---
title: Purple Wires: Editor Sidebar
slug: editorial/purple-wires-editor-sidebar
docTags: 
createdAt: 2025-11-26T15:33:51.087Z
---

## Summary

The Editor Sidebar allows you to browse and insert wire articles directly while editing a post in the Gutenberg editor. Instead of navigating to the Wires article overview, you can search and filter recent wires and apply them to your current article with a single click.

::Image[]{src="https://app.archbee.com/api/optimize/ygR6KtT9QI_R0u3uKTJsm/ErpnuYje_7YpPb8jYQRLL-20251126-161642.png" size="62" width="600" height="698" position="center" caption="The Purple Wires sidebar was opened on an empty article." showCaption="true"}

## Opening the Sidebar

1. Open any post in the Gutenberg editor
2. Click the **+** button (block inserter) in the top left
3. Switch to the **Wires** tab

The sidebar displays a list of recent wire articles from your configured sources.

## Filtering Wires

You can filter the displayed wires by:

- **Source**: Select a specific wire source (e.g., DPA, Reuters)
- **Author**: Filter by the author associated to the article. See also [Purple Wires: Source set up page](docId:5Zi3vRIQ0EVO61yGhWYzQ) 
- **Time period**: Limit results to articles from the last:
  - 24 hours (default)
  - 48 hours
  - 72 hours

Use the search field to find specific articles by keyword.

## Using a Wire Article

To insert a wire article into your current post:

1. Click on the wire article you want to use
2. A confirmation dialog appears with a warning
3. Click **Continue** to apply the wire, or **Cancel** to abort

:::hint{type="warning"}
Using a wire article will overwrite the current post's title, content, date, and author. Make sure you want to replace your existing content before confirming.
:::

## Requirements

- Purple Wires plugin must be active
- At least one wire source must be configured