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It's easy to use email to save -- and even publish! -- stories on CityTools!
Read on and we'll give you all the details on how it's done in a couple of quick steps.1Find your personal e-mail code on your profile page
If you haven't already logged in, do so now. Then click the "your profile" link on the left menu (or simply click the title of this step) and go to "your profile" page.
On that page, you'll find a line that identifies your e-mail publication code. The code itself is in green and it is designed to be easy to remember.
Jot the code down -- you'll need it in a moment.
At any time, if you want to change your code, simply hit the "make new e-mail code" link on the profile page.
On that page, you'll find a line that identifies your e-mail publication code. The code itself is in green and it is designed to be easy to remember.
Jot the code down -- you'll need it in a moment.
At any time, if you want to change your code, simply hit the "make new e-mail code" link on the profile page.
2While you're on the "your profile" page....
Notice that in the same section where you find your code, you will find the e-mail address where you will send your story.
We publish the e-mail address on the profile page because only members can get there. This means that automated e-mail scrapers are unlikely to get this address, which helps to reduce spam.
Anyhow, jot down the e-mail address you find on the preferences page.
If you plan to use e-mail publishing a lot, you might even want to add this address in the contacts portion of your e-mail client.
We publish the e-mail address on the profile page because only members can get there. This means that automated e-mail scrapers are unlikely to get this address, which helps to reduce spam.
Anyhow, jot down the e-mail address you find on the preferences page.
If you plan to use e-mail publishing a lot, you might even want to add this address in the contacts portion of your e-mail client.
3Compose your story and send it use using email
This next step is easy: write the story you want to send to us.
When you're done, you can send the story to the e-mail address you found on the "your profile" page.
We require that there be a subject line and a body to the e-mail -- if we don't find both, we'll ignore the mail.
The subject line is important -- it triggers certain actions.
For the subject line, we need to see your personal code from step1, followed by a ":" and then the e-mail subject, which will become the title of the story you're sending to us.
For example, if your personal code was the word "roob" and the title of the piece you're writing is "CityTools has a simple and powerful email feature" then your complete subject line would look like this:
roob: CityTools has as simple and powerful e-mail feature
In the body of the message, place the text that you want to use for the body of your story.
All you need to do now is send the e-mail and you're done!
When you're done, you can send the story to the e-mail address you found on the "your profile" page.
We require that there be a subject line and a body to the e-mail -- if we don't find both, we'll ignore the mail.
The subject line is important -- it triggers certain actions.
For the subject line, we need to see your personal code from step1, followed by a ":" and then the e-mail subject, which will become the title of the story you're sending to us.
For example, if your personal code was the word "roob" and the title of the piece you're writing is "CityTools has a simple and powerful email feature" then your complete subject line would look like this:
roob: CityTools has as simple and powerful e-mail feature
In the body of the message, place the text that you want to use for the body of your story.
All you need to do now is send the e-mail and you're done!
4What happens once you've sent the e-mail
Once you send the e-mail, we check it for a couple of things before we do anything with it.
First, we check to see if you sent it from a valid e-mail address tied to a CityTools account.
Second, we check to see if you have put the right code in front of the subject line.
If both of those conditions are met, we process the e-mail and publish the story on the site.
First, we check to see if you sent it from a valid e-mail address tied to a CityTools account.
Second, we check to see if you have put the right code in front of the subject line.
If both of those conditions are met, we process the e-mail and publish the story on the site.
5Extra tip! How to send yourself notes or a draft story
Sometimes you might wish to send a story that you don't want to be published right away.
Maybe it's notes on something you're thinking, a partial story, a shopping list, whatever...
If that's the case, it's easy too e-mail a story that stays in draft mode.
Just send us a story where the subject line DOES NOT contain your secret publishing code and we'll save it for you as a draft story and it will not be visible to others on the site.
Then, at a later time, you can go to the "content manager" page and edit the story however you like.
Maybe it's notes on something you're thinking, a partial story, a shopping list, whatever...
If that's the case, it's easy too e-mail a story that stays in draft mode.
Just send us a story where the subject line DOES NOT contain your secret publishing code and we'll save it for you as a draft story and it will not be visible to others on the site.
Then, at a later time, you can go to the "content manager" page and edit the story however you like.
6A warning: sometimes stories don't show up if they appear suspicious
If we can't recognize an e-mail address as being tied to a CityTools account, or if it appears that a valid e-mail address is being forged by a third party, we simply ignore the e-mail and do nothing with it.
