Read URL
With Read URL, Newsroom automatically generates a draft post based on an article on another website. You paste a link, Newsroom does the rest.
Mind copyright. Only use this feature when there are rights to reuse the content — Newsroom is not responsible for any copyright infringement on the source website.
What happens after entering a URL
- Newsroom fetches the webpage (with a 10-second timeout; the same address is answered from cache for an hour on repeated use) and extracts the main text using a content-extraction algorithm (the same kind of technique as “Reader View” in browsers).
- This works best on typical article/news pages. Content that’s only loaded via JavaScript isn’t captured, because the page is fetched as plain HTML, not rendered in a browser.
- The extracted text goes to the AI, which returns a title, body text, and source attribution.
- Newsroom itself picks the largest usable image on the page (based on actual file size, not just the first image found) as the post’s main image. That image’s photographer field is automatically filled with the same source name shown as “Source:” in the review queue — if the broadcaster has a copyright watermark configured under Settings > General, that source name appears visibly on the photo itself (see Media: photo).
Unlike Press release processing — there, no image is ever chosen automatically for a PDF, and for Word only if the document contains a large enough embedded image. With Read URL, Newsroom always actively looks for the largest usable image on the page.
- If the broadcaster has exactly one region configured, it’s automatically attached to the post. With multiple regions, you’ll need to set this yourself.
Check the assigned category. Newsroom also automatically assigns a category to the new draft, without you choosing it or seeing which one was picked. This isn’t necessarily the right category for the topic — check and correct it under General information for a post before submitting the post.
- On success, Newsroom immediately opens the new draft post in the post editor. From here you go through the normal flow: filling in the rest (see General information for a post), then submitting and review like any other post.
When reading a URL fails
- The page can’t be fetched (for example because the site is unreachable or takes too long to load): you’ll see an error message and no draft is created. Try again later or check that the link is correct.
- No text was found on the page: you’ll also get a clear error message instead of an empty draft.
Sparse or unclear text isn’t always recognized as a failure. For example, on a page behind a paywall, Newsroom may only pick up a few stray words instead of the full article — this isn’t treated as an error, so you’ll still get a draft, just with thin or unusable content. Always check the generated text before continuing.
No suitable image found? Then the draft is still created, just without a main image — this happens, for example, when every image on the page is too small. In that case, add one yourself under Media: photo.
- The AI processing itself fails (for example due to a temporary outage): you’ll also get an error message and no draft is created.
Workflow
Open the “Read URL” shortcut
Found among the other shortcuts in the posts list.
Paste the full URL, including https://
Click Analyze and wait for the page to be processed
This can take a few seconds.
Finish editing the generated draft
Check the title, text, image, category, and region before submitting the post for review.