The Schedule Post feature enables users to create events, articles, and posts (discussions, questions, ideas, etc.) in advance and schedule them for publication at a specific date and time. This is particularly useful for:
- managing content calendars,
- preparing for time off, and
- coordinating the release of notes and documentation prior to an event, product release, etc.
This feature improves your workflow efficiency by allowing you to plan and automate content publishing ahead of time.
⚠️ Before we begin…
- Layout limitations: The ability to schedule posts is limited to communities using custom Create Post page layouts.
- Required permission: The ability to schedule posts is limited to users belonging to Roles with the
Garden > Schedule > Allow permission to ensure only authorized users can schedule content. 📝 NOTE: This permission is enabled by default for users with the Garden > Settings > Manage permission. - Scheduling timeframe: Post-scheduling is limited to a minimum of 15 minutes from the current time. For example, if it's 1:00pm, the soonest the post can be scheduled to publish is 1:15pm.
Schedule posts
Events and all post types can be scheduled during the creation process.
- While creating an event or post, click the Schedule button at the bottom of the page. 📝 NOTE: You must fill out all of the post type's required fields before you can schedule it.
- In the popup, set your desired publication date and time using the calendar and clock icons.
- Click Save to schedule your post.
After clicking Save, you'll see a success message display at the bottom left of your screen, and the post's scheduled date is now displayed on the bottom right.
- At this point, or at any point in the future, you can edit the schedule or cancel the schedule, as well as continue working on your post.
- Any changes you make to a scheduled post will be saved in the draft state until the date of publishing, allowing you to continue working on a post until that time.
- When viewing a scheduled post, like the one below, clicking the Post button will immediately publish it. To save any changes you want to make prior to the publication date, click Save Draft or let the auto-save feature save your work.
Schedule articles
While writing a knowledge base article, you'll have the option to schedule it for future publication.
- Click the Schedule button at the top of the page. 📝 NOTE: The Schedule button is only active once you've entered an article title and some body text.
- In the popup, set your desired publication date and time using the calendar and clock icons.
- Click Save to schedule your article.
After clicking Save, you'll see that the article's scheduled date is now displayed at the top of the page.
- At this point, or at any point in the future, you can edit the schedule or cancel the schedule, as well as continue working on your article.
- Auto-save is turned off for scheduled articles, so be sure to click Save Changes to save any updates you make prior to the publish date.
- Clicking Publish Now will immediately publish your article.
Schedule Group posts
Just like with community content, users who belong to Groups can schedule Group-based posts to reach only users belonging to a specific Group.
✔️ TIP: Check out the Create & Manage Groups article to learn more about accessing and managing Groups.
From a Group's home page, you can schedule posts and events via the buttons highlighted below. The process is the same as what is explained in the Schedule posts section above.
📝 NOTE: Announcements cannot be scheduled.
Manage your scheduled posts & articles
While you can manage a scheduled post from the Create Post or article page, the primary location to view and manage all of your scheduled posts is the Manage Drafts and Scheduled Content page, accessible by clicking the MeBox > Drafts.
✔️ TIP: You can also access this page via the Drafts link in the Quick Links menu, which available on several pages across your community, like the Recent Posts and Categories pages.
From here, click the Scheduled Posts tab.
- Each of your scheduled posts and articles is listed and sorted by next to publish, by default, and grouped by date, making it easy to quickly see the upcoming post schedule.
- Details for each post and article are provided, showing the post type (icon to the left), their associated Category, and a short snippet from the post's text.
Manage a scheduled post or article
Click the ellipsis (…) button to access the management options for a scheduled post or article (the options between the two are the same).
✔️ TIP: The icons to the left indicate the type of post: discussion, question, event, article, etc.
Click:
- Copy Permalink to copy the post's or article's URL to your device's clipboard, making it easily shareable with others. Note that this link will only be functional once the post or article has gone live, meaning this feature is for sharing links with those who may want to include a scheduled post or article in a future blog post, knowledge base article, or marketing initiative.
- Edit Post to view the post's or article's edit page to make updates. ⚠️ IMPORTANT: When editing a scheduled post or article, clicking the Post button will immediately publish it. To save any changes you want to make prior to the publication date, click Save Draft for posts or Save Changes for articles.
- Edit Schedule to display the Schedule popup you learned about in the Schedule a post section above; here, you can update the post's or article's scheduled date and/or time.
- Cancel Schedule to display the Cancel Draft Schedule popup, asking you to confirm whether to finalize the cancelation.
📝 NOTE: When you cancel a scheduled post or article, it is not lost; it moves back to a draft state and is located on the Drafts tab of the Manage Drafts and Scheduled Content page.
- Delete to display the Delete popup, asking you to confirm whether to finalize the deletion of the post or article.
Sort & Filter scheduled posts and articles
- Use the Sort By options, Next to Publish or Last to Publish, to sort your scheduled posts by their release schedule.
- Use the Date Updated and Scheduled Date filters to help you find posts based on specific timing windows or by their last updated date. In addition, you can filter down to specific content types: posts, comments, articles, and events.
With filters chosen, click the Filter button to apply them; click Clear All to remove your filters and return the list to its default state.
Scheduled post & article notifications
If a scheduled post or article fails to publish, the author will be notified in two ways:
- they will receive an email notification, and
- posts and articles with errors are listed on the Errors tab of the Manage Drafts and Scheduled Posts page (accessible via MeBox > Drafts).
A failure to publish may result for a few reasons, such as:
- validation errors,
- changes in user permissions, and
- the Category the post or article was scheduled to post to being deleted.
The reason for the failure is listed for each post; at this point, you can simply cancel the scheduled post or click Edit to make the necessary updates and reschedule it.
✔️ TIP: If a scheduled post or article fails to publish and you need it to get it out as quickly as possible, simply edit the post or article and immediately publish it.