Creating a new press release or document is easy. To get started access the “Start a New Press Release” option in the upper right corner of the Dashboard (just underneath the Q4 Press logo). This will take you to a screen where key information is required (including determining participants – reviewers or approvers) and the ability to upload/insert your document into the system. When creating a release and selecting things like dates, participants etc. you are always able to make changes later by accessing the “edit properties” link when you’re working on the document.To create a press release takes three simple steps.

1.Get Started

To start you can either provide a title or start working with a blank document OR you can upload a MS Word document to from the system. The latter is typically the most popular option as most people will use a template or early draft they created in Word to get started. When your document is uploaded, it is converted into HTML (which is the native format of Press) this means that some formatting may be slightly different once your document converts to HTML and is displayed in Press. All critical formatting will be maintained such as financial tables. And the first line of the document is used as the title.

Note: as of Oct 2007 Press is only compatible with Word 97-2003 formats. If you are using Office 2007 please be sure to save your document with Word 97-2003 compatibility – aka as a .doc rather than a .docx More on uploading MS Word docs can be found here.

2.Provide Some Basic Details

Once you have your document ready to go you’ll then need to select the author of the release. Following on the theme of flexibility you can create a release and set someone else to be the author (doesn’t have to be you). This allows individuals to get everything setup for someone else. In addition to the author you’ll have to select the date and time when you need the release to be complete and finally provide a name for the first phase (i.e. initial draft) and when you expect it will be complete.

Phases are an important part of working with Press. They allow you to setup groups of individuals to work with during different phases of the documents evolution. More on phases can be found here.

Finally you’ll see a coming soon option for Blackberry support. This feature is in development and will allow participants to provide feedback via Blackberry. If this is a feature you’d like go here and vote for it

3.Participants

Now you’re ready to select the participants for the first phase of the releases. Below this option you’ll see all of your available users and have the ability to move them into either a ‘reviewer’ or an ‘approver’ role.

Reviewers are able to provide comments and edits on the document. Approvers are able to provide comments and edits in addition to approving or denying the document when sending their feedback back to you. More on working with reviewers and approvers here can be found here

In making these selections don’t worry if you forget someone, you can always access “edit properties” in the document to add or remove users.

If there are people missing from your user list you’ll have to contact your administrator to request additional users be added or contact us and we’ll happily help you out.

Once you’ve completed these 3 steps you can then select the “Begin Press Release Now” button and you’ll be taken to the author screen where you can work with the document or broadcast to your participants and get some feedback.