How to Use Distributor in Composer
All Arc XP apps, including Composer, use a list of distributors that you configure in the Global Settings app.
For more information, see Managing distributors.
How to Enable Distributors for Composer
First, make sure to move the Distributor ANS meta field into the Planning or Metadata tab.
If you want Composer users to select distributors configured in Global Settings, make sure those distributors are enabled for stories. See instructions in this Managing distributors.
How Distributors Work in Composer
There is one configurable option in settings (called “distributor”) that affects the visibility and requirement of all the distributor fields. You’ll need to add it to the Planning or meta tab like any other field.
When users are entering distributor information, they first select a distributor from the new parent distributor field, which is labeled “Distributor” in Arc apps. Select a distributor from one of the distributors configured for articles in Global Settings or enter a custom distributor.
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Selecting a configured distributor populates the name, category, and subcategory with what Global Settings stores. You cannot edit these fields. In this example, this distributor does not have a subcategory value.
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If none fit, select custom. Enter a distributor name (a free-text field) and select from one of the distributor categories (the fixed drop-down of staff, wires, freelance, stock, handout, and other that is specified in ANS). If you have permissions to enter custom distributors, you're required to add a name and category, but the subcategory, a free-text field, is optional.
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Why use distributors?
The configured options from Global Settings reduce inconsistent data that users enter, such as "Associated Press" versus "AP" versus "A.P."
Structured distributor data is vital to control syndication feeds, preventing content from certain providers from appearing on certain websites and search within the authoring apps and WebSked. Having a shared understanding across the Arc suite about what it means for a piece of content to be labeled “staff,” “wire,” or one spelling of the Associated Press makes this filtering possible.
If you're using distributor for restricting what content appears on which websites, when a user is inserting an image or video into an article, gallery, or video, the image and video search modal filters any images or videos that can't use based on the story, gallery, or video’s primary website. The final layer of filtering occurs at the Content API level to ensure restricted content isn’t shown to readers on blocked websites.