<aside> <img src="/icons/book-closed_blue.svg" alt="/icons/book-closed_blue.svg" width="40px" /> MuckRock’s User Guide gives you everything to make the most out of MuckRock’s suite of tools. If this has helped you, consider donating to support our work!

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Your account at https://accounts.muckrock.com gives you access to MuckRock’s public records request service, as well as DocumentCloud, Agenda Watch, Big Local and a few other powerful resources developed by MuckRock and other organizations that we collaborate with.

Some of those services are restricted to verified journalists. For instance, DocumentCloud is open to newsrooms, academic institutions, researchers, legal clinics and non-profits that have a track record of posting vetted primary source materials in the public interest. It is not a platform designed for advocacy work or to host press releases, marketing brochures, original articles or other materials generated primarily to promote or market a cause or organization.

DocumentCloud users are expected to abide by journalistic best practices, such as those outlined in the SPJ's Code of Ethics.

That means that before you can upload documents to DocumentCloud, you need to have an account on MuckRock Accounts and be “verified” as a newsroom user.

One of the things we need to review and approve verification requests is your “MuckRock Account URL”.

When you first log in, you should see a page that looks about like this:

If you’re looking at a page that looks more like one of these, with a URL that starts with “www.muckrock.com”:

You will need to use the pull-down menu under your name to find the link to “Your Account”.

Some users send in a Muck Rack URL, rather than a MuckRock URL. For better or for worse, that MuckRock and Muck Rack aren’t related at all.

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Could this guide be more clear? Submit feedback to help us improve our documentation!

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