Collection items overview

Use Collection items to add content to your Collections — like blog posts, recipes, etc.

Collection items are individual data records or pieces of content in each Collection — for example, a single blog post, an author, a recipe, etc. Each Collection item can contain values for all or some of the Collection fields that make up the structure of its Collection, and these values can be connected to design elements and settings to populate their content dynamically. Collection pages are automatically generated for each Collection item, and Collection items can also be featured in Collection lists on any site page.

How to create Collection items

In addition to creating individual items, you can use the Webflow AI Assistant to generate sample items (i.e., placeholder content) so that you can start designing. You can also bulk-import items created elsewhere via a CSV file or the CMS API.

Generate sample content in bulk

When a Collection is empty, you can create sample items to populate the Collection and start designing your Collection pages quickly. You can choose to create 5, 10, or 20 sample items with the Webflow AI Assistant. When creating sample items, you can provide a prompt describing the types of items you’d like to create in your Collection, then click Generate.

Generate a sample item from the canvas

You can use the AI Assistant to create a sample Collection item directly from the canvas:

1. Open the Pages panel and click the Collection page (e.g., Blog Posts Template)
2. Click the Collection items dropdown in the top bar
3. Click the New page icon by the Collection > Generate new [Collection name] page
4. (Optional) Enter a prompt that describes the sample content you’d like to generate and click the Create item icon
5. Click Generate without a prompt

A single Collection item is generated and staged for publish. You can edit and refine the content before publishing.

Create an item in the CMS panel

To create a Collection item from the CMS panel:

1. Click the CMS tab
2. Click the Collection to which you’d like to add a Collection item
3. Click New [Collection item] (e.g., New Blog Post)
4. Name your Collection item
5. Click Create draft to save the Collection item

You can keep adding content or finish adding content later. All changes you make are automatically saved. 

To publish the Collection item from the CMS panel, do one of the following:

• Click Publish now — immediately publishes the item to your live site (without waiting for the next full-site publish)
• Click the Publish options icon > Queue for next site publish — the item is published with the next full-site publish
• Click the Publish options icon > Schedule to publish later — schedule a specific date and time to publish the item (only available 

Create an item from the canvas

You can also create a Collection item from the canvas:

1. Open the Pages panel and click the Collection page (e.g., Blog Posts Template)
2. Click the Collection items dropdown in the top bar
3. Click the New page icon by the Collection > Create new [Collection name] page
4. Name your Collection item
5. (Optional) Add content
6. Click Create draft to save the Collection item

You can keep adding content or finish adding content later. All changes you make are automatically saved. 

To publish the Collection item from the canvas, click the CMS Status indicator (e.g., Draft) and then do one of the following:

• Click Publish now — immediately publishes the item to your live site (without waiting for the next full-site publish)
• Click the Publish options icon > Queue for next site publish — the item is published with the next full-site publish
• Click the Publish options icon > Schedule to publish later — schedule a specific date and time to publish the item

How to update Collection items

Update an item in the CMS panel

To update a Collection item in the CMS panel:

1. Click the CMS tab
2. Click the Collection that contains the item you want to update
3. Click the Collection item to open it
4. Edit the content (changes are automatically saved in draft)
5. (Optional) Choose a publish/unpublish option from the Publish now button at the top:
   • Publish now — immediately publishes the changes to your live site (without waiting for the next full-site publish)
   • Queue for next site publish — lines up the changes to be published with the next full-site publish
   • Unpublish (published items only) — unpublishes the item from your live site and saves the updated version as a draft

Update an item on the canvas

To edit a Collection item on the canvas:

1. Open the Pages panel and click the Collection page (e.g., Blog Posts Template)
2. Click the Collection items dropdown in the top bar to change Collection pages
3. Edit the content (changes are automatically saved in draft)
   • To edit text-based fields — double-click the text element and enter or paste the changes
   • To edit non-text based fields — select the element > click the Settings icon above the element > make changes
4. (Optional) Click the CMS status indicator in the top bar to open a CMS editor window

Generate new text with the Webflow AI Assistant

You can use the AI Assistant to generate and refine text content on the canvas. The AI assistant is available in both design mode and build mode, and supports headings, paragraphs, text blocks, rich text, text links, and block quotes. Learn more about using the Webflow AI Assistant to generate and edit content.

How to manage Collection items

When you open a Collection in the CMS panel, up to 100 items are shown. If you have more than 100 items, you can click the “next” and “previous” pagination buttons to view more items. Use the Search option to quickly find any Collection item.

Show or hide Collection fields

From the CMS panel, click the Pin icon above the table to show or hide additional Collection fields in the default view. You can pin any Collection field except image, multi-image, video, and rich text fields.

Filter Collection items

Click Filter above the table to temporarily refine which Collection items are shown. Collection items must match all criteria that you choose in order to be shown. You can filter by these options:

• Status: All (Default), Published, Draft, Scheduled, Archived
• Published: All (Default), Last 24 hours, Last 7 days, Last 30 days
• Created: All (Default), Last 24 hours, Last 7 days, Last 30 days
• Modified: All (Default), Last 24 hours, Last 7 days, Last 30 days

Click Apply filters to save your filter selections, then click outside of the filter options to exit the filter dialog box. The filter button now shows a small checkmark to let you know filters are applied. You can clear all filters by refreshing the page or clicking Filter > Reset.

Sort Collection items

You can sort the list of Collection items by most field types. If you see an arrow by a field header, it's sortable. Just click that header and the list sorts by that criteria. Click the header again to reverse the sort order.

How comparison-of-value fields are sorted

Comparison-of-value sorting is based on the comparison of values for each individual Collection item. The fields that use this type of sorting are:

• Plain text (sorts alphabetically)
• Number (sorts by ascending/descending values)
• Date (sorts by earliest/latest values)
• Switch (sorts by true/false values)

How presence-of-value fields are sorted

Presence-of-value sorting is based on whether the item’s field contains a value or is empty. After the field is sorted by the presence of value, the fields with a value (i.e., non-empty fields) are then sorted alphabetically. The fields that use this type of sorting are: color, email, file reference, reference, multi-reference, link, option, and phone.

Bulk-edit Collection items

You can perform a variety of bulk actions depending on which items are selected and the current status.

1. Go to the CMS panel
2. Click Select in the top bar
3. Click the Checkbox to the left of an item's name to select individual items
4. Click the Checkbox to the left of Name to select all visible items
5. Click Next or Previous to switch paginated items and continue to select additional items
6. Click the bulk-edit action you want to make in the top bar:
   • Export — saves a copy of the items as a CSV file (e.g,. for backup or importing elsewhere)
   • Delete — items removed from the Collection, but they'll remain live on your site until the next full-site publish
   • Update items > Queue to publish — items (along with draft changes) will be published with the next full-site publish
   • Update items > Publish now — items are immediately published to your live site (without needing a full-site publish)
   • Update items > Save as draft — items are saved as drafts and unpublished from the live site at the next full-site publish
   • Update items > Unpublish — items are immediately removed from your live site, their status is set to Draft (or maintains draft status if they were already set to draft and remained on the live site), and their original publish date is removed
   • Update items > Archive — items are unpublished from your live site at the next full-site publish, but keeps them accessible in the CMS