Understand Enabled, Disabled, Draft, and Archived QCDR Rules

Every QCDR Rule has one of four saved states: Enabled, Disabled, Draft, or Archived. Only Enabled Rules are eligible for normal live runtime processing; the other states keep the Rule stored without applying it to ordinary frontend requests.

What Each State Means

  • Enabled: the Rule can run when Rule Live Processing is on and its plan, targeting, schedule, audience, and other conditions allow it.
  • Disabled: the Rule remains configured but is excluded from normal runtime processing. Use this when a previously active Rule needs to be temporarily taken out of service.
  • Draft: the Rule is saved for development or review but is not eligible for normal runtime processing. New Rules start as Draft.
  • Archived: the Rule remains stored for historical/reference purposes and is excluded from normal runtime processing.

How the Rule Library Shows States

The Rules library provides filters for All, Enabled, Disabled, and Archived. Draft does not have its own filter in QCDR 1.1.05; Draft Rules remain visible under All.

The state pill is intended for quick working-state changes. Its normal cycle is Enabled → Disabled → Draft → Enabled. If a Rule is already Archived, using the state pill returns it to Draft. To deliberately archive a Rule, open the Rule editor and choose Archived from the Status field.

A Safe Development Pattern

  1. Create or duplicate the Rule and keep it Draft.
  2. Configure the find value, action, replacement, targeting, and matching behavior.
  3. If your plan and ACL allow Preview & Rule Health, test the saved Rule against a controlled frontend URL. QCDR can explicitly preview a selected saved Rule even when it is Draft, Disabled, or Archived.
  4. When the result is correct, change the Rule to Enabled.
  5. If a live Rule causes an unexpected change, switch it to Disabled or Draft while you correct it.

State Is Only One Runtime Gate

Enabled does not guarantee that a Rule will change every request. QCDR still evaluates the Rule's current plan requirements, page/menu/URL targeting, extension scope where used, audience, schedule, technical/IP conditions, and match behavior. Rule Live Processing must also be on.

Likewise, moving a Rule out of Enabled does not delete its saved configuration. That makes Disabled and Draft useful for troubleshooting without destroying the Rule.

Community Discussion

Want to compare workflows, share practical tips, or discuss how you use this QCDR feature? Visit the QC Dynamic Replacer Community. For private support, bug reports, account-specific issues, or feature requests, use the QuantaCade support system.