Publish & Manage a Data Store

A data store is either Draft or Published. Only published data stores can be used in the rest of the platform, such as Data Explorer, Text Explorer and Dashboard Publisher. Publishing also locks the parts of the structure that other apps depend on, so nothing breaks underneath them.

This page covers the actions in the data store’s header: Publish, Edit Schema, Rename and Settings.

Draft or Published?

The chip at the top right of the page shows Draft or Published. Beside it, a second chip shows the data store’s automated deletion status, such as Auto-delete · On. A draft data store also shows this banner: “This data store is not published. It will not be usable in other parts of the platform (such as Text Explorer and Data Explorer) until it is published.”

Many data stores are published for you:

How the data store was made	Published?
Created, then filled with Import Data	Yes, automatically, when the import finishes
Created, then built with Add Variable	No. Publish it yourself.
Made by a wrangle’s Writer (New DataStore)	Yes, when it’s created
A survey’s data store	Yes, always

Publish a data store

Click Publish - It’s in the header. It appears once the data store has at least one variable and isn’t published yet.
Read the message - The Publish Data Store dialog explains: “Publishing this data store makes it available for use elsewhere in the platform. Once published, the primary key and variable types can no longer be changed. Are you sure you want to continue?”
Click PUBLISH - You’ll see “Data store published successfully.” The chip changes to Published and the banner disappears.

What’s locked once it’s published

On Variable View, a published data store shows: “This data store is published. Label edits, adding variables, creating or editing Recode and Compute actions and USER-owned codeframe edits remain available. Deleting variables and editing variable types are not available.” People who can only view the data store see “This data store is published and is read-only for you.” instead.

Still available	Locked
Editing variable labels (staged until SAVE)	Changing the type of existing variables
Adding variables (staged until SAVE; multi-response variables are added straight away)	Setting or unassigning the primary key
Creating, reopening and running Recodes and Computes	Deleting variables
Codeframes on numeric variables you added	Grouping or ungrouping multi-response variables
Handling personal information
Reordering variables

For the detail on each of these, see Manage variables, Recode variables, Compute variables and Keys, codeframes & multi-response.

Unlock a published data store with Edit Schema

Need to change something that’s locked, like a variable’s type? The owner can return the data store to Draft with Edit Schema. There’s no separate “unpublish”.

Click Edit Schema - It’s in the header of a published data store. Only the Owner sees it.
Confirm - The dialog asks whether to edit the schema for your data store and explains the risk. Click EDIT SCHEMA.
Make your changes - You’ll see “Data store returned to draft. You can now edit its schema.” The chip shows Draft and Publish comes back.
Publish again - When you’re done, click Publish.

For a survey data store, unlocking changes less than it seems. Variables owned by the survey stay locked, and the primary key stays fixed to the survey response. Only variables you added become editable.

Rename a data store

Click Rename - It’s in the header.
Enter the new name - In the Rename Data Store dialog, change the Name and click OK. The header updates straight away.

Survey data stores can’t be renamed here, and you can’t rename a data store from the Data Wrangler home.

View the data store’s settings

Click Settings in the header to open Data Store Settings. At the top, you’ll find the data store’s Type and its GUID, the unique ID that’s handy when you contact support. Click it to copy it.

Its tabs let you:

Tab	What you can do
Notification Recipients	Choose which deletion notifications are sent, and subscribe the people the data store is shared with
Rules / Settings	Check a survey data store’s rules
Data Scrubbing	Check any data-scrubbing rule

See Data store settings.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why can’t other apps see my data store?

It isn’t published yet. Look for the Draft chip and the unpublished banner, then click Publish.

Why don’t I see Publish?

Either the data store is already published (check the chip), it’s empty, or you don’t have Can Edit access.

Why don’t I see Edit Schema?

Only the data store’s Owner sees Edit Schema, and only when the data store is published.

Can I unpublish a data store?

Not as such. The owner can use Edit Schema to return it to Draft, then publish it again later.

Why can’t I rename my survey data store?

Rename isn’t available for survey data stores.

Common Issues and Solutions

”Failed to publish the data store.”

The data store couldn’t be published.

Try again - Click Refresh Data, then Publish.
Check your access - You need to be the Owner or have Can Edit access.
Contact support - If it keeps failing, contact support with the data store’s name and GUID (copy it from Settings).

”Failed to unlock the data store for schema editing.”

Edit Schema didn’t work.

Check you’re the owner - Only the Owner can unlock a data store.
Try again - Reload the page and try once more.
Contact support - If it keeps failing, contact support with the data store’s name and GUID (copy it from Settings).

”Failed to rename the data store.”

The new name couldn’t be saved.

Check the name - Make sure it isn’t blank.
Try again - Reload the page and rename the data store again.