Writing and collaborating on articles
How to write, format, and collaborate with other team members on your draft article
Shortcuts
Action | Key |
Undo | Ctrl/ Command + Z |
Single-spaced line break | Shift + Enter |
AI Writing Tools + Subject Matter Quote Video | / |
AI Writing | Highlight text → Ctrl/ Command + Enter |
Italics | Ctrl/ Command + I |
Bold | Ctrl/ Command + B |
Underline | Ctrl/ Command + U |
Using AI to Create Draft Sections
Introductions
To draft an introduction for your article using AI, type “/” in the blog editor then select “Introduction” The input you need to provide will differ based on the framework you select. PASO (Positioning, Audience, Story, and Offer) is one of the most commonly used frameworks, but you can hover over the information icon and select one based on your needs. You’ll be prompted to enter information your reader and the problems you solve for them. You can hit Enter once you’ve completed one line to move to the next one. At the bottom, there will be a “Generate” button for you to create the first draft of your introduction.
Conclusions
To draft a conclusion for your article using AI, type “/” in the blog editor then select “Conclusion” You’ll be prompted to provide information about what the reader should take away from reading your article.
You can hit Enter once you’ve completed one line to move to the next one. At the bottom, there will be a “Generate” button for you to create the first draft of your conclusion.
Sections
To draft a section paragraph for your article using AI, type “/” in the blog editor then select “Section.” Note: this tool is dependent on you using the “Introduction” tool to choose a framework. You’ll be prompted to expand on what the section should talk about. You can hit “Enter” after you’ve completed a line to move to the next one. Once you’ve filled everything out, you can click “Generate” at the bottom to create a draft of your paragraph.
Formatting
Linking
To link a text, highlight it and select the URL icon. You can specify whether to open the link in a new tab or to make the link No follow.
Dividers
To insert a divider, click on the “+” icon next to the text selector and click on “Divider”
Images and video
To add images or videos into the text body, simply copy and paste them directly into the editor. When pasting a video, by default, we'll prompt you to transcribe it into a blog post. If you prefer to embed the video only, click "Just Paste."
As for Hero Images and Thumbnails, this can be added in the next step. Click on the blue button in the top-right of your editor and it’ll bring you to the metadata step where you can select your hero image.
Letterdrop will automatically compress all of your images to help ensure fast upload speeds on your site.
Code Blocks
You can click on the “+” button next to the text selector to insert a code block.
Embed HTML/ Custom CTAs
To include Custom CTAs or blocks in HTML, click the "+" button beside the text selector and choose Embed HTML. Your web developers can preload commonly used CTAs here, allowing you to insert them without needing to deal with any code.
It will populate in the blog editor as a blank box. To preview how it will look, you can go to the next step by clicking on the blue button in the top-right of your editor then clicking “Preview.”
Tables
To add a table, click on the “+” icon next to the text selector and select Table. You’ll be able to edit the number of columns and rows before adding it to your page.
Collaboration
Requesting a short video from a subject matter expert
If you type "/" and select "Subject Matter Quote," you can enter an email and question. The recipient will receive an email requesting a video response to the question. Once completed, you'll receive an email notifying you that it's in Letterdrop, complete with subtitles and your logo. From there, you can easily upload the video to YouTube from Letterdrop and embed it into your article.
Commenting
You can leave comments on a draft by highlighting a text and clicking on the green comment button. In your comment, you can notify a collaborator by typing "@" followed by their name.
Sharing
You can click on the “Share” button in the right-side panel and edit the sharing settings for the article.
Suggesting Edits
To make suggestions that a collaborator in your workspace can then accept or ignore, click on the "Suggesting" toggle at the very top of the editor.
To toggle Suggestion mode on and off while editing text, you can select any text and click on the green “Toggle suggest edits” icon on the right.
To accept or reject all suggestions, click on “More” icon on the right and select “Accept all suggestions” or “Reject all suggestions.”