detail, where they can be previewed, downloaded and deleted. The Manage drop down when viewing an individual file offers options to delete or swap a file with a new upload.

To upload new files

Files can be dragged onto this page to automatically upload them, or the blue Upload Files link can be clicked.

Adding files and links to pages

Once files have been added to the File Manager, the files can be linked to via blocks such as the Content block, File block and Image block. When selecting files from blocks, the File Manager will appear, where you can click on an file to select it, or at this point upload a new file.

Deleting Pages

Via the sitemap, left click on the page you wish to delete to bring up a menu. Click on Delete to delete the page and move it to the 'Trash'.

Restoring Pages

Pages that are deleted in Concrete CMS are not deleted completely - they are moved to a 'Trash' section within the sitemap, from where you can restore them if necessary.

To view the Trash:

• Click the Dashboard button on the toolbar and select Sitemap.

• Check the Include System Pages in Sitemap checkbox, the Trash section will now be visible.

• Drag pages out of the Trash section to restore them.

Page Versioning

When a page is published previous revisions of the page are retained. To view previous versions of a page:

1. Select the Page Settings (Gear) button on the top toolbar.

2. Select Versions.

3. Click on a page version - it will be previewed

4. While hovering over a page version, click the arrow icon next to the timestamp of the version to bring up a menu

5. Select Approve to make that version the current visible version of the page

Note: When adjusting the page version, take note of the 'Page is Pending Approval' notice - unapproved newer page versions will be shown while you are editing the site and will ask to be approved. Through the Versions panel you can also delete versions if they are no longer required.

Editing existing page content

Most content on a Concrete CMS website is managed through adding and editing blocks. Blocks are displayed within Editable Areas on pages.

Areas that highlight in green are regular areas that appear on the current page only. Areas that highlight in blue are 'Global' areas - content in these areas will appear sitewide.

To edit a block on a page

1. Select the Edit Page (Pencil) button on the top toolbar.

2. Hover over the block you wish to edit. Editable blocks will be outlined in green (or blue if they have been placed in 'global' areas).

3. Click or tap on the block and from the context menu select Edit Block. Different block types have different editing controls. For general text content a Content Block is most often used. When Content blocks are edited the page content will become directly editable and a formatting toolbar will be presented above the content.

4. Edit the block contents using the controls displayed and save the block by selecting the blue Save button.

While the page is in Edit Mode further blocks on the page can be edited and saved.

To add a new block to a page

1. Select the Add Content (Plus) button on the top toolbar. A block toolbar will slide in from the left.

2. Drag the block you wish to add onto the page, dropping it onto the green and blue highlighted areas.

3. The added block's edit controls will appear. Configure the block as you need and select the block's blue Save button.

To re-arrange blocks on a page

Blocks can be re-arranged on a page via the following steps:

1. Hover over the block you wish to move and start dragging it by the four pointed arrow in the middle of the block.

1. Drag the block to a new position - areas on the page will highlight to show possible new positions.

2. Let go of the mouse button while one of the new positions is highlighted.

Publishing changes

While a page is in edit mode, only you can view the changes you have made. To make your pages visible to others click the green Exit Edit Mode (Pencil) button on the top left of the toolbar. The left sidebar will present save options.

Select the blue Publish Changes button to save the current version of the page. This will make your changes publically viewable.

At this point you can also:

Save Changes - this saves the changes made to the page, but doesn't approve the new changes for public viewing.

When you next visit the page while logged in you will see a 'Page is Pending' message. The new version of page will only be made public once the 'Approve Version' button is pressed.

Discard Changes - this will undo all edits made to the page and revert it to the state before the page was put into edit mode.