Introduction to Articles

Quick Links 

• Introduction
• Article Components
• Creating an Article
• Editing an Article 
• Editing Article Body Content

Introduction

Articles are the best way to share information longer than a sentence or two with a group. Articles can contain text, images, videos, tables, and links to websites or files. They are the building blocks for communication within groups and communities. An article can capture a memo, tip sheet, strategic plan, compelling story, training video, manual or any other type of organization communique. They can even reference other articles if there is related information you want the readers to be aware of.

Article Components

There are various components that make up an article. Editors have the freedom to include as many or as few of these components as they wish. The Editing an Article section includes information about how to make these components visible or hidden.

Summary

Brief summary (140 characters or less) of the article. The summary will display under the article title on the group or articles landing page.

Main Image

An image that will be displayed at the top of the article. This image will also be displayed as a thumbnail in group panels and in the link preview if you share it to social media.

Body

The main content of the article. The body can include text, images, files, media, tables, or horizontal lines. See Editing Article Body Content for more information.

See More (Article Type)

Article Types are tags that allow users to classify the type of article being created by purpose (i.e. meeting minutes, training, acknowledgments, etc.). Editors can select from a preset list of Article Types or they can enter a new value by typing into the field. When this feature is enabled, readers will be able to quickly navigate to other articles of the same type. 

Find More Articles About (Collections)

Collections are secondary, custom tags related to the subject matter of the article that you can apply to articles you’re creating (i.e. Board Onboarding, Program Guidelines, Client Agreements). Editors can select from a preset list or add new options by typing into the field. When this feature is enabled, readers will be able to quickly navigate to other articles within the same collection. 

Author Bio

Author Bio will allow users to identify the author of the Article, whose name will display in the byline at the top of the article, show in a bio at the bottom of the article, and appear in panels where the "include Author" option is selected.

User Responses

Editors can add one custom question with custom responses to an article.

For more information about User Responses, click here. 

Action Items

Users can assign tasks connected to an article to themselves or other group members based on the article content or related follow-up tasks.

For more information about Action Items, click here.

Affiliated Organization

Users can select an Affiliated Organization to associate with an article, which creates a link to the Organization Profile.

Affiliated Business

Users can select an Affiliated Business to associate with an article, which creates a link to the Business Profile.

Comments

Comments can be activated to allow viewers and/or group members to post comments to the bottom of an article.

Creating an Article

Editors have the flexibility to create and thoroughly draft articles prior to publishing them. Additionally, settings can be adjusted both before and after publishing.

To begin, hover over the Articles tab and select Write an Article.

The Create an Article pop up will appear. Though there are multiple settings, only the Title and Article Type are required for article creation.

All of these settings can be edited before and after publishing if you wish to revisit them later.

Title

Required. The name of the article.

Summary

Brief summary (140 characters or less) of the article. The summary will display under the article title on the group or articles landing page.

Article Type

Required. Article Types are tags that allow users to classify the type of article being created by purpose (i.e. meeting minutes, training, acknowledgments, etc.). Editors can select from a preset list of Article Types or they can enter a new value by typing into the field. When this feature is enabled, readers will be able to quickly navigate to other articles of the same type.

Visibility

Required, though this field will always default to Private. Visibility will allow editors to determine which types of users can see the article they’ve created.

Visibility Details

Public Visibility:

• Viewable by anyone (including anonymous users)

• Can only be edited by members of the owning group with sufficient permissions

• Can be shared on social media or other platforms

• Can be published to any "public" or "collaborative" groups on MissionBox

• Cannot be published to any "private" groups

Protected Visibility

• Can only be viewed by members of the collaborative groups 
• Can only be edited by members of the owning group with sufficient permissions
• Can be published to any other "collaborative" groups in the same community
• Cannot be published to any "public" or "private" groups
• Cannot be published to any groups outside community

Private Visibility

• Can only be viewed by members of the owning group
• Can only be edited by members of the owning group with sufficient permissions
• Cannot be published to any other groups

Urgent

By clicking into this box, you can flag your article as urgent. Flagging an Article as urgent will send a notice out to group members that urgent content has been published. It does not create a visual indicator on the content itself. 

Add to Collection

Collections are secondary, custom tags related to the subject matter of the article that you can apply to articles you’re creating (i.e. Board Onboarding, Program Guidelines, Client Agreements). Editors can select from a list or add new options by typing into the field. When this feature is enabled, readers will be able to quickly navigate to other articles within the same collection. 

After you click Create, you will be taken to a new page in Edit Mode. Here, you can continue to craft your article. 

Editing an Article

Edit Mode allows Editors to edit body content and article settings. Editors can also adjust settings by using the Article tab. Both are accessible before and after publishing. 

Edit Mode Features

When viewing an article, you can switch to Edit Mode by clicking on the orange Edit button on the bottom right corner of the screen.

Edit lock

While in Edit mode, a lock associated with your user account will prevent other users with edit access from making edits at the same time. The edit lock will release after 10 minutes of inactivity.

Autosave

Your work is auto-saved every 5 seconds while in Edit Mode.

• TIP: Use Ctrl+Z to undo mistakes made while in Edit Mode

Visible Components of an Article

Once in Edit Mode, in addition to adding the body content, you can make all components available to display directly on the article by clicking the On/Off toggle that appears beside each.

• Main Image
  • Note: Hiding the main image will only hide it from the article in viewing mode. The main image will still show up as a thumbnail when the article is previewed in panels and search.
• See More (Article Type)
• Find More Articles About (Collections)
• Author Bio
• User Responses
• Action Items
• Affiliated Organization
• Affiliated Business
• Comments

Ending Edit Mode

To exit Edit Mode and switch to Viewing Mode, you can click the Article Tab or the “Done” button on the bottom right corner of the screen.

Article Tab

The Article Tab is located above the body and beneath the Article title and summary. 

Edit

Engages Edit Mode

Settings

Opens the Adjust Article Settings pop up.

• Article Type: Tags that allow users to classify the type of article being created by purpose (i.e. meeting minutes, training, acknowledgments, etc.). When this feature is enabled, readers will be able to quickly navigate to other articles of the same type.
• Visible Components: A quick snapshot of all components of the article. This window allows the editor to quickly determine which components are visible. This can also be done in Edit Mode. See Visible Components of Article. 

• Visibility: Level of visibility you wish for this article to have, whether it be Public, Protected, or Private. See Visibility Details section for more information.

• Owning Group: The group to which this article belongs. Keep in mind that group ownership may impact Visibility.
• Owner: The editor of this article. Though only one may be selected, you may opt to open the article up to other contributors by checking the Collaboration feature (See below).
• Urgent: By clicking into this box, you can flag your article as urgent.  Flagging an Article as urgent will send a notice out to group members that urgent content has been published. It does not create a visual indicator on the content itself. 
• Collaboration: By clicking into this box, you can allow other contributors or editors to edit this page.
• Canonical Url (MissionBox Staff only)

Change Status

Option to be developed.

Publish

Once you have completed your article, you can publish it so that it becomes available to the group. Until an article is published, it will not be featured in search results or on the group landing page.

Revert to Draft

After an article is published, you may choose to revert it back to draft mode. Once reverted, the article will no longer be featured in the group landing page or in search. Any comments or responses made while in publish mode will not be lost by reverting an article back to draft mode.

Archive

By archiving an article, you are removing it from being featured on the group landing page. Though it will not be automatically featured on the search page either, you can edit the default search settings to include Archived articles. You can undo an archival by re-publishing the article or reverting it back to draft mode.

To learn more about the Search page features, click here.

Add to Collection

Collections are secondary, custom tags related to the subject matter of the article that you can apply to articles you’re creating (i.e. Board Onboarding, Program Guidelines, Client Agreements). When this feature is enabled, readers will be able to quickly navigate to other articles within the same collection. 

Editing Article Body Content

Adding and editing content in your article’s body is easy. Simply Click under the main image to Add Body Content. In the body of the article, you can insert text, photos, links to files, media, tables, and horizontal lines.