Scheduling

This page is for the marketer. It explains what happens when you ask for a post to go out at a time. The answer differs by platform, so the AI client tells you which one applies.

What you can ask for

Schedule this post on the Acme Facebook Page for Sunday at 9:00.

Post this image to Acme's Instagram tomorrow at 18:30, from launch.jpg in my media.

Move the LinkedIn post queued for Monday to Tuesday at 10:00.

As with every change, you see a preview first and nothing is set up until you confirm. See How it keeps you safe.

Say the time zone

Give a full time, and say the time zone if it could be in doubt. The preview shows the exact moment the post would go out. Check it before you confirm.

Facebook schedules the post itself

A Facebook post or reel with a time is handed to Facebook. Facebook holds it and publishes it. This server does not have to be running at that time.

• The time has to be between 10 minutes and 30 days ahead.
• A Facebook story cannot be scheduled. See Posting.

Until its time, a scheduled Facebook post is treated like a draft. You can ask the AI client to:

• list your scheduled posts;
• move one to another time, change its text, or both;
• publish one now;
• discard one.

TIP

Meta does not let every kind of scheduled post be changed. If it refuses, nothing was changed. Discard the post and schedule it again.

A scheduled Facebook post is not on the Queue page. Facebook holds it, not this server.

Instagram and LinkedIn wait in the Queue

Instagram and LinkedIn cannot schedule a post. So this server holds the post in its own queue and publishes it when its time comes.

• The time can be up to 90 days ahead.
• Nothing is sent to the platform before that time. Instagram and LinkedIn do not know the post exists.
• The server has to be running at that time. See If the server was off.

Use a file from your library for a post far ahead

The media is fetched at the post's time, not when you queue it. A link that expires will be dead by then. For a post more than a few days ahead, put the file in your media library and post it from there. A library file that a queued post names is kept until the post has gone out. See Media.

What happens at the time

When a queued post's time comes, the server publishes it as you, and makes every check again first:

• your user still has write access and is not disabled;
• the server is not read-only;
• your connection to the platform still works;
• the media is still there;
• the daily post cap has room.

If a check fails, the post is not published. It stays in the queue as Failed, with the reason.

The server looks at the queue about every half minute, so a post goes out within a minute or so of its time.

The Queue page

Open Queue to see what is waiting. What needs you is at the top, then what is waiting, soonest first, then what already went out.

Status	Meaning
Waiting	Held until its time.
Publishing now	Being published at this moment.
Published	It went out. It stays on the page for a week, with Open to see it.
Failed	It was tried and refused. The reason is shown under the text.
Missed	The server was off at its time and came back too late to publish it unasked.

A waiting, failed or missed post has three buttons:

• Publish now takes it live at once. The page asks you to confirm.
• Move opens New time for the post. Choose a date and time on your own clock, then press Move, or Keep its time to leave it.
• Cancel removes it. It was never sent, so nothing is removed from the platform.

The buttons are shown only when your user has write access. Refresh reads the list again.

When a post has failed or been missed, Queue in the sidebar is marked, and so is the counter at the top of the page.

If the server was off

A post whose time passed while the server was off is published when the server next starts.

There is one limit. A post that is by then more than 24 hours late is not published. It is marked Missed and waits for you to publish or cancel it. A post that is a week stale is often no longer wanted.

An administrator changes the 24 hours on Safety limits, under Posting limits: Publish a queued post up to this many hours late. Empty means always publish, however late.

A post that was being published at the very moment the server stopped is marked Failed, because the server cannot know whether it went out. Look at the account first. Publish it again only if it is not there.

Failed and missed posts

The server never tries a failed post again by itself. That is on purpose: publishing the same post twice is worse than publishing it late.

When the server finds a post failed or missed at its time, it tells you:

• a notification on the Notifications page;
• and by email or webhook, if an administrator has set those up. See Notifications.

After a restart you get one notification that lists every overdue post and what became of it, not one for each.

Then you decide. On the Queue page, or by asking the AI client:

• Publish now, once what stopped it is fixed;
• Move it to a new time. A failed or missed post goes back to Waiting;
• Cancel it.

The AI client will tell you about a failed post when it sees one. It does not publish it again unless you ask.

Moving, cancelling, publishing early

What you want	Facebook	Instagram and LinkedIn
See what is scheduled	Ask the AI client	Queue, or ask the AI client
Another time	Ask the AI client	Move, or ask the AI client
Other text	Ask the AI client	Cancel it and queue it again
Publish early	Ask the AI client	Publish now, or ask the AI client
Do not publish	Ask the AI client to discard it	Cancel, or ask the AI client

Through the AI client, each of these is previewed first and done after you confirm.

For a single list of everything waiting on every platform, ask for the content calendar. See Overview and calendar.

The daily cap and scheduled posts

A post counts against the daily cap on the day it goes out, not on the day you set it up. So you can schedule a month of posts in one sitting.

A time is refused only when the 24 hours before it are already full of your posts. Scheduled Facebook posts and queued Instagram posts are counted together, because both fall under the same cap. LinkedIn has its own. See Posting.

Publishing a scheduled post early needs room in today's cap.

What is refused

• A time and "publish now" together.
• A Facebook time less than 10 minutes or more than 30 days ahead.
• A queue time more than 90 days ahead, or one that has already passed.
• A time whose 24 hours before it are already full under the daily cap.
• Changing a Facebook post that is already live with the scheduling request. See Editing and deleting.
• Any of it from a user without write access, or while the server is read-only.