Take your site offline for maintenance
Show visitors a branded holding page while you prepare or rework your site, and keep full use of the Studio yourself.
On this page
Use maintenance mode before launch, while you build behind a closed door, or for a planned window such as a rebrand. It’s your team’s own switch: someone with settings access turns it on, and someone turns it off. Your content, subscribers and settings are untouched while it’s on.
What happens while it’s on
| Who | What they get |
|---|---|
| Visitors to your public site | A branded holding page with your title and message, whichever page they open |
| Your staff | The Studio, working normally, so you can keep publishing and setting up |
| Anyone using your bypass URL | Your public site as normal, so you can check changes before the public sees them |
Prepare the holding page
- 1Open Maintenance
Go to Studio → System → Settings → System → Maintenance. The status card at the top reads Maintenance Mode is OFF or Maintenance Mode is ON.
- 2Write the page
Enter a Page title — the big headline — and a Message to visitors saying what’s happening and when you’ll be back. Line breaks are kept.
- 3Set a bypass token
Enter a Bypass token using letters, numbers, dashes and underscores, or click Regenerate for a random one.
- 1Save
Click Save changes. Your bypass URL appears in its own panel.
- 2Copy the bypass URL
Click Copy and keep the address where your team can find it.
Take the site offline
- 1Switch it on
Click Take site offline and confirm. The status card changes to Maintenance Mode is ON.
- 2Open the bypass URL
Open your bypass URL once in each browser you’ll check the site from. That browser can then use your public site normally.
- 3Check as a visitor
Open your site in a private window to see exactly what visitors see.
Bring the site back
- 1Switch it off
On the same screen, click Bring site back online and confirm.
- 2Check from outside
Load your homepage on a phone using mobile data to confirm visitors can get in.