What are news categories?
These are how you will categorise your news items. News articles will be broken down into these categories in the news section making them easy to find for users.
They are also used to help users see which type of post has been published in the news. Every time you post a news item it will show up on the Home screen in the news section with an icon which signifies which category it is from. Examples include a press release category where all of your press releases go, a team category where all of your news about staff members will go etc.
How do I create news categories?
Click on 'News' in the left side bar
Click 'News Categories' in the sub-category
Here you can create a new news category and manage any existing news categories. To create a new category, enter the name of the news category, this is how it will appear on your site
Icon - add a 100px x 100px image that will be used as an icon to represent the category. This will show up on the Home screen when you post a news item, they can be seen on bottom right of the news tile. These should be a darker icon so they show up clearly on the light background.
When you are finished select 'Add New News Category'
Your new news category should appear in the right hand table
How can I add a news post?
A news post can be used whenever you want to add a new piece of news to send out across your business.
Click on ‘News’ in the left side bar
Click ‘Add New’ in the sub-category
Enter title of the news post in the top bar
Enter your news post into the large box
You can format your text and add links to your text with the tools in the bar at the top of the text box
Customise News Preview - 150 characters to summarise your post when it is shown in lists. If you do not fill this in it will use the first 150 characters from your news post.
News Taxonomy - Select the drop down menu, this is the category which your news post will come under from the categories you created previously
Who can view this? - you have the flexibility to target the content based on various criteria, including audience, location type, specific locations, and regions or sub-regions. Additionally, you can refine your targeting by considering the user roles of your audience. For instance, you might tailor the content to reach all users in the SouthEast Region who hold the role of Regional Manager, ensuring that the information is relevant. Read more about targeting content.
Author - Select the menu and choose which author you want to show up on the news post.
Expiry - The default is 45 days or you can choose to archive your post at certain time. You might want to do this if your post is time sensitive e.g. Christmas temp staff wanted and asking staff members to ask any friends or family, you may want to archive this post at the beginning of December to prevent any employees still sending candidate information when you have already filled all of the positions. - click the bar to say yes then choose a date from the calendar for when you want it archived
Priority - If you mark a news item as high priority, a "!!" red icon will also be added to the news tile on the home screen and if unread it will be shown at the top of the list on the news section on the home screen.
Audio - You can transform your news updates into audio files so your employees can listen on the go. Find out more.
Comments and Reactions - you can choose if you'd like your readers to be able to comment and/ or react to a news post. Just toggle yes/no for each option. Read more about comments and reactions.
Click news summary in the left side bar to view all of your news posts
Click the publish button on the right side once you’re ready to share!
You can save a draft if you would like to come back to it, click the button on the right side of the screen
You can choose a date that you want to publish the post, in the right box that says ‘publish’ select ‘edit’ where it says ‘publish immediately’ choose your date. This is good for new posts that you may want to write early but schedule to be published nearer the time such as, the office Christmas party, or schedule posts during times you are going to be away.
How can I send a news notification when a news post is published?
When creating a News item, you have the option to send a notification directly to employees upon publication. This notification will appear on their mobile devices, allowing them to click through to the news item.
Notifications are tailored based on the audience, location, or role the news item is targeted to, ensuring relevant updates reach the right people.
To enable news notifications upon publication, follow these steps:
In the admin panel, navigate to News > Add New.
Create your news post as usual.
When ready to publish, locate the 'Send Notification' section on the left-hand side. By default, notifications are turned off.
Toggle the option to 'Yes' if you wish to send a notification to all users with permission to view the news item.
The notification will display the news title and a preview text. If no preview text is provided, it will use the first line of the news post. Ensure the preview text is appropriate for mobile display, especially if the news contains sensitive information.
Once your news item is published, the notification will be automatically sent to the targeted audience, location, or role specified.
Please note that if you make updates to the news post after its initial publication, the notification will not be resent. It will only be sent upon the initial publication. Should you wish to send a new notification after making updates, you will need to un-publish and re-publish the news item.
How do I clone a news post?
If you want to create a news post that is very similar to another news item you have already created, you have the option to clone a news item so that you don't have to start creating it from scratch.
In the admin go to News > All News Posts to view the list of all News.
You can search for the news you would like to clone, if it is not shown on the first page of the list.
Hover over the news post you'd like to clone and you'll see a list of options appear. Select Clone.
The cloned news item will appear at the top of the news list. It will have the same title as the original but will have the prefix [CLONE].
You can now select and edit the news post as you would normally, removing or adding anything you require.
The same settings as the original news item will be copied over to the cloned news item with regards to the following:
Comments
Reactions
Expiry date (when the article will be archived)
Preview image
Who can view the news post
Make sure you check these before publishing, if you'd like them to be different to the original news item.
How can I see Revision History for a News Item?
While editing Articles and News in the Admin, you can access the revision history within the Publish section. This feature allows you to track any changes that are made to a News item and see how has made the changes. You can also restore previous versions.
In the admin select the News item you want to see the revision history for.
In the top right you'll see a Publish section and within that section the number of revisions that have been made will be indicated.
Select Browse and you’ll be taken to the Revisions screen.
Here, you can see the changes that were made in each revision by dragging the slider at the top of the screen. You can also use the Previous and Next buttons.
For each revision you'll be able to see what was changed and what was deleted.
You can also compare any two revisions by checking the box at the top of the screen. (This option is only visible if there are more than two revisions)
To restore a previous version just select the Restore This Version button, or to return to the current version select Go to Editor.