# Save, publish, versions, and conflicts

At the end, your work is saved and distributed to the assigned displays as an immutable version. And you know what to do when the portal rejects publishing or someone else has saved the same scene.

> **Type:** guide
> **For:** Anyone who finishes a scene and gets it onto the displays.
> **Prerequisite:** the permission to edit for saving, the permission to publish for publishing and reverting. If a permission is missing, the button stays visible but grayed out.
> **Where in the portal:** **Scenes** › open a scene › **Save** / **Publish**

## Steps

### Save

1. Click **Save** or press Ctrl/Cmd + S. As long as nothing has changed, the button is inactive.
2. Alternatively, the editor saves on its own about three seconds after your last change, provided you have the permission to edit. The **Auto-save** switch (“Saves changes on its own after a short pause.”) sits in the editor's **Settings** area, not in the header.
3. The status line follows along: **Unsaved changes**, **Saving…**, **All changes saved**.

If you leave the page with open changes, the editor asks under **Unsaved changes**: **Leave anyway** or **Stay here**. Between two saves, it also backs up the draft in the browser. If you open the scene again later and an unsaved state from an earlier session exists, it offers **Local draft found** with **Restore** or **Discard**. If the scene has changed on the server in the meantime, the state is explicitly marked as possibly outdated.

### Publish

1. Click **Publish**. The **Publish scene** dialog says what is about to happen: “Creates a new immutable version that is distributed to assigned displays.”
2. Under **Release notes (optional)**, leave a short note on what changed. Up to 2,000 characters are possible.
3. Confirm with **Publish**. Open changes are saved first. The dialog points this out.

![The Publish scene dialog with the sentence that a new immutable version is distributed to the assigned displays (1), the Release notes (optional) field (2), and the Publish button (3)](/docs/content/bilder/8e02630e-publish-scene-dialog.png)

*Without open changes and without blocking integrity issues, the dialog does not show its two additional notes.*

### Resolve integrity issues

1. Open the **Integrity issues** panel below the stage. Each entry carries a severity.

| Severity | Meaning |
|---|---|
| **Blocking** | Prevents publishing until the problem is fixed. |
| **Warning** | A note that does not prevent publishing. |
| **Info** | Purely informational. |

2. Fix the cause. The common types are called **Widget version retired**, **App uninstalled**, **Media item deleted**, **Layout template deleted**, and **Configuration incompatible**.
3. **Re-check** has the editor search again and reports how many issues are open and how many were fixed automatically. For each entry, you can **Mark as fixed** or **Ignore**.

### Decide on a save conflict

1. If someone else saves the same scene while you work on it, the **Save conflict** dialog opens the next time you save. Under “Your draft compared to the server state:” it shows what differs, for example **2 widgets added**, **1 widget removed**, **3 widgets changed**, **Canvas changed**, **Layout template changed**, or **Transitions changed**.
2. Choose: **Adopt server state** discards your local changes. **Force my changes** overwrites the draft on the server with your state. **Cancel** closes the dialog and leaves your state untouched.

## Options

Both happen in the **Version history** panel. You open it through **Versions** in the header, as listed in [The scene editor at a glance](/docs/content/scene-editor).

### Compare two versions

1. Open the panel. Until you have chosen two versions, its header says **Select two versions to compare**.
2. Click **Compare** on the first version, then on the second. Another click removes a version from the selection. If you choose a third, the one chosen first drops out.
3. Below the list, the **Compare v3 → v5** box appears with the numbers of the two chosen versions.

The box lists what differs between the states: **2 widgets added**, **1 widget removed**, **3 widgets changed**, **Canvas changed**, **Layout template changed**, **Transitions changed**. If there is no structural difference, it says **No structural differences**. The comparison changes nothing about the scene. To see how an individual state looked, use **Open preview** on that version, which opens in a tab of its own.

### Revert to an earlier version

After the **Revert draft** prompt, **Revert to this version** replaces only your draft with the state of this version. The published versions stay untouched. The restored state reaches the displays only with the next publish.

## Check the result

- The header shows the status badge **Published** and the new version number.
- In the **Version history** panel, the new version appears with the **Active** badge and your notes.
- The scene can now be scheduled and assigned to a display, see [Assign a program to a display](/docs/displays/assign-program).

## If something goes wrong

| Symptom | Meaning | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| **Publishing blocked: unresolved integrity issues.** | At least one blocking issue is open | Work through the **Integrity issues** panel, **Re-check**, then publish again. |
| **No content change — no new version was created** | The draft is identical to the last version | Change something and save first, then publish. |
| The status line shows **Conflict — scene was changed externally** | Someone else saved the same scene | Decide in the **Save conflict** dialog. |
| **The scene was modified in the meantime. Please reload.** | Your state is outdated compared to the server | Reload the page and repeat the change. |
| **Save** or **Publish** is grayed out | You lack the corresponding permission for this scene | Check the role or direct permission, see [Permissions by role and by area](/docs/organization/permissions-by-role). |
| **Local draft found** reports an outdated state | The scene has changed on the server since the backup | If in doubt, **Discard** and continue with the server state. |
| No box appears after **Compare** | Only one version is chosen so far | Add a second version with **Compare**. The note **Select two versions to compare** stays in the panel header until then. |

## Related

- [What is a scene, and when does a display show it?](/docs/content/about-scenes)
- [Manage scenes: rename, archive, schedule](/docs/content/manage-scenes)
- [Assign a program to a display](/docs/displays/assign-program)