What Is Feedly?

Feedly is a robust feed reader that aggregates information from around the web into one convenient place. You can use it to view updates on any topic you're interested in, whether they come from the news, blogs, social media posts, RSS feeds, or other sources.

The primary benefit of a feed reader like Feedly is that you get to see all of this information in one single place rather than having to visit each website, blog, etc., to get updates. You can use Feedly from your computer, the web, or your mobile device.

How to Sign up for a Feedly Account

Creating a new Feedly account is easy, especially if you already have a Google or Facebook account.

Select GET STARTED FOR FREE on the home page or through the mobile app, and then choose the Continue with Google or Continue with Facebook button to log in with your user information from one of those sites. Another option is to pick Continue with Feedly to make an account using your email address.

Pick a Feedly App

After signing up for Feedly, you have a few options for how to access your account. You can use the website from any browser or log in to your account from the Feedly Android app or the Feedly app for iOS.

Feeds and reading habits are synchronized across devices, so if you read something on your desktop or add a new feed to your account from your phone, it will be reflected on all your other connected devices, too.

How to Create a New Feed

Once you're signed in, you can create a new feed, which will ultimately be like a folder where a collection of updates will reside. Maybe you want to make one for news or video game content, or something specific like Android news.

1. Select Create New Feed from the left panel, and then name it something that will make sense to you later. Choose SAVE to move forward.

   

2. Select ADD CONTENT to add a source to the feed so that you can see articles from that source when you open this feed.

   

3. Search for a related topic, enter a website name, or paste an RSS feed URL into the box. You can also browse the topic ideas if you're not sure where to look.

   

   You don't necessarily need to know the website's feed URL to add it to Feedly. You can just search for the website name and let Feedly find it. However, if you do know the specific RSS feed URL, you can paste it into the box.

4. Select FOLLOW next to the topic you want to add to your Feedly feed, and then choose the new feed you created (Android News in our example).

   

Adding More Content to an Existing Feed

Once you've added a new feed in Feedly, you can update it with more content from other sources by selecting ADD CONTENT on the bottom left corner of the Feedly website.

Doing that will take you to Step 3 as shown above, where you can search for a topic and add it to the feed.

Another way to batch import RSS feeds into Feedly is with the OPML Import page, which you can access here or by selecting the settings/gear icon in the left panel, above your feeds. Use the import button to select an OPML file to add to Feedly.

Reading News in Feedly

There are a few ways to browse the feeds you've added to Feedly. You can do so from a search at the top of the screen or by manually walking through the feeds from the left panel.

All of the sources you add to any particular feed will show up in the feed's folder off to the left. Select the folder name to read all of its updates. If you select a specific source from the feed, you can see just the news out of that single source.

The Today item in the left panel is where you can go to see all the news released today, while All includes older content, too. They both collect every source from all of your feeds and displays them on a single page, making it super easy to stay updated on all the content you're following.

Next to each feed is an unread count so that you can clearly see how many new topics have arisen since you last read through the feed. After you read something, you can select the checkmark on that article to tell Feedly to reduce the unread count by one. You can also mark an entire feed as read to clear the number completely.

You can drag your different feeds up and down the side panel to reorganize them however you wish.

Of course, the mobile app is another way to access your Feedly feeds.

Saving and Sharing Content

Feedly is more than just a passive reading platform. You can save anything you want to remember for later. You do this through boards, which are like folders for content.

You can make different boards to cover different topics and keep everything organized. Use the Create New Board option from the left panel in Feedly to pick a name for the board. To save items to the new board, just hit the star on that article and choose which board it should be stored in.

Similar to a board is the Read later section of Feedly. Press the bookmark icon on any article to immediately place it into this area of your account. Use it as a way to save something that you'll read soon but that you don't necessarily want to pin to a board. It's like a temporary placeholder rather than a permanent bookmark.

You can even save something directly to this Read later area with the ADD STORY option like you see in the image above. Just paste a URL into the box you'll see and it will be stored there for you to look at later.

Feedly items can also be shared and stored over various platforms like email, Buffer, Hootsuite, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, WordPress, OneNote, Instapaper, and other bookmarking tools. However, enabling some of those sharing options will cost you a Feedly subscription.

Benefits of Upgrading

There are three versions of Feedly. The free edition is limited to including 100 sources, up to three feeds, and access from mobile and desktop devices.

You can pay for Feedly Pro for unlimited sources and feeds, Google keyword alerts, notes and highlights, premium fonts, additional sharing options, no sponsored ads, and premium support.

Feedly Teams is another subscription you can choose that has everything the Pro version does but can also share feeds, boards, notes, and highlights between team members. It also supports deduplication, deeper Google Alerts integration, access to Twitter feeds, team newsletters, and more.