Managing Channels
=================

Channels are a collection of audio files published directly on Funkwhale.
While :doc:`libraries <managing>` are used to store collections of music such as
your personal music collection or a collection of publicly available music, channels
come in two forms:

- **Podcasts** - A podcast published on Funkwhale
- **Artist Discography** - A collection of music by a specific artist

While libraries come with different privacy levels due to the type of content they host,
channels are public and are designed to be followed by others across the fediverse.

.. _create_channel:

Creating a Channel
------------------

.. note::

    Channel social network names need to be unique as these are used for federation. They 
    also cannot be altered at a later date, so make sure you're happy with what you choose

To create a channel:

- Click or tap on the upload button in the sidebar
- Select "Get Started" in the "Publish your work in a channel" section
- Click or tap on the "Add New" option next to the Channels header
- Select whether you are creating a "Podcasts" channel or an "Artist Discography channel"
  and click "Next Step"
- Give your channel a name and a Social Network Name. The social network name will be filled
  in with the channel name by default
- Upload a cover image for the channel
- Add tags and languages for podcasts, or just tags for artist discographies
- Write a description of your channel
- If the channel is for podcasts, assign a category and a subcategory
- When all details have been filled in, click "Create Channel"

.. _channel_upload:

Uploading Files to a Channel
----------------------------

Once you have :ref:`created a channel <create_channel>`, you can start uploading content to
it.

- Click or tap on the upload button in the sidebar
- Select "Get Started" in the "Publish your work in a channel" section
- Select the channel you would like to publish your work in
  
  - If you would like to create a new series or add a new album, click on the "Add New"
    button under the "Albums" or "Series" section and enter an album/series name

- Click on the "Upload" button to bring up the upload wizard
- Select the album/series from the drop down menu (or leave this blank if not required)
- Select a License to publish the work under and click "Next Step"
- Drag and drop your file(s) or click on the "Browse" button to open your file browser
- Once the file is uploaded, you can click on the pencil icon to edit details such as tags
  and position
- When you're finished with the update, click "Publish" to publish the new track or select
  "Finish Later" from the drop-down arrow menu to store your changes for later publication

If you have saved files for later publication, these will be shown the next time you go through
the upload process with the option to "Ignore" or "Resume" the file upload

.. _edit_channel:

Editing a Channel
-----------------

If you would like to change the details of a channel, such as the name, tags, language, picture
or description, you can easily do this by doing the following:

- Click or tap on the upload button in the sidebar
- Select "Get Started" in the "Publish your work in a channel" section
- Select the channel you would like to edit
- Click on the three dot menu and select "Edit"
- In the screen that appears, make your changes then click "Update Channel" to save them

.. _delete_channel_tracks:

Deleting Content From a Channel
-------------------------------

.. warning::

    Deleting a series or album also deletes all associated tracks. Deleting tracks/episodes
    removes the files from the server and is not reversible. If you delete something and want
    to add it to the channel again, you will need to go through the :ref:`uploading process <channel_upload>`
    again

If you no longer want an episode/track or series/album in a channel, you can remove them.

- Click or tap on the upload button in the sidebar
- Select "Get Started" in the "Publish your work in a channel" section
- Select the channel you would like to remove content from
- Click on the track/episode or album/series you would like to remove to bring up its details
- Click on the three dot menu and select "Delete..."
- A warning will appear. If you want to continue, click "Delete" to remove the item

.. _delete_channel:

Deleting a Channel
------------------

.. warning::
    
    Deleting a channel is irreversible. If you delete a channel all content will be removed
    and the channel will be unavailable to other users. The name of the channel will not be
    re-usable as these are used for federation

If you want to remove your channel entirely, do the following:

- Click or tap on the upload button in the sidebar
- Select "Get Started" in the "Publish your work in a channel" section
- Select the channel you would like to delete
- Click on the three dot menu and select "Delete"
- A warning will appear. If you want to continue, click "Delete" to remove the channel
