How to Disable the Publishing Service Module on Your Sitecore Environments

How to Turn Off the Publishing Service Module

We have a client that uses Publishing Service Module provided by Sitecore for their publishing needs. This is optional when you setup Sitecore and what it does is speeds up the process, and cuts down the time needed to publish huge volumes of items. It also provided a UI that the user can use which provides status of their publish. However, recently they wanted to disable it and see if it makes any difference for their workflow.

Note: We are not completely removing it but simply disabling it so if you wish to turn it back on then you can.

Sitecore 10.2 or Later

1. Disable configs - Go to /App_Config/Modules/PublishingService folder and add .disabled the following,

   1. Only CM:
      1. Sitecore.Publishing.Service.config
      2. Sitecore.Publishing.Service.ContentAvailability.config
      3. Sitecore.Publishing.Service.ContentAvailability.solr.config

   2. Both CM & CD:

      1. Sitecore.Publishing.Service.Delivery

      Note: The ContentAvailability configs are disabled by default if you don’t have content availability feature enabled.

2. Remove dlls - Go to the /bin folder and take a backup of the files and then remove,

   1. Only CM:
      1. Sitecore.Publishing.Service.Client
      2. Sitecore.Publishing.Service.Client.Http
      3. Sitecore.Publishing.Service.Client.Services
   2. Both CM & CD:
      1. Sitecore.Publishing.Service
      2. Sitecore.Publishing.Service.Abstractions
      3. Sitecore.Publishing.Service.Delivery
3. Remove icons and UI elements - Go to /sitecore modules/items/core and delete items.core.sps.dat

Sitecore 10.1 or Earlier

1. For 9.0 and above you use step 1 in above section. However, for 8.2, go to /App_Config/Include to disable the config files.
2. Follow the step 2 from above section to remove dlls.
3. Visit /sitecore/system/Aliases/Application/Publish in core database and rename it to PublishDisabled
4. Create a backup of the following and remove them from core database,
   1. /sitecore/client/Applications/Launchpad/PageSettings/Buttons/ContentEditing/Publishing
   2. /sitecore/content/Applications/Content Editor/Ribbons/Chunks/Publish/Publish Dashboard

If you, however, wish to completely remove the module, then instead of disabling the configs, delete them. Also, remove the Role, Publishing Service Administrator from by visiting the Role Manager.

Common Error

Don’t forget to restart your instance if you’re modifying files on your Azure app service instances. Also, if you receive a YSOD Sitecore error like below, then that means there is a config file which is not disabled trying to use the publishing service module. Search for publishingservice:searchindex:rebuild in your configs and disable it. By default it uses sitecore_web_index so if you have a custom index or even use SXA, then chances are you have a custom config with the SXA index at a different location which is causing the error.

ManagedPoolThread #6 23:24:45 ERROR Missing method name in event handler: publishingservice:searchindex:rebuild (method: Sitecore.Events.Event.BuildConfigSubscribersFromConfiguration()).
9992 23:24:45 ERROR Missing method name in event handler: publishingservice:searchindex:rebuild (method: Sitecore.Events.Event.BuildConfigSubscribersFromConfiguration()).
10604 23:24:45 ERROR Missing method name in event handler: publishingservice:searchindex:rebuild (method: Sitecore.Events.Event.BuildConfigSubscribersFromConfiguration()).
Exception: System.Exception
Message: Missing method name in event handler: publishingservice:searchindex:rebuild (method: Sitecore.Events.Event.BuildConfigSubscribersFromConfiguration()).
Source: Sitecore.Events.Event.BuildConfigSubscribersFromConfiguration()

That’s it folks! We went over a step by step guide on how you can disable the Publishing Service module. If you wish learn more about publishing, then checkout our blog that explains the way publishing works in Sitecore.