This article will explain the basics of how to get started with GatherContent. It'll also cover things you'll get to know, such as projects, items, workflows, and People.
Projects
Projects help to define the purpose of the content. They are made up of folders that represent the hierarchy of your content, and items which are the content pieces. You could have a project per client that you work with, a project for each of your products, a project for an entire web redesign, or for each phase of a larger web project.
- When you log into GatherContent, you'll see the project dashboard
Choose which project you'd like to enter, and check the project's progress using the project progress bar. If you're assigned to any items in this project, you'll see a link to access them.
- Every project has a project type
When creating a project you choose the project type. This choice gives you a different set of example templates and workflow stages. The project type can be changed at any time during the project lifecycle.
- Your project dashboard will have some example projects
Check these out to see how projects in GatherContent can be used. You can also play with these example projects and users to test out GatherContent's features in a real-life environment.
Tip: You can archive any example project by clicking on the cog in the bottom left, and selecting "archive project". You can restore archived example projects at any time if you need to view them again.
Items
Items are the content pieces inside a project. You'll find the items on the content hub of a project, inside folders, or by choosing the 'All items' view. Each named page on the list is an item. Click on the name of any item, to access the content inside.
- You can easily update your sitemap or hierarchy
Click, drag, and drop items to re-order them. Items can be dragged around within a folder, or over to a different folder on the sidebar.
- Items are structured using fields
You can use text fields, asset fields, and more to build the structure of your item. Include instructions and guidelines in structures to help your content get produced.
- Click into a field on an item and begin typing to add content
Start typing in a text field to add content to an item. Content is autosaved as you make changes. You can see who else is editing an item by their avatar, shown near the top of the page.
- Assign your team to items they need to work on
Use the people dropdown in an item to assign your team to it. You can assign people to multiple items at once from the content hub.
- Finding your assigned items.
Being assigned to an item typically means you're responsible for it. You can check for items you're assigned to in several ways; From the project dashboard; a project's overview; a project's content hub.
- Keep track of content changes using our revision history
Revisions compare the content between two points in time, so you can see what's changed between saves.
- Comments are used to discuss content with your team
You can @mention your colleagues to notify them directly. Conversations can be resolved before moving an item onto the next status in the workflow. You can check the comment history to revisit older conversations.
Workflow
A workflow is made up of a series of statuses. Each item has a workflow status. This allows you to keep track of where that item is in the production and review process. Move your items through the workflow as each status is completed.
- Workflows are customisable
Your workflow is unique to each project and is fully customisable. From the workflow tab, you can edit the workflow to match the steps that your content goes through to get published.
You can also set a workflow status to be 'read-only', using the toggle button. This means that no one will be able to edit the content of an item while it's at this workflow status.
- Set a due date for each workflow status
You can set due dates for each workflow status to help meet your project's milestones. It also lets your team know what they need to do and when.
- Get an overview of where your project is at
You can see an overview of a project's progress from the project dashboard, or from the Overview tab within a project.
People
You can manage your team's access to GatherContent from the People & Groups area, found by clicking on your avatar.
- You can invite people to your account from the People & Groups area
To add people to GatherContent, their role should be created first as you need to apply this when sending the invite. Those invited will receive an email with an invite link inside. When they click the invite link, they'll be asked to set a password.
- Every person in your GatherContent account belongs to a group and has a role
Groups are used to organise your people, and to help you find people more quickly by splitting up a list i.e. internal teams, external agencies, legal team, etc.
A role is a set of permissions, which can be applied to multiple people. This determines things like whether people can write content, edit item structure, or see everything inside a project they have access to.
- You'll begin with some default roles, but can create your own
You can create as many custom roles as you like.
- A person can only belong to one group at a time
You can drag and drop your people between groups to change this.
- From the People & Groups area, you can centrally manage access to all projects in your account
Each person will have a profile, where you can see and edit their role, and grant them access to projects in your account.
- From a person's profile in the People & Groups area, you can perform other useful actions
You can resend their welcome email when inviting them to GatherContent, reset their password, and delete their user.
Now you're ready to begin creating the content!