The Factr Glossary​

Access: In a private stream, the level of access/permission granted to an individual user by the Stream owner.

Activity: On your Home Page, a record of any action taken by you, or within the streams/people you follow--such as posted items or comments. The Activity bar updates daily, with the most recent activity on top. On a Stream, a sidebar menu that shows actions taken within Stream; the number of Items posted, highlighted, commented on, tagged, or hidden within your Stream.

Admin: A user that controls access to the stream, can edit sources and filters, and add posts or comments. Admin is a level of access granted by the Stream’s owner.

Comment: A written remark that can be added to an Item by the Owner of a Stream or other users who have access to the Stream.

Compact Card: A display preference that shows a compact view of your image and description.

Contributor: A user who has permission to add posts, links, files, and comments. Contributors are listed on the side of your Stream with the number of items they have posted. Contributor is a level of access granted by the Stream’s Owner/Administrator.

Digest: On your Home Page, the Digest is a condensed version of the Activity feed that shows stream activity in the last 24 hours. The Digest also arrives as an email; frequency is determined by the user.

File: A Word doc, text file, PDF file, or other file formats, that can be uploaded from your device.

Feed: A Source that adds content to a Stream.

Folder: A collection of selected Items from your Stream. Placing Items in a Folder does not remove them from your Stream, it simply makes them easier to view as a subgroup.

Full-Size Card: A display preference that shows the full-size image and description of your Item.

Hide: An organizational feature within a Stream that allows you to “hide” certain items from being seen by other viewers. Hidden posts can be viewed by the Stream admins or owner in the Activity panel to the right of the stream.

Highlight: A feature [Star icon] within a Stream that allows certain items to be bookmarked and sub-categorized. Highlighted items are listed in the Activity panel to the right of the stream. Items can be highlighted and unhighlighted at any time. Items highlighted are listed as a group, regardless of their individual tags.

Inbox: Your own private Stream in which to store any Items or Folders of interest. No other users have access to your Inbox. You can use your Inbox to gather items before distributing them to a Stream or to hold items that matter, but don’t yet have a home in a particular Stream.

Item: An Item is any content - documents, files, images, links, text, sources, etc.-- that can be posted or shared on your Stream.

List View: A display preference that shows Items in a Stream as a List, based on Contributor, title, and file type.

Participant: A stream access level with viewer abilities plus the ability to comment.

Post: An Item that is posted to a Stream.

Post Toolbar: A menu of options featuring the different types of Items that can be posted on the Stream: Post, Link, Image, File.

Profile: Your personal interface, in which you tell people about yourself, your work, or what matters to you. Your Profile can be customized with an icon, header, bio, links, list of interests, and the Streams you own.

In your Profile, you can choose to only display Posts that you manually add, or you can choose to automatically display any post that you add to public Streams on Factr. Posts will be visible to anyone who visits your profile. Members who follow you may receive a notification when you post to your Profile.

Stream: A collection of Items or Posts. A Stream can be used to organize your content, have conversations, and to share information with other Factr members.

Items within a Stream can be pulled from a variety of sources and added to a Stream in a number of ways (RSS feed, Factr browser extension, smartphone, direct link, etc.)

Source: A website or online publication of interest that automatically feeds Items to be added onto your Stream, using RSS feeds. You can search for Sources through the Factr database, in the Source Manager, or directly add them with a web address.

Tags: A word, phrase, or name attached to an Item to identify particular content belonging to a particular category. The Tags menu, on the sidebar to the right of the Stream, provides a list of all the tags used within the Stream, and the quantity of items sharing that tag. Tags can be added before finalizing the post, or afterward.

Viewer: A user who only has permission to view a Stream. The viewer is a level of access granted by the Stream’s owner.

Create a Group

When working with multiple teams or projects, use a Factr group to organize and collaborate.

• Click the + button on the top left of the platform
• Click "New Group"
• Add group information and create
• Invite team members to join
• Use your group profile to post publicly
• Use your group inbox to share, discuss, or draft content
• Groups can be stream owners too. Access can be shared individually, to all group members, or publicly.

All group members will have equal access to posting and engaging in the group inbox and profile

What is Factr?

Take control of the information that matters to you and your people.

Factr brings together the best features of collaboration tools, social media, bookmarking, file-sharing, and news aggregators into a single platform, uniquely designed to give you control over your content, for whatever you need to do with it. Factr makes it easy to stay on top of what matters by allowing you to organize all your files, links, news feeds, and conversations into streams that you can share or keep private, it's up to you.

Stay on top of what matters.

• Gather and organize news, research, documents, and conversations into streams Instantly save links, images, files, and more to read later, annotate, and share
• Take conversations that matter out of email, chat, and social media, and into collaborative Factr streams
• Share important information once, knowing it will reach everyone who needs it
• Organize and share personal research
• Discuss issues and share things with family members or community
• Create archives of anything with as many or as few people as you like.
• Add website feeds and set filters to see only the most relevant news from sources you trust

Download the Factr app

Setting up your profile

Your profile is where you share about yourself, your work, and what matters to you with the Factr community. If you've chosen to have a private profile, keep in mind that basic information including, your city and bio will be available to the community.

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Setting up your profile on the web browser:

• The ‘About’ tab can include your profile image, role/occupation, bio, as well as tags for the topics you’re knowledgeable or curious about.
• To edit your profile, such as your bio, profile image, interests, skills, and shared website links, click on the "Settings" button below your follower count.
• This will open a dropdown menu with several options. Click "Profile Privacy" to choose your preference. Use the "Edit Profile" option to update your bio. You can add links to your other social profiles such as Twitter and LinkedIn, or you can add links to any sites your work on.

Remember to scroll to the bottom of the page and save your changes.

Setting up your profile on the mobile app:

• Setting up your profile begins by clicking the “person” icon in the bottom right-hand corner of the Factr mobile app.
• Click the “Edit” button.
• The Edit Profile page allows you to add or update information within your profile.
• Enter any information that you would like to share and click “Save” in the top right corner.

Choose or update your account settings

Account settings include:

• Password
• Email address
• Username
• Email digest preferences
• Notification preferences
• Billing tab, review membership options and history

To access or update these settings on a Web Browser:

• Click your profile photo on the top right-hand side of the platform
• Click "Settings" from the dropdown menu
• Use the list on the left or scroll through the page to update your settings

Via the mobile app:

• Open the left-hand navigation tray by swiping right on your screen or clicking the icon to the left of Home (represented by three horizontal lines).
• Click "Settings"
• From here, you can access your account settings as well as your profile settings.

Invite your community to Factr

Looking to collaborate? Invite your network to join Factr.

• Click your profile image on the top right of the platform.
• Click "Invite to Factr"
• Choose up to five people to share early access with.
• Include a note on your invite if you'd like and click "Send"

Pro-tip: Keep in mind public streams are viewable to anyone without logging into Factr. Send the Stream URL to anyone you'd like to share with.

What is a Stream?

Streams are a way to organize your content and conversations and share them on Factr. Streams are made up of a collection of Items.

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You can create your own Stream, follow or view a public Stream created and shared by another user, or collaborate on a Stream to which you’ve been given access.

How can I create a Stream?

Via web browser:

Once you’ve created your profile, you’re able to create a Stream. You’ve chosen a topic that matters to you and you want a place to collect items that pertain to that topic.

• Click the + button (opposite the Factr logo) on the left-hand navigation column and select "New Stream" from the options.
• Give your Stream a name, it can be changed at any time.
• If you're a part of a group, specify the stream owner (you or a group)
• Choose a community access level, it can be updated at any time:

Private: The stream is only visible and accessible to members you invite.

Connections: The stream is only visible and accessible to members you're connected to.

Public: Public streams can be discovered and viewed by anyone via Factr's search feature (no one can’t post to the Stream without your permission).

• Click "Save"

Via the mobile app:

• Look for the gold + button in the toolbar at the bottom of the app.
• Choose what you would like to make.
• If you’re creating a post, add the photo, link, file, and/or text you’d like to post. If you’re creating a new Stream, fill in the Stream options and click “Create Stream”.

Post an Item to your Stream, Profile, or Inbox

Add notes, links, photos, files, and imported social media posts

Creating a new post via web browser:

• Click the + button on the top of the left-hand navigation and click "New Post" OR go to the Stream that you want to add content
• If in Stream, click the gold "+" button at the top of the Stream
• A menu of options will open. Specify your preliminary post choice to open a new post.
• Insert, upload, or type your post preliminary content. Additional post options will appear in the case that you have more links, images, or files to add to the post.
• Choose your post styling and attachment order
• Click "Post" when you've finalized your post content.

Pro-Tip: Use the multiple file tool to upload multiple images or files as individual posts. Keep in mind, you can post up to 20 attachments to any post within it, without using this tool. The multiple file button is for those who want images and files to posted as their own individual posts.​

Via the mobile app:

To create a new post in the mobile app, look for the gold + button in the toolbar at the bottom of the app.

• Choose "New Post"
• Choose your post destination
• Insert post text and attachments
• When complete, click "Save" on the top right-hand side of the platform

Import Social Media posts or Bookmarks

Importing content is a great way to integrate your Twitter, Facebook, or bookmarks with Factr.

Use the following steps to gain access and start organizing.

• Go to the Stream or Inbox that you want to import content to.
• Click the "Settings" button, located below the Stream title.
• Click "Import Content".
• Choose to import Tweets, Facebook posts, or bookmarks.
• For Twitter and Facebook, a new window will open, click "Authorize App" to give Factr access to your posts.
• Your posts or bookmarks will load in the right-hand side of the platform.
• Select your posts to import, click "Import" when complete.
• Your selected import will be posted in the stream.

Content will import with the same time and date as their initial posting. You may have to scroll to see them.

Inviting others to your Stream

Inviting people to contribute or view your Stream can be done by clicking the “Manage Access” button on the Stream header.

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Managing who has access to your Stream can be done in two spaces. Firstly, you can update the default access. This setting can keep your Stream open to the general public, private (meaning anyone on the page requires an invitation) or public to your connections only. When inviting specific people to a Stream, you can click the gold + button under “Who has access". Search for people or invite them to the Stream via email address.

• Admin: Control access to the stream, edit sources and filters, and add posts or comments.
• Contributor: Add posts and comment in the stream
• Participant: View posts and comment on them
• Viewer: Read-only access to a stream

The Stream creator is automatically the owner and an admin for the Stream. This can be changed at any time. After choosing an access level, you can add a message, and share it!

Manage access within the mobile app:

• Enter a stream and click the … button in the header
• Choose "Access"
• Add members and assign the access level of your choice

Add and Filter Sources

Keep in mind, filters can only be used on streams with aggregated sources.

• To add Sources open the Source Manager by clicking on the "Settings" menu and choose "Sources".
• If you know the name of the Source that you want to add, you can search the Factr database to see if it is there.
• If you see the source you are looking for, click "+ Add".

After having added Sources to a Stream, you can filter the feed content.

• Open Filter settings by clicking on the "Settings" menu and choose "Source Filters". Or click "Edit Filters" under "Active Sources", if you already have the manager open.

Filtering works by eliminating or adding content by:

• All: content must match all keywords in this field
• Any: content must match at least one of these keywords
• None: content with any of these keywords will be excluded

Most topics will have a greater variety of terms that will need to be added to ensure that you catch everything you want to. For example, filters for artificial intelligence probably should include related terms and abbreviations as well: "machine learning", "neural networks", "AI", "NLP", "natural language processing" etc.

• Click "Apply" to see results
• Click "Add another filter set" to create additional content parameters.

Pro-Tip:

• Try to keep your filter sets thematically related. We've seen great stream results following the following Filter structure, using three filter sets:

1. What (which issue or topic keywords)
2. Where (which countries, regions or cities?)
3. Who (which individuals or groups?)

Embed a Factr Stream to your website!

You can now embed your Factr Streams. This feature can be found in the stream header for any stream you own or are an admin of.

• Enter the stream that you'd like to embed.
• Click the "Share" button, on the stream header, then click "Embed".
• Choose your layout and sizing preferences.
• Use the preview section to review the embedded stream presentation.
• Upon review, copy the embed code.
• Paste the code into your webpage.

If the Share button is not visible, you do not have the access level required to embed the stream outside of Factr. Request higher access or an embed code from the stream owner or group.

How do I update my membership?

Update your membership type, billing period, or payment method, at any time through your billing settings on a web browser or by visiting factr.com/membership.

• Click your profile image on the top right-hand side of the platform.
• Click "Settings"
• There are two setting tabs, account and billing, click "Billing"
• Click "Change" to view alternative membership options.
• Upon selection, review any and all updates and then click "Confirm"

Factr works to provides a better information sharing space. If at any time you would like to support the growth of Factr without updating your membership, choose a support amount of your choice at the bottom of our Membership page and click "Go".

What is my Inbox?

Your Inbox is for your eyes only, and how you use it is entirely up to you.

Your Inbox is your own private place to save or post anything that matters to you. It’s a good place to post Items that you come across while working online or to hold items in digital format for later filing or adding to a Stream.

You can save items, edit them, add notes, add tags, or organize them into Folders—your call. If you decide you'd like others to see an Item, just share it to your profile (or to any relevant Stream that you have access to).

How can I add an Item to my Inbox from a Stream?

• You can add items from a Stream directly into your Inbox, using the “sharing” icon ↑ to “Move or copy to another Stream.”
• From there, type or select Inbox in the “Destination” bar to add to your Inbox. Use the toggle button to choose to move or copy the Item.

How can I add an Item to my Inbox from elsewhere on the web?

• You can add articles, photos, videos, and other items to your Inbox from other locations by sharing them, copying a link, or using your Factr browser extension.

How to install the Factr browser extension

For Chrome and iPhone mobile app

To get the most out of Factr, we recommend installing the Factr browser extension. Not only does the extension provide an efficient way to save web pages for later use or discussion on Factr, but it also means that you can effectively curate a Stream while browsing the internet.

Installing the Factr extension for Chrome:

• To start the installation, click the "Factr on Chrome" link attached to this post.
• Click the button in the top right that says “+ Add to Chrome”
• Click the button in the pop-up window that says “Add extension”
• You’ll see a pop-up window confirming that the browser extension has been added.​

That’s it! Now just login to your Factr account in the extension, and you can start saving to Factr from your browser.

Factr extension for iPhone:

The extension is built in when you download the Factr app. To use the in-app extension, you can add Factr to the list of apps you share to regularly:

• Click the “Share” button on the page you would like to send to Factr.
• Click the Factr icon, choose your stream, and click “Save”
• If the Factr icon does not appear, click the “…” (More) icon Switch Factr “on” within your Activities (you know it’s on if you switched it from gray to green)
• Click “done”

The Factr icon will appear as a share option. Click the Factr icon to share your content to your inbox, profile, or streams.

More Factr Support

• For insight and inspiration, check out the Factr blog!
• Interested in more help content? Visit our Help Center.

Factr Policies

Factr Support

How can I contact Factr.com when I need help?

At Factr, we pride ourselves on unparalleled support for all members. Submitting a ticket is not an ideal process for someone that needs a fast solution. That's why we prefer to have a chat with you.

Via web browser:

• While using Factr, anytime you have a question you can click the chat icon in the lower-right corner. You have access to our worldwide support team to assist you with learning the best practices, troubleshooting issues or simply tell us how you feel.

Via the mobile app:

• Click the button on the top left corner of the app to open the toolbar. Then click “Support”. The chatbox will appear on the app. Lastly, click “New conversation” to connect with the Factr team for support on everything Factr.

Don't feel like chatting?

• Email us at team@factr.com and we'll help you in any way we can.

Welcome to our Getting Started stream!

The Factr team posts our updates and insights here.

If you're not seeing what you're looking for, click the chat button in the bottom right for a direct line to the team.