Auto-Unpublish Past Events

Do you have a long list of past events, perhaps dating back to the 2010s or even the 2000s? Do you want to trim the number of past events shown on your site to highlight the key important ones? 
A new setting has been added that allows an event to be automatically unpublished after it has ended. This setting can be configured either across all events on your site, or just on select events. This guide explains why unpublishing past events can be helpful, as well as when and how to do so.
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Table of contents
Why Unpublish Past Events?
Types of Automatic Unpublishing
Site-Wide Auto-Unpublishing
Auto-Unpublishing Individual Events
Setting Multiple Events to Automatically Unpublish Using the Bulk Editing Option
Why Unpublish Past Events?Many H&S sites have been accumulating events for a decade or longer. Some units host a wealth of events each week, eventually leading to hundreds or even thousands of past events. While some past events might be examples the unit wishes to highlight for a long time, such as a distinguished lecture by a guest of significance, many events are smaller affairs like weekly department seminars.
Rather than hosting dozens of pages of past events, you can choose to limit the amount of historical data displayed on the site.
Unpublished past events will not be visible to visitors on your site. However, Site Managers and Contributors can still view them through the Manage Content menu. To do so, go to Manage Content ⟶ Manage Events, then select "No" in the Published filter. 
Types of Automatic UnpublishingAutomatic unpublishing refers to events becoming unpublished after the date and time of the event have passed, with no extra work on your part. For example, if auto-unpublishing is enabled, either sitewide or for a specific event, and you create an event that will take place on December 1, 2025, the event will remain published through December 1, 2025. It will automatically unpublish on December 2.
This guide details how to set events to automatically unpublish once they are in the past. If you would like to manually unpublish any event, regardless of its date, visit the guide on ﻿ ⁠⁠Unpublishing a Page⁠ .
Site-Wide Auto-Unpublishing The H&S Web Team can enable a sitewide option that will automatically unpublish all events after an event's end date and time has passed. Please  submit a support ticket  if you would like us to enable this function on your site.
Note: Changing the site-wide default does not impact existing events; events that were added to the site before the setting was enabled will need to be manually unpublished. If you need help unpublishing past events, please  reach out to Support .
Auto-Unpublishing Individual EventsGranular control exists if you would like to set a single event to automatically unpublish once it has passed. 
To do so, go to the event page and open the editing interface. In the right sidebar panel, click the caret to expand the dropdown for "Promotion Options." Next, click the toggle for "Auto-unpublish when event is past." Save when complete.
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Screenshot of the editing interface of an Event. The sidebar menu is open on the right, and the third menu heading, "Promotion options," is expanded. The toggle for "auto-unpublish when event is past" is outlined to highlight its position third in the list.Screenshot of the editing interface of an Event. The sidebar menu is open on the right, and the third menu heading, "Promotion options," is expanded. The toggle for "auto-unpublish when event is past" is outlined to highlight its position third in the list.
Setting Multiple Events to Automatically Unpublish Using the Bulk Editing OptionYou can set multiple events to automatically unpublish by using the bulk editing option. Start by visiting Manage Content ⟶ Manage Events in the Shortcuts Menu, 
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Navigating to Manage Events in the Shortcuts menu: Go to Manage Content, which is the 4th option from the left, and find Manage Events from within the dropdown list.Navigating to Manage Events in the Shortcuts menu: Go to Manage Content, which is the 4th option from the left, and find Manage Events from within the dropdown list.
A list of all of your events will be shown. Use filters as needed to adjust which events to filter for. For instance, you may wish to view only your weekly department seminars. Use the filters available on your site, such as Event Type and Event Series, as needed. 
Please note that filter options may vary from site to site. 
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Manage Events menu showing various event filters. Examples include Event Type, Event Quarter, and Event Series. Manage Events menu showing various event filters. Examples include Event Type, Event Quarter, and Event Series. 
Click the checkbox on the left to select specific events. A dropdown menu labeled "Action:" will appear at the bottom of the screen. Choose "Modify Field Values" and click the button, "Apply to selected items."
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Two items are selected in the Manage Events list. A box appears at the bottom of the page with a dropdown menu of options. Choose "Modify Field Values" and click the button, "Apply to selected items."Two items are selected in the Manage Events list. A box appears at the bottom of the page with a dropdown menu of options. Choose "Modify Field Values" and click the button, "Apply to selected items."
This will bring you to a page with many toggles. Choose the toggle that reads, "Auto-unpublish when event is past," and click the "Apply" button to save.
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The bulk editing interface for multiple Event items. The toggle for "Auto-unpublish when event is past" is highlighted to show its location at the end of the list. The bulk editing interface for multiple Event items. The toggle for "Auto-unpublish when event is past" is highlighted to show its location at the end of the list. 
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