# Preview and live-site questions

You'll find answers about testing drafts, checking contact updates, returning visitors, and undoing a publish that didn't go as planned.

Use these answers when you're checking a draft or trying to understand why a normal visit looks different from your preview.

## Can I preview a flow before publishing it?

Yes. In the flow builder, choose the eye button labeled **Preview flow**. You can answer questions, follow paths, and use **Restart** to try again. The preview includes device and theme controls, plus a widget selector when several widgets use the flow.

To check page rules and display triggers on your actual website, follow [testing your changes](https://rightmessage.com/help/best-practices-for-testing).

## Can I preview unpublished changes on my real website?

Yes. **Preview on your site** loads your draft on a page with your project's snippet, with the debugger docked at the bottom. Other visitors keep seeing the published setup.

You'll need an authorized RightMessage login. A debugger query parameter alone doesn't give someone access to the draft or private contact data.

## What changes when I switch Published and Draft?

You change which version the debugger uses. **Published** uses your live setup, and **Draft** uses your unpublished changes. Neither button publishes anything.

Both run in the debugger's sandbox. Contact impersonation, segment overrides, and forced variants still apply in **Published** mode. Reset them to inspect the live setup without those simulated choices.

## Why does my preview work, but a normal visit doesn't?

Your preview may have a forced segment or variant that a normal visitor doesn't have. That can make content appear without testing the audience rule or assignment that normally controls it.

Reset segment overrides and forced campaign or A/B test assignments. Then follow the real entry path, including its URL parameters, answers, identification step, and widget trigger. After publishing, repeat that path without the debugger.

## What should I check before publishing a large flow?

Check every reachable branch and where it ends, not just the first question. Include:

- New visitors with no answers and returning visitors with known answers.
- Page rules, display triggers, dismissed widgets, and repeat-display settings.
- Question order, branch conditions, validation, consent, and the fields you intend to sync.
- Forms, offers, links, and redirect destinations at the end of each path.
- Shared questions and offers that changed elsewhere in the project.
- Desktop and phone layouts, plus the original or fallback content for visitors who don't match.

The [publish review](https://rightmessage.com/help/publishing-your-changes) includes the whole project draft, not just your open flow.

## I've published. How do I check that contact data is syncing?

Submit an answer or form on your normal website with a dedicated test contact, then inspect their record in your email platform.

Publishing activates the parts of your setup that can go live. A contact update also needs identification, a configured integration and form or question action, and a successful request to your platform.

The debugger doesn't send contact updates. Its **Would send** details show what it would send, so you'll need to leave the debugger for this check. Don't use a customer's identity. A normal visit can update that contact's answers, fields, or tags.

## Why does a question or widget look different when I return?

Your browser can remember answers, identity, dismissed widgets, and test assignments. Question-handling settings can also skip questions you've already answered. Reloading doesn't make you a new visitor.

Use a fresh browser profile or a new private session to check a new visitor. Keep your existing session to check what returning visitors see.

## Does Publish start my A/B test?

Not for a draft question, offer, or flow test. Those have a separate start action. **Review and start** in the bottom notice takes you to it.

Campaign holdback follows the campaign's published settings. It doesn't use the same separate start action as those tests.

## Can I undo a bad publish?

Yes. Restore an earlier version into your draft, review it, then publish again. **Restore** alone doesn't change your live website.

[Project Backups](https://rightmessage.com/help/config-versioning-and-version-history) includes configuration snapshots and earlier published versions. RightMessage creates a safety backup before restoring. Restoring configuration doesn't undo unrelated billing actions, recover deleted media files, or reverse contact writes already sent.

## Does Exit discard my project draft?

No. Debugger **Exit** discards the sandbox session. It keeps autosaved dashboard edits and campaign changes saved with **Save to draft**. **Cancel** in the publish review also keeps your saved draft.

Use **Project Backups** if you need to replace that draft with an earlier version.

## Does a closed support ticket mean my project was republished?

No. Check the latest **Published** entry in **Project Backups**, then reload the live page and follow the visitor's path.

If support promised a snippet republish and you can't confirm it happened, ask which project was republished and when. Check separately whether the original visitor issue is fixed.