Write and publish an article

Articles are long-form posts, also called blog posts. They live in an Article Space (the space type for a blog) and have their own editor with a cover image, headings, images, tags, and SEO settings. You can publish an article right away, schedule it, or save it as a draft.

Who can do this: Anyone the Article Space allows to publish: members, moderators, admins, and owners, depending on the space's Who can publish articles setting. · Where: Web, and the iOS and Android apps. · Plan: Blogs are a platform plan feature. If your plan doesn't include them, the Blogs page in the admin console shows as locked.

Start a new article

On the web, open the article editor (the Write a Blog page) in either of these ways:

• Open an Article Space. In the Share your story card, click Write Blog. The article is set to go to that space.
• Go to your profile, open the Blogs tab, and click Write Blog.

In the app: open the Article Space and tap the compose button.

You can only publish articles in an Article Space you've joined. If you haven't joined one, the editor says "Articles can only be published to a blog space, and you are not in one yet." Click Browse spaces to find one. The regular post composer can't post into an Article Space.

Write the article

On the Write a Blog page:

1. Cover image (optional): add an image at the top of the article.
2. Title: required, up to 200 characters.
3. Blog space: required. Choose which Article Space to publish in. You can't move an article to another space after it's published.
4. Content: required. Write in the rich-text editor. You can add headings, links, lists, quotes, code, and images.
5. Advanced Settings: add an Excerpt (Optional) of up to 280 characters. It's shown on article cards.
6. Tags: type a tag and press Enter or a comma.
7. SEO Settings: set a Meta Title, a Meta Description, and an OG Image (the image shown when the article is shared on social media; 1200×630 is recommended). Search Preview shows how the result may look in a search engine.

To choose who can comment, use Who can reply at the top of the page. See Comments, reactions, and reply settings.

In the app, the editor has Blog title, a body (Write your story…) with a formatting toolbar, and Add a cover image. Tap Details for Summary, Tags, SEO, and Publishing.

Publish, schedule, or save an article as a draft

• Publish: click Publish at the top of the page. The article opens when it's live.
• Schedule: click the arrow next to Publish, then Schedule publish…, and pick a date and time.
• Save a draft: click the arrow, then Save draft. To reopen or publish one, click View drafts to open Blog Drafts.

If you leave the page with unsaved changes, Mateflow asks Discard your draft?.

In the app: tap Publish, or tap Details → Publishing for Schedule…, Save draft, and Drafts. To unschedule a scheduled article, edit it, tap its scheduled time under Publishing, tap Clear schedule, and save your changes. The article goes back to your drafts.

When an article needs approval

An article may need approval before it goes live:

• Post approval: if post approval is turned on for the community or the space, the article waits for a moderator. You see "Submitted for review — it will publish once a moderator approves it." A scheduled article publishes at its time once approved.
• Automated moderation: an automated moderation rule that would block an ordinary post holds an article for review instead.

Community owners and admins skip approval. Space admins and moderators skip their own space's approval setting and automated rules, but not a community-wide approval setting.

Until it's approved, only you, community admins, and the space's moderators can open the article. Editing a published article can also send it back for approval. In that case you see "Saved — a moderator has to approve the edit before the article is public again."

For how moderators handle the queue, see Review held and pending content.

Edit or manage an article

To change your article, open its ⋯ menu and click Edit.

Community admins and moderators manage all articles in Admin → Content → Blogs. From there they can feature, hide, schedule, or move an article back to draft. Cancel Schedule there also returns a scheduled article to draft. See Manage posts, articles, and media in the admin console.

Related articles

• Article, Gallery, and Radio spaces
• Control who can post, reply, and react in a space
• Create a post: text, media, polls, audio, and files