# Duplicate a catalog or approval workflow safely

Copy a catalog, document type, or workflow component through a supported path, then validate the copy against a checklist before anyone builds on it — including what to do when a copy comes out empty.

Product: content-central · Versions: 7.x · Audience: system-administrator · Time: About 30 minutes · Last verified: 2026-08-30

Canonical: https://help.ademero.com/content-central/administration/duplicate-a-catalog-or-workflow

**At the end of this guide you'll have a working copy of a catalog, document type, or workflow component — validated against the original before anyone builds on it.**

The safe pattern is always the same: **copy → validate against the checklist below → only then build on it.** A copy can look finished and still be missing its contents, and gaps found after users start routing documents through it are much harder to fix.

## Choose your copy path

| To copy | Where | What the copy includes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| A whole catalog | Web, **Catalogs & Document Types** > **New Catalog** | Every document type with all fields and settings — configuration only, never documents |
| One document type | Web, **Catalogs & Document Types** > **New Document Type** | Fields, permissions, approval processes, workflow, message templates, capture settings |
| Many catalogs from one template | Catalog Manager (desktop), **Batch New...** | Full document types plus filters, folder/file building, and schedules — per catalog |
| One workflow rule | Web, Workflow Rules page, **Duplicate** icon | The rule with its triggers and actions |
| One workflow action | Web, Workflow Actions page, **Duplicate** icon | The action's settings |
| One approval process | Web, Approval Processes page, **Duplicate** icon | **A shell only** — see the warning below |

## Copy a catalog

1. In web administration, open **Catalogs & Document Types** and click **New Catalog**.

2. In the **New Catalog** dialog, pick the source in the **Clone from existing catalog** dropdown (`Select catalog to clone...`). The hint confirms the scope: "Optionally create this catalog as a copy of an existing catalog, including all document types and fields."

3. Enter a unique name (50 characters max; names aren't case-sensitive) and click **Create**.

*[Screenshot: New Catalog dialog with the "Clone from existing catalog" dropdown open]*

**What you should see:** the new catalog listed with the same document types as the original.

> **NOTE:** Only configuration is copied. The new catalog gets its own fresh storage and index locations — documents never come along.

## Copy a document type

1. On the same **Catalogs & Document Types** page, click **New Document Type**, pick the source in **Clone from existing document type**, name it, and create it.
   
   The copy includes fields, permissions, zonal recognition, default search settings, message templates, approval processes with their groups and members, field lookups, workflow triggers/actions/rules, folder and file building, capture forms, and the retention policy.

> **NOTE:** Names must be unique within a catalog — reusing one fails up front with `A document type with this name already exists in this catalog`.

## Copy many catalogs at once (Catalog Manager)

1. In the **Catalog Manager** desktop tool, click **Batch New...** to open the **Batch Create Catalogs** wizard.

2. On the first page, choose the source under **Select the Catalog to use as a template:** — the wizard notes "(all wizard settings will update with each selection)".

3. Provide the **New Catalogs load file:** (the list of catalogs to create) and the base folders the wizard asks for (index location, capture destination, capture jobs). It creates a folder named after each new catalog in those base locations.
   
   Each new catalog gets the template's include/exclude filters, folder/file building, schedules, and every document type via the same full copy as the web clone. Names that already exist as catalogs are skipped, and the wizard can optionally create a matching user and group per catalog.

## Duplicate a single workflow rule, action, or template

- **Workflow rule:** on the Workflow Rules page, click the row's **Duplicate** icon. The editor opens pre-filled as `Copy of <original name>`; saving keeps the original's triggers and actions.
- **Workflow action:** on the Workflow Actions page, **Duplicate** opens the editor as `<original name> Copy`; save to create it.
- **Message template:** in message-template administration, the **Duplicate Template** page shows the template with a **Duplicate** button; success shows `Message template duplicated successfully`.

> **WARNING:** The **Duplicate** button on the Approval Processes page copies **a shell only**: the name (`<original name> Copy`), priority, enabled state, and deadlines setting. Members and approvers, routing positions, and message-template links are **not** copied — rebuild them, checking each against the original, before any document routes through the copy. For a complete approval-process copy, clone the document type or catalog instead: that path copies every setting and every member with position, routing type, and reject-to position.

## Validate the copy before you build on it

A large catalog copy can fail partway through: the new catalog is saved, but the deep copy of its contents never completes. The result looks like a real catalog and is empty or incomplete — so validate every copy, whatever the path.

Open the copy and the original side by side. The document type's actions menu on **Catalogs & Document Types** links to the four places to check: **Fields**, **Approval Processes**, **Workflow**, and **Message Templates**.

- [ ] Every document type from the original exists in the copy
- [ ] Each document type card's **Fields:** count matches the original's
- [ ] Each approval process lists the same members, positions, and settings as the original
- [ ] Workflow rules, triggers, and actions are all present
- [ ] Message templates exist and the right processes reference them
- [ ] For catalog copies: folder/file-building and capture settings, if the original used them

**What you should see:** every line checks out. That's your success check — the copy is safe to rename, adjust, and put into service.

## If the copy came out empty or incomplete

1. **Confirm it's an unused shell.** Open the copy: no documents, missing document types or workflow, and nobody has started using it.

2. **Delete it through the supported path.** Delete the catalog from **Catalogs & Document Types**. The **Delete Catalog** dialog asks `Delete catalog "<name>"?`, warns "This action cannot be undone.", and lists any **Workflow dependencies to resolve** first. An isolated empty shell deletes cleanly; if the catalog is in use, the **Delete** button is disabled and tells you so.

3. **Retry by another route.** Deleting the shell frees the name. Then either run the copy again, use the **Batch Create Catalogs** wizard with the original as template, or rebuild piecewise: create an empty catalog, then clone the document types into it one at a time — each document-type clone carries its full fields, approval processes, and workflow.

> **IMPORTANT:** Deleting a catalog removes everything under it — its document types and their workflow triggers and actions. Only delete a copy you've confirmed is unused; the same cascade is why it also cleans up whatever a partial copy did manage to create.

## Still stuck?

If a copy fails the checklist repeatedly, or a shell won't delete even though it looks unused, contact support with: the names of the source and the copy, which copy path you used, which checklist items were missing, the size of the original (number of document types and roughly how many fields), and the date and time of the attempt.

## What's next

- [Delete a catalog, document type, or workflow](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/administration/delete-a-catalog-document-type-or-workflow)