Automations

Aggregator makes it easy to filter your sources so you only import feed items that meet specified criteria, that is, have (or don’t have) certain properties. These filters can be as simple or complex as you like.

Simple Automations

To filter your feed items on a per source basis:

1. Open a source and go to the Automations tab.
2. Click on Add new automation.
3. In the first dropdown that appears, choose the property you’d like to filter by for each item in the feed. You can choose between:
   • Title (applies to title only)
   • Content (applies to content only)
   • Title and Content (applies to title and content)
   • Tags/Categories (applies to tags or categories)
4. In the second dropdown, choose an operator (Is, Is Not, Contains, etc.)
5. In the input field, type in a value.

Note: For certain operators, you will be able to input multiple, comma-separated values.

6. In the final dropdown, select between Import or Do not import.
7. Click the Save button.

Note: Automations is based on exact matches. It doesn’t support fuzzy matching. For example, an automation with the term “weather” will look for an exact match for that word. Phrases such as “atmospheric conditions” might be related but are not caught by the filter.

Automations allow you to search for whole words to avoid partial matches, e.g., “arch” will match “architecture” and “arch-enemy” unless the whole words option is selected.

Complex Automations

You can create more complex automations by combining AND and OR logic. These are nested within a single automation.

AND logic means that all specified conditions must be met for an item to be imported or skipped.

For example, if you set an automation to import items that meet Condition A AND Condition B, only items meeting both criteria will pass through the automation.

On the other hand, OR logic means that meeting just one of the conditions is enough for an item to be imported or skipped.

For example, if you set an automation to import items that meet Condition A OR Condition B, an item meeting either one will be imported.

This internal logic helps you fine-tune what gets imported or skipped during the automation process.

Combining Automations

Aggregator allows you to create and combine as many automations as you wish (both simple and complex).

When combining automations, Aggregator will automatically apply AND or OR between each automation depending on your selected action (import or do not import).

To better understand this, let’s consider two consecutive automations:

• “Import” automation followed by another “Import” automation:
  Think of this as saying “Yes” twice. If either automation agrees to import an item, the item will be imported. This uses an OR logic, meaning the item gets imported if it meets any criteria from both automations.
  
• “Import” automation followed by a “Do not import” automation:
  This is like saying “Yes, but…”. The first automation says yes, but the item must meet the conditions of the second “Do not import” automation to get imported. This uses an AND logic, refining the import process to exclude certain items.
  
• “Do not import” automation followed by another “Do not import” automation:
  Imagine two gates that both say “No.” If an item matches any criteria from either automation, it will not be imported. This uses an OR logic, meaning any match leads to exclusion.
  
• (Not recommended) “Do not import” automation followed by an “Import” automation:
  This is saying “No” first, and then checking again for a “Yes.” This is tricky because items might get excluded by the first automation and never have a chance to be reconsidered by the second. Using AND logic here can lead to missing out on valuable content.

When creating an automation to filter content based on a keyword or phrase, Aggregator searches the entire feed item for your specified values. This is important to keep in mind when using the Excerpt length option when importing content. Aggregator will filter items even if the keyword is located beyond the excerpt limit.