Archive FAQ > Posting and Editing

What kind of fanworks can I post on the Archive?

You can post fanworks that contain text and/or embedded media. However, media types other than text can't currently be hosted by Archive of Our Own (AO3)—they will need to be uploaded to an external site first, and not all sites are supported. If your fanwork contains other media, you can use HTML to embed or link to the externally hosted file in an AO3 work. Refer to these FAQs for more help:

Can I post works in languages other than English?

Yes! You can post works in any language, and all creators must indicate what language their work is in when posting. To do this, select the "Choose a language" list in the Associations section of the New Work or Edit Work pages and choose the appropriate language. If your language isn't on the list, you can contact us to let us know. For more information about posting works, refer to How do I post a new work?

For information on adding tags in languages other than English, refer to How are tags that aren't in English organized? and Why did the capitalization or diacritics on my tag change when I saved my work?

How do I post a new work?

To post a new work, go to the "Post" menu at the top of the page and select "New Work". This will take you to the New Work page. Here, you'll fill out a series of fields with information about the work, and then publish the work itself.

The following fields are mandatory: Rating, Archive Warnings, Fandoms, Work Title, Choose a language, and Work Text. A warning will appear at the top of the page if you attempt to post without filling out all mandatory fields, so check there if nothing seems to be happening when you select the "Post" button.

For step-by-step instructions, refer to our Tutorial: Posting a Work on AO3.

Check out What's the difference between a series, multi-chapter work, and a collection? for more information about different ways to post related content.

IMPORTANT: We strongly advise you avoid composing your work directly in the Archive of Our Own (AO3) New Work form and to always keep a backup copy elsewhere. If you do compose within the New Work form, your work isn't automatically saved as you go, though you can choose to save a draft. Saved work drafts will be deleted one month after their creation date (regardless of how recently they have been edited). Their content isn't emailed to you upon deletion and can't be recovered. To avoid losing your work, it's best to compose in another application and then copy and paste your content into AO3.

How do I save a work or chapter as a draft?

To save a draft of your work or chapter, fill out all the required fields and then select the "Preview" button towards the bottom of the page. This will save your work as a draft and let you check how your work will display once posted. Once you preview a work, you can then select the "Post" button if you're happy with it, or "Edit" if you'd like to make changes. You can also use the "Save As Draft" button if you'd like to post it at a later time. These buttons can be found at the bottom of the preview page.

Draft works are deleted one month after their creation date (regardless of how recently they have been edited). Their content isn't emailed to you upon deletion and can't be recovered. We strongly advise you avoid composing in the Archive of Our Own (AO3) posting form and to always keep a backup copy elsewhere.

Draft chapters are saved until you post them or delete the work they're associated with.

To learn how to access your draft at a later date, go to How do I edit or post a draft I've saved?

What do the ratings mean?

Ratings measure the intensity of a work's content and give users an idea of the suitability of the work for them. The ratings and their definitions are as follows:

Not Rated
This is the default option. For searching, screening, and other Archive functions, this may get treated the same way as mature and explicit-rated content.
General Audiences
The content is unlikely to be disturbing to anyone and is suitable for all ages.
Teen And Up Audiences
The content may be inappropriate for audiences under 13.
Mature
The content contains adult themes (sex, violence, etc) that aren't as graphic as explicit-rated content.
Explicit
The content contains explicit adult themes, such as detailed sex scenes, graphic violence, etc.

Users accessing a "Not Rated", "Mature" or "Explicit" rated work will receive a warning (unless they've disabled it in their preferences) to let them know that the work may contain adult content.

For more information about ratings on Archive of Our Own (AO3), visit the Terms of Service FAQ - Ratings and Warnings. If a work is reported for having a misleading rating, the Policy & Abuse committee may request that creators change the work's rating, or change it to "Not Rated" for them.

What do the Archive Warnings mean?

Archive of Our Own (AO3) requires that creators either warn for—or explicitly choose not to warn for—a short list of defined warnings.

The warnings and their definitions are as follows:

Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Use this if warnings may apply but you don't want to use them, or if you don't know what you should warn for.
No Archive Warnings Apply
Use this if AO3 warnings don't apply to your content (in other words, if it contains no graphic depictions of violence, major character death, rape/non-con, or underage sexual activity).
Graphic Depictions Of Violence
This is for gory, graphic, explicitly described violence. Exactly where to draw the line is your call.
Major Character Death
Please use your best judgment about who counts as a major character. Users generally expect this warning to be added when the death is of a major canon character, or a major character in your work.
Rape/Non-Con
Again, this is your call. If you think your content is borderline non-consensual, but you don't feel like using this warning (or you're not sure if you should), you always have the option of using "Choose Not to Use Archive Warnings" instead. In borderline cases where you choose not to apply a warning, we suggest applying an Additional Tag like "Dubious Consent" to help users decide if they're comfortable with the content of your work.
Underage
This is for descriptions or depictions of sexual activity by characters under the age of eighteen (this doesn't include dating activity like kissing or vague references with no actual description or depiction). This generally applies to humans; if you're writing porn about space aliens who only live for a month or thousand-year-old vampires with sixteen-year-old bodies, use your best judgment. You're always free to specify characters' ages in Additional Tags or to use "Choose Not to Use Archive Warnings".

You can use the Additional Tags field to give other or more detailed warnings, if you like. Refer to What are the different types of tags? in the Tags FAQ for more information.

Our policies regarding warnings can be found in the Terms of Service and Terms of Service FAQ. Failure to use appropriate warnings may result in user complaints and action by the Policy & Abuse committee.

How do I format my works?

There are three main ways you can format your works on Archive of Our Own (AO3), each requiring more advanced HTML or CSS knowledge than the last:

  • For basic formatting, you can use the Rich Text editor when posting the work. This requires no HTML or CSS knowledge at all.
  • If you have some HTML knowledge, you can instead format your work using permitted HTML tags. For help with this, refer to Formatting content on AO3 with HTML.
  • For the most advanced formatting, you can create a Work Skin which will allow you to create your own custom CSS classes. You can then use HTML to apply them in your work. Refer to our Tutorial: Creating a Work Skin for help with this. Note that you can't use inline CSS in works on AO3.

Using the Rich Text Editor

When you're posting or editing your work, the Work Text field can be set to either HTML or Rich Text. To switch between the two, use the buttons labeled "Rich Text" and "HTML" in the upper right corner of the Work Text field. By default, HTML is selected. When you switch to the Rich Text editor, you can use the toolbar at the top of the Work Text field to correct or add formatting to the contents of your work. The input box may briefly go gray while the Rich Text editor loads. Note that pasting HTML code into the Rich Text editor will produce a work containing raw HTML code, rather than the desired output. If you're incorporating HTML code into your work, you'll need to use the HTML editor. If you'd like to use a combination of both, you can do so; switching from HTML to Rich Text mode will allow you to preview any HTML formatting you have applied and then further format your work using the Rich Text editor.

When you paste text into the Rich Text editor, most formatting from your word processing program is preserved. However, there will be some differences in formatting based on your device, browser, and operating system, as well as the source you're pasting from. While in Rich Text mode, you can select the blue question mark icon ? at the top of the Work Text field to open the Rich Text editor help page for more detailed information about how pasting into the Rich Text editor works.

The Rich Text editor can be used to embed images but not video or audio files. For video or audio, you'll need to use the HTML editor instead. Refer to the following FAQs and tutorials for more help:

How do I add a new chapter to a work?

To add a chapter to a work, navigate to the work and then select the "Add Chapter" button towards the top of the page. This will take you to the New Chapter page. Here, you can fill out information about the new chapter, and add your content. Note that chapters don't get their own tags. If you want to add new tags to reflect the content of your new chapter, refer to How do I edit the tags on a work?

IMPORTANT: We strongly advise you avoid composing your work directly in the Archive of Our Own (AO3) New Work form and to always keep a backup copy elsewhere. If you do compose within the New Work form, your work won't be automatically saved as you go, though you can choose to save a draft. Saved chapter drafts aren't deleted if the work has a published chapter. However, if the draft chapter is the only chapter, or all chapters are drafts, the draft will be deleted one month after the creation date (regardless of how recently it has been edited). Its content isn't emailed to you upon deletion and it can't be recovered. To avoid losing your work, it's best to compose in another application and then copy and paste your content into AO3.

Some tips:

Can I insert section breaks and text art in my works?

Special characters and symbols can be a fun way to add line breaks and text art to the content of a work. However, for users who access Archive of Our Own (AO3) using assistive technology, these section breaks don't work as intended. A screen reader will read every character individually. For example, a section break written as ~*~*~*~ will be read aloud as "tilde asterisk tilde asterisk tilde asterisk tilde" and so on. For Braille displays and portable devices, your section break may be difficult to render. Even a beautiful ASCII unicorn will be gibberish to users with these assistive technologies.

Instead, we encourage the use of images (with alt text) or properly encoded horizontal lines. When editing a work, you can insert a solid separator line by entering <hr /> in the HTML editor or by choosing the "Rich Text" button above the text editing area, and selecting "Horizontal line" in the formatting toolbar. To insert an image, select "Insert/edit image" in the formatting toolbar. You have the option of adding a short summary of the image in the "Image description" box. A description will inform users what the image contains if they're using assistive technology or have images turned off in their browser.

Alternatively, you can use a series of dashes (------), which most assistive technology should recognize as a section break, and read or render it appropriately.

How do I post an image?

It's not yet possible to upload an image directly to Archive of Our Own (AO3). Therefore, to insert an image in a work, you'll first need to host it elsewhere on an image sharing site. You can then use one of the methods outlined in Embedding the image in AO3 below to embed it in your work.

If you're posting fanart, consider using the Fanart tag to make your work easier to find.

Choosing an image hosting site

Where possible, your image should be hosted on a secure site. That is, the URL to your image should start with https://. Some browsers may actively block embedded images hosted on an insecure site (with the prefix http://), or prevent access to your work entirely. Choosing to embed content that is hosted on an insecure site may also trigger a warning that indicates the AO3 site is not secure, which can be concerning to anyone accessing your work.

Some image hosting sites work better than others, while some don't work at all. You should also review a site's Terms of Service before using them as a third-party hosting site; some of them prohibit this use and your account could be penalized. Below is a non-exhaustive list of sites we know are not suitable for posting on AO3 (in alphabetical order):

Unsuitable sites:

  • Discord: depending on the individual server settings, images may "expire" and become unavailable after 24 or 48 hours, or they may not be available to non-Discord users at all.
  • Dreamwidth: images hosted on Dreamwidth are actively blocked on other sites.
  • Facebook: file locations can be changed by Facebook without warning, breaking the link.
  • Google Drive or Google Plus: embed links won't work on AO3.
  • imgur: using imgur in this way is a violation of their Terms of Service.
  • LiveJournal: images can be hosted on LiveJournal; however, if the host journal or the image itself is flagged as adult content, then it can only be accessed by someone logged in to an age-verified account. Therefore, LiveJournal may not be the best choice if hosting images that contain adult content or themes.
  • OneDrive: as with Google Drive, embed links won't work on AO3.
  • Photobucket: while they previously allowed free third party image hosting, it's now only available on their most expensive premium plan.
  • tinypic: image delivery is unreliable, to the point that a different image may be delivered instead of the one you intended.
  • Tumblr: file locations can be changed by Tumblr without warning, breaking the link. Additionally, Tumblr's Terms of Service prohibit explicit images on the platform.

Finding the image URL

To embed your image on AO3, you first need to make sure you have the image's direct URL. To find the correct URL, go to the image on your hosting site and then right-click (cmd+click on Mac or long press on mobile) and open the image in a new tab (or copy the image address). This is the URL you need to use when following the steps outlined below.

Note that the image URL provided by your image sharing site needs to be a complete URL, and must contain the file type—that is .jpg, .jpeg, .png, or .gif.

Embedding the image in AO3

Now that your image is hosted and you have its direct URL, you can embed it into your work in one of the following ways:

Rich Text Editor
  1. In the Work Text field, ensure the "Rich Text" button is selected.
  2. Select the "Insert/edit image" icon from the toolbar, which will open a dialog box.
  3. In the "Source" field, enter the full image URL you copied earlier.
  4. You can enter an image description which will inform users what the image contains if they're using assistive technology or have images turned off in their browser.
  5. If you wish, you can also edit the image dimensions, which are auto-filled when you enter the image URL. If the "Constrain proportions" lock is active, the image height and width will be kept proportional. This allows the image size to be changed without distorting it. If you don't want this to happen, select the lock so it changes to an unlocked icon.
HTML using embed code

Image hosting websites often provide you with embed code which you can use to post your image. To use this code in your work:

  1. In the Work Text field, ensure the "HTML" button is selected.
  2. Find the "Share" or "Embed" link and copy the code into the Work Text field. Hosting sites typically include some extra code in this option, such as a link back to their site.
HTML using raw code
  1. In the Work Text field, ensure the "HTML" button is selected.
  2. Enter the following code, replacing IMAGE_URL with the image URL you copied earlier, and replacing IMAGE_DESCRIPTION with a short description of the image:
    <img src="IMAGE_URL" alt="IMAGE_DESCRIPTION" />
    The image description is optional, but will inform users what the image contains if they're using assistive technology or have images turned off in their browser.
Resizing your image with HTML

Images are automatically resized to ensure the full image fits within the width of the user's screen. This means that whether they're on a mobile device, tablet, or computer, the image will never be too big to fit their display. In order to do this without distorting the image, the height attribute is ignored. If you'd like to adjust the size of an image, you need to use the width attribute. To make the image appear smaller, for example, you could use <img src="IMAGE_URL" alt="IMAGE_DESCRIPTION" width="50%" />. We recommend using screen percentages when resizing to ensure they will never load larger than a user's display, but that's up to you and depends on what you're trying to achieve.

Previewing and Posting your work

It's a good idea to preview your work to make sure your images appear correctly to other users. To confirm how your work displays for other users, first log out of your image hosting site, then select the "Preview" button in the Post section of the page (below the work). You can then select the "Post" button if you're happy with it, or "Edit" if you'd like to make changes.

For more information about using HTML in your work, go to Formatting content on AO3 with HTML.

How do I post a video?

Make sure you're in the HTML editor by selecting the "HTML" button in the top right of the Work Text field. There are no options in the Rich Text editor to embed audio or video files in your work.

Most video hosting websites provide embed code, which can usually be found under a "share" or "embed" link on the video page. This code will generate the best results for files hosted on those sites. To use this code, your video must be hosted on one of the permitted hosting sites. You can copy this code and paste it into the Work Text field on the New Work page. Some of these sites don't allow streaming or hotlinking via other means, so we suggest you try using the provided embed code before using any other method.

Where possible, your video should be hosted on a secure site. That is, the URL to your video should start with https://. Some browsers may actively block embedded videos hosted on an insecure site (with the prefix http://), or prevent access to your work entirely. Choosing to embed content that is hosted on an insecure site may trigger a warning that indicates that the Archive of Our Own (AO3) site is not secure, which can be concerning to anyone accessing your work.

It's a good idea to preview your work to make sure your videos load correctly. To confirm how your work displays for other users, first log out of your video hosting site, then select the "Preview" button in the Post section of the page, below the Work Text. You can then select the "Post" button if you're happy with it, or "Edit" if you'd like to make changes.

Note that videos may not be displayed properly in Preview mode. You may need to post the work before the video will show up.

If you're posting a fanvid, consider using the Fanvids tag to make your work easier to find.

Alternative: using the <video> HTML element

If your hosting site doesn't provide embed code, or you'd like to do something more advanced, you can also add the video content using the <video> HTML element. First you'll need to make sure you have the direct URL to your playable video. Once you've done that, you can embed the file in your work with the following HTML, replacing VIDEO_URL with your video's URL:
<video src="VIDEO URL"></video>

Exactly how the resulting media player looks depends on the browser used to access the work. We do, however, add attributes to make sure that playback controls are available and use CSS to adjust the width of videos to ensure big videos will fit on most screens. We also make sure autoplay can't be enabled, and we add the preload attribute to prevent browsers from loading the full file until you press play.

We support more advanced options as well. For example, you can include a poster for your video using the poster attribute:
<video src="VIDEO URL" poster="IMAGE URL"></video>

Because some older browsers don't support these elements, you can also include text to provide an alternative link:

<video src="VIDEO URL">
Your browser doesn't support this video file type, but you can still <a href="URL">watch this fanvid on the hosting site.</a>
</video>

Because different browsers support different file formats, you might want to use the <source> element to include multiple formats.

<video>
<source src="WEBM VIDEO URL" type="video/webm">
<source src="MP4 VIDEO URL" type="video/mp4">
</video>

If you'd like to include captions or subtitles to improve the accessibility of your media file, you can do that with the <track> element:

<video>
<source src="VIDEO URL" type="video/mp4">
<track src="SPANISH SUBTITLE URL" kind="subtitles" srclang="es" label="Spanish" default>
<track src="ENGLISH SUBTITLE URL" kind="subtitles" srclang="en" label="English">
</video>

The full list of allowed attributes for the <video> element are:
class, dir, height, loop, muted, poster, src, title, width

The full list of allowed attributes for the <source> element are:
src, type

The full list of allowed attributes for the <track> element are:
default, kind, label, src, srclang

For more information about using HTML in your work, go to Formatting content on AO3 with HTML. If you have problems hosting your video content even after following these instructions, please contact Support.

How do I post audio content, such as a podfic or playlist?

Make sure you're in the HTML editor by selecting the "HTML" button in the top right of the Work Text field. There are no options in the Rich Text editor to embed audio or video files in your work.

Many audio hosting websites provide embed code, which can usually be found under a "share" or "embed" link on the page. This code will generate the best results for files hosted on those sites. You can copy this code and paste it into the Work Text field on the New Work page.

Where possible, your audio content should be hosted on a secure site. That is, the URL to your content should start with https://. Some browsers may actively block embedded content hosted on an insecure site (with the prefix http://), or prevent access to your work entirely. Choosing to embed content that is hosted on an insecure site may trigger a warning that indicates that the Archive of Our Own (AO3) site is not secure, which can be concerning to anyone accessing your work.

Not all media sites' embed codes are permitted on AO3 for security reasons. For a list of permitted media sites, refer to What sites can I use for hosting multimedia files?

If you don't want to use a site's embed code, or it's not hosted on a permitted site, you can host the file in MP3 format on any external site and then use the HTML <audio> tag to embed the file in your work. MP3 format is the only supported audio format that will work in all browsers.

First, you'll need to make sure you have the direct URL to your playable audio file. Then, enter the following code, replacing AUDIO_URL with your audio file's URL:
<audio>
<source src="AUDIO_URL">
</audio>

Because some older browsers don't support these elements, you can also include text to provide a download link:
<audio>
<source src="AUDIO_URL" type="audio/TYPE">
Your browser doesn't support the audio element, but you can still <a href="URL">download this podfic</a>.
</audio>
Where TYPE should be replaced by mpeg (for mp3), ogg, or wav depending on the audio file you're using.

If you prefer, you can post a link to the file or playlist. If you have distribution rights, you can even post a link to download the file directly. If you do this, we suggest including at least a brief synopsis so users know what they're opening. Links can be inserted using the Rich Text toolbar in the Work Text field, or you can add them with HTML. For more information about using HTML in your work, go to Formatting content on AO3 with HTML.

It's a good idea to preview your work to make sure your audio files play correctly for other users. To confirm how your work plays for other users, first log out of your audio hosting site, then select the "Preview" button in the Post section of the page (below the work). You can then select the "Post" button if you're happy with it, or "Edit" if you'd like to make changes. If your audio file isn't loading on AO3, it's possible your hosting site hasn't enabled Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS). You can either contact the web host's support department for help, or consider using a different hosting site.

You may want to add the Podfic or Playlist tags so that users searching for these can easily find your work. To learn how to credit the original work a podfic is based on, refer to My work is a remix, translation, podfic, or was inspired by another work. How can I give credit?

Can I still use Dewplayer for my audio content?

Dewplayer was the Archive's locally-hosted audio player. It was one way to embed individual audio files before we added support for the <audio> HTML tag. Because Dewplayer uses Flash, which was discontinued by Adobe at the end of 2020, it no longer works.

Any works previously posted using valid Dewplayer code were updated in January 2021 to use the <audio> HTML tag instead. Any new works posted using valid Dewplayer code will also be automatically converted to <audio> HTML tags by our parser.

If you posted a work using Dewplayer and it's no longer displaying correctly, it's possible there was an error in the embed code used. In that case, we would have been unable to automatically update your work. Please edit your work so that it uses the embed code provided by your hosting site, or use the <audio> tag instead.

Refer to How do I post audio content, such as a podfic or playlist? for information on how to do so.

What sites can I use for hosting multimedia files?

Images used in Archive of Our Own (AO3) posts must be hosted on an image hosting site that is compatible with AO3. Refer to How do I post an image? for information on known incompatible sites.

For other types of multimedia files, your hosting options depend on how you want to post the work.

If you want your file to play inside an AO3 work, it will need a video or audio player. If you're using the embed code provided by your hosting site, that site's player must be approved for use on AO3.

The following sites' players have been approved:

Video:

  • archive.org
  • bilibili.com
  • criticalcommons.org
  • google.com
  • vidders.net
  • viddertube.com
  • vimeo.com
  • youtube.com

Playlists:

  • 8tracks.com—note that as of August 2020, 8tracks can only be played by users in the United States of America. If you'd like your work to be accessible to all users, you may want to consider using another site instead.
  • spotify.com

Audio:

  • podfic.com
  • soundcloud.com

If you want to use a site that isn't on this list, you can use the <audio> or <video> HTML tags, which incorporate a player if a user's browser supports it. Check out How do I post a video? or How do I post audio content, such as a podfic or playlist? for how to do this. You can also contact Support and ask the development team to consider adding the site.

If your work is in a medium that can't be hosted on AO3, and you don't wish to use either of the options above, you can post a link to your content on another hosting site. If you post this type of work, we suggest including at least a brief synopsis so users know what they're opening. If you decide to go this route, you can host your file anywhere.

How do I import works from another website?

You can automatically import text-based works that you've hosted elsewhere to the Archive of Our Own (AO3). Refer to Tutorial: Importing Text-based Works for instructions.

The success of the import function largely depends on the originating site and its compatibility with AO3. Check out What websites can I import from? for more information on restrictions.

Since AO3 is currently only able to host text, works with other media may need to be embedded or linked. Refer to these FAQs for more help:

Note that you can't import works from AO3. If you're trying to move a work from one username to another, you'll need to use the co-creator feature. Refer to How do I add or remove co-creators?

If you're having trouble importing, you can check the Known Issues page, or you can contact Support.

What websites can I import from?

There are many potential websites a user might want to import from, and we can't possibly know about or mention them all. We do know that some sites work better than others, while some, such as Fanfiction.net or Quotev.com, don't work at all. To post works hosted on sites that can't be imported from, you'll need to post them as a new work and copy the contents across manually. You can find a list of factors currently preventing imports on our Known Issues page.

You must be the owner of a work, or have permission from its owner, to import it into AO3. If you're not the owner, you can still include a record of the work on AO3 by creating an external bookmark (How do I bookmark a work not posted on the Archive?).

Note that you can't import works from AO3. If you're trying to move a work from one username to another, you'll need to use the co-creator feature. Refer to How do I add or remove co-creators?

For more information about importing works, refer to How do I import works from another website?

How can I test how my work will display on the Archive?

If you'd like to preview how your work will display once posted on Archive of Our Own (AO3), you can use the "Preview" button at the bottom of the New Work page after you've filled in all the necessary content. Doing so will automatically save your work as a draft. (For more on how to use drafts, refer to How do I save a work or chapter as a draft? and How do I edit or post a draft I've saved?) Once you preview a work, you can then select the "Post" button at the bottom of the page if you're happy with it, or "Edit" if you'd like to make changes. You can also use the "Save As Draft" button if you'd like to post it at a later time.

Sometimes you might want to post your work in order to fully test how it will display—for example, to check the formatting of download options. However, test works are generally considered non-fanworks under our Terms of Service and may be reported to our Policy & Abuse team. To test your work without violating section IV.H of the Terms of Service, which states that non-fanwork content isn't permitted, you can use the Testing fandom. This is a canonical fandom created by the site admins to test certain things on the site, and you're welcome to use it as well. Note these works are still required to adhere to the rest of the Terms of Service.

To do so, post your work as you intend to publish it, but instead of the correct fandom(s), insert Testing. Once you've completed your test, you can either edit the fandom(s) on the work, or delete the work and repost it under the correct fandom(s). Note that posting a work to AO3 will prompt an email notification to anyone who has subscribed to you as a user, or to any series the work may be part of. They won't be notified when you edit the fandoms or delete the work, but will be notified if you reupload it at a later time.

For more help on posting your work, check out our Tutorial: Posting a Work on AO3.

How do I indicate that a work will have more than one chapter?

In the Associations section of the New Work or Edit Work pages, you can select "This work has multiple chapters". (Refer to How do I post a new work? or How do I edit a work or chapter? for more information about navigating to these pages.) This will give you the option to say how many chapters the work will have (if you know already) and to enter a title for your first chapter. The total number of chapters will be displayed on the work, and until you've posted all your chapters, it will be marked as incomplete.

If you don't indicate how many chapters the work will have, the total number of chapters will be left as a question mark. Users generally interpret this to mean that you don't know how many chapters the work will have. When you post the last chapter, be sure to fill out the total to make it clear that your work is complete.

For example, if you have posted two chapters in a work you expect to have five total chapters, the work's blurb will contain "Chapters: 2/5". If you haven't indicated how many chapters it will have, the blurb will contain "Chapters: 2/?".

If you create a work that is a single chapter and later add more chapters, the blurb will update the total count to the current number of chapters. That is, if your work had "Chapters: 1/1" and you add chapter two, it will now say "Chapters: 2/2". If you'd like to change this to indicate that it's an incomplete work, you can manually edit the total number of chapters to an anticipated number, or to the question mark.

How can I change the order of my chapters?

You can change the order of your chapters through the "Manage Chapters" button found towards the top right of the Edit Work page on desktop (or below the Edit Work heading on mobile); refer to How do I edit a work or chapter?.

On the Manage Chapters page, you can drag and drop the chapters to change their order (if your browser supports this). Alternatively, you can enter numbers in the box beside each chapter title to indicate your desired order. Then select the "Update Positions" button to confirm your changes.

How do I delete a chapter?

There are two ways to delete your chapter.

Delete a chapter from within the work itself:

  1. Navigate to the chapter on the work and select the "Edit Chapter" link, found above the chapter title.
  2. Select the "Delete Chapter" button found towards the top right of the page (or beside the Edit Chapter heading on mobile).
  3. This will pop-up a confirmation box. To confirm you want to delete the chapter, select "OK".

Delete a chapter from the work's Manage Chapters page:

  1. Navigate to the work and then select the "Edit" button towards the top of the page.
  2. Select the "Manage Chapters" button which is found towards the top of the Edit Work page on desktop (or below the Edit Work heading on mobile).
  3. Select the "Delete" button on the right of the chapter's row.
  4. This will pop-up a confirmation box. To confirm you want to delete the chapter, select "OK".

Please note that deleting a chapter will also delete all associated comments. Once deleted, this content can't be restored. The content of deleted chapters is not emailed to you, and the chapter and its associated comments can't be recovered.

How do I edit a work or chapter?

To edit a work, navigate to the work and then select the "Edit" button towards the top of the page. The "Edit" button also appears on other pages where your works are listed, such as your Works page and on series' pages. This button will take you to the Edit Work page, which contains all of the same fields and options as the New Work page. Refer to our Tutorial: Posting a Work on AO3.

For a work with more than one chapter, the Work Text field won't initially be present on the Edit Work page. Instead, you have a few options for editing chapter by chapter:

  • From within the work itself, navigate to the chapter you wish to edit, then find the "Edit Chapter" button, which appears above the chapter title.
  • From the Edit Work page:
    • Use the numbered buttons towards the top of the page to navigate to the individual chapter's editing page.
    • Select the "Manage Chapters" button towards the top of the page. This allows you to access the Edit Chapter, Delete Chapter, or "Remove Me As Chapter Co-Creator" options for every chapter on the work. Select "Edit" beside the chapter you wish to work with.

IMPORTANT: We strongly advise you avoid composing your work directly in the Archive of Our Own (AO3) Edit Work or Edit Chapter forms and to always keep a backup copy elsewhere. If you do compose within these forms, your work won't be automatically saved as you go. To avoid losing your work, it's best to compose in another application and then copy and paste your content into AO3.

How do I edit the tags on a work?

If you want to edit only the tags on a work without making any changes to the work content, you can use the "Edit Tags" button. This button appears at the top of each work, as well as on other pages where your works are listed, such as your Works page and on series index pages. It will take you to the Edit Work Tags page, where you can edit the work's Rating, Warnings, Fandoms, Categories, Relationships, Characters, and Additional Tags.

Visit the Tags FAQ for more information about how tags work.

How do I edit or post a draft I've saved?

If you've saved a draft, as described in How do I save a work or chapter as a draft?, you can come back to it later to edit or post. Draft works and draft chapters are accessed in slightly different ways.

For works, the link to your unposted drafts can be found on your dashboard.

  1. Log in, and go to your dashboard by selecting the greeting "Hi, [username]!" and choosing "My Dashboard" from the menu, or by selecting your profile image.
  2. Select "Drafts" from the menu found at the side of the page or at the top in a mobile device. This will take you to a list of your unposted draft works, including the dates they are due to be deleted.
  3. From here, buttons allow you to edit the draft work, edit tags, add a chapter, and post or delete the draft.

Draft chapters aren't found on your Drafts page, but rather are directly added to the work they belong to. In order to post, edit, or delete the draft chapter, go to the work and choose the draft chapter in the chapter index. You can also scroll down to the chapter in Entire Work view. Chapters may appear out of order to you in your work if you have some in draft and some posted. Published chapters will appear in the order they were posted to other users, unless you manually reorder them.

The Chapter Index doesn't indicate which chapters are drafts and which are published. Draft chapters are indicated within the work with a different background, border, and a message that the chapter hasn't been posted yet. Go to the chapter you want to work with, then select "Post Chapter" or "Edit Chapter". If you'd like to delete your draft chapter, select "Edit Chapter" and then the "Delete Chapter" button towards the top right of the page on desktop (or next to the "Edit Chapter" heading on mobile).

Note that when you post your draft, it will be published at the date the draft was originally created rather than the current date. If you want to change this, you can manually set the publication date; refer to How do I change the publishing date of my work or chapter? for instructions.

Draft works are deleted one month after their creation date (regardless of how recently they've been edited). Their content isn't emailed to you and can't be recovered. We strongly advise you avoid composing in the Archive of Our Own (AO3) posting form and to always keep a backup copy elsewhere. Draft chapters are saved until you post them, delete them, or delete the work they're associated with.

How do I change the publishing date of my work or chapter?

If you want to publish your work and change the posted date on it, you can use the backdating feature. This allows you to post or import works from different sites with their original posting date (from 1950 onward).

To change the publishing date on your work:

  1. Select the "Edit" button on an existing work, or go to the "Post" menu at the top of the page and select "New Work".
  2. In the Associations section of the New Work or Edit Work pages, select "Set a different publication date".
  3. Select the day, month, and year of publication. You can't set the value to a date beyond the current date in the UTC time zone.

You can also set publication dates for individual chapters. To do so, change the Chapter Publication Date in the "Name, Order and Date" section at the top of the Post New Chapter or Edit Chapter page. As with backdating whole works, you can't set a publication date beyond the current date in the UTC time zone. Refer to How do I edit a work or chapter? for help on reaching the Edit Chapter page.

Imported works are automatically backdated to their original publication date, when possible. If you'd like to change this date, you can edit the work after it's imported and follow the steps above. Refer to the Importing Text-based Works Tutorial for more on importing works.

Backdating may affect where your work appears in listings across the site. Lists sorted by the default option of "Date Updated" will order works according to the most recent update. This can be the date the work was posted, the backdated date, or the date the latest individual chapter was added. Lists sorted by "Date Posted", which includes RSS feeds, will order works according to the date they were first added to the Archive (either drafted or posted) regardless of the publication date you entered. If you apply a backdated date while posting your work, emails to subscribers will notify them with the opening line of the email stating "[Username] posted a backdated work".

How do I delete a work?

You can delete a work using the "Delete Work" button, which appears towards the top right of the Edit Work page on desktop (or below the Edit Work heading on mobile). You can also delete multiple works as a batch using the "Edit Works" button (refer to How do I edit or delete multiple works at the same time?). In both cases, you'll be asked to confirm your choice before the work is permanently deleted.

Please note that deleting a work will also delete all associated comments, bookmarks, kudos, and hits. Once deleted, this content can't be restored. You'll receive a copy of your deleted work via email; however, you won't receive any records of associated comments, bookmarks, kudos, or hits.

An alternative option is to orphan your work. This allows your work to remain on Archive of Our Own (AO3) while removing your account's association with it. Refer to the Orphaning FAQ for more information about how this works.

How do I edit or delete multiple works at the same time?

To edit tags and certain other information for multiple works as a batch, visit your Works page by selecting "My Works" from the "Hi, [username]" menu at the top of the page. If you're on your dashboard, you can also choose "Works" in the navigation sidebar (found at the top of the page when you're using a mobile device).

On your Works page, select the button labeled "Edit Works" found towards the top right of the page on desktop (or below the # of Works heading on mobile). This will take you to the Edit Multiple Works page. All of your works are listed here, grouped according to fandom. Check the box next to each work that you wish to edit. If you intend to edit all your posted works, you can select the "All" button, which is located below the "Edit Works" button. If you'd like to clear your selections, select the "None" button in the same location. Once you have made your selections, select the "Edit" button towards the top or bottom of the page.

You can change the rating, warnings, tags, creators, collections, language, skins, visibility settings, and comment settings. Any fields you change will replace the values you've set for all of the works you've selected to edit. Any fields you leave blank will remain unchanged. Select "Update All Works" when you're finished making changes.

You can also delete or orphan multiple works from this page. Select the works you want to act on and instead of the "Edit" button, choose the "Delete" or "Orphan" button. You'll be directed to a confirmation page, which lists the works you've selected. If you've selected "Delete", you'll be given the option to confirm you wish to delete the works, or to orphan the works instead. If you've chosen to orphan your works, you'll be asked whether you want your pseud to remain associated with the works or not. Refer to the Orphaning FAQ for more information.

Please note that deleting a work will also delete all associated comments, bookmarks, kudos, and hits. Once deleted, this content can't be restored. You'll receive a copy of your deleted work via email; you won't receive any records of associated comments, bookmarks, kudos, or hits.

How do I post a series?

A series is a set of works that a creator has decided to group together, usually because they form a sequence or share a common universe. In the Associations section of the New Work or Edit Work pages, check the box beside, or above, "This work is part of a series". (Refer to How do I post a new work? or How do I edit a work or chapter? for more information about navigating to these pages.) Then either choose one of your existing series from the list or enter the name of a new series. Refer to How do I add works to a series? in our Series FAQ for more information.

How do I add my work to a collection?

Refer to Who can add a work to a collection? and How do I add a work to a collection? in our Collections FAQ.

How do I remove my work from a collection?

Refer to How do I remove a work or bookmark from a collection? in our Collections FAQ.

How do I add or remove co-creators?

By default, you aren't able to add other users as a co-creator to a new work or series unless that user has enabled the option in their preferences. For more on this, check out How can I allow others to add me as a co-creator to a work or series?

In the Preface section of the New Work or Edit Work pages, check the box beside "Add co-creators?". (Refer to How do I post a new work? or How do I edit a work or chapter? for more information about navigating to these pages.) Then enter your co-creator's username or pseud in the field provided. You can use the autocomplete suggestions to make sure you're getting your co-creator's correct username or pseud. If you select a pseud that is used by multiple users, you'll receive an error message when posting or previewing the work that says "Invalid creator: The pseud [pseud you entered] is ambiguous". You'll then find a menu option alongside the co-creator section of the form allowing you to choose the correct username.

When adding a new co-creator to an individual chapter, this box appears in the Chapter Preface section of the New Chapter or Edit Chapter page, and works the same way. (Refer to How do I add a new chapter to a work? for more information.) If you have existing co-creators on your work, you can credit them on the individual chapter by checking the box next to their username under "Current co-creators".

If a chapter isn't credited with all work creators, it will have a byline stating "Chapter by Name, Name, Name (etc)" below the chapter's title. If all work creators are credited on a chapter, there won't be a chapter-specific byline.

Once you've added a co-creator and saved or posted the work or chapter, that person will be invited to be listed as a co-creator on the work or series. This invitation cannot be canceled or withdrawn once it's set, so be sure you've chosen the correct account! If they haven't enabled co-creator invitations, you'll find an error message at the top of the page stating that "[Username] does not allow others to invite them to be a co-creator". If they have enabled it, the work will save or post with no message, and they will receive an email notification about your request. They can accept this request by following the link in the email they receive, or by navigating to their Co-Creator Requests page on their dashboard. Refer to How do I accept or reject a request to be a co-creator? for more information.

When they have accepted the request, they will be able to edit or delete the work or chapter. For information on what permissions a co-creator is given on a work or chapter you add them to, refer to What access does my co-creator have?

To remove a co-creator before you've previewed or posted the work or chapter, use the red "×" button beside their name. After you select "Preview" or "Post", you can't cancel the invitation, or directly remove them. If they're unable to remove themselves, or you added the wrong person and you don't know how to contact them, you'll need to delete the work and repost it. Refer to How do I remove myself as a co-creator? for instructions on removing yourself.

How can I accept or reject a request to be a co-creator?

To receive invitations to be a co-creator, first you'll need to enable the setting in your Preferences. Refer to How can I allow others to add me as a co-creator to a work or series? for more information.

Once you've enabled that preference, an option labeled Co-Creator Requests will appear on your dashboard in the navigation sidebar (found at the top of the page when you're using a mobile device). Selecting that will bring you to the Co-Creator Requests page, where any outstanding requests can be found. You'll also receive an email notification each time someone invites you to be listed as a co-creator on a new work or series.

The Co-Creator Requests page will provide information on each of the requests you've received:

  • A link to the work, chapter, or series you've been invited to.
  • Whether the item is a work, chapter, or series.
  • Which of your pseuds was invited.
  • The date the request was sent.

From here, you can choose individual requests to accept or reject. You can also select the "Select All" button to accept or reject all the pending requests at once. Requests can't be accepted once rejected. Instead, the creator will need to send another request.

If you don't have the setting enabled, you can't access the Co-Creator Requests page, and you won't be able to accept requests to be credited as a co-creator on works or chapters. All requests will be automatically rejected, and the requester will receive an error message stating that you don't allow co-creator invites.

If you accept being a co-creator on a work or chapter, your username will be displayed on the work. If you've changed your mind and want to reject it after accepting, please refer to How do I remove myself as a co-creator?

What access does my co-creator have?

A co-creator who is added to your work has the same access permissions on that work as you do. That means they can add, edit, and delete chapters as well as edit or delete the entire work. They can also choose to orphan their association with the work, in which case the byline will credit the Archive of Our Own (AO3)'s orphan_account alongside any other co-creators. Alternatively, they can choose to remove themselves as a co-creator on the work.

A co-creator who is added to a chapter has the same permissions as a co-creator added to a work, and their name will appear on the byline of the work in the blurb.

A co-creator who is added to a series has the same access permissions on that series as you do. However, they don't have creator permissions on works in the series unless they're also credited as a co-creator on that work or a chapter of the work. Refer to How do I add or remove series co-creators/co-authors? for more information.

How do I remove myself as a co-creator?

If you're listed as a co-creator of a work, you can remove yourself. On the Edit Work page (refer to How do I edit a work or chapter?), select the button labeled "Remove Me As Co-Creator" towards the top right of the page on desktop (or below the Edit Work heading on mobile). Select "OK" in the dialogue box that comes up, and you'll be removed.

If you'd rather remove yourself from just a chapter, go to the Edit Chapter page and select the "Remove Me As Chapter Co-Creator" button near the top. If you remove yourself as co-creator from the only chapter you were credited on, you'll also be removed as a co-creator of the work as a whole. Otherwise, you'll remain credited on the work and any other chapters you were credited on.

If you're the only creator of the work, you can't remove yourself in this way. If you want to remove the association between the work and your account, you can orphan the work instead. Refer to the Orphaning FAQ for more information. There are also options to partially anonymize the work; refer to Can I make an anonymous pseud? for ways to do this.

You can also choose to select "Remove Me As Co-Creator" on a series page. Refer to How do I add or remove series co-creators/co-authors? for instructions. Doing so will remove you from the series and all works within that series.

In the Associations section of the New Work or Edit Work page, check the box beside "This work is a remix, a translation, a podfic, or was inspired by another work". (Refer to How do I post a new work? or How do I edit a work or chapter? for more information about navigating to these pages.) Enter the URL, title, creator pseud, and language of the source work in the fields provided. If the work is hosted on Archive of Our Own (AO3), just enter the work's URL.

A link that says "Inspired by Title by Creator" will appear in the beginning Notes of your work when people access it on AO3.

If you check the box beside "This is a translation", the link will say "A translation of Title by Creator".

If the source work is on AO3, it may include a link to your work if the creator approves it. Refer to How do I approve or remove related works? for further instructions. Note that a creator won't be able to approve the relationship for a work posted to an unrevealed collection until the work is revealed. Check out What does it mean that a collection is Open or Closed, Moderated or Unmoderated, Unrevealed or Anonymous? for information on collection states and how they affect your work.

How do I approve or remove related works?

If someone posts a work on Archive of Our Own (AO3) that is a remix, a translation, a podfic, or was otherwise inspired by your work, they can create a "Related Work" relationship between the two works. Their work will have a link in the beginning Notes that says "Inspired by" (or "A translation of") "Title by Creator". If you approve the relationship, a reciprocal link will be created in the Notes of your own work. No reciprocal link is posted in your work unless you approve it. All works that have a relationship with any of your works are listed on your Related Works page.

You may receive an email to notify you of the new related work. You can follow the link in the email directly to the Approve Link page, which will explain exactly what you're approving.

You can also action a Related Works invitation by following these steps:

  1. When you're logged in, go to your dashboard by selecting the greeting "Hi, [username]!" and choosing "My Dashboard" from the menu, or by selecting your profile image.
  2. Select "Related Works" from the menu found at the side of the page or at the top in a mobile device.
  3. Find the relevant work on the list and select the "Approve" button or link on its row. If you have many related works, you may need to scroll or use your browser's find function.
  4. You'll be directed to a new page which will explain exactly what you're approving. If you're satisfied with your choice, select "Yes, link me!" to complete the process.

After you approve the relationship, you'll be directed to the work's page where you can review the new link in your Notes:

  • For a translation of your work, you'll find a new line in your beginning notes which states "Translation into LANGUAGE available: Title by Creator"
  • For any other type of relationship, you'll find:
    • a new line in your beginning notes which states "(See the end of the work for other works inspired by this one.)"
    • a new "Works inspired by this one:" section at the end of the work which will list all works you've approved a relationship with.

To remove a reciprocal link you can select the "Remove" button or link on its row on your Related Works page. Note that you can't remove the relationship entirely—you're able to control whether your own work will contain a link to the related work, but you can't affect whether that work notes your own as its inspiration.

The Related Works page will also list any works in unrevealed collections that have cited your work as the inspiration for their own. However, this will state "A work in an unrevealed challenge" and you won't be able to review the work or approve the relationship until the work is revealed. Check out What does it mean that a collection is Open or Closed, Moderated or Unmoderated, Unrevealed or Anonymous? for information on collection states and how they affect your work.

How do I gift a work to someone?

You can gift a work to an Archive of Our Own (AO3) account in the Associations section of the New Work or Edit Work pages. (Refer to How do I post a new work? or How do I edit a work or chapter? for more information about navigating to these pages.) Start entering the recipient's username or pseud in the autocomplete field next to "Gift this work to", and a list of AO3 account holders will come up. Select the person you're gifting your work to. If there is a list of similar pseuds, it's important to ensure you select the correct one.

If your gift is part of a challenge, check out How do I fulfill my Gift Exchange assignment? or How do I fulfill my claimed prompt?

For recipients who don't have an AO3 account, you can enter their pseud or name in full. However, please ensure the pseud or name doesn't belong to an AO3 account holder. If it does, you'll need to differentiate it in some way, or the work will be gifted to the AO3 account instead of your intended recipient. For example, you may want to list a user as Testy (Dreamwidth user) to differentiate the recipient from Testy on AO3.

Works can be gifted to multiple recipients.

Gifting works in this way will achieve the following things:

  • For registered account holders who have the preference to receive gifts enabled, the works will show up on their Gifts page. A note that the work is a gift, and who the gift is for, will be added to the Notes on the work, and the recipient will receive an email notifying them of the gift.
  • For registered account holders who don't have the preference to receive gifts enabled, you'll receive an error message saying that the user doesn't accept gifts. You'll need to remove them as a recipient in order to post the work.
  • For users not on AO3, they won't be notified, but the note will still appear in the Notes of the work.

If the recipient doesn't want the work associated with their account, they're able to refuse the gift. This will remove their name from the Notes and the work from their gifts list. Work creators aren't notified if a gift is refused, and the work can't be gifted to the same user again. For more information on how to refuse a gift, refer to How do I refuse a gift? If you've gifted the work to the wrong recipient, or otherwise decide not to gift the work, refer to How do I revoke a gift work I've given to someone?

How do I revoke a gift work I've given to someone?

To revoke a gift work:

  1. Log in and navigate to the work, then select the "Edit" button near the top of the page.
  2. Scroll to the Associations section and find "Gift this work to".
  3. Use the red "(×)" button beside their name to remove them.
  4. Select the "Post" or "Preview" button.
  5. If you previewed your work, then select the "Update" button at the bottom of the page to apply your changes.

This will remove their name from the Notes and the work from their gifts list. The recipient won't be notified that the gift has been revoked.

You can remove one person or multiple people at a time using this method. You may also add new recipients from this form; check out How do I gift a work to someone? for more information.

How do I control who can access my works?

You can restrict access to a work so that only logged in Archive of Our Own (AO3) users can access it.

To do this, you can select the option "Only show your work to registered users" in the Privacy section of the New Work or Edit Work pages. (Refer to How do I post a new work? or How do I edit a work or chapter? for more information about navigating to these pages.) This change will be applied when you select the "Post" or "Update" button.

You can apply this restriction across multiple works at once, if you like. Refer to How do I edit multiple works at the same time?

Can I moderate comments on my work?

Yes, you can. Refer to How do I moderate comments on my works? in the Comments & Kudos FAQ.

Can I disable commenting on my work?

You can completely disable all commenting on your work, or only allow comments by logged in Archive of Our Own (AO3) users. For more information on these options and how to use them, refer to Can I disable anonymous comments on my works? or the Turning off comments on your works AO3 News post.

How can I find my published works?

Works you've posted to Archive of Our Own (AO3) will be listed on your Works page, with some exceptions. To navigate to your Works page, log in and select the greeting "Hi, [username]!" and choose "My Works" from the menu.

Works posted to anonymous or unrevealed collections shouldn't appear on this page. Check out How do I find my works that have been added to a collection? or What does it mean that a collection is Open or Closed, Moderated or Unmoderated, Unrevealed, or Anonymous? for more details.

Otherwise, if you've posted a work and can't find it, refer to Help! I posted my work but it disappeared. Where did my work go? for some suggestions, or contact Support.

Why is the word count on my work different on AO3 than I expected?

Every platform or application, such as Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and Archive of Our Own (AO3), has its own set of built-in rules to separate a block of text into countable words. AO3 determines the word count of a work by counting the groups of characters between spaces and punctuation in most languages. Each group of characters counts as one word. However, certain special characters are considered parts of words: apostrophes or single quotes ('), single dashes (-), and underscores (_).

For example, on AO3, the phrase "from Monday-Wednesday afternoons" counts as three words: "from", "Monday-Wednesday", and "afternoons". Other platforms might include both the spaces and the dash as word boundary markers. Thus, those platforms would count this as four words: "from", "Monday", "Wednesday", and "afternoons".

For languages where words are not necessarily separated by spaces such as Chinese, Japanese, and Thai, AO3 will count each character (but not punctuation marks) as a word. We realize this may not result in an accurate count, but should be closer to what users of these languages expect.

The word count displays when you're previewing a work. If you're trying to hit an exact word count on AO3, you may want to check the word count and make tweaks to your work at this point. Refer to How do I save a work or chapter as a draft? for more information about previewing your work before posting.

Help! I posted my work but it disappeared. Where did my work go?

If you've posted a work and now can't find it, there are a few things to check.

It's possible that the work didn't successfully post. When you post a work, you should be redirected to the work's published page. If that didn't happen, there may be an error in the posting form. Scroll to the top of the page where there should be a message outlining the problem. The most common errors are:

  • A mandatory field wasn't filled in.
  • The maximum character limit for the Notes, Summary, Work Title or Work Text fields was exceeded. Note that the HTML required for formatting this content is included in the total character count. If your written text is close to or matches the maximum character count, you'll likely need to reduce it to allow space for the HTML.
  • The total number of fandom, character, relationship, and additional tags on a work exceeded the maximum allowed (75).
  • The minimum character limit for the Work Text field wasn't met.

If you've only just posted the work, it may be a caching issue, or it may have been flagged by our spam checker and hidden until an admin can review it. If it's flagged and hidden as spam, you should receive an email explaining this to the address associated with your account. For more on this, refer to What happens if my work is marked as spam? Both of these issues should correct themselves in a few hours. If you still can't find your work, check that it wasn't saved as a draft instead.

If the work has been on the site for some time, there are a few other things that could be creating the problem. You may have approved it for inclusion in a collection or it may have automatically been added to one if you've allowed this in your preferences. If the collection is unrevealed or anonymous, this will affect how your work is listed on the site, and in your works page. If your work is made unrevealed or anonymous after you've approved its inclusion in a collection, you should receive an email at the address associated with your account notifying you of its changed status. Refer to How do I find my works that have been added to a collection? or How do I remove a work or bookmark from a collection? for help in this situation. For more information on collection statuses, go to What does it mean that a collection is Open or Closed, Moderated or Unmoderated, Unrevealed, or Anonymous?

If you've checked all these options and still can't find it, it's possible the work was deleted by you, a co-creator, or a site admin. When a work is deleted, you should receive an email at the address associated with your account. The email will state who deleted the work and include an attached copy of the work. Comments and kudos are not included in this email. Alternatively, it may have been hidden by an admin in the course of a Policy and Abuse investigation. Hidden works can be accessed via a direct link to the work but will no longer show up in your Works page. If the work was hidden or deleted by an admin, it's possible that it violated the Terms of Service in some way. If this happens, you should receive an email from the Policy & Abuse committee explaining why the work was hidden or deleted (be sure to check your spam folder!). Please be sure to discuss the work with the Policy & Abuse committee and fix any problems they raised, if possible, before reposting the work.

If none of these solutions apply to your work, please contact Support for help.

What happens if my work is marked as spam?

If your work has been automatically marked as spam, you'll receive an email letting you know it has been hidden.

Hidden works can be accessed by you and the Archive of Our Own (AO3) admins via a direct link to the work but will no longer show up in your Works page.

Our Policy & Abuse team will review your work as soon as possible and unhide it if it's not considered spam. Other users will then be able to access your work and leave feedback on it as usual. You won't receive an email or notification when your work is unhidden.

Please note that we don't screen works for other kinds of violations during this process. If your work is reported to us for a different reason in the future, that report will be investigated separately.

If the work is reviewed by the Policy & Abuse team volunteers and found to be spam, they will process it per their guidelines. Please contact the Policy & Abuse team using the Policy Questions & Abuse Reports link for more information.

For more information on what's considered spam, please refer to the section on spam and commercial promotion from our Terms of Service.

Where can I get more information if my question isn't answered here?

For help with posting a new work, you may like to check out our Tutorial: Posting a Work on AO3. For importing a work, go to Tutorial: Importing Text-based Works and for formatting your work, refer to our Formatting content on AO3 with HTML.

Some frequently asked questions about the Archive are answered in other sections of the Archive FAQ, and some common terminology is defined in our Glossary. Questions and answers about our Terms of Service can be found in the Terms of Service FAQ. You may also like to check out our Known Issues. If you need more help, please submit a Support request.