Connecting RSS with DotSimple - Drafts (via Zapier)

You do not want to publish content from an RSS feed immediately, but first as a Design in DotSimple to check them later, edit them or share them with the team? No problem! In this article, we'll show you step by step how to work with Zapier automatically create new RSS posts as drafts in DotSimple - including text, image and platform.

Would you prefer to see the process in action? No problem! In this video, we show you step by step how to automatically connect DotSimple to RSS - whether with Zapier or Make.com.

▶️ Tip: The video visually guides you through both variants - including setup, image upload and planned publication.

📋 Requirements: What you need

• One RSS feed (e.g. from a news site or your blog)
• One DotSimple Account with access token & workspace ID
• One Zapier account

🗂️ Step 1: Create Zap in Zapier

1. Trigger - RSS by Zapier:
   Event: New Item in Feed
   → Insert your RSS feed URL (e.g. https://rss.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Europe.xml)
   → Username/password only required for private feeds

2. Testing:
   Click on "Test Trigger" to ensure that items are recognized.

🖼️ Step 2: Upload image from RSS

3. Action - DotSimple: Upload File
   → If you have not yet connected your DotSimple account:

   • In DotSimple, go to Settings → Access token
   • Click on "Create new token" (e.g. "Zapier RSS Draft")
   • Select "never expires" and copy the token
   • The Workspace ID can be found in the URL after /app/ (e.g. app.dotsimple.io/app/abc12345)

   → In the RSS feed variables, select the image field (e.g. Raw Content URL)

📝 Step 3: Create post as a draft

4. Action - DotSimple: Create Post
   → Configure the following fields:

   • IsOriginal: true
   • Body: z.B. Description from the RSS feed
   • Media: The file ID from the upload module
   • Platform: z.e.g. LinkedIn page or Instagram

   ❌ Select no "Schedule", no "Schedule Now", no "Queue" - This means that the contribution is automatically Draft stored and not published.

✅ Result: RSS post is saved as a draft

Every new article in the RSS feed is automatically created as a draft in DotSimple - including text and image. You can later edit it manually, schedule it or release it in a team. Ideal for editorial workflows with review steps.

💡 Tips for your draft workflow

• If required, add a "filter" step in Zapier to save only certain posts (e.g. by category or keyword)
• Use the draft view in DotSimple to approve or finalize contributions
• Use a second Zap to automatically schedule or post reviewed drafts later

🧠 Conclusion: Editorially reliable & efficient thanks to RSS drafts

With Zapier and DotSimple you can create a workflow in just a few minutes that automatically creates new RSS content as a draft - secure, scalable and ideal for editorially reviewed content.

👉 Discover DotSimple now or Book a free demo and take your content process to the next level!