If you run a Ghost blog or newsletter, you might have used a "Feature Post" function to highlight specific articles. While this is a great way to add more spotlight to some of your pieces, it's also very easy to lose track of your featured posts. And when this article was written, Ghost had no option to "unfeature" posts in bulk.
Thankfully, we've built a simple workaround.
Before we get into the weeds, we wanted you to know that some links in this article might be affiliate or partner links. This means we'll get a commission of any purchases you might make after clicking on those links, but it won't cost you a penny more. So everybody wins.
Contents
Objective
Create a semi-automated workflow to unfeature Ghost posts in bulk using no-code tools.
Workflow design
Our workflow will trigger with a virtual button in Google Sheets - technically, just a link in a cell. If a "pull posts" button is clicked, the workflow will pull all featured posts from your Ghost account and add post IDs, Titles, Excerpts, and post URLs into a separate tab in this Google Sheet.
Then you can pick which posts you'd like to unfeature, simply by deleting the rows with the posts you'd like to keep as featured.
To unfeature the posts in Ghost, you would click the "unfeature" button in the Google Sheet. The workflow will trigger again, pull the post IDs from the Google Sheet and remove the "featured" attribute in your Ghost account. The workflow will then clear the Google Sheet for you.
Implementation
First, you'll need accounts with the following no-code tools, in addition to your Ghost account:
- Google Sheets (no need for Google workspace - a free version is ok)
- Make - our automation platform of choice (a free account will suffice)
Step 1 - Import Google Sheet Template
Import this pre-built Google Sheets template. Remember where in your Google Drive you added this sheet, as you'll need to access it later.
Step 2 - Import a Scenario Blueprint in Make
In your Make dashboard, navigate to Scenarios.
Then click "Create a new scenario". Make sure to give it a name.
Download a scenario blueprint we've pre-built for you. Then click "More" and then "Import Blueprint". Load the file you've just downloaded.
Your scenario should look like this:
Step 3 - Customise Make Scenario
In this step, we will connect the imported scenario to your accounts.
First, click on the "Webhooks" module.
Click "add" and give your Webhook a name - e.g. My Ghost Bulk Unfeature Webhook. Click "save".
Make will now create a Webhook URL. This URL will serve as your virtual button.
Click "copy address to clipboard" and click "ok".
In a different browser tab, open the Google Sheet you created in Step 1 and paste the Webhook URL into the sheet "Actions", cell A2 (highlighted in Yellow - you won't miss it). Make sure you remove the placeholder ("[REPLACE WITH MAKE WEBHOOK URL]") before pasting the Webhook URL.
As soon as you paste the Webhook URL, you should see formulas in cells A5 and A7 populate. These will become the virtual buttons you'll use to pull featured posts into the google sheet and then "unfeature them".
Go back to your Make scenario and click on the first Ghost module, then click "add". You should see a screen like this:
To populate these fields, open another browser tab and log into your Ghost account. Then navigate to Settings => Integrations => Add custom integration. Make sure to give this integration a name - e.g. Make.
Copy the Admin API Key and the API URL from your Ghost custom integration screen to the Ghost module in Make. Then, go back to Ghost and copy the Ghost Integration ID, which is the last part of the URL of your custom integration (the blurred part in the screenshot below).
Paste it into your Ghost module in Make and press "OK".
Then open the second Ghost module, choose the account you've just added and press "OK".
Now open any of the Google Sheets modules.
Click "add" and connect with the Google account where you created the Google Sheet in Step 1. The connection process is straightforward. You should now see a screen like this:
Click on the gibberish in the Spreadsheet ID and locate the Google Sheet you created in Step 1.
Ensure the Sheet Name field remains as "Featured Posts", then click "OK".
Proceed to edit the rest of the Google Sheets modules in the scenario in the same way (connect with your Google account and locate the Google Sheet you created in Step 1).
Step 5 - Save and Test
We're now finished customizing our Make workflow. Please ensure you click "save" under "Scenario Controls". If any modules display warning signs, you might need to go back into them and press "ok" to save your edits.
Switch "Scheduling" to "ON" and test your scenario.
To test your scenario, navigate to the Google Sheet you created and open the "Actions" tab. Click the "Pull Featured Posts" link. A new web page should open, and you should see a message saying "Accepted". Then, go back to your Google Sheet and open the "Featured Posts" tab.
You should see a list of the featured posts from your Ghost account. Feel free to leave them intact if you want to unfeature the entire lot. Alternatively, delete the rows with posts you'd like to remain s featured.
Then go to the "Actions" tab in your Google Sheet and click on the "Unfeature posts" link. You should see a new webpage open with the message "Accepted" and the list of featured posts in the "Featured Posts" Google Sheet tab disappear. Please check that these posts have been unfeatured in your Ghost account.
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