Entries form the basis of your weblog; they are the content, whereas the templates (below) generally define how that content appears. You can create a new entry by logging in to Movable Type, selecting a weblog, then clicking Create New Entry. You can edit your existing entries by clicking List & Edit Entries, then selecting an entry from that list.

When creating a new entry, you will have the chance to set the following fields:

* Title
The title of your entry does not necessarily have to appear on your weblog; it is required, however, for sorting and display purposes in Movable Type itself.

* Primary Category
You can choose a primary category for your post for categorization or archiving purposes. Movable Type supports entries assigned to multiple categories, but there must always be one category that is the primary category for each entry; this allows you to use tags like <$MTEntryCategory$> to display information about a single category.

For more information on managing categories, see CATEGORIES.

* Entry Body
* Extended Entry
Collectively these two fields make up the body of your entry. You can use the two fields however you like: you could split up your entry over the two fields, or you could completely ignore the Extended Entry text and enter only the Entry Body text. Movable Type allows you to split up your entry for more flexibility in the display of that entry; for example, if you write very long entries, you may not want your entire entry on your index pages. You can use the two fields to control what gets displayed, and where.

Note that when the text of your entry and extended entry fields are output into your public weblog, paragraphs--blocks of text separated by two line breaks--will be automatically converted using the Text Formatting option you have selected. The default formatting is to enclose paragraphs within

and

* Excerpt
You can enter an excerpt from your entry, or use this field to provide a summary of the content therein. If you do not provide an excerpt, it will be automatically generated (when specified in a template using the MTEntryExcerpt tag) by selecting the first twenty (20) words from your entry, followed by an ellipsis.

* Keywords
The Keywords field can hold whatever type of data you want to put in it; it is geared for holding metadata or keywords about your entry, and is not normally displayed on your public site (though you can display it using the <$MTEntryKeywords$> tag). It is searched when a user performs a public search on your site, so you can use it to tag entries with words that may not normally appear in the entry body.

* Post Status
Entries with Status set to Draft will not be published to your weblog.

* Allow Comments
Specifies whether you would like users to be able to post comments on this entry. There are three options: None, Open, or Closed. If you select None, visitors will not be able to post comments, nor will they be able to view existing comments. If you select Open, visitors will be able to both post and view existing comments. If you select Closed, visitors will be able to view existing comments, but not post new comments. This is useful when you wish to turn off commenting for an old post on your site, but you wish to leave up the old comments for posterity.

*
* Text Formatting
Specifies the text formatting option for this entry. For example, the Convert Line Breaks option encloses your paragraphs in

and

* Allow Pings
Specifies whethere you would like to enable this entry to receive TrackBack pings. This checkbox defines whether text inside of a MTEntryIfAllowPings area will be displayed (see documentation for the tag).

* URLs To Ping
A list of TrackBack URLs that you would like to ping for this entry. This is for use when pinging a particular entry on a remote site--if you wish to ping a remote site every time you place an entry in a certain category, associate the URL(s) with that particular category. See Categories for more details.

* Previous Pings Sent
A list of TrackBack pings previously sent for this entry. This includes both pings sent to remote entries and to remote categories (by associating a category in your weblog with one or more ping URLs).