Can I Save Posts as Drafts?

We understand that, at times, you like to draft your posts and then revisit them later or share them with your team members to get their input for effective collaboration. This practice will help you avoid errors. Also, you might find a nice piece of content and wish to save it for later.

Hence, SocialPilot provides you with an option to save posts as drafts. 

Create and Save Posts as Drafts

Follow these steps to save posts as drafts:

1. Log into your SocialPilot account.
2. Click on 'Posts' -> Create Post. 
3. Create a post in the text box provided.
4. Click on the 'Save As Draft' button which is beside the 'Add to Queue' button. 

Now, your saved post will appear in 'Drafts'. 

Alternatively, your Post Composer is collapsible. This means that you can minimize the pop-up and revisit your current draft at any point.

While creating and saving a piece of content as a draft, you can save it with a date and time. This will not only allow you to plan your content better but also allow you to see all your content, including all queued and published posts, along with drafts in the calendar view.

From the calendar, you can drag and drop your content cards easily from one date or time to another, edit them, and schedule and reschedule them to be published.

For drafts visible on the calendar, you can open them and schedule them to be published on the date and time you have saved them with or at another time slot of your choosing. 

You can differentiate between posts and drafts in the calendar view with the help of a “Draft” badge, which can be seen on drafts but not on posts.

Let's see how you can add date and time to your drafts.

1. Log into your SocialPilot account.
2. Click on 'Posts' -> Create Post.

3. Create a post in the text box provided.

   

4. Now go to the button “Save as Draft” and click on the dropdown, which will show you the option of “Save Draft with Date.”

5. Click on the “Save Draft with Date” and, pick the date and time, and “Save” the draft with them.

   

   Your draft is now saved with the date and time you have chosen.

6. To see the draft with the time and date, you can go to Posts >> Drafts. Here, you will be able to see the draft, with or without dates assigned.

   

To access the Calendar view, go to Posts >> Calendar.

Here, you will be able to see queued posts, published posts, and drafts with dates and times added to them with a “Draft” badge on them.

There are filters available on the calendar that can help you see posts based on their STATUS including Queued, Delivered, and Draft.

What do dates on drafts mean?

Saving drafts with or without dates is completely the users’ choice. Both options are available. However, since saving drafts with dates makes them visible on the content calendar, taking them into account while planning your content for the upcoming week or month becomes easier.

However, these dates are just placeholders. No draft will be published automatically on the date assigned to it. A draft will only be queued to be published as a post when the user goes to the draft and clicks on one of the scheduling options. 

Other than being on the calendar, drafts with dates behave exactly like drafts without dates. 

You can as easily change or remove dates on a draft. Here’s how:

1. Go to Posts >> Drafts or find the draft in the Calendar.

2. In the Drafts list, click on the time stamp to change it.

   

   In the calendar view, clicking on the draft card will open it, and you can click on the dates to change it.

   

3. To delete the dates, click on the Edit icon on the draft card to open it in full view.

   

4. Now click on the time button or on the Update Draft with Date to open the time picker pop-up.

   

5. At the bottom of the pop-up, there is a Remove button. To remove the dates, click on that button.

   

Now this draft will not be visible on the calendar, but it still will be present on the Drafts list.

Manage and Schedule your Draft Posts

You can manage all your Draft posts in the 'Drafts' tab.

1. Click on 'Posts' -> Create Posts.

2. Click on the 'Drafts' tab beside the 'Create Post' tab.

   

3. You'll see a list of all of your saved posts.

4. You can edit/schedule the draft by clicking on the pen icon.

   

5. Once you click on the icon, you can edit the content and then select the account from which you want to publish the post.

6. Click on the 'Add to Queue' button or other scheduling options from the drop-down to schedule your saved post.

   

If you wish to delete a draft, find it in the 'Drafts' tab and click on the trash can icon. You can also delete drafts together by selecting the checkboxes on the left and then clicking on the 'Delete' button.