NewsGator Inbox – Manage My Subscriptions

Today we are looking at the “Manage My Subscriptions” function within the NewsGator Inbox options. As we discussed in earlier posts, it can be found by clicking on the NewsGator Inbox dropdown (probably on the top right of your Outlook window).

As the name suggests this tool allows you to manage all of the subscriptions within your NewsGator Inbox. When you select this tool from the list it will launch a new window. This window will have an exploded folder view of your subscriptions. If you prefer to see just a list, you can click the check box at the bottom of the window and the folder list will be transformed into a simple list view. The window will also have a number of buttons on the right hand side; edit, delete, update, default setting, export and close. The first three will only activate once you have selected a feed or a folder. The way to tell the difference between the feeds and the folders is the feeds are marked with a green RSS icon. I say that because with the edit button you can edit either individual feeds, multiple feeds that you select or all of the feeds within a selected category folder. The edit button will launch a new window and will be the Subscription Settings (explained in detail in the post NewsGator Inbox Options – Add Subscriptions (Vol. 1) ). The delete is pretty self explanatory and will delete whatever you have selected. The update button will run the Subscription update (or synchronization tool) for the feeds that you have selected.

The next three buttons towards the bottom right of the window are not really feed specific. There is the Default Settings, which, as will all defaults, will return the settings of your feed subscriptions to the default (pre-customization) settings. The next button is the export button. This will launch a new window which will allow you to select “All” or just the subscriptions that you select, to export into either OPML or APML format. Note that the OPML format seems to be recognized across a majority of the RSS Readers out there. This will give you a data file that you can use to create or subscribe to the same feeds in another RSS Reader. The last button, close, is also self explanatory but it will close the window.

The Manage My Subscriptions is probably a better way to manage your subscriptions, with respect to the NewsGator Inbox, rather then just deleting the folders from the tree. I found that just deleting the folder or the feed worked ok, and it will update the online version ok, but it was simpler just go use the Manage My Subscriptions tool. There are less windows that will pop up to confirm what you are trying to do if you use the tool. Also it gives you a clear picture of your feeds and clearly marks what will be modified or deleted.

Next time we will start looking into “My Reading Habits”. Come on back!