Lesser-known Features
Shortcuts & Tips
Post by email
For when you don’t have a web browser or the mobile app, but you do have email and something to post. In that oddly specific moment you’re going to want your blog’s private email address. You can find it in settings, and the emails you send to it get published on your blog.
Formatting your emails for each post type is pretty intuitive—attach a photo, get a photo post—but you can bone up on the details over here.
Post by phone
Post by bookmarklet
For posting something you find online without leaving the page you’re on. Click the bookmarklet to open a post form in a new window. It’ll be pre-filled with things from the page you’re looking at, including source information (one less thing to worry about). Add anything you want to the post, then either publish it immediately, queue it for later, or save it as a draft.
To install it, just drag this button onto your bookmarks bar.
@mentions
Get someone’s attention by shouting their name. Type @their-username in a post. When you publish, they’ll hear you calling in a notification.
Add inline images from the web
Paste an image’s URL into the post form and poof, the actual image appears in its place.
Change default text editor
If you use Markdown or HTML for all of your posts, you can choose to make either of those the default text editor in dashboard settings. You can always flip back and forth while you’re making the post. This just saves you a click.
Keyboard shortcuts
Throw away that pesky mouse. Type shift + ? while you're on the dashboard to see all our keyboard shortcuts.
Inexplicably, keyboard shortcuts also work in our mobile apps if you have a bluetooth keyboard connected—but you’ll have to memorize them ahead of time.
Dog ear
Click the dog ear to go directly to the post’s permalink. Hover over it to see the post’s timestamp. Hover over, move off, hover over, move off, hover, move, hover, move to watch the dog ear fold down over and over again. That’s all.
Mass post editor
Face it. You've been lazy about tagging your posts. Fix months of neglect with minutes of work by using the Mass Post Editor. It’s an archive view of your blog where you can select any or all of your posts, then re-tag them or delete them.
Select your blog from the account dropdown in the header. Mass post editor is at the bottom of the sidebar.
URL tricks
- Archive: cheezbag.tumblr.com/archive
A quick view of everything on a blog. This one’s useful when you’re looking for a particular post, or if you just like rectangles. You can filter by month and year, or post type to help narrow your search. - Tagged: cheezbag.tumblr.com/tagged/<tag>
Shows all the posts on a blog that have been tagged with that tag. Works on any blog. Well, any blog that uses tags. - Chrono: cheezbag.tumblr.com/tagged/<tag>/chrono
Variation on a theme: orders posts with a particular tag in chronological order. - Date: cheezbag.tumblr.com/date/YYYY/MM/DD
See only posts made on a specific date. Maybe you posted a bunch of things from New Year’s Eve but you have a very particular tagging system that can’t be messed around with. - Random: cheezbag.tumblr.com/random
Loads a random post from that blog. Do it again. There’s another one. Do it again. Yeah you got it.
See other users' likes, and share your own
This is a fun one if you find yourself liking or reblogging a lot of someone’s posts. You can see what they like by going to tumblr.com/liked/by/username. The things they like could be the things you like! To share the things you like with others, flip the switch in settings.
Two factor authentication
Protects your blog from ne'er do wells. We text you a secondary passcode every time you log in so that even if a hacker steals your password, they still won’t be able to get into your account. Unless they also stole your phone. Moral of the story: don’t hang out with hackers.
We also support authenticator apps, if you’d rather use one of those.
Lesser-known iOS features
Touch and hold a photo
Do that and the share sheet opens. From there you can send the image by text, email, or whatever. It’ll even animate if it’s animated. The post’s timestamp is also in the share sheet, should you want it.
Fast reblog
If you’re not going to add a reblog comment, touch and hold the reblog button to skip the post form and save yourself precious seconds. One thing about this: the post will get reblogged to the most recent blog you posted to. Not a problem for most people, but be mindful if you switch between blogs a lot.
Smash cache
Smash the cache to free up extra memory on your phone—it should run faster and crash less. Tap the account tab (the human), then "Settings," then smash your cache.
Interactive notifications
Slide your Tumblr notifications to reveal their hidden functions. On the lock screen, on the home screen, on any screen except Tumblr app screens—because that’d be redundant.
Share extension
This is a really useful one when you find a website you want to link to, or have a photo in your camera roll you want to post—it’s a little like the desktop bookmarklet. Thing is, setting it up is a little weird:
- Open a picture in your camera roll.
- Press the share icon. It looks like this:
- Swipe through the list of apps and press More.
- Turn on Tumblr (and anything else you want) and rearrange the list order however you like.
- Press done.
Now, whenever you see the share icon (Safari, camera roll, Notes, etc.) you can post what you’re looking at to your blog without even opening the app.
Today widget
See what’s trending on Tumblr on your Today screen. Some (easy) assembly required:
- Swipe down from anywhere to open your widget screen.
- Scroll down the bottom of the “Today” tab.
- Tap “Edit,” then tap “Trending on Tumblr.”
After that, you’re good. Good forever.
Lesser-known Android features
Bump phones to share blogs
This is for phones with NFC (and it has to be turned on). Open the app and go to a blog, touch your phone to someone else’s, and that blog will open on their screen.
Fast reblog
If you’re not going to add a reblog comment, you can skip the post form entirely by holding down the reblog button. Those precious seconds add up.
Notification widget
To add it to your home screen:
- Long press on any empty space on your home screen—that is, anywhere there isn’t already an icon or other widget.
- Press “Add Widget.”
- Find and choose the Tumblr widget.
- Widget, widget, widget.
Daydream mode
The most important screensaver since pipes.
On your Android device, go to "Settings" and then "Display." (On some devices, "Display" is under "Device" or "My Device," just because.) When you find the display settings, turn on the Daydream option and find Tumblr in the list. You can usually adjust when the phone daydream mode—when it’s docked, when it’s charging, or both. Choose whatever you want.
Now, when your device goes to sleep after idling (instead of using the power button to turn off the screen), Tumblr stuff will pan across your display. Wonderful!
Tumblr in Google results
If you see the Tumblr logo next to a Google search result, the link will open in the Tumblr app. Pretty clever, no?