Manage the queue

The queue is your scheduled Notes in time order, in My Notes → Scheduled notes with the Queue view. Add a Note with Add to Queue for the next free time, or pick an exact time. Scheduling works on a computer, not on a phone.

With the browser extension installed, a Note you add to the queue is scheduled on Substack right away, and Substack publishes it at its time. Notes scheduled without the extension need a sync. See Sync.

Add one Note at the next available timeCopy Anchor Link

1. Open the Note in the editor.
2. Make sure the menu next to the schedule button reads When: Next Available.
3. Click Add to Queue. The button shows the date and time it will use, and the tag name if it is a time reserved for that tag.

The Note takes the first free time in your weekly template that fits its tags. See Tags and slots.

If no open or matching time is free, the Note takes the next free time of any kind, including reserved times. If you have no weekly times at all, WriteStack asks you to pick a date and time instead.

From a Note card in Drafts or Ready you can also use the calendar icon, or Add to queue in the card menu on a phone.

Add a Note at a custom timeCopy Anchor Link

1. Open the Note in the editor.
2. In the When: menu, pick Set Date and Time.
3. Click Select and schedule.
4. Pick the day and time, then click Schedule to followed by the time.

Tags don't matter for a custom time. If the time matches a weekly time that has cross-post channels, those channels still apply.

Put a Note on a specific empty timeCopy Anchor Link

1. In the queue, click an empty time ("Add a note").
2. Pick one:
   • Write a new note: "Start a blank note in this time". If the time is reserved for tags, the new Note starts with them.
   • Choose from Ready/Drafts…: "Schedule a note you already wrote". Click Schedule here next to a Note.

If a Note doesn't fit that time, the picker says so, for example "This time is reserved for Promo".

Other options in the When menuCopy Anchor Link

Move a scheduled NoteCopy Anchor Link

To reschedule a Note, meaning change the day or time it posts:

• Drag it in the queue onto an empty time, or onto another Note to take that Note's time.
• Open it and use Set Date and Time to pick a new time.

If you drop it on a time with cross-post channels, the Note takes those channels. You can't move a Note into the past ("Can't schedule in the past"), and evergreen reposts can't be moved.

Unschedule a NoteCopy Anchor Link

To cancel a scheduled Note without deleting it, unschedule it. Unscheduling takes a Note out of the queue and off the Substack schedule. It isn't deleted.

• In the queue: click the unschedule icon on the Note. It moves to Drafts.
• In the editor: click Unschedule note, then Move to ready or Move to drafts.
• Several at once: click Select in Scheduled notes, pick Notes, then Unschedule (N) → Move to Drafts or Move to Ready.

Unscheduling isn't available on a phone.

Edit a scheduled NoteCopy Anchor Link

To change the text, images or tags of a Note that's already scheduled, open it and edit. Until the change reaches Substack, the editor shows "Not synced (click Sync to Substack or close the editor to sync)". Click Sync to Substack or close the editor.

Schedule many Notes at onceCopy Anchor Link

1. Go to My Notes → More actions → Batch schedule. Or, in Drafts or Ready, click Select, pick Notes, then Batch → Batch schedule.
2. Choose Drafts or Ready, then queue all of them or click Select Notes to pick some.
3. Optional: open Cross-post to Buffer or Automations to set channels or auto-restack for every Note in the batch.
4. Click Review Schedule. The button shows how many Notes fit your plan, for example "Review Schedule (12/20 notes)".
5. Check the dates. Shuffle List mixes the order. Smart Shuffle "Shuffles, then spreads notes so each batch mixes all your tags."
6. Click Start Schedule and keep the tab open.

Each Note takes the next free time that fits its tags, as with Add to Queue. Click Stop to stop partway.

Batch scheduling isn't available on a phone.

Notes with no matching queue timeCopy Anchor Link

When you schedule several Notes, some may fit nowhere. This usually means they have no tags and every free time is reserved for tags, or their tags don't match any time.

WriteStack then shows a dialog titled "N notes have no matching queue time", listing those Notes. Choose:

If the tags you added still don't match, you see "Those tags still don't match a queue time. Add a matching tag or use the next available times."

LimitsCopy Anchor Link

If it doesn't workCopy Anchor Link