In your Higher Logic Thrive Community (Thrive Community), some CMS pages are protected because they function as shared templates or system-critical pages. If you edit one of these pages, those changes can be filtered (syndicated) to other pages and even other sites (if you have microsites), depending on how your site is configured.

NOTE: Not every protected page has downstream syndicated targets; the important ones are discussed in this article.

How to identify and manage protected pages

Protected pages are system pages that Higher Logic locks to preserve your site’s integrity.

• They display a shield icon in the CMS Navigation tree.
• Their Page Code Name is grayed out and cannot be edited because it's system-critical and/or linked to other pages.
• You cannot delete these pages in the CMS.
• You technically can archive them, but doing so can break navigation and core features, so this is not recommended.

In addition, several protected pages are used as templates or syndication sources:

• Some are the base layout for entire groups of pages (e.g., community Home pages).
• Some are the source for full-page syndication to other linked pages.

Because of this, Higher Logic urges understanding the importance of these pages and the effects updating them can have across your community.

Key protected/template pages and where edits flow

The sections below summarize the most important protected/template pages and where their changes flow downstream.

Community Home (groupdetails)

What this page does

• Acts as the default template for community Home pages; by default, communities share a single, syndicated Community Home layout.
• This page is where admins often add community-wide widgets (for example, Community Slideshow, Community Ad Builder, Community-specific HTML, etc.).

Where edits flow downstream

Edits you make to the Community Home page will typically affect:

• All community Home pages that are using the default Community Home page (i.e., Community Types whose Home Page Code is left blank so they use your site’s default Community Home).
• Model sites and microsites that include a syndicated page pointing to this Community Home page:
  • If your model site pulls content for its community layout from the main site’s Community Home, any changes you make on the main site page will flow to:
    • the model site’s version, and
    • any microsites created from that model that contain that syndicated page.

NOTE: If you update or move any of the widgets on the Community Home (groupdetails) page, it will affect these widgets on all linked community home pages.

When edits stop flowing

• If you create a Custom Community Home Page and set its Page Code in a Community Type’s Home Page Code field (edit the Community Type and view its Display Options), communities of that type will use the custom page instead of the default Community Home page.
• Once a Community Type points to a custom Home page, future edits to the original Community Home page no longer affect those communities’ Home pages.

Community Tabs (communitytabswithadmin)

What this page does

Hosts the Community Tabs widget that controls the row of tabs across community pages (Discussions, Library, Events, Members, Ideas).

Where edits flow downstream

Edits to the Community Tabs page (e.g., changing tab labels, the order of tabs, or which tabs display) flow downstream to the:

Tab row across communities

• Any community layouts using this shared Community Tabs widget will show the updated tabs automatically.

Ideation Idea Details page

• The top portion of the Idea Details page is driven by the Community Tabs page. Updating the layout/content there changes the shared region above your idea details.

Community Ideas (Ideas tab) page

• The Community Ideas page uses a syndicated item that pulls Community Tabs (communitytabswithadmin); any update to Community Tabs appears there as well.

ProfileBase (profilebase)

What this page does

• Provides a shared layout for profile-type pages, such as certain user profile experiences and profile-driven modules (e.g., Expert/Speaker profiles).

Where edits flow downstream

• Any page that uses the Syndicated page > Profilebase inherits layout and content changes from Profilebase.
• For example, editing your ProfileBase page will also update your Expert/Speaker profile pages (if your community uses these optional modules).

Community Pages

A community's content is organized into several tabs, as shown below. In this section, we'll outline the protected pages that control these community tabs.

When viewing a community on the front end, users can click the Threads (discussions and Q&A), Library, Blogs, and Events tabs to view their associated content. In addition, they can click the Members tab to view the community's Member Directory.

Page names & Page Codes

• Discussion (digestviewer)
• Library (librarydocuments)
• Blogs (recentcommunityblogsdashboard)
• Events (recentcommunityeventsdashboard)
• Members (communitymembersdashboard)

Where edits flow downstream

Editing these protected pages in the CMS affects:

• The associated community tab in ALL communities that use the default Community Tabs configuration.
• Any microsites whose associated navigation items are wired to these page codes.

How to identify where a protected page's edits will flow 

Because there isn’t a built-in dependency report, the most accurate way to see what pages will be impacted by editing a protected page is to follow these steps:

1. Check whether it's a protected page (being one means it may be a template)
2. Check whether it's configured as a possible syndication source
3. Identify which pages use it via Page Designer's syndication indicators (on your main site, model site, and microsites)

Step 1 – Confirm the page is protected

1. From the community front end, click Edit Navigation on the Admin Toolbar to open the CMS Navigation tree.
2. Locate the page (use the magnifying glass to search for pages by title or Page Code Name).
3. Check for the shield icon: If present, it's a protected page.
4. Select the page and look in the Page Properties panel: If the Page Code Name field is grayed out, that code is locked and tied to system behavior and/or other pages.

Step 2 – Check whether the page can be syndicated

With the page still selected in the Navigation Tree, scroll down to the Syndication section in the right panel and view the Prevent this item from being syndicated to other pages/sites checkbox.

• If this box is checked, the page cannot be used as a syndication source, meaning this page is likely NOT a template page that's being syndicated elsewhere.
• If it's unchecked, the page can be used as a syndication source and may already be syndicated elsewhere.

NOTE: Protected pages that serve as templates (like Community Home, Community Tabs, and Profilebase) are generally set up not to block syndication so they can be reused across communities and/or microsites.

Step 3 – Find target pages that syndicate this page (same site)

Look for pages that syndicate this page’s content via Page Designer.

On your main site:

1. Still in the CMS Navigation Tree, click to select a likely candidate page, and then click Edit to open it in Page Designer. Good pages to check first:
   • Communities > Community Home (and its children).
   • Any profile-related pages if you’re investigating profilebase.
   • Custom pages you know are intended to share content (e.g., About, Contact Us, or Ideation pages).
2. In Page Designer, check the canvas for Syndicated Page items.

3. For each syndicated item, double-click it or click the pencil icon to open its settings and check:
   • Syndicated from Site: The site the source page lives on.
   • Syndicated Page: Which page’s content it's pulling.
4. If Syndicated Page shows the page code of your protected page (e.g., groupdetails, communitytabswithadmin, or profilebase), then this page is a target and will receive changes from that protected page.

TIP: In the dialog shown above, a link with the source page’s Page Code Name appears beneath the dropdown; you can click it to open the source page in a new tab and quickly confirm that you’re mapping the correct page.

Step 4 – Check model sites and microsites

If your site uses microsites, your protected pages may also be syndication sources into:

• A dedicated model site, and
• microsites created from that model.

To check:

1. In the Admin Toolbar, click Admin, and then navigate to your model site (if applicable) and open it.
2. From the model site’s front end, click Edit Navigation to open its CMS.
3. Repeat the Step 3 process on the model site:
   • Look for pages that contain syndicated content.
   • Open each one and confirm whether Syndicated Page is set to your protected page’s code on the main site (e.g., main site Community Home, Profilebase, etc.).
4. If the model site uses the protected page as a source, then any microsite created from that model and still using those Syndicated Content blocks will also receive changes automatically.

Step 5 – Create your own “connection map”

Because your community configuration is likely unique from others (custom pages, Community Types, microsites), the most reliable way to track connections is to document them for your own site. After completing Steps 1–4 for each key protected page, create a small internal table to map their dependencies.

This gives your admins a quick reference so they understand where edits to each protected page will show up before making changes.