Help & troubleshooting
Everything you need to get articles into Broadsheet and read them later. Can’t find what you’re after? Contact support.
Getting started
- Sign in from the home page. Broadsheet uses Clerk for authentication — you can use email or a social login.
- Open your library. It’ll be empty on first visit.
- Save your first article from the import page, or install the browser extension for one-click saving.
- Click any article in the library to read it in a clean, distraction-free view.
Saving articles
There are three ways to get an article into your library:
- Paste a URL into the import form at /import. Broadsheet fetches the page server-side, extracts the main content, and stores it as Markdown.
- Browser extension. Click the toolbar icon or use the save shortcut to send the current tab to Broadsheet. This path also works for paywalled or client-rendered pages the server can’t reach directly.
- Command palette. Press ⌘ K (or Ctrl K) anywhere in the app to jump to commands, including save.
Broadsheet deduplicates by canonical URL — saving the same article twice (even with different tracking parameters) updates the existing entry rather than creating a duplicate.
Browser extension
Install
Install Broadsheet from the Chrome Web Store or Firefox Add-ons, then pin the icon to your toolbar for one-click saving.
Load from source
The extension also lives in clients/extension/ in the repo. To run a local build, load it as an unpacked extension:
- Clone the repo and run
npm run buildinsideclients/extension/. - Open
chrome://extensions, enable Developer mode, and click Load unpacked. - Select the built extension directory. Pin the icon to the toolbar for easy access.
Configure
The extension talks to the production Broadsheet instance by default. To point it at a local dev server or a self-hosted instance, right-click the toolbar icon, choose Options, and set the base URL (e.g. http://localhost:3000).
Sign in
The extension reuses your browser’s existing Broadsheet cookie session. Sign in to the web app first in the same browser profile; the extension never handles credentials directly.
Reading & organising
- Tags. Add tags from the article view or the row menu in the library to group articles by topic.
- Read state. Articles are marked read automatically once you’ve scrolled through them, or you can toggle it manually. The library has separate filters for active items and the archive.
- Auto-archive. Configure in settings to keep the active library focused on recent reads.
- Digest. Optional weekly summary of what’s waiting in your library — also in settings.
- Sources. The sources view groups your library by publication so you can focus on one domain at a time.
Keyboard shortcuts
- ⌘ K / Ctrl K — open the command palette
- Esc — close any open palette or menu
Troubleshooting
“Couldn’t fetch this page” when saving a URL
The server couldn’t reach the page. Common causes:
- The site requires JavaScript to render its content — use the browser extension instead, which captures the already-rendered HTML.
- The site is behind a paywall or login wall — same answer; the extension uses your existing browser session.
- The URL points to a private or local host. Broadsheet blocks fetches to internal network ranges for safety.
- The site took longer than 15 seconds to respond, or the response body was larger than 5 MB.
Extension save fails with 401 or redirects to sign-in
Your cookie session has expired. Open Broadsheet in a tab, sign in again, then retry the save.
Extension saves to the wrong instance
Check the base URL in the extension’s options page. If you’ve pointed it at a non-default host, your browser may prompt for optional host permissions the first time.
Article renders badly or misses content
The Markdown is produced by Mozilla Readability, which works best on article-shaped pages. For listicles, forums, or heavily-custom layouts the extraction can drop sections. If you’re consistently seeing a bad render for a domain, contact support with the URL.
I saved an article twice and only see one entry
Working as intended — Broadsheet deduplicates by canonical URL. The second save updates the existing entry rather than creating a duplicate.
FAQ
Where is my data stored?
In a per-user volume on Vercel Blob in production. See the privacy policy for the full breakdown.
Can I export my library?
Not yet via a UI. The underlying storage is plain Markdown with YAML frontmatter, so export is on the roadmap. Contact support if you need it sooner.
Can I delete my account?
Yes — contact support and the operator will remove your volume. Self-service deletion is on the roadmap.
Is there a mobile app?
Not yet. The web app works on mobile browsers. Contact support to register your interest in a native app or iOS/Android share sheets.