<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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You’ve read our FOIA 101 Guides and you know what you want to request, and from whom. You’ve read up on How MuckRock Works but you’re still feeling fuzzy about how to start?

Create your account

1. Create an account. All of our accounts are managed through MuckRock Accounts, which allows us to support several different tools with a single log in. Head to https://accounts.muckrock.com/ and you can see your options.

   1. If you aren’t quite sure what you need, start with a free account.

   2. If you already have an account, but you want to collaborate and share requests, log in and look for the “View All Organizations” button.

      

      That will bring you to our list of organizations. If your org or newsroom is already on MuckRock / DocumentCloud, you can look it up there and request to join. We always recommend reaching out to an admin through an internal channel as well, so your request doesn’t get lost.

      If you are new to MuckRock and DocumentCloud, you can also create a new organization. By default you’ll be the first admin.

2. Once you’re logged in, you can Select “MuckRock” from the list of services.

   That will take you to our home page, where you’ll see a big “File a Request” button.

File your first request

When you select “File a Request” on the MuckRock home page, you should be able to follow the prompts to get you first request filed! What to expect from your first request should help you out if you’re not quite sure what to expect.

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

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