My items arrive as drafts (or unpublished), not live

When your file has no Status column, Content Uploader deliberately makes every new item a draft (WordPress) or unpublished (Joomla), so that nothing goes live before you have looked at it. This is the most common reason items are "not there".

Symptoms#

• After publishing, WordPress's list shows — Draft behind each title, or Joomla's articles show the grey unpublished icon.
• The item exists on your site, but nobody sees it on the public pages.
• Some items are live and others are not.

Likely causes#

Confirmed (reproduced in our tests):

1. There is no Status column, so the editor chose a fixed status: Draft on WordPress, Unpublished on Joomla (safe by default).
2. A Status column holds Draft, Pending or Unpublished for those rows.
3. The Status field is set to Keep existing on updates: new items start as draft and updates never change the status.

From the program's own rules:

4. The publishing account may not publish. A WordPress account without the right to publish is offered Draft and Pending review only; a Joomla account without Edit State is offered Unpublished only. The check refuses Published for it.
5. Workflows are on for Joomla articles, so Status is not offered.
6. A future Publish date with status Published makes WordPress schedule the post instead of publishing it.

Step-by-step solution#

1. Open the configuration (Edit configuration) and find Status.
2. Choose how items should get their status:
   • Fixed value → Published to make every item live, or
   • Source column, with a column that holds Published, Draft, Pending review or Private (WordPress) or Published, Unpublished, Archived (Joomla) for each row (example files).
3. Save. On the file's page, choose Check again with version N, or upload the file again. The review lists the items as updated, with Status: Draft → Published.
4. Publish. The items change in place.
5. If Published is not in the list, the publishing account may not publish: give it the right on your site, or use a different account (WordPress, Joomla), then Refresh fields on the Sites page.

To keep human control over the status after the first publish, choose Keep existing on updates instead: new items start as drafts, and editors publish them on the site.

How to verify#

• The review shows the status changing for the items you meant.
• After publishing, the item's status on your site is Published, and the public page shows it.
• A file uploaded again finds the items unchanged.

If it persists#

• Check the item in the editor on your site: a plugin or workflow may hold items for approval.
• Contact support with a record ID and the status the review showed.