#user guide

Archive of Our Own, better known as AO3, is a nonprofit organization whose goal is to host and protect transformative works, for example, fanfic. The website was invented in 2007 when fans had had enough of the censorship from other platforms and from their works being constantly deleted from said websites, and due to this, they created a safe haven for all those who wanted to write and post their works. Thus, completing fifteen years in 2022 and achieving the milestone of 10 million fanfictions publishing in its platform, AO3 established itself as one of the biggest sites focused on fics in the world, and it continues to be an important place for all those who want to keep this art alive and thriving.

How to create an account:

One way for you to utilize all the resources that the Archive of Our Own has is to create an account on the website. Only by doing this, you will be able to do things such as: follow your favorite author and see all the new content he posts; create collections for the fanfics that you like the most; have access to hidden works, and much more. Follow this tutorial and see how simple it is to create a profile on AO3!

The first step is to log into the website here, then you are going to click on the button written "Get invited!".

After doing this, the second step is to read the terms and conditions of the website. Have in mind that, when submitting your e-mail to create your profile, you are agreeing that you have or are above the legal age of consent in your country. The standard for AO3 is 13 years old, but it varies from country to country. However, do not forget that this warning exists to protect you, seeing as not all content on Archive of Our Own is appropriate for all ages. Be safe when using this website!

After completing the second step, click on "Add me to the list" and then wait for an invitation from AO3 to arrive in your mailbox. Take note that this step may take some days to complete, however, you always have the option to check your position on the waiting list for invitations. All you have to do is click on "check your position on the waiting list". When you do that, you will be redirected to a link to see in what position you currently are. Just write you e-mail address that you used to ask for an invitation, and done, the website will soon tell you your exact position on the line and how much time it may take for your to finally receive your invitation.

As soon as your open your mailbox and see that you have received a message from Archive of Our Own about the creation of your account, all you have to do is click on it, and choose a username and a password. After that, you will have successfully created a profile on the website. You will then be ready to utilize all the functions of the site and read as many fanfics as you would like.

Understanding your profile:

After accessing your account for the first time, you will be redirected to your "dashboard", where you will be able to see all your activities and edit your personal account.

When you click on "profile", you will be able to:

post new works (when clicking "post new");

edit your profile, for example, adding information about where you live, your birth date, and a little biography about you - it is, however, necessary to remember the importance of being safe online and to avoid divulging sensitive information about you as much as possible, protect yourself

Preferences: when you go to "preferences" you will see the option: "manage my pseuds", where you can create pseudonyms to publish and read fanfics - this option can be used when you have many different fandoms and do not want to mix all of them in only one profile;

Blocked Users: where you can block a specific user on the website, this will make them unable to leave a comment on your works and they will not be able to answer your comments on other's works. Nevertheless, this does not prevent you from seeing the fanfics from the blocked account, this does not immediately delete their comments in your works (you have to do this manually) and it also does not hide the comments that they may have made in other's works. Take care!

Change my user name: in this tab you have the possibility to change your user, however, remember that this action can only be done once every seven days.

Orphan my works: be very careful with this button. In AO3, to prevent fanfics from being lost to time when authors do not want to be associated with it anymore or are simply tired of their work, the website created a special account, named ‘orphan_account’. It is in this account that all the orphaned fics - in other words, works that have their editing and deleting option forfeited by their creator (they do not own this text anymore) - are collected. This is an important move when preserving the history of fanfiction because it keeps the community alive even though the author of a particular piece does not feel connected to it anymore. However, remember that this is irreversible, so really think it through before doing it.

Skins: when clicking on "skins", you see different options to change the appearance of the browser viewing of the AO3 website on your cellphone or computer. For example, there is a 'skin' to make the background of your screen black, making reading more comfortable. See below the tutorial on how to add it to your profile.

Click on "skins", then, go to "public skin". Find the second option which is named "Reversi". After finding it, click on "use". Your browser will immediately apply it to your account.

Works: in "works" you can view all the fanfictions that you have published so far.

Drafts: when you click on "drafts" you are able to find all the works that you have not yet finished. Nonetheless, it is important to know that any work left there after one month of its creation will be immediately deleted by the website.

Series: upon clicking on "series", you will be able to see all the fanfiction series that you have created.

Bookmarks: on the tab "bookmarks", you have the possibility to easily keep your favorite fics saved where they can be effortlessly accessed at any moment.

Collection: in the button "collection", after you have created your 'bookmarks', you will be able to sort them out into any categories that you so wish. Imagination is the limit.

Inbox: when clicking "inbox", you will be able to see your notifications, like an answer to a comment that you left in a fic.

Statistics: the tab "statistics" serves to see how your fanfic is performing number-wise, for example, how many people have read it. It has your statistics readily accessible.

History: is the tab that shows all the fanfictions that you have read on the website.

Subscriptions: the button "subscriptions" lets you see which fanfics and which authors you have subscribed to receive notifications from. When you decide to subscribe to a specific fanfiction, you will receive all the updates that it may have, like new chapters. However, when you subscribe to a certain author, you will receive notifications from all the fics that they post, regardless of fandoms.

Sign-ups: in “sign-ups” you can see which writing ‘challenges’ you have subscribed to. By doing this you can follow it more closely.

Assignments: in the tab “assignments” you will find your writing ‘prompts' that you have decided to do.

Claims: when you click on “claims” all the ‘prompts’ from a ‘gift exchange’ that you are subscribed to will appear.

Related works: in the tab "related works", all the fanfictions that have taken inspiration from your work will appear. So, if someone reads a certain fic of yours and likes it enough to inspire themselves with it, they will give credit to your fanfic.

Gifts: and, last but not least, the tab “gifts”, where you can find all the fanfics that were given to you as a present.

So, after having learned how to create and how to use your account on AO3, do not forget to use the website with care, but, above all, have fun reading all the amazing works published there!

How to find a fanfic:

To search fanfics, type a character's name on the search bar, like “Harry Potter” or “Annabeth Chase”, or the franchise’s title, such as “Marvel” or “Lord of the Rings”. In case you want to read a fanfic focusing on a ship (term for relationship), type the characters’ names with a / (slash) between them, i.e.: percy jackson/annabeth chase; the name order may change the search results.

Another way to find more fanfics is by visiting a fanfic author’s profile on ao3 and finding other fanfics written by them, or by accessing an author’s bookmarks.

To filter the search even further and find fics more specific to your tastes, click the “edit your search” button on the right side of the page.

WORK INFO/MORE OPTIONS:

The work info field, also called more options, has some filtering terms to make the ao3 experience more personal.

Any field: searches the typed term in whole fanfic info pages as well as all the fanfics that fit the selected filters.

Title: allows you to find specific fanfics through their titles. The search results will have the terms typed in this field.

Author/Artist: with this field it’s possible to find the works of a specific author or authors with the terms typed in this field. The author’s name can be found either beside teh fanfic title on the front search page or below the fanfic title on the fanfic page.

Date: through this field you can find fanfics published on certain dates or a certain amount of time. It’s possible to search fanfics posted a few days ago typing “x days” where “x” is a number of days - like “3 days” -, and the same is possible with weeks (“ x weeks”), months (“x months”), and years (“x years”).

Completion status: this field allows you to define the completion status of the fanfics you want to read. It has three options:

All works: selects all the fanfics with the previously selected filters without taking into account the conclusion status of the fanfics.

Complete works only: selects only the fanfics that have been finished, concluded. The conclusion status of the fic is on it’s information bar.

Works in progress only: selects only fanfics still in progress or still updating.

Crossovers: a crossover is a type of fanfic that mixes characters from different medias and franchises, making them interact where they otherwise wouldn’t. This field has three options:

Include crossovers: the search results include fanfics with crossovers, but aren’t exclusive to crossover fanfic, also including every other type of fic.

Exclude crossovers: when this option is chosen, the results will be exclusively fanfics without crossovers.

Only crossovers: the results will be exclusively crossover fanfics.

Single chapters: if marked, this option will select only fanfics with one chapter.

Word count: the work count bar allows you to choose the length of the fanfics through word count. To use this filter, type the number of words you want the fic to have, such as “1000” without the quotation marks, which will result in fanfics with a thousand words; “1000-5000” will result in fics with anywhere between a thousand and five thousand words; “>1000” will result in fanfics with more than a thousand words; “<1000” will result in fanfics with less than a thousand words.

Language: by opening the drop down bar you can choose what language you want to read fanfics in. This filter will only select fics already written or translated in that language.

SEARCH:

Scrolling the “edit your search” page to the end, you will find the “search” area. This area contains the “sort by” field and the “sort direction” field.

When clicking the drop down bar on “sort by” you will find the following options:

Best match: organizes the search results according to the filters and characteristics previously selected, offering the results with the most matching characteristics.

Author: organizes the search results with the author’s names in alphabetical order.

Title: organizes the search results with the fanfic titles in alphabetical order.

Date posted: organizes search results according to the date the fanfics were posted.

Date updated: organizes the search results according to the dante the fanfics were last updated.

Word count: organizes search according to the word count (number of words on the fic).

Hits: hits represent how many times a fanfic was visited. When selecting this option on the drop down, the search organizes the results according to the number of hits a fanfic has.

Kudos: is the equivalent of “liking” a post on social media. Kudos can only be left once on each fic. When this option is selected, the search results will be organized according to the number of kudos a fanfic has.

Comments: organizes the search result according to the number of comments left by readers on a fanfic.

Bookmarks: bookmarks allow you to save fanfics on your ao3 profile to read or find more easily later. When selected, it will organize the search results according to the number of times a fanfic has been bookmarked.

On the sort direction field, you will find two options on the dropdown bar:

Ascending: organizes the search results based on previous filters from lower to higher number or in A-Z alphabetical order

Descending: organizes the search results from higher to lower number or in Z-A alphabetical order.

How to use the filtering system on your results page:

In Archive of Our Own, you have the possibility to include or exclude tags from your result pages using the filtering system by clicking on the button “filters”. If you click on a characters tag, all fanfics with such character will appear in a results page, using filters, you can narrow the results down to only fanfics with 18+ rating, for example.With filters, if you exclude a character, only fanfics without that character tagged will show up for you. Let’s go through each category of tags and what they mean, they are the same in both exclude and include.

Rating: rating is a fairly straightforward category, it’s only an estimate of the age appropriate to read the content of that fic. It’s important to highlight that the rating is different from author to author, so always pay attention to the tags and trigger warnings. The rating is the first square in the left upper corner of each fanfic, and each rating has a different color. The author has the option to not include rating, leaving the square empty. You can exclude multiple ratings, but only include one.

Here’s how it shows up in your search page:

Warnings: warnings are trigger warnings that indicate that the fic has a specific type of content. Warnings can include a range of tags defined by the archive, the warnings symbols show up in the lower left corner square. It also appears just before the tags of each fic, written out in black bold letters. You can include and exclude as many warnings as you would like.

Here’s how it shows up in your search page:

Categories: categories tell you what type of relationship , if there is one, is being portrayed in the fic. Categories are the upper right square of each fic.

Fandoms: in fandoms, you can find the ten most common fandom tags in this fanfic page. Besides it is the specific number of fanfics that contain that tag. Fandom in this sense, means what work this fanfic is taking inspiration from, so the Harry Potter Books would have a different fandom than the Harry Potter movies. If an author chooses so, they can tag multiple fandoms,this is usually done in crossovers. If the name of a fandom or author is followed by “all media types”, the fic has taken inspiration from every single canon work from that fandom or author. The fandoms appear just underneath the name and author of the fic, above the tags and besides the symbol table. You can include and exclude as many fandoms as you wish.

Here’s how it shows up in your search page:

Characters: characters is also fairly straightforward, in this category, the top ten most commonly tagged characters will be listed, with the exact number besides it. Characters are listed after relationships within the tags. If a character has multiple names, there is usually a main one that is used, and if another one is used, it will take you to the page of the main one. However, there are times where the names are considered separate tags and are not considered the same. You can exclude and include as many characters as you wish.

Here’s how it shows up in your search page:

Relationships: in this category, the top 10 most commonly tagged relationships will be listed. If the relationship is shown with a / between the characters, it is a romantic relationship, if the relationship is shown with a & between the characters, it is a platonic relationship. Relationships appear highlighted in grey after the content warnings in every fanfic. You can include and exclude as many relationships as you wish.

Here’s how it shows up in your search page:

Additional tags: in additional tags, the top ten most commonly tagged tags that do not belong to one of the categories above will be listed. You can include and exclude as many additional tags as you wish. They are listed after the relationships and characters.

Here’s how it shows up in your search page:

Other tags to include: here you can include and exclude anything that does not show up in the top ten of the categories of characters, relationships and additional tags. You may include and exclude as many tags as you want. Depending on what type of tag you add, they will appear in their respective places listed above.