The Webflow CMS, explained

If your site has a blog, a portfolio, a team page, or a list of services. Those items are almost certainly powered by Webflow's CMS. This guide explains what the CMS is and how it fits into your site.

What "CMS" means

CMS stands for Content Management System. It's a way of storing and managing repeating content: content that always has the same structure but different details each time.

A blog is the most common example:

Every blog post has a title, a date, a featured image, and a body of text
The structure is the same every time
But the actual content (what you write) is different for each post

The CMS lets you manage that content (adding new posts, editing existing ones, and removing outdated ones) without touching the design.

What is a Collection?

A Collection is a category of content. Your site might have these Collections:

Blog PostsArticles you publish regularly
Team MembersEach person with their name, photo, bio, and title
ServicesYour service offerings with descriptions and details
Case StudiesClient projects with images and results
FAQsQuestion-and-answer pairs
TestimonialsClient quotes
LocationsOffices or service areas

Your specific site may use different Collection names, since they're customized for your project.

Think of a Collection like a spreadsheet:

The spreadsheet name is the Collection name (e.g., "Blog Posts")
Each column header is a field (e.g., Title, Published Date, Featured Image, Body)
Each row is a CMS item (e.g., one blog post)

Fields

Each Collection has fields, the specific pieces of information each item contains. A Team Member collection might have: Name, Job Title, Photo, Bio, and LinkedIn URL. Common field types include:

Field type	What it stores
Plain text	Short text: titles, names, taglines
Rich text	Formatted content: blog body, descriptions
Image	A photo or graphic
Multi-image	Several images, such as a gallery
Video link	A link to a video hosted on a site like YouTube or Vimeo
Link	A URL
Email	An email address
Phone	A phone number
Date/Time	A date and time, such as an event date or the date shown on a post
Switch (on/off)	Toggle for things like "Featured" or "Active"
Reference	Links to another item, in the same or a different Collection
Multi-reference	Links to several items from a Collection
Option	One choice from a list of preset options
Color	A color, used for text, backgrounds, or borders
Number	A numeric value
File	A file, such as a PDF, that the page can link to

Fields are configured by Chykalophia. You fill them in when creating or editing items.

What is a CMS item?

A CMS item is one entry within a Collection. If "Blog Posts" is the Collection, then each individual blog post is a CMS item.

You manage items, not the Collection structure itself. The fields and structure of a Collection are set up by Chykalophia in the Designer. Your job is to add, edit, and delete the actual items.

How CMS content is displayed

When Chykalophia builds your site, they create a Collection page template: a designed layout that automatically applies to every item in the Collection. When you add a new blog post, it gets its own URL and looks like the template automatically.

Collections can also power Collection lists: lists of items on any page, like a blog archive or a team grid. Both the Collection page and Collection lists are designed by Chykalophia.

This means you don't need to design anything. You write the content, and the design takes care of itself.

Where to find the CMS in Webflow

Open your site in Webflow. From your Webflow Dashboard, hover over your site and click Open in Webflow. Or add ?update to the end of any page address on your live site (for example, yoursite.com/about?update).

Click the CMS tab in the top bar.

Click on the Collection you want to manage. You'll see a list of the items in that Collection.

Click an item to edit it, or click "New [item name]" to add one (for example, New Blog Post).

Published vs draft items

Each CMS item has a status. The main ones are:

DraftThe item exists in the CMS but isn't visible on the live site. Use this while you're writing something that isn't ready yet.
Queued to publishThe item goes live the next time the whole site is published.
ScheduledThe item goes live automatically at the date and time you chose.
PublishedThe item is live and visible to visitors.
ArchivedThe item comes off the live site at the next site publish, but stays in the CMS so you can bring it back later.

Webflow saves your changes automatically. When an item is ready, open it and click Publish now to put it live straight away, or use its publish options to queue it for the next site publish. Items that have never been published can also be scheduled for later. If you edit an item that's already live, your changes stay in draft until you publish them.

On Webflow's Starter and Basic plans, you can't publish, unpublish or schedule items one at a time, so an item can only go live when the whole site is published.

What you can and can't change

You can	You can't (ask Chykalophia)
Add, edit, and delete items	Add or remove fields
Save items as drafts, publish, unpublish, or archive them	Change field types
Change the order items appear in, where a list is sorted by a field you can edit (like a date)	Create or delete Collections
Fill in all fields	Change the Collection page design

Common questions

I can see the CMS tab but there are no Collections listed.

Either the CMS hasn't been set up for your site, or your access doesn't include those Collections (on Enterprise plans, access can be limited to certain Collections). Contact Chykalophia.

Can I change the fields in a Collection (add new ones)?

No, adding or removing Collection fields is done in the Designer by Chykalophia. If you need a new field (like "Video URL" for blog posts), let us know and we'll add it.

Why can't I see some CMS items on the live site?

They may still be drafts, queued for the next site publish, scheduled for later, or archived. Open the item from the CMS tab and check its status. To put a draft live, click Publish now, or queue it and then publish your site.

How many CMS items can I have?

The number depends on your Webflow Site plan. As of September 2026, Webflow's pricing page lists 20,000 CMS items on the Premium plan and 50 on the free Starter plan. The Basic plan doesn't include the CMS, and Ecommerce plans have their own limits. Plans also set a maximum number of Collections. Check webflow.com/pricing for current limits, and let us know if you're getting close: we can advise on whether to upgrade your plan or clear out old items.

I need a new type of content that doesn't have a Collection yet.

For example, you want to add an Events section. Contact Chykalophia and we'll create the Collection and build the page template for it.

Can I have a Collection item appear in more than one place on the site?

Yes. Collection items can be shown in multiple Collection lists across different pages. This is set up in the Designer.

I deleted a Collection item by mistake.

Contact Chykalophia as soon as possible. A site manager may be able to get it back by restoring a site backup, but a restore rolls back the whole site, so it isn't always the right fix. Next time, consider archiving instead of deleting: archived items stay in the CMS and can be unarchived.

What's a 'Reference' field?

A Reference field links one CMS item to another. For example, a Blog Post might reference an Author (an item in a separate Team Members Collection). This lets your site display author details automatically on each blog post.