Validations for hidden and required fields

NOTE: On January 21st, 2025, we introduced stricter validations for fields that were set to both hidden and required and left empty. 

Legacy behaviour

When a field met these conditions, we did not enforce the required part of the validation. This meant that entries could still be published even though they were empty.

Current behaviour

Entries can no longer be published if they are hidden, required, and left empty. The user is notified that they can’t publish the entries because the field requires a value. The field in question is made visible to the user so that they can enter a value and continue to publish.

FAQs

Why did we introduce this change?

To further comply with expected and standardized behavior on our platform. Validations must always apply for fields.

What do I need to do?

If you want to set empty fields as not required, you simply need to update the field by de-selecting the Required field option under the "Validation" section of the field configuration. We recommend double-checking if a hidden field is truly required. 

Important: Content types that already meet the new requirements are highlighted in the content model page so that you can easily identify them. You can manually update each content type, or run a script to automatically update all your content types and remove the required validation.

What is the impact for me?

Editorial workflow

When editors create or edit an existing entry for a content type with one of these fields, they cannot publish the entry. However, your editors are not truly blocked from publishing because we reveal the field, and they can enter a value to continue. 

Scheduled publishing

Your scheduled entries that fit the criteria cannot be published due to validation issues. Make changes to the content model and set the field not required, and your entries can be published.

Default values

If a field is required and set to hidden but has a default value, the default value will be used. No change is needed here.