Tell us a little about your data
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In this step, you'll tell us which parts of your file contain essential pieces of information that we need. Depending on what kind of network this is (general classified, news, automotive, real estate) there are a couple of required bits of information and some optional. The optional and the requried are clearly marked.

Next to each bit of information we need, you'll find a dropdown box containing ALL the different fields of information that we found in your file.

Sometimes these fields from classified or editorial front ends can be quite cryptic. It you have a member of the IT staff handy, they surely know the data and can help with this part. If not, we have provided the “data helper” (in the right side of the middle column.)

If you select something in the data helper, a small window opens that shows sample data from that column of information. Using the data helper you can find, for example, which column of information contains the ad (or news story) body text, which column contains the category information, etc.

A special note about the "url" element.

At this moment, CityTools does not support the distribution of photos. It will be a feature of a later release. For now, we supply the "url" element to work around this limitation or to use for other purposes. Provided your systems people can include a link to images (or more details for an ad, extra links for a news story, etc.) you can use this element to add a unique link for each ad or news story in your outgoing feeds.

When other members of your network receive the link information, they can use it to automatically download the images from your site or to create an image tag in the ad or story that presents the photos served from your site. If you find this confusing, please show this section to a member of your IT staff, they'll understand what it means.


Please identify the columns from your data dump that match the info we require. You can include the optional information if you like as well.

Once this is done, click the “process data” button. And you'll map your local categories to the network categories.

Congratulations -- you're two steps away from finishing!
Tips!
click on an item below for more info

The 15-minute sign-up howto

The full version of the 15-minute setup howto is here

"fast track" version of the 15-minute howto (experienced users)

Here you go!
 fast track howto

Upload and download Howto

There is a detailed and fast track version.
 The detailed version is here

The fast track version is here

How do I resign from a network?

There is a howto that discusses how to resign from a network

Control incoming feeds in a network

There is a Howto on managing feeds from other network members

Control HTML in your network feeds

There is a Howto about controlling HTML in your network feeds.

Edit: Change map from your categories TO the network

A howto about editing the maps of your categories TO the network is available

Edit: Change category maps FROM network to your categories

A howto on changing the incoming mappings from the network is available

Invitation-only network passcode howto

A howto on changing the passcodes for invitation-only networks is available

Send other publishing members a message

There is a Howto that explains how to send other publishers a message

Admin: managing members

There is a Howto that deals with managing member access. It's only relevant if you are an administrator of a network.

Join a private network

Instruction on how to join a private network is available.

Admin: Add/reorder network categories

A howto dealing with adding or reordering network categories is available

Admin: Rename network categories

A howto on changing network category names is available.