Easy way to post to Tumblr

This post details a nice and quick, easy and flexible way to post stuff to tumblr. Tumblr itself is a great blogging platform. Try it out!

The system described here involves using a Google Spreadsheet as a kind of 'backbone' to your tumblr blog.

Why use this sytem?

• Much quicker if you're posting lots of things.
• Easier and quicker to manage tags.
• Saves your posts somewhere other than tumblr, for peace of mind.

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Edit

Please read on if you would like to use the individual scripts themselves. However, a much simpler way to use this system is to use a Spreadsheet Template of the Tumblr Tool. Simply sign in to Google Docs, click on the link just mentioned, and then click on "Use this template" and follow the instructions here.

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This system supports posting of texts, links, quotes, photos, videos and even flash (SWF) files. However, for the purposes of this tutorial I will assume you want it for photos.

Set up your spreadsheet

This just means having the right things in the right places. Open up a new spreadsheet on Google Docs, and make it look like this spreadsheet. It's not so important to get the fonts or sizes right of course, just which things are in which row.

The top left cell (A1) holds your "Post to Tumblr" address. To find this, look under the "Goodies" section on yout tumblr account.

Make an activation button

This is the star you can see on the spreadsheet. It is linked to the script that will run (next step). Just go Insert >> Drawing on your spreadsheet and make any shape. When that is saved and closed, right click on it and choose "Assign script".

Find the script

You need find the script "Images2Tumblr" on Google Apps Script. I will post a link to this ASAP! (It is being processed by Google at the mo).

Assign the script

Click on the menu dialogue for the drawing you inserted (try right clicking on it if it is not there), and choose "Assign script". Type "Images2Tumblr" in the box and press enter.

Enter a post

The setup is now done; you can start posting. Enter the URL of a photo on the second row, and some tags in the first column. To assign the tag to this photo, enter a "1" in the cell corresponding both to this post (i.e. where you entered the URL) and the tag itself. The beauty of this system is that you don't need to keep retyping the tag each time you'd like to add it to a post: you can just enter a 1 in the right cell.

Repeat

Repeat this process for each image you would like to post.

Send the posts to Tumblr

The cells in the top row will change to a "*" when a URL is entered. To post an image, change this "*" to a "1" and click on your shape (i.e. star) to run the script. It should automatically change the "1" to a "0" to prevent resending.

Wait

Tumblr sometimes takes a few minutes to process emailed posts, so go and make a cup of tea, come back and see if it's worked.

Problems?

Any issues with this process? Not sure what I mean in one of the steps? (Quite possible - it might not be the best wording!) Feel free to post a comment and I will try to get back to you.