# Build and publish a publication **Category:** [CCMS](https://help.totalctrl.app/hc/totalctrl/totalctrl-help-center/en-US/categories/ccms) **Updated:** 2026-08-19 ## Create a publication Open **Publications** and choose **New Publication**. Give it a name and pick an output type: - **Web Help Portal** — a browsable online help site. - **Book / PDF** — a downloadable document. - **Knowledge Base** — a searchable article collection. You can also set a **primary color** for branding. Publications can be tied to a project or stand alone. ## Build the map In the publication editor, add **Published** topics to the structure tree and drag them into the order and nesting you want. This map defines the table of contents and navigation. The structure saves as you arrange it, and the publication shows a live topic count. ## Publish Choose **Publish** to start a build. The build runs in the background and produces both HTML and PDF outputs; you can watch the job status until it finishes. When it completes, the web portal is available at its public URL (`/docs//`), and you can **download the PDF** directly. If you configured a verified custom domain on the project, the portal serves from there too. ## Updating and removing Re-publish any time after editing topics or the map. Deleting a publication removes the map, build history, and portal artifacts — but your **topics are never deleted**. To localize a published portal, see [Translate topics](translate-topics). --- ## Related Articles - [Translate topics](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/translate-topics) - [Reuse content with snippets and variables](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/snippets-and-variables) - [CCMS overview](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/ccms-overview) - [Review and approve topics](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/review-publish-topics) - [How the CCMS to String Manager sync works](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/ccms-strings-sync-overview) --- [← Back to TotalCtrl Help Center](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/)