Quickstart: publish your first document

In this tutorial we connect a WordPress site to Workover, write a short document from a blank page, and publish it so it appears as a live post on that site. It starts where sign-up ends: on the Welcome to Workover screen that says “Your trial has been activated. Let’s create your first project.”

Before you start: you need:

• a WordPress site that is live on the public internet, with its /wp-json/ REST API reachable;
• an administrator account on that site;
• Application Passwords available on the site. If a security plugin or host turns them off, see Application Passwords not available. If a firewall blocks Workover, see How to whitelist Workover.

Warning: This tutorial publishes a real post on your live site. To try it without anything going public, follow the draft branch in step 6.

Step 1: Create a website project

On the Welcome to Workover screen:

1. In Project title, type a name for the project, for example the name of your blog.
2. Under Type, select Website. Collection is selected by default, and a collection only bundles documents together.
3. In Website link, type the address of your site, including https://, for example https://www.example.com. Use the site’s home address, not its /wp-admin/ address.
4. Leave CMS on WordPress. The screen tells you that you will be redirected to your WordPress admin to approve the connection, and that your WordPress posts will not be modified.
5. Click Connect to WordPress.

If you already left onboarding, for example by creating a collection, click New Project in the sidebar instead. The same fields appear in a New Project modal, with the name field labeled Title.

Step 2: Approve the connection in WordPress

Your browser goes to your site’s WordPress admin. If you are not signed in to WordPress, sign in with your administrator account.

WordPress asks whether to give an application called Workover access to your account. Click Yes, I approve of this connection.

WordPress sends you back to Workover, straight into your new project.

Step 3: Look at what the import did

A banner above the document list says “Hang tight, we’re importing your WordPress content…” Your existing posts and pages appear in the document list as they arrive.

Each imported document is already linked to its post, so editing one and pushing it later updates that post in place. We leave them alone for now and write something new.

Step 4: Create a document

1. Click New at the top of the page, in the same row as the project name. The editor opens on a document called Untitled document.
3. Give the document a real title in place of Untitled document.

Step 5: Write the body

Type a few paragraphs. The toolbar above the text formats whatever you select: headings, bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, lists, quotes, code blocks and links.

There is no save button. Workover saves as you type, and a save indicator in the toolbar appears while it catches up.

Step 6: Choose how the post is published

1. Click Edit panel at the right end of the editor toolbar. On a narrow window the button shows only its icon. The panel opens on the right.
2. Select the WP tab if it is not already open.

The panel has two fields called Status, and only one of them affects WordPress:

• The Status near the top of the panel is Workover’s own workflow status. A new document starts on Triage. Changing it, even to Published, sends nothing to WordPress.
• The Status in the WP tab, below Content type, is the status the post gets on WordPress. It starts on Draft.

At the top of the WP tab, a card reads Not on WordPress yet, and its button reads Save draft to WordPress. The button’s label follows the WordPress status.

1. Scroll down the WP tab to Content type. Leave it on Posts (site default).
2. Under it, open Status and choose Published.

Back at the top of the tab, the button now reads Publish, with the note “Publishes the post live on your WordPress site.”

If you would rather not publish yet: leave Status on Draft. The button stays Save draft to WordPress and creates the post on WordPress as a draft, so nothing goes live. You can finish the rest of the tutorial the same way and look at the draft in your WordPress admin.

Step 7: Publish

Click Publish. The button reads Publishing… while it works.

When it finishes, the card at the top of the WP tab shows a green dot and Up to date with WordPress, with an arrow icon beside it.

Step 8: See it on your site

Click the arrow icon next to Up to date with WordPress. Your post opens in a new browser tab, on your live site.

Your title and text on the site are the proof that the document went all the way from a blank page in Workover to a published WordPress post.

What you learned

• A website project is connected to one site, and connecting a WordPress site imports its existing posts as linked documents.
• A new document is not on WordPress until you send it with the button at the top of the WP tab.
• The WordPress Status in the WP tab decides whether the first push publishes or saves a draft. The workflow Status at the top of the panel does not.
• The card at the top of the WP tab tells you whether the document and the post match.

Next

• How WordPress sync works: what linked means, and what pushing and pulling do.
• How to push a document to WordPress: update a post after you edit its document.
• Inviting your team: bring colleagues into your workspace and projects.
• Core concepts: how workspaces, projects, documents and tabs fit together.