Multiply is a great place to share things like your photos, videos and blog entries... but what about your spreadsheets? PDFs? Other random things?

Guess what — you can do all that here too. Just attach the file, or files, to a blog entry.

Long-time Multiply users likely already know this. Not-as-long-time users may have even taken notice.

It's been well over a year since we first introduced this feature, and we thought it was a great time to re-introduce it to those who may not have been aware. So... if you want to share any random type of file on Multiply, here's how:

First, create a new blog entry. (Or edit an existing one.)

Then, click the paper-clip icon you'll find on the blog editor toolbar. (If you don't see the bar and use Safari, try upgrading to the latest version.)

Next, select the file you'd like to attach. (You can attach up to five files, each smaller than 20 MB.)

Finally, save your changes to the blog entry. (Use the handy "Save Changes" button.)

Have you learned something new today? If you already knew about this, how have you found the feature useful?

---

Note that files shared on Multiply have in no way been scanned for viruses or other malware. We don't recommend downloading files shared by people you don't necessarily trust, but thought we should remind you that it's a good idea to keep your virus scanner active and up-to-date, regardless.

We just released a couple small enhancements that we're sure varying percentages of loyal Multiply users are sure to enjoy!


Quick(ly) Remove Inbox items

So let's say you don't want to see content from groups you're in or users to whom you're connected, but for some reason, also don't want to leave the group or remove the contact. Let's also say they post a lot, so clicking the remove link next to each individual post, then clicking "OK" on the warning is just way too much trouble.

What's a Multiply user to do (aside from de-associating themselves from these contacts or groups)? Just head over to your Inbox preferences and enable the brand new Quick Remove preference... but remember that you need to first enable the Show Subscribe, Pin and Remove option, of course, to remove items in the first place!

This will eliminate the warning message you'll otherwise get when removing an item from your Inbox. But be sure to click carefully! "Remove" means just that, and as always, there's still no way to restore an item back to your Inbox once you've chosen to remove it.

As an aside, we think now is a good time to remind you that there's really no need to remove items from your Inbox; items you ignore (i.e. stop viewing) will fall down the page as new items are added. Unlike other "inbox"es you may be used to using, there's no storage limit on Multiply!


Safari + Blogging = <3

For Mac users who like their operating system's default browser (or Windows users curious to see how the other half lives), we're proud to say that it's now possible to use Multiply's rich-text blog compose tool in Safari!

We've made a slight change to the way our blog compose tool works... for the better.

This change aims to clarify the two editor modes -- normal (where you simply type your post, using the blog editor toolbar for formatting changes) and HTML (accessible by selecting the "Edit HTML" checkbox you'll find in the editor).

Note: If you don't already write HTML for your blog entries by hand, there's no need to start now! You can still use our blog toolbar for simple point-and-click formatting -- this is just a notice for those who like to get a little more in-depth.

As the editor previously worked, one could manually enter HTML tags into either mode and, upon saving their changes, have them applied to their text. The downside to this was that it was difficult to enter HTML code for display (such as when writing a post explaining to others how to format text in HTML). And now it's easy.

So if I wanted to show people how to point others to a different site, I would simply enter the following with the checkbox unchecked:

<a href="http://www.petitiononline.com/ecch2004/petition.html">Help bring Chocodiles to the east!</a>

And if I wanted to make it appear as a link within the entry (such as when copying and pasting the HTML from the previous example), I'd enter the same text with the box checked, which would result in a link like this:

Help bring Chocodiles to the east!

Yes, it's that simple -- if the box isn't checked while HTML tags are entered, the markup won't be interpreted.

There are a couple different kinds of features on Multiply.

There are features we've introduced that are immediately picked up and (for the most part) universally praised and loved by all. And there are others that, while also being quite worthy of love, may be easily overlooked.

One such feature is file attachments for blog entries. This feature was released on September 15, almost two months ago. But to this day, we still get a good number of people asking customer service if they can share various other types of files on Multiply.

Well, as a reminder, you can share virtually any type of file on Multiply. Just attach it to a blog entry, like so:

1. Create a new blog entry. Easy enough?
2. See the 'paper clip' icon? Click it.
   (You'll find it at the far right side of the blog compose toolbar.)
   
3. Pick a file. Pick any file. Pick up to five files, up to 20 MB apiece.
4. (There is no step four.)
   

What uses have you found for this feature?
Have you used this feature yet?

---

We should probably note that files you find shared on Multiply have in no way been scanned for viruses. Whenever downloading files shared by others you don't necessarily trust, you should always stay vigilant about keeping your virus scanner active and up to date.

If you've been following the Internet blog buzz lately, you already know that privacy on social websites is once again a hot topic. Well, it never really ceased to be, but it seems to be back on everyone's radar this week, with a particular vengeance.

We figured that now would be a good time to point you to a series of past entries, Why Multiply is Safe, which we blogged in four parts back in February and March of this year.

• Part one: Defining Relationships
• Part two: You Control Your Content
• Part three: Know What's Public
• Part four: You Know Who Knows
  

Even without the recent buzz about other services, it's a good idea to be aware of the fine-grained privacy options that we provide on Multiply. The entries linked above highlight a few ways Multiply makes privacy possible... and easy.

We recently mentioned that we're working on some new features that will be available soon. Alright, "soon" may have already passed and they're still not quite ready for prime-time, but it's about time we shine a little light on these pearls of greatness.

• Bring it all together. If you've previously posted content to some of the more popular image and video hosting services, including it into your Multiply account will soon be about as ridiculously easy as it is to move content over from services we currently support. (Read: pretty darn easy.)
  
• Post here. Post there. We know that people use different services for their own reasons, so we're making it easier to maintain a blog elsewhere, while still sharing with your Multiply network. Users of Blogger, LiveJournal and TypePad -- get ready to smile a lot.
• Video made simple. We'll take an in-depth look at this new feature in the next few days, but for now, just know that we have the perfect remedy for your web video headaches.
  

We make no promises here, but we'll probably have these ready by early next week.

Excited yet? We are.