Try a Change
Try a Change lets you edit a gate and see what that edit would do — for a real session and a real participant — without saving anything.
Video: previewing a change to a gate, reading the before/after result, and discarding the preview. The project, gates and participants shown are demo data.
Why it exists
Once the Inspector tells you why a gate is closed, the next question is always "what if I change it?". Without a preview, the only way to find out is to edit the gate, save it and watch a test participant — which changes a live session and can take several rounds.
Try a Change answers "what if?" safely: the edit is evaluated against the real session and participant, but it is never written anywhere.
How it works
You open Try a change on a gate. The normal Edit Gate form opens, pre-filled with that gate's saved settings, marked "Preview only — nothing is saved."
You change whatever you want and press Preview effect.
Your edited gate is sent to the platform in place of the saved one, for this check only, and evaluated by the same logic that evaluates real page loads. The saved gate is not modified.
The card shows the result of your change next to the saved result, for example:
PREVIEW — not saved. Saved gate: NOT YET → with your change: OPEN.
Only the gate you edited is replaced; every other gate keeps its saved settings, so you can see whether your change affects anything else.
Why you can trust it: the preview does not use a separate simulation. It runs the same server-side checks as the Inspector, on the same session and participant — so a preview and reality cannot drift apart.
Steps
1. Open the Inspector and choose a session and participant
Follow Inspect a Session. Pick a participant — many conditions cannot be evaluated without one, and a preview of an INCOMPLETE gate tells you little.
2. Click "Try a change" on a gate
Each gate card has a Try a change link.
3. Edit the gate
The Edit Gate form opens with a blue notice: "Preview only — nothing is saved." Change a Time Lock offset, a Page Access rule, a Prior Page Requirement — anything the form allows.
4. Press "Preview effect"
The form closes and the Inspector refreshes. The gate's card is outlined with a dashed blue border and shows:
- PREVIEW — not saved. with the saved result and the result with your change, or "Your change doesn't alter this gate's result right now." when nothing changes.
- Change again — reopen the form, starting from your previewed edit.
- Discard preview — drop it and return to the saved gates.
A blue bar pinned at the top of the Inspector also says "Previewing an unsaved change to the gate you edited — nothing is saved" with its own Discard preview, so you cannot forget a preview is active while you scroll.
5. Compare, iterate, then decide
Change the session or participant while a preview is active and the before/after comparison updates for that session and participant. Use Change again to refine.
6. Keep a change (or don't)
A preview is never saved. To make a change real, go to Edit Schema, edit the gate and Save as usual, using what you learned from the preview.
What a preview does and does not tell you
| A preview does show | A preview does not show |
|---|---|
Whether the gate would be OPEN, BLOCKED, NOT YET or INCOMPLETE | What the participant sees — overlay text, status icons, display elements |
| Which condition would be responsible (Time Lock, Page Access, Prior Page Requirement) | Changes to other gates, other templates or variables |
| The saved result and the changed result, side by side | How the gate will look at a later time — a preview uses now |
Good to know
- One gate at a time. Previewing a different gate replaces the current preview.
- Nothing is remembered. Closing and reopening the Inspector clears any preview, and you re-enter a change in Edit Schema to keep it.
- It reflects the current moment. A
NOT YETresult can turnOPENsimply because time has passed. Preview again if you come back later. - Use the same participant you care about. A preview for one participant says nothing about another; switch the participant to check.