Dashboard view
The first view that you will see when you login is called the dashboard view. It will show you a list of stories and pages that are assigned or submitted to you. To view details on the story assigned or submitted to you, just click the headline in the dashboard.
Once you complete this work, you can submit it to the workflow for review.
When work is submitted to you, you can review the work and then advance it in the workflow or give final approval so the story can be published to your site.
The person responsible for publishing the story is determined by each individual staff. However, only users with the permission enabled by the adviser or other Administrator level users can publish content or draftsto Wordpress. SNO recommends that the person providing the final approval, likely the E-I-C, web editor, or adviser, be the person who sends the story to Wordpress – that user will need to have the “Send Stories to WordPress as Draft” and/or “Publish Stories to WordPress” permissions enabled on their FLOW account.
Story list view
To view the list of stories, click on the hamburger menu on the left side of the dashboard. This is the view that will likely be used during staff meetings, to plan stories, view publication dates, and check on the status of any outstanding stories. You can use a variety of sorting options and filters to control what you see on this screen.
You can easily save a view to pull it up again in the future without having to re-apply all the filters and sorting using the icon in the upper right corner of this view. Those with the enabled permission can also choose to set saved views to be available for everyone on staff to easily select.
Layout builder view
To access this view, click on the grid of boxes below the envelope icon on the right side of your FLOW dashboard. This is meant for use by staffs who have a print publication in addition to the website. Those with the enabled permission can create a layout then decide which page each story is placed. They can also assign the page to another individual to complete the layout/design work.
Staffs that choose to utilize the layout builder can assign pages to a designer, and on FLOW the designer can see which story or stories will be placed on their page. From the assignment tab, the designer will also have access to the copy via the Google Doc and be able to see which photos have been submitted for a particular story. Editors and administrators can also create a workflow for the designer to submit their draft to once it is ready for review.
The actual design work will still need to be completed in a separate design software, but if an assignee is completing design work, they will be able to view this screen to see what stories will be placed on which page. Anyone not doing design work would never need to view this page.
If your publication does not have a print issue, or chooses not to use this feature, it is possible that the adviser and editors have set this screen to not be visible.
Messaging
You can access the messaging in FLOW by clicking on the envelope icon on the left side.
This tool allows you to communicate within FLOW or in the FLOW app directly with individuals by sending a direct message, or groups (e.g. editors) by creating a private channel. Editors can also create a public channel to keep subjects on a singular topic all contained in one location (e.g. story ideas). Users will receive a notification whenever you receive a direct message, or a new message is added to a public channel, or to a private channel of which you are a member.
For non-editor staff members they can go to the message tab and post in public channels, or private channels in which they have been added as a member. They can also create messages to a specific user via the direct message function. These communications are generally going to be broader, as notes and messages about specific stories can be created in the individual assignment window.
If your publication does not wish to use this feature, it is possible that the adviser and editors have set this screen to not be visible.
Calendar
You can access the calendar by clicking on the Calendar icon on the left side of the FLOW dashboard. This view allows you to see the upcoming deadlines for stories or events created by Administrators, which can help the staff see what upcoming events are happening in the near future so staff knows to create and assign a story covering that event. This functions similarly to an Outlook or Google calendar.
Users also have the option to post events visible to only themselves via the calendar.
Media Library
Access the media library using the images icon below the calendar on the left side of the FLOW dashboard. This view allows you to see all of the images that have been uploaded to FLOW.
FLOW is not the same as your site, they are just linked together, so deleting images from your FLOW Media Library will no affect stories on your WordPress site. Your WordPress site will store a copy of any images uploaded to it, so it is okay to delete these images after your stories have been uploaded to WordPress. However, do not delete any images from this library unless you are certain that they have already been moved over to the website, graded, and you do not need them anymore.
Depending on the permissions granted to you on FLOW, you may or may not be able to edit or delete images. FLOW has no ability to visually edit the photos (e.g. cropping, size, color levels, etc.), so be sure to make any edits before uploading the image to FLOW. Only gives users with the “Edit Images” permission in their user accounts have the ability to edit the caption, tags, and byline on the photo.
From this area, you can also view the full size image should you need to save that image file for use on social media or a different site.
Notifications
There are three ways to receive notifications in FLOW. The first is on the dashboard of the site itself when you login in bell icon in the upper right corner. This will contain all notifications you have regarding your assignments, submissions, and messages. This option cannot be turned off, but you can mark the notifications as read once you’ve seen them.
The second is the option to receive email notifications. To turn this on go to the user area on FLOW (the single person icon) and click on your name. From there you can toggle email notifications on or off.
The third option is to receive push notifications via the FLOW app. The FLOW app is free to download in the App Store or Google Play. You can select what you receive push notifications about by going to the user area on FLOW (the single person icon) and clicking on your name. From there you can toggle notifications on or off for six different scenarios.