.. _creating-a-spreadsheet:

Creating a spreadsheet
======================

You can use whatever your favorite spreadsheet application is, as long as it supports exporting to CSV (which is the format that AO3 Poster knows how to understand!)

When you're entering data into your spreadsheet, you may include any of the following columns:

+------------------------+------------------------------------------+
| | Column header        | | Data type                              |
| | (* = Required)       | |                                        |
+========================+==========================================+
| **Rating ***           | ``Not Rated``,                           |
|                        | ``General Audiences``,                   |
|                        | ``Teen And Up Audiences``,               |
|                        | ``Mature``,                              |
|                        | or ``Explicit``                          |
+------------------------+------------------------------------------+
| **Archive Warnings *** | Comma-separated list of AO3              |
|                        | archive warnings (as they                |
|                        | appear on the New Post form.)            |
+------------------------+------------------------------------------+
| **Fandoms ***          | Comma-separated list of AO3              |
|                        | fandom tags                              |
+------------------------+------------------------------------------+
| Category               | Comma-separated list of AO3              |
|                        | categories (as they appear               |
|                        | on the New Post form.)                   |
+------------------------+------------------------------------------+
| Relationships          | Comma-separated list of AO3              |
|                        | relationship tags                        |
+------------------------+------------------------------------------+
| Characters             | Comma-separated list of AO3              |
|                        | character tags                           |
+------------------------+------------------------------------------+
| Additional Tags        | Comma-separated list of tags             |
+------------------------+------------------------------------------+
| **Work Title ***       | Text                                     |
+------------------------+------------------------------------------+
| Creator/Pseud(s)       | Comma-separated list of creator          |
|                        | AO3 pseuds / usernames.                  |
+------------------------+------------------------------------------+
| Add co-creators?       | Comma-separated list of co-creator       |
|                        | AO3 pseuds / usernames.                  |
+------------------------+------------------------------------------+
| Summary                | Text                                     |
+------------------------+------------------------------------------+
| Notes at the beginning | Text                                     |
+------------------------+------------------------------------------+
| Notes at the end       | Text                                     |
+------------------------+------------------------------------------+
| **Language ***         | Valid AO3 language name (as they appear  |
|                        | on the New Post form.)                   |
+------------------------+------------------------------------------+
| Work text              | Work HTML. *Don't include* if            |
|                        | you want to use a work template.         |
+------------------------+------------------------------------------+

All values included for columns must exactly match the values that AO3 expects (including capitalization) or your submission will fail.
(Or in the case of tags, it will not be tagged as you intended.)
Comma-separated values **must not** have spaces after commas.

.. image:: /_static/images/example-spreadsheet.png

"Parent work" data, which you enter in AO3 by checking the box next to "This work is a remix, a translation, a podfic, or was inspired by another work", can be modified with the following special column headers:

+------------------------+-------------------------------------------+
| | Column header        | | Data type                               |
| | (* = Required)       | |                                         |
+========================+===========================================+
| Parent Work URL        | URL for the parent work.                  |
+------------------------+-------------------------------------------+
| Parent Work Title      | Title for the parent work. (Not required  |
|                        | if the parent work is on AO3.)            |
+------------------------+-------------------------------------------+
| Parent Work Author     | Author for the parent work. (Not required |
|                        | if the parent work is on AO3.)            |
+------------------------+-------------------------------------------+

You can also include additional columns; these will not be submitted to AO3 directly but they will be available in your :ref:`work text template <work-text-templates>`.

Once your spreadsheet is created, export it as a CSV and save it on your computer to use with AO3 Poster.