Blog¶
PastPaths has a built-in blog where you can write longer family stories, research logs, and reflections. A blog post isn't the same as notes on a person — it's longer, can be formatted with headings and images, and tagged so it turns up in several different contexts.
When should you use the blog?¶
Examples of good uses for the blog:
- "Anna's Journey to America" — a longer, multi-part story about an event
- "What I know about grandma's childhood" — a summary based on several sources
- "Research log: the search for Erik Andersson's parents" — where you document how you found a piece of information
- "My family's emigration 1860–1910" — thematic overviews
Less suitable uses:
- Short notes that belong directly on a person ("widowed early")
- Dates and factual details — use the person and event forms instead
Create a blog post¶
Go to Blog → + New post.
In the editor, you fill in:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Title | The heading of the post. Shown in lists and at the top of the post. |
| URL slug | The web address part, e.g. my-grandmothers-childhood. Generated automatically from the title but can be changed. |
| Content | The actual text, with formatting, images, and links. |
| Excerpt | A short summary shown in lists. Generated automatically if left blank. |
| Post type | E.g. blog post, page, research log. |
| Status | Draft, Published, or Archived. |
| Featured image | Image shown at the top of the post and in lists. |
| Categories | Broad groupings — chosen from existing ones or created in the taxonomy management. |
| Tags | More free-form labels — can be created directly in the selector by typing and pressing Enter. |
| Series | Link to a series if the post is part of a longer, multi-part story. |
| Linked persons | Persons the post is about. |
| Linked places | Places the post is about. |
| Linked events | Events the post is about. |
Images in the blog¶
You can add images within the running text by clicking the image icon in the editor's toolbar.
Clicking the image icon opens the media picker, where you can:
- Choose an existing image from the media library
- Upload a new image, which is saved to the media library
The image is inserted at the cursor's position. You can insert several images in the same post and freely mix text and images.
Reuse images
An image in the media library can both appear in a blog post and be a person's profile picture. Upload once, use everywhere.
Status and publishing¶
A post can have three statuses:
- Draft — you're still working on the post. Not shown in the public list.
- Published — the post is finished. The publish date is set automatically the first time you switch to this status.
- Archived — an old post you don't want to delete but also don't want to show in the list.
Series¶
If you write several posts that belong together, you can link them into a series. Readers can then navigate between the parts directly from the post view.
To create a series:
- Click + Create new series in the series field in the editor
- Give the series a title (e.g. "Anna's Journey to America")
- Set the order in the series (1, 2, 3...) on each post
Categories and tags¶
Tags and categories help you find blog posts later:
- Categories are the broad groupings — e.g. "Stories," "Research logs," "Source criticism." Can have parents/children (two levels).
- Tags are more free-form and specific — e.g. "america," "1900s," "emigration."
A post about Anna's journey to America might get the category Stories and the tags emigration, america, and 1893.
→ More about taxonomy (tags and categories)
Find your blog posts¶
The blog can be shown either as cards or as a list — switch using the buttons in the filter row. The list view shows title, type, status, date, and categories in a table, making it easier to scan through many posts.
In the blog list, you can:
- Search titles and content
- Filter by status — Draft, Published, Archived
- Filter by post type
- Filter by category
- Sort by publish date (newest first)
Import from WordPress¶
Do you already have a blog on WordPress with family stories? You can export it and import it into PastPaths — including images.
→ Read more about WordPress import