Help & Documentation

What is Newz Archive?

Newz Archive is a historical newspaper digitization platform that uses advanced OCR technology to make old newspapers searchable and accessible. We preserve history by converting scanned newspaper images into searchable digital archives.

Create an Account

To upload content, save favorites, or participate in discussions, you'll need to create a free account.

Main Features Overview

• Browse: Explore newspapers by publication, decade, or timeline
• Search: Find specific content using full-text search
• Upload: Contribute by digitizing newspaper scans
• Organize: Save favorites and build collections
• Share: Discuss and share historical discoveries

Your First Steps

1. Explore publications to see what's available
2. Select a publication to browse its newspaper issues
3. Sign up to upload and contribute content

How Publications are Organized

Content is organized by publication (newspaper title), then by individual issues. Each issue may contain one or more pages. You can navigate through issues using the previous/next buttons.

Timeline Navigation

Browse newspapers chronologically using our timeline feature:

• Decades: Start by selecting a decade (1800s, 1900s, etc.)
• Years: Drill down to a specific year within that decade
• Issues: View all issues published in that year

Viewing Issue Pages and OCR Text

Each newspaper issue displays:

• Page Images: High-quality scans of the original newspaper
• OCR Text: Extracted searchable text below each page
• Metadata: Title, publication date, volume/issue numbers

Understanding Metadata Fields

• Title: Name or description of the issue
• Publication Date: When the newspaper was published
• Volume: Volume number (often in Roman numerals)
• Issue: Issue number within that volume
• Publication: The newspaper's name

Navigation Tips

Use the Previous and Next buttons to browse chronologically through issues of the same publication. Filter by decade or year to jump to specific time periods.

Full-Text Search Basics

Our search engine scans all OCR-extracted text, titles, and descriptions. Simply enter your keywords to find relevant newspaper issues.

Using Filters

• Publication Filter: Limit results to a specific newspaper
• Date Range: Search within a specific time period (start and end dates)
• Combine Filters: Use multiple filters together for precise results

Search Tips

• Multiple Keywords: Search for "election results" finds issues containing both words
• Exact Phrases: Use quotes for exact matches: "city council meeting"
• Spelling Variations: Try different spellings if OCR may have errors
• Broad to Narrow: Start with general terms, then add filters to narrow results
• Autocomplete: As you type, suggestions appear based on popular topics and phrases

Topic & Phrase Discovery

Each publication automatically extracts popular topics and key phrases from OCR text. These appear in popovers on publication pages:

• Topic Popovers: Click "Popular Topics" to see frequently mentioned terms
• Phrase Highlighting: Click any topic to highlight it throughout the publication's issues
• Quick Search: Topics are clickable links to search for that term instantly
• Context Discovery: Find related content by exploring extracted phrases

Understanding Results

Search results show newspaper issues ranked by relevance. Matches in titles are weighted higher than body text. Click any result to view the full issue and see your search terms highlighted in context.

You must be signed in to upload content.

Single Issue Upload

For uploading one newspaper issue at a time:

1. Select the publication (or create a new one)
2. Upload image files (JPEG, PNG, or PDF up to 50MB each)
3. Add title and optional metadata
4. Submit for OCR processing

Supported Formats

• JPEG/JPG: Best for photographs and scanned images
• PNG: Good for high-quality scans
• PDF: Multi-page documents (automatically split into pages)
• Size Limit: 50MB per file

How OCR Works

When you upload an issue, our system automatically:

1. Processes images with advanced OCR technology
2. Extracts text and makes it searchable
3. Automatically detects publication dates and volume/issue numbers

Processing usually completes within a few minutes, depending on page count and image quality.

Automatic Metadata Extraction

Our system attempts to automatically extract:

• Publication Date: Recognizes various date formats
• Volume Numbers: Supports Roman numerals (I, II, III, etc.)
• Issue Numbers: Identifies sequential numbering

You can always edit metadata after extraction to correct any errors.

Batch Upload Workflow

For uploading multiple pages efficiently:

Audio Generation

Listen to newspaper content with text-to-speech technology. Great for accessibility or multitasking while researching. No account required!

• Click "Listen" to generate audio from OCR text
• Audio generation may take a moment for longer issues
• Playback controls let you pause/resume
• Works on all modern browsers and mobile devices

Social Sharing

Share your discoveries with others via social media or direct links. Available to all visitors!

• Share to Facebook
• Send via email
• Copy direct link to clipboard
• Share specific newspaper issues with friends and colleagues

Favorites

Bookmark important newspaper issues for quick access later. Your favorites are saved to your account and accessible from any device.

• Click the star icon on any newspaper issue to add it to favorites
• Access all favorites from the Account menu
• Build personal research collections

Comments and Discussions

Engage with the community by commenting on newspaper issues. Share insights, ask questions, or provide historical context.

• Leave comments on any newspaper issue
• Your first comment requires admin approval
• After your first approved comment, future comments appear immediately
• Admins can still moderate or remove comments if needed

Interactive tours are available on key pages throughout the site. Look for tour buttons to get contextual help!

Contextual Page Tours

We've added interactive guided tours directly to the pages where features are used. These tours highlight actual UI elements and walk you through each feature step-by-step:

Practice Search Simulator

The Features page includes an interactive search simulator where you can practice searching without real data. This simulator includes:

• Sample Data: Pre-loaded historical newspaper issues to search
• Real Filters: Test publication and date range filtering
• Result Highlighting: See how search terms are highlighted in results
• Relevance Ranking: Results sorted by best match

The search demo processes everything in your browser—no data is sent to servers or stored anywhere. It's completely private and instant.

Practice Batch Upload Simulator

The Features page also includes a batch upload simulator where you can practice the workflow without uploading real files. This simulator demonstrates:

• Step 1 - Upload: Drag and drop images or click to browse
• Step 2 - Review: Preview pages, rotate images, reorder sequence
• Step 3 - Metadata: See auto-extracted publication details
• Step 4 - Processing: Watch simulated OCR progress

Like the search demo, the batch upload simulator runs entirely in your browser. No files are actually uploaded to our servers during the demo.

Privacy Note

All demo interactions happen entirely in your browser. No files, searches, or data are transmitted to our servers or stored anywhere during demos. These are safe, private learning tools.