--- title: An introduction to content staging in TYPO3 with Workspaces url: "https://b13.com/knowledge/typo3-workspaces-content-staging" description: "Here’s how to manage content changes and publishing in TYPO3 using Workspaces. " image: "https://b13.com/fileadmin/_processed_/f/2/csm_workspaces_191-1_fc1ec59be1.png" date: 2020-09-18 modified: 2026-08-19 lastUpdated: 2026-08-19 --- # An introduction to content staging in TYPO3 with Workspaces [ Workspaces ](https://b13.com/knowledge/workspaces) [ TYPO3 ](https://b13.com/knowledge/typo3) Powerful Content Staging in TYPO3 with Workspaces =================================================== ![](https://b13.com/fileadmin/_processed_/a/d/csm_david_5ce18d41e2.jpg)David Steeb 22 September 2020 [ RSS Feed ](https://b13.com/rss.xml) ![A stylized workspace divided into three sections: the left features books and plants, the center showcases a computer with a mug, and the right displays a window with a cityscape view.](https://b13.com/fileadmin/_processed_/c/1/csm_workspaces_753e9c5c98.webp) If you need to publish or update content in multiple languages at the same time, or involve others to sign off or edit content before publishing, then content staging is the solution you’re looking for. Did you know TYPO3 solves this out of the box with the Workspaces module? You can even share live previews without making people sign into your TYPO3 backend (they don’t need to have backend access at all). #### This post is part of our Workspaces Series - **[Part 1: Powerful Content Staging in TYPO3 with Workspaces](https://b13.com/knowledge/typo3-workspaces-content-staging)** - [Part 2: Tutorial: Content Staging in TYPO3](https://b13.com/knowledge/tutorial-content-staging-in-typo3) An everyday challenge for editors ----------------------------------- The main reason for using a CMS is to enable editors to change the content on your website without involving developers. But what if you need to make a series of changes that only make sense if they are published at the same time? What if you want to add a new page to your site and need to involve other people or get approval from other departments within your organization, say the legal department? How do you prepare content changes to your online presence that need to be rolled out across multiple languages on a given date? There are several ways for editors to “make that work,” but every workaround has its drawbacks: - Editors prepare new content on pages that are “hidden.” While the content is hidden from your regular website users and search engines, you cannot show the pages to other people for approval without granting them access to the backend—the new page simply is not accessible without a valid backend user session. Additionally, if you need to change content across multiple pages or want to proofread special display versions of your new content (like teaser listings for news articles), you might be unable to preview hidden pages. - Editors prepare new pages and use “Hide in menu” instead. While this approach allows you to send a link for approval to someone without backend access, depending on your website regular users might also accidentally see your new pages or your content will get indexed by Google before you intended this to happen. - Editors need to update existing pages. We’ve seen all kinds of workarounds, from using the “show content of this page” feature to duplicating full pages and updating a copy of the “live version” to prepare the change and some other even more creative ideas. All of these fall flat once the change involves other kinds of records besides pages and content elements—news records, calendar records, contacts, products etc. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a way to stage content in a clean, easy to use and easy to understand way? Actually, there is. And there has been for a long time. “Workspaces” is a concept that is part of the TYPO3 core. It is the perfect answer to these—and other—use cases. We use Workspaces extensively, including this blog. So, what is the Workspaces feature, and how does it work? What is a Workspace? ---------------------- A workspace in TYPO3 is like a separate environment where you can edit content, test your changes, group your changes, and preview everything you did within the TYPO3 backend—without changing your live website at all. Think of it as an “in-system copy” of your live website, where you can safely work on your changes, reorganize your content, and prepare everything you want to publish—without actually publishing anything to your live instance until you’re ready to do so. How do Workspaces work? ------------------------- For a first example let’s use the blog post you’re reading right now, and let me show you how we work with TYPO3 up until this post gets published. We use Workspaces and have set up a simple “Draft” workspace. With my editor account, before I start entering the content for this post, I make sure I am working in the “Draft” workspace. The backend features a green bar at the top to make it clear to the editor that I am working in a workspace. (Your system can have multiple workspaces, but more about that in a later post.) We add a new blog post as a new page and add all our content to the English, and later the German, version of the page. Apart from a few visible clues that indicate to the editor that he or she is working in a workspace, and which pages have been edited, the backend experience is the same as that for a “default” TYPO3 instance. ![Editing interface for a content management system, displaying options for page content, including fields for headlines, subtitles, and text. The main focus is on editing content related to TYPO3 and its features for editors.](https://b13.com/fileadmin/_processed_/1/a/csm_TYPO3_backend_view_with_an_active_workspace_selected_ad7975bfd5.webp "TYPO3 Backend View with an active Workspace") [ ](https://b13.com/fileadmin/Blog/Workspaces/TYPO3_backend_view_with_an_active_workspace_selected.png) Figure 1: Backend screenshot showing the green top bar indicating an active workspace environment, and the page tree showing a change in the page tree with a colored entry. Generating preview links -------------------------- Once we are done, and satisfied with the result, we can switch to the “Workspaces” module. The module shows a list of changes within the current workspace and allows us to publish our changes to the live site. On top of the module window, the editor can create special preview links to share the current page in a workspace version. By default, these links will be valid for 48 hours, but you can change this in your configuration. ![Preview link displaying URLs for English and German versions of a blog post about TYPO3 workspaces and content staging. The links include parameters for tracking.](https://b13.com/fileadmin/_processed_/7/4/csm_TYPO3-Workspaces-generate-preview-link_a710c9613a.webp ""Get preview link" popup in Workspaces Module") Figure 2: Generating preview links We can share these magic links with anyone we want to proof-read our blog post before publishing. Once someone clicks on that link the user will be logged into this particular Workspace (without needing an account or a backend login) and will be presented with a full, 100% accurate preview version of the page we just created. But wait, there’s more: This is not just a preview link for this particular page we created—the user is logged into the workspace. And that workspace is a 100% representation of what the website will look like if all the changes prepared within the workspace would be published to live. In our case, the recipient of our magic link will be able to read the new blog post, switch the language, use the menu, see the list of all blog posts—including the yet unreleased post—and so on. The user will not just be able to proof-read our new page, but everything else that could change as a result of the newly added content—think navigation, overview teasers, related articles, and more. Pretty amazing, huh? Previewing changes and comparing with the live version -------------------------------------------------------- The editor has a preview window and, depending on what has changed and which URL is being previewed, is presented with some additional features and options. A split view for comparing the current version with the live version, for example. In our simple example, we can click on our “Blog” page that lists all the latest blog posts and compare the list view of the live instance with the version from our workspace. There are different viewing options (Slider, Horizontal, Vertical) that you can switch between, depending on what’s best for the layout your website is using. ![A blog homepage featuring articles on web development and user experience, including topics like CDNs, TYPO3, and content staging. Each article is summarized with a title and brief description, inviting readers to explore further.](https://b13.com/fileadmin/_processed_/9/3/csm_TYPO3-Workspaces-side-by-side-preview_1d7e543beb.webp "Workspaces preview with comparison view") [ ](https://b13.com/fileadmin/Blog/Workspaces/TYPO3-Workspaces-side-by-side-preview.png) Figure 3: Screenshot showing a side-by-side view of the blog bost listings. Again, pretty amazing. By now you might be asking yourself, “Why would I not be using this?” Publishing changes to live ---------------------------- To finish our little example, we forgo all the workflow options that can be added to the configuration of your workspace and just click on the button “Publish to live” in the editor preview at the top. A simple form-popup is shown, allowing us to notify colleagues about the change of stage, and once we click “OK,” our changes are published and our blog post is live! ![Email interface displaying a "Send to stage" window. It includes fields for additional recipients and comments, with an email address entered and a comment stating, "Publishing this post to live now."](https://b13.com/fileadmin/_processed_/1/0/csm_TYPO3-Workspaces-send-to-stage-modal_2e1dc2775c.webp "Send to stage popup") Figure 4: Notification options when publishing content to live. How to set up a simple workspace ---------------------------------- So, if you’re ready to get started, here’s how to set up a simple Draft Workspace like the one we’re talking about in this blog post: 1. Make sure you have TYPO3’s system extension “Workspaces” installed. If this extension is missing, run `composer req typo3/cms-workspaces` and install the extension, or ask your developer team to do it for you. 2. Using the “List” module, create a new record of type “Workspace” in your installation’s page root (PID 0). You will need to have admin privileges to do this. 3. In the create record form, add your workspace title (in our case “Draft”) and leave all other fields alone to use the default values. 4. Go ahead and try it—change your active workspace using the Workspace Switcher Icon in the top menu bar. There’s more! --------------- In this post, I showed a very basic use-case for TYPO3’s Workspaces feature: Creating a new page not visible to the world, creating real-life previews that sit “inside” your website and allow you to really judge what you’re about to publish, and creating preview links to let other people see an integrated preview of what’s about to go live, including your website’s design, menus, etc.—all without resorting to any workarounds or hacks. But there’s a lot more to discover: - Create multiple workspaces for different purposes or user groups. - Limit users to only be able to work in draft workspaces, and reserve the option to publish to live to your chief editors. - Add additional custom stages for your publishing workflow to make sure different departments in your organization sign off on new content before publishing. - Prepare a number of changes and publish all of them at once. We have been working with Workspaces for a long time and started using this feature back in TYPO3 v4.5. It is one of the best under-used features of our favorite CMS. That’s why we’re investing heavily in polishing the experience, removing bugs and inconsistencies in edge-cases, streamlining working with workspaces, and [even hired someone to focus on this killer feature](https://b13.com/knowledge/christian-kuhn-b13s-newest-team-member-his-typo3-career) in TYPO3 core. In upcoming blog posts, we will go into more detail about how to set up more workflows and custom stages, and show some more real-life use-cases we see in our projects. ### Written by: ![Bild von David Steeb](https://b13.com/fileadmin/_processed_/a/d/csm_david_cf042ebb7f.webp) b13 Founder and CEO, David, is someone you’ll meet if you’re thinking about working with our agency. He is constantly learning new skills and is an influential part of our cutting-edge frontend practice. David Steeb CEO [ more from David Steeb ](https://b13.com/team/david-steeb) Related Articles ------------------ - ![Cartoon trophy character surrounded by hands giving thumbs up and a heart gesture, set against a gear-patterned background.](https://b13.com/fileadmin/_processed_/f/7/csm_T3ppy_Design_Kit_Headerbild_b51eb9dc31.webp) ### T3ppy Gives TYPO3 a Friendly Face 06 August 2026 | Florian “Flix” Keitgen TYPO3 is powerful—but it doesn’t have to feel impersonal. Meet T3ppy, our friendly companion for the backend. [ Read more: T3ppy Gives TYPO3 a Friendly Face ](https://b13.com/knowledge/t3ppy-design-kit) - ![Gavel labeled "AI" on a circuit-patterned background with yellow stars, symbolizing regulation or legislation related to artificial intelligence in the EU.](https://b13.com/fileadmin/_processed_/1/0/csm_EUAIAct_Headerbild_510724b3de.webp) ### AI Content in TYPO3: Labelling Needs Accountability 02 August 2026 | Benni Mack The EU AI Act brings the origins of AI-generated content into focus. AI Label marks AI-generated and AI-edited content in TYPO3 and records who signed off the published version—for… [ Read more: AI Content in TYPO3: Labelling Needs Accountability ](https://b13.com/knowledge/ai-content-in-typo3-labelling-needs-accountability) - ![A series of stylized figures in various poses, each with a distinctive orange hat, depict a progression from walking to standing still while looking at a phone, set against a purple grid background.](https://b13.com/fileadmin/_processed_/d/7/csm_QueuesDDEV_Headerbild_f640931350.webp) ### Better scalability with decoupled queues: How to set up RabbitMQ with TYPO3 10 April 2024 | Jochen Roth When built-in message transports hit their limits, RabbitMQ can provide TYPO3 with a scalable, robust message queue. [ Read more: Better scalability with decoupled queues: How to set up RabbitMQ with TYPO3 ](https://b13.com/knowledge/better-scalability-with-decoupled-queues-how-to-set-up-rabbitmq-with-typo3) - ![A cartoon character resembling a shield gives a thumbs up in front of a computer interface with various menu options.](https://b13.com/fileadmin/_processed_/e/6/csm_Header_cda1f80173.webp) ### Meet T3ppy: A New Era for Editorial Work in TYPO3 01 April 2026 | Florian “Flix” Keitgen T3ppy and the AiM extension bring AI directly into the TYPO3 backend—enhancing SEO, content quality, and workflows with centralized control. [ Read more: Meet T3ppy: A New Era for Editorial Work in TYPO3 ](https://b13.com/knowledge/meet-t3ppy-a-new-era-for-editorial-work-in-typo3) - ![Retro microphone illustration with a shopping cart icon in the background, symbolizing e-commerce or online shopping.](https://b13.com/fileadmin/_processed_/f/8/csm_Marketplace_Headerbild_ee1575614c.webp) ### Why TYPO3 Needs a Marketplace for Products 25 March 2026 | Florian “Flix” Keitgen A marketplace would make TYPO3 products more discoverable, easier to compare, and benefit both agencies and clients alike. [ Read more: Why TYPO3 Needs a Marketplace for Products ](https://b13.com/knowledge/why-typo3-needs-a-marketplace-for-products) - ![A hand holding a magnifying glass over a laptop screen displaying a webpage with an image and text elements.](https://b13.com/fileadmin/_processed_/e/5/csm_BackendUserSection_Headerbild_6093c842fd.webp) ### Unlocking TYPO3’s Hidden Gem: The Backend User Section (Doktype 6) 05 March 2026 | David Steeb Discover TYPO3’s underrated doktype 6 (Backend User Section) for secure internal previews, editor training, and prototyping. Learn real use cases, common pitfalls like 403 errors… [ Read more: Unlocking TYPO3’s Hidden Gem: The Backend User Section (Doktype 6) ](https://b13.com/knowledge/backend-user-section-in-typo3-uses-pitfalls-helper) - ![Two stylized web page designs featuring a user profile, image placeholders, and text sections, set against a light blue background.](https://b13.com/fileadmin/_processed_/2/0/csm_BackendPreview_Headerbild_b4c5799cfa.webp) ### Backend Previews With a System—Why We Built EXT:backendpreviews 09 February 2026 | David Steeb EXT:backendpreviews brings structure and consistency to content previews in the TYPO3 backend using Fluid templates, layouts, and partials. [ Read more: Backend Previews With a System—Why We Built EXT:backendpreviews ](https://b13.com/knowledge/backend-previews-with-a-system-why-we-built-extbackendpreviews) - ![A human hand shakes a robotic hand against a purple background with heart patterns, symbolizing collaboration between humans and technology.](https://b13.com/fileadmin/_processed_/6/2/csm_AIbotsLoveMarkdown_Headerbild_72fe5820d6.webp) ### The Internet Is No Longer Just for Humans—AI Bots Love Markdown 28 January 2026 | Benni Mack Discover why most web traffic is now automated and how TYPO3’s structured content model prepares websites for humans, editors, and AI systems. [ Read more: The Internet Is No Longer Just for Humans—AI Bots Love Markdown ](https://b13.com/knowledge/the-internet-is-no-longer-just-for-humans-ai-bots-love-markdown) - ![Several colorful web page mockups stacked together, showcasing different layouts and design elements against a purple background.](https://b13.com/fileadmin/_processed_/e/3/csm_CaminoTheme_Headerbild_d082598009.webp) ### Camino—The Need for a Default Theme in TYPO3 Is Real 27 January 2026 | Benni Mack With TYPO3 v14, Camino introduces a default theme that removes friction from first installs. Why this matters—and how TYPO3 laid the groundwork. [ Read more: Camino—The Need for a Default Theme in TYPO3 Is Real ](https://b13.com/core-insights/blog/camino-the-need-for-a-default-theme-in-typo3-is-real) - ![Two interlocking gears with a disconnected electrical plug and a tag labeled "v13" on a purple background.](https://b13.com/fileadmin/_processed_/0/7/csm_TYPO3v13_Headerbild_14eb602ce4.webp) ### What’s New in TYPO3 v13? 20 January 2026 | Desirée Lochner TYPO3 v13 marks the beginning of a new era of user-friendliness. The version impresses with a modern, fresh, and incredibly high-performance user interface—developed for anyone who… [ Read more: What’s New in TYPO3 v13? ](https://b13.com/solutions/typo3/whats-new-in-typo3-v13)