Validations for hidden and required fields

Starting on January 21st 2025, we are introducing stricter validations for fields that are set to both hidden and required and are left empty. This change may affect some publishing workflows for our customers.

Existing behaviour

Currently, when a field meets these conditions, we do not enforce the required part of the validation. This means that entries can still be published even though they are empty.

New behaviour

With the new changes, entries can no longer be published if they are hidden, required, and left empty.
In this case, we will notify the user that they can’t publish the entries because the field requires a value. The field in question will be made visible to the user so that they can enter a value and continue to publish.

FAQs

Why are we introducing this change?

We’re introducing 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 keep the existing behaviour of empty fields not being 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

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

Scheduled publishing

If you have entries that are scheduled to be published after the date this new behavior is introduced and they fit the criteria, they will not be published due to validation issues. Make sure you make changes to the content model before then and make the field not required, so they will continue to be published.

Default values

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