AutoPost

With the status set to "publish," outside content goes live before you read it

You connect a feed, choose how often it is checked and how many entries are pulled in each pass. From then on the site works on its own, and what reaches the blog was written by someone else, at another time and with another standard.

The default status of the import decides whether a review happens: with "publish," every new entry goes public without anyone having read it; with "draft" or "private," it waits for you to read it.

Autopost is a WordPress plugin that imports the content of RSS and Atom feeds as posts. Each feed has its own schedule, category and author, and synchronization is started from the admin.

What it imports and how it places it on the site

• Source: any RSS or Atom feed, plus XML files read from an FTP server that you define.
• Schedule: the interval is set in minutes, hours or days, and each feed can be paused or reactivated.
• Quantity: you choose how many entries are imported from each feed.
• Destination: the category where they land, the author of each feed and custom taxonomies for each post.
• Fields: the content and the title, and also custom fields, are taken from RSS fields you specify.
• Images: they are downloaded and inserted into the WordPress media library.
• Status: publish, draft or private, as the default value.

An outside feed as a draft queue, to test

An example using settings it already has: you add a collaborator's feed, assign it to a category of its own, choose an author from your site and leave the status on draft. Each entry that arrives waits in the admin until someone decides whether it is published.

It is our own combination of functions. Try it first with a single feed: check whether the title and content reach the fields you expect, whether the images appear in the media library and whether the author and category are the ones you chose. Once that check is done, you decide whether to keep draft as the default status.

Per-feed settings and dependencies on the source

The author, the category and the pause are decided feed by feed, so two different sources can each have their own. That gives you control, and it also means reviewing each one separately.

The import depends on the source continuing to publish at the address you registered. If the feed changes address or stops updating, no new entries arrive.

Images are downloaded to your media library, so they sit on your own server and are not linked to the source site. To read XML files over FTP you need to be able to access the server where they are hosted.

The title and content come from the feed's fields. If you want other data to end up in custom fields or in the content, you assign it yourself from custom RSS fields.

First feed and first synchronization

You need a WordPress site where you can install plugins and the address of at least one feed. If you are going to read XML over FTP, you also need access to that server.

1. Install the plugin with the WordPress installer and activate it.
2. Add a feed with its address.
3. Choose the category, the author and the default status.
4. Set the interval and the number of entries per pass.
5. Synchronize from the admin and review what arrived before leaving the feed on its own.

Feed importers to compare

To compare content import approaches, the catalog includes WP RSS Aggregator and its Feed to Post add-on.

Answers about Autopost

What status do imported posts get?

The one you choose as the default value: publish, draft or private.

Can I stop a feed without deleting it?

Yes. Each feed can be paused or activated, and also added or removed.

What happens to the images in the posts?

They are downloaded and inserted automatically into the WordPress media library.

Can it read XML files that are not a public feed?

Yes. You can define FTP servers and parse the XML files stored there.