Publishing statuses, automatic retries and failed posts

Each account of a post has its own status. You see it on Records, on the Calendar and on the post's page in Content.

The statuses

• Draft — being written, sent back by an approver, retracted, or edited after a failure. Not going anywhere yet.
• Checking — the platform's rules check (length, media type and size) is running.
• Needs a fix — the rules check found a problem, for example a caption too long or a video format the platform does not accept. Edit the post and press Validate on that row, or press Remove on the row (on the post's page or in Records) to take this account off it.
• Awaiting approval — waiting for a step of the approval chain.
• Approved — cleared for publishing, but no time is set yet.
• Scheduled — will be sent at its time.
• Publishing — being sent to the platform right now.
• Published — live on the platform; the link and platform id are recorded.
• Retrying — the last attempt failed for a temporary reason; OmniBrand will try again by itself. Records says, for example, "(platform) did not take the post this time. OmniBrand tries again on its own at (time) (attempt 2 of 7). Nothing to do yet." and shows no Retry button.
• Failed — it will not be tried again automatically. The reason is shown in Records.

Automatic retries

OmniBrand retries on its own when the cause is temporary: the network, the platform being busy or down, or the platform saying "try again later".

• A post gets up to 7 attempts in total.
• The waits grow each time: up to 5 minutes after the first failure, then up to 10, 20 and 40 minutes, then up to 80 minutes before each of the last two attempts. Each wait is picked at random within its limit, so posts that failed together do not all try again at the same moment. In all, OmniBrand keeps trying for about two hours, and never more than four. If the platform asks for a longer wait, OmniBrand waits that long (at most one day).
• OmniBrand sends at most a set number of posts an hour from each connected account, to keep the account in good standing with the platform; Account health on Today shows how many are left this hour. A post over the limit shows Retrying with "(account) reached OmniBrand's limit of posts per hour for one account, so this post waits for the next hour. It goes out on its own at (time); there is nothing to do." It goes out in the first five minutes of the next hour, and this wait does not use up an attempt. An attempt the platform refused does not count toward the limit, so a failing post cannot hold back your other posts.
• When a platform has an outage, the OmniBrand team can pause publishing to that platform for a while. Your posts to it then show Retrying with "OmniBrand has paused publishing to (platform) for a short while, so this post waits. It goes out on its own once publishing resumes (next check at (time)); there is nothing to do." They are checked every 10 minutes and go out by themselves once publishing resumes; the wait does not use up an attempt or your monthly posts. A banner at the top of the app usually says what is going on (see Contacting support).
• After the seventh failed attempt the post becomes Failed with a message that says how many attempts were made, over how long, and what the platform answered last, for example "Gave up after 7 attempts over 2 h 13 min. Last error (PLATFORM_ERROR): ...". The notification says "Your (platform) post was tried 7 times and did not go out, so it was not published." Read the last error under Details in Records, fix the cause, then an Owner or Admin clicks Retry.
• While a post is Retrying you are not notified; you are notified once, when it becomes Failed.

The retry lock: why you cannot edit a post

A post that is Scheduled, Publishing or Retrying on any account cannot be edited. The next attempt would send the text as it is now, so an edit could go out without approval. You see a message such as "This post is scheduled on 1 channel. Unschedule it first (click it on the Calendar, then Unschedule), then edit it - editing sends it back to draft for a new approval." or "This post is waiting to retry after a failed attempt on 1 channel, so it cannot be edited now. Wait until it has published or failed, then edit it."

• Retrying or Publishing: wait. The lock ends by itself when the post is Published or Failed. A Failed post can be edited (it goes back to Draft).
• Scheduled: click it on the Calendar and press Unschedule; the account becomes Approved with no time. Then edit it.
• Approved: can be edited. Saving the edit sends the account back to Draft, because the approval was for the old text: click Validate, get it approved again, then schedule it.

When a platform rejects a post

If the platform refuses the post for a reason that will not change by trying again (for example the content breaks a platform rule, or the file is refused), it becomes Failed straight away.

1. You get a bell notification "Post failed to publish", and an email with the same text. Members who can read content in the workspace are told. The text is in your language, names the post and says what happened and what to do, for example "X could not accept the file attached to "Spring offer", so it was not published. Open the post and replace the file; then an Owner or Admin can press Retry." Clicking it opens the post, where that account's row shows Failed with Retry and Remove, and the email's Open the post button does the same
2. Open Records, group Failed. The platform's error text is shown under the post title.
3. If the content was the problem: open the post and edit it. Editing a Failed account moves it back to Draft, so the fixed version goes through the check, approval and scheduling again.
4. If the problem was outside the content (the platform was down, or a connection issue you have fixed): an Owner or Admin clicks Retry in Records to send it again as it is.

Other reasons a post fails

• The account needs reconnecting — the platform refused the connection (password changed, access removed, permission missing). The account is marked for reconnection and the workspace is told. Reconnect it in Accounts, then retry. See Reconnecting an account.
• Missed its time — if a scheduled post could not go out within 6 hours of its time, it is not published late. It becomes Failed with "The post missed its scheduled time ... by more than 6 hours and was not published. Press Retry in Records to publish it now, or edit the post to pick a new time (it goes back to Draft for approval)." A Failed post cannot be rescheduled as it is (Reschedule is only for Scheduled posts). To publish it now, an Owner or Admin clicks Retry on it in Records. To give it a new time, open the post and edit it: it goes back to Draft, then click Validate, get it approved and schedule it again. Records says the same: "The post could not go out within 6 hours of its scheduled time, so it was not published late. Press Retry to publish it now, or open the post and edit it to pick a new time: it goes back to Draft, and you schedule it again from there."
• Stuck publishing — a post still Publishing after 30 minutes is marked Failed so it can be retried. A post that is publishing cannot be cancelled, because it might already be live. The notification says "Your (platform) post stopped part-way and may already be live. Check the channel first: if the post is not there, an Owner or Admin can press Retry on it in Records." The same applies when the platform did not answer the publish within its time limit (15 minutes; 30 for Instagram, Facebook and Threads; 45 for YouTube and TikTok); at that limit OmniBrand also stops the upload, so a slow video does not keep going in the background. If the platform's answer arrives after the post was marked Failed, the post turns Published by itself and you get the notification Post published; do not press Retry on it.
• Plan limit reached — your plan's number of published posts is used up. See /pricing or your plan in Settings.

Good to know

• A post that failed and never went out does not count toward your plan's published-post allowance: the post is given back when it becomes Failed, including after 7 failed attempts, and when you remove a post that is Retrying. Each post counts once however many attempts it takes. The exceptions are a post that "stopped part-way" and one failed as Stuck publishing: the platform may have taken it, so it still counts. Retrying one of those does not count it a second time.
• Retry is for Owners and Admins. Retry is refused while the account needs reconnecting.

• A Story (Instagram or Facebook) shows Published like any post, with "Published as a Story" and the time beside it on the post page, and a Story label on its row in the calendar and the content list. Instagram Story numbers are collected while Instagram keeps them (24 hours); Facebook does not share Story numbers. Records and Today's timeline also show Story beside the account.

Related

• Records
• Calendar
• Account health
• Notifications