AO3 Collections

Collections can be created by anyone with an account on AO3. They're used to keep a set of works linked all in one place, and can have various different settings specifying who is allowed to add works to the collection and when. Except under very specific circumstances (discussed below), inclusion of a work within a collection will have no other impact upon the work.

Creating a Collection
To create a collection, go to your AO3 profile, then to 'Collections', and click 'New Collection'. This will take you to the long form shown to the right (click on the image to see a larger version). Fortunately, you don't need to fill out the entire thing in order to create your collection. All you need to do is fill out the two required fields at the top of the page -- these are marked as required on the form itself. All fields, including the two required fields, can be changed later and are discussed in detail below.

The two required fields are 'Collection name' and 'Display title'. Once you have entered in something for those two fields, scroll to the bottom of the page and hit 'Submit'. Your collection will be created.

Collection Settings
After you've created your collection, you can modify it at any time by going to your collection and clicking on 'Collection Settings'. This will take you back to the long form where you can change and save all of the same settings that it asked you for during the creation process.

Except for the two required fields of 'Collection name' and 'Display title', all collection settings can be left blank until you know what you want to do with them.

Header
Collection name: This field is required in order to create your collection on the archive. What you enter here will determine your collection's URL; therefore, you can't have spaces here. If you later change this, then the URL of your collection will change, which will break any links you have made to your collection using its URL.

Display title: This field is required in order to create your collection on the archive. This field is the title of your collection that will be displayed in your collection's header and when people are searching for collections.

Parent collection (that you maintain):

Collection email:

Custom header URL:

Icon:

Icon alt text:

Icon comment text:

Brief description: If you are using the collection to run a challenge, the challenge will not have a separate space for description, so that information should go here as well. The information that you type in here will be made public on your collection's page as soon as you save it. Therefore, if you're using the collection to run a challenge, don't type your draft information directly into the box unless you put a large 'TENTATIVE' in front of it.

Preferences
This collection is moderated: AO3 description: "By default, collections are not moderated, which means any registered user of the Archive can add their works to the collection. The owners/moderators of the collection can still reject stories after they have been posted, if they are not appropriate. If you set your collection to be moderated, all registered users will still be able to post, but their stories will not appear in the collection until they are approved by a moderator or owner. Approved members will be able to post automatically without manual approval."

This collection is closed: AO3 description: "Once a collection is closed, no works or bookmarks can be added to it, except by the maintainers (owners and moderators). If this is a gift exchange or other challenge, note that this won't be automatically triggered by any deadlines you set in your challenge settings, but has to be manually set here."

This collection is unrevealed: If this box is checked, then any works in the collection will show up as Unrevealed: the work may show up in tags, but the summary will not be visible and no one other than the collection owners and the author will be able to access the work even if given a direct link. Works can be individually revealed or mass revealed by the collection owners. If you click this box, you may be unable to add works to your collection as an owner if the creator has not chosen to allow

This collection is anonymous: If this box is checked, then by default any works that are in the collection will be show the creator as 'Anonymous' and any comments made by the creator on the work will be shown as being by 'Anonymous author'. Work creators can be individually revealed or mass revealed by the collection owners.

Show random works on the front page instead of most recent:

Send a message to the collection email when a work is added: This is what it says on the tin: it sends an email to the collection email (set under Header settings, above) whenever a work is added to the collection. It is most useful if your collection is set to Open (above) and you want to keep track when people other than the owners have submitted works to the collection.

Type of challenge, if any: This is a drop-down menu that allows you to host a challenge in your collection, either an Exchange or a Prompt Meme. A collection can only host one challenge. To create a second challenge, you'll need to create a new collection.

Profile
Introduction: If you are using the collection to run a challenge, the challenge will not have a separate space for an introduction, so that information should go here as well. The information that you type in here will be made public on your collection's page as soon as you save it. Therefore, if you're using the collection to run a challenge, don't type your draft information directly into the box unless you put a large 'TENTATIVE' in front of it.

FAQ: If you are using the collection to run a challenge, the challenge will not have a separate space for FAQs, so that information should go here as well. The information that you type in here will be made public on your collection's page as soon as you save it. Therefore, if you're using the collection to run a challenge, don't type your draft information directly into the box unless you put a large 'TENTATIVE' in front of it.

Rules: If you are using the collection to run a challenge, the challenge will not have a separate space for rules, so that information should go here as well. The information that you type in here will be made public on your collection's page as soon as you save it. Therefore, if you're using the collection to run a challenge, don't type your draft information directly into the box unless you put a large 'TENTATIVE' in front of it.

Assignment notification message

Gift notification message

Actions
Submit: Whenever you update your collection settings, you'll need to hit Submit in order to save your changes.

Collection Members and Maintainers
AO3 description: Owners of a collection can edit the collection preferences and data, and also delete the collection entirely. Moderators of a collection can approve/invite members and add/reject stories."

Deleting Your Collection
If you wish to delete your collection, go to the top of the 'Collection settings' form and hit the 'Delete Collection' button, or go to the collection 'Profile' and hit 'Delete Collection'. This will pop up a warning asking you if you're sure that you really want to delete the collection.

Collections cannot be deleted if they have a challenge, whether or not that challenge is 'active'. You must first delete the challenge, and then you can delete the collection.

Deleting a collection has no impact on the works in the collection, except in the cases of unrevealed or anonymous works, which will be revealed or made unanon respectively.