For more than 150 years, The Dispatch newsroom has provided the community with news that helps them navigate their daily lives.
Readers can learn about candidates before they visit the polls, or read about road construction before they drive to work. They can educate themselves on important community issues through our investigative stories.
While our dedication to informing and reflecting the community hasn’t changed, reader habits have. Many people still enjoy the printed paper but more and more, people want to read news as it happens on the device they have in front of them. That could be a laptop, iPad, or more often a phone.
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To respond to this shift to digital news, the Saturday paper will not be printed starting this week. Readers can access the e-edition through a web browser at Dispatch.com/eedition or through an e-Edition app.
I’ve heard from some readers who prefer reading the printed paper, and we’re still providing that six days a week. But I recommend activating your digital subscription if you haven’t done that, and trying out the digital replica of the paper. You can flip through it like the printed paper, and there some major enhancements and expanded access.
These include:
Access to more than 200 publications. Subscribers can access USA TODAY Network publications through their e-Editions. Go to your e-Edition and choose the Universal icon on the right side of the screen. If you’re looking for USA TODAY, it is part of the Dispatch e-Edition.
New national news and sports sections. Every day, you can read two new sections in the e-Edition: Nation & World Extra and Sports Extra. These sections will contain later news than the printed paper, and the sports section will have late sports scores.
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Sharing digital access. You will be able to share you subscription with a friend or family member. That person will receive a unique login. Sign in at Dispatch.com, and click on “manage account,” then “share digital subscription” in the left-hand menu. Enter the name and address of another person to share access. They’ll receive an email with further instructions.
If you like to complete the crossword or puzzles with a pencil, you can click on them in the Index or Pages view and print them out.
How to get digital access
Subscribers to the printed paper already have access to our digital products, including the e-Edition, but you need to activate your digital subscription. To do that, go to Dispatch.com and click “Sign in” on the to right corner. Then click on “activate account” and follow the instructions.
If you need help, visit help.dispatch.com or call 1-888-884-9026.
If you need help using the e-Edition or website, our partners on the Life Skills teams at Columbus Metropolitan Library branches are also ready to help. Visit them Monday-Friday during library hours.
Here’s what’s changing in print
Also on Saturday, we’re changing some puzzles and other features in print. The puzzles and comics pages will have a new look. These changes will improve the look and ease of use of the puzzles and games pages, and are in response to reader habits.
The TV listings will be replaced with television highlights, which will feature some viewing recommendations. You’ll see new puzzles, including 7 Little Words, ScrabbleGrams, KenKen and Boggle Brainbusters.
Puzzle answers in print will be in the following days’ edition; Sunday’s in the following Sundays, but all puzzle answers will be available at the new answers.usatoday.com every day.
We’ll run Dear Abby on Monday through Saturday, and Carolyn Hax on Sundays.
We hope that you will enjoy these added features and sections, as well as the enhancements to the e-Edition. We’re here to help you navigate these changes and appreciate your loyal readership.
Kelly Lecker is interim editor of The Dispatch.
@kellylecker
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Dispatch shifting Saturday paper to digital edition
