Reviewing an article
Choose ideas, read and edit articles from the content writer, then publish them, ask for changes or reject them.
The Articles tab shows everything the content writer has suggested and written for this platform. Approvers, admins and owners can act on articles. Viewers can read them.
If the writer is off and nothing was written yet, the page says The content writer is off. Owners and admins get a button to Settings › Content writer. Once there are articles, a warning at the top says the writer is off, with a Turn it on link for owners and admins.
The Articles page#
At the top, a line shows what the writer is doing now, such as Researching the market…, Thinking of ideas… or Writing…. If its last run failed, it says what failed, when and why.
Two buttons sit at the top right:
- Add your own topic opens a pop-up for a topic you choose. It is written straight away.
- Suggest more ideas asks for a new batch now. It shows only while the writer is on.
The articles are on four tabs. The page opens on the tab that needs you: To review when an article waits for approval, otherwise Ideas when ideas wait.
| Tab | What is in it |
|---|---|
| Ideas | Suggested topics, with the keywords a reader would search for. An amber number says how many wait. Ideas you added yourself have a Your topic label. |
| To review | Articles written and waiting for approval, with a Review button each. Articles being written show here too, with Writing or Waiting to start. Writing usually takes a few minutes, and the page updates by itself. |
| Published | Articles you approved, newest first, with the date each was published. A green number says how many. |
| Set aside | Articles that were rejected or failed, and ideas you said Not now to. This tab shows only when there are some. |
Ideas#
Each idea has a Write it button and a ⋯ menu:
- Write it has the writer write the article.
- ⋯ › Add notes for the writer… lets you say what the article must cover first.
- ⋯ › Not now sets the idea aside. You find it in Set aside.
In Set aside, click Write it to have an idea written after all, or Try again on one that failed. A rejected article can't be written again, but you can open it to read it and the reason.
Your own topic#
Click Add your own topic and fill in:
- Topic: what the article is about.
- Keywords (optional): what a reader would search for, separated by commas.
- Who it is for and what it solves (optional).
- Notes for the writer (optional): what it must cover or leave out.
Click Write it. The writer starts on it straight away.
Notes for the writer#
On an idea, choose ⋯ › Add notes for the writer… and say what it must cover or leave out, for example "Explain which refund setting makes a deposit hold the date". Click Write it in the pop-up to have it written with your notes. If you click Close instead, this browser tab keeps your notes for later, and the idea says With your notes for the writer. Once written, the notes show on the article as Last request. The phone app has the same box on each idea.
The writer still says only what your help pages and code support. If you ask for something they don't cover, it leaves it out. If writing fails, Try again keeps your notes.
Reviewing an article#
Open an article from To review with Review. The article is on the left. Your decision and the details are on the right.
At the top, under the title, are the article's keywords as small labels. A label on the right says where it is, such as Waiting for approval.
- The article shows the title, the summary and the text as it will look.
- What it is based on lists each claim and where it comes from: a file in your code, a help page, or About your system. Check anything that doesn't sound right. This list is never published.
- Worth a second look, on the right, lists anything the style checks found, such as a phrase that sounds machine-written, a long dash, or something that looks like a file path. Nothing is changed or blocked.
- Details, on the right, shows the topic, who it is for, the Web address, where the idea came from, when it was created, who decided on it, and your Last request to the writer.
Edit it yourself#
Click Edit on The article to change the Title, the Address (the last part of the
web address), the Summary or the Text. The text is Markdown: ## for a heading, - for
a list, **bold**. Leave the title out of the text. Click Preview to see it, then
Save.
If someone else changed the article while you were editing, you're told, and you can load their version with Show their version. Your own edits are then lost.
Your decision#
The Your decision panel has three buttons:
| Button | What happens |
|---|---|
| Approve & publish | You're asked Publish this article? and told where it will go. Click Publish. If your website's address is set, the article is sent to it straight away. |
| Ask for changes | Write what should change, then click Rewrite it. The writer rewrites the article. It comes back to To review, and you approve it again. |
| Reject | Give a reason, then click Reject. Nothing is published. The reason is kept. |
Viewers see Waiting for an approver instead.
After publishing#
A published article has a green Published label. The Published panel on the right says when, and whether it reached your website:
- Sending to your website: still trying. Failed sends are retried for about a day.
- Sent to your website: your website accepted it.
- Could not reach your website: how many times it tried, and your website's answer.
If no website address is set, it says the article was not sent anywhere.
Click Unpublish to take it down, then Unpublish again to confirm. It goes back to waiting for approval, and your website is told to remove it.