> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.rootly.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Publishing and Sharing

> Publish a retrospective to lock its content, generate a public shareable URL, and control who can view it externally.

A retrospective has two states: **Draft** and **Published**. Draft is the working document — responders edit, regenerate AI blocks, and collaborate in real time. Publishing marks the retrospective as final, records a publish timestamp, and unlocks a public shareable URL for stakeholders who don't have a Rootly account.

<Info>
  Publishing is separate from **completing the retrospective process**. The process moves through progress statuses (`not_started` → `active` → `completed`) as steps get done. Publishing is the document-level action that locks the retrospective content and makes it externally shareable.
</Info>

***

## Publish a Retrospective

Publish from the retrospective document view once the write-up is ready.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the retrospective">
    Navigate to the incident, then open the retrospective document from the incident sidebar or the **Retrospectives** section.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Review the draft">
    Confirm every AI-drafted section has been reviewed, comments have been resolved, and the timeline reflects the final sequence of events. Publishing does not prevent further edits, but the published timestamp marks the moment of first publication.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Click Publish">
    The **Publish** action moves the document from `draft` to `published`, records `published_at`, and — depending on your workflow configuration — triggers subscriber notifications.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Tip>
  Automate publish-time notifications with a **Retrospective Updated** workflow filtered on `progress_status = completed` or a status change to `published`. See [Retrospective Workflows](/workflows/retrospective-workflows).
</Tip>

## Unpublishing

Unpublishing reverts the retrospective to draft. The `published_at` timestamp is cleared. Use unpublish when a retrospective needs corrections after external distribution.

<Note>
  Unpublish does not delete the retrospective — the content stays exactly as it was. Republishing reissues the same slug URL.
</Note>

***

## Exporting to External Documents

Beyond the public URL, Rootly supports exporting the retrospective to external document systems via retrospective workflows. Pre-built workflow templates ship for:

* **Google Docs**
* **Confluence**
* **Notion**
* **Coda**
* **Dropbox Paper**
* **Quip**
* **SharePoint / Word**

Configure these under **Retrospective Workflows** and choose the template that matches your integration. See [Configuring Templates → Apply Templates Through Integrations](/retrospectives/configuring-templates#apply-templates-through-integrations).

***

## Troubleshooting

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="I published, but subscriber notifications didn't fire" icon="bell">
    Publish-time notifications run through **Retrospective Updated** workflows. Confirm you have a workflow filtered on the appropriate condition (`progress_status` or publish state) and that the workflow is enabled for the team owning the incident.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

***

## Frequently Asked Questions

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Does publishing lock the retrospective?" icon="lock-open">
    No. Publishing marks the retrospective as final for external distribution but does not prevent further edits. Republishing updates the public view.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Is there an approval workflow before publish?" icon="check">
    Approval is not built in as a separate state. Common patterns: require a Reviewer role on the retrospective process to complete a step named "Sign-off", or gate the publish action with a workflow condition. See [Configuring Retrospective Processes](/retrospectives/configuring-retrospective-processes).
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>