AP Exchange Community Blog

Faster Photo Searches in Exchange

We've made some changes to the way we store and retrieve pictures in AP Exchange and the net result is faster performance when scanning through photos. We hope you've noticed a difference!

Next on the agenda is to structure our text content in the same way we modified our photo material. We are planning this for later this year.

Manage Your User Accounts in AP Exchange

We have introduced the ability for certain staffers to manage, delete or create AP Exchange accounts in the newsroom. This feature will ensure that no errant accounts are active and that your AP content is protected from unauthorized access. If you would like to nominate a colleague in your newsroom who will manage this process, email us at talkback@ap.org.

New Features Planned for AP Exchange

We're preparing for the next release of AP Exchange. We try our best to keep our ears to the ground to learn what editors want and need in this new system. That's why feedback is so important to us. Currently, we plan on releasing new features in about a month - mid-November. Here's a sneak peak at some of the things you'll see:

1. Story and Photo Download History - This is a big request from editors. With many editors in the same newsroom using AP Exchange, it becomes important to see if a colleague has already downloaded a photo or story. You'll now be able to see who did.

2. Shared Saved Search - A great feature. You can create a saved search and share it with colleagues. Perhaps you have someone who is very good at building searches in Exchange. That search pro will now be able to set up a search and make it appear in your version of AP Exchange.

3. Jump To Pagination - Finally...no longer will you have to scroll through search results one page at a time. You'll be able to jump pages...from 2 to 5 back to 3 to 8 and so on. Much faster and much friendlier.

4. Newsroom Account Management - Another handy tool. Certain users in each newsroom will be able to create accounts for new users or delete accounts for staffers who have left. This is a great security measure and a time saver.

Those are the big changes. Hope they sound good. Can't wait to get them live in November.

Sharing Watchlists

You can now share a watchlist with colleagues. This enhancement allows you to create a folder of news (text, pics, graphics, video) and share with or send to a colleague. You could send a line-up to other editors, a collection of pics to a photo or online editor and so on. Here's a link to our help guide on how to share a watchlist. Check it out!

Page 1 Advisory Improved

The eds who assemble the Page 1 Advisory are now linking photos to the advisory. It's a nice feature that shows you both the recommended page 1 stories PLUS related images to go along. To check this out, click Essential AP > Advisories & Digests and then Page 1 advisory.

Download from the Homepage

  When you see this icon in AP Exchange, it means you can download the item on the spot. You no longer have to open a story or photo to access the Download or Save function. Simply click this icon and choose your download type from the menu that appears.

New Version of AP Exchange!

Happy to report that December 4 is the tentative date for the release of the next version of AP Exchange. We're conducting final testing and it is possible to delay, but at this point December 4 looks good. The new version will feature Watchlists which are folders you can create and then populate with stories, photos, graphics etc. Typically, users would create watch lists for line-ups, special sections or publications, tracking stories or just storing away news that you want to work on later.

In addition to Watchlists, we've also increased the number of stories you can view per page, there's a new scroll bar on the story pop-up page for easier viewing of photos and related content, emails sent from Exchange can now be text or HTML and all alerts sent from the system or items downloaded for production will clearly identify the user.

We'll keep you posted!

AP Exchange Watchlists

In the next release of AP Exchange, we've added the watchlist feature a number of editors/reporters have asked for. (click on the image to expand it) Essentially, this allows you to create quick Watchlists (folders) and dump content into them. You can create a "Stories to Watch" watchlist, or a watchlist for the Saturday Automotive section or even for today's line-up. It's a time saver. Gives you a place to set items aside without have to search for them later. We expect this to be out in early November. Watchlists will be on the right side of the homepage.

What Reports Would You Want?

We're going to be generating the usual amount of usage reports for the AP Exchange website. Typical items such as pageviews, users, hits. We thought we'd throw it out to you as well for your thoughts on reporting. We obviously have very important privacy concerns to respect, but would a list of the most viewed stories be of use? Most popular photos? etc. Open to any comments or ideas about this. Click COMMENT below to reply to this post.  Thanks!

Sharing AP Exchange

A number of members have asked us to modify AP Exchange so users can:
1. Share a saved search with colleagues
2. See who else in their newsroom has already downloaded a story/photo/graphic

We hear you! These features will be in a future build of AP Exchange. We anticipate launching these ideas before the end of the year. When we release a new version of AP Exchange, we'll provide notice and info on what's new in the release.

Any other ideas? Don't hestitate to let us know. Post to this blog by clicking on the "COMMENT" link below or email to talkback@ap.org.