Auto Publish vs. Notification Publishing & How to Switch

This article walks you through the difference between Auto Publish and notification publishing and how to you can switch between them. 

The Difference between Auto Publish and Notification Publishing

Auto Publish

Auto Publish posts will automatically be published at their scheduled time. Once you’ve scheduled an Auto Publish post, no further action is required. 

Notification Publishing

If you select Send Notification while scheduling, Later will send a push notification to your mobile device at your post’s scheduled date and time. From there, you'll need to open the notification and complete the publishing process manually. 

Later then helps streamline the process by saving or opening your media, depending on the post type, and automatically copying your caption so you can paste it when publishing.

Before using notification publishing, make sure you’ve set up user notifications. To learn how, see Set Up User Notifications.

For step-by-step publishing instructions, see Publish Instagram Posts Using Notification Publishing.

If you miss your post notification, you can still access and publish your pending posts through Later’s mobile apps. For details, see Publish Instagram Posts Using Notification Publishing.

Switch Your Publishing Method

Once Auto Publish is enabled, you can switch an eligible Instagram or TikTok post between auto publishing and notification publishing at any time before it is published. Here’s how:

1. Open a post that is not yet published from your Calendar, or create a new post
2. At the top of the Post Builder, select the current publishing method
3. Select your preferred publishing method from the dropdown
4. Select Save

Set a Default Publishing Method

Once you set up Auto Publish, any new eligible Instagram and TikTok posts will be set to Auto Publish by default. If you prefer the default to be notification posts, you can change this setting per profile from app.later.com on desktop:

1. Navigate to Settings > Social Sets & Access Groups
2. Select Edit next to the Access Group that contains the profile(s) for which you’d like to change the default
3. Select Edit next to the Instagram or TikTok profile to open up the settings for that profile
4. Select Auto Publish
5. Toggle Auto Publish Posts by Default on or off
   • You can also toggle whether you’d like to receive a notification to let you know once a post has been auto published
6. Select Save
7. Repeat for any other profiles, if desired
   • Each individual TikTok or Instagram profile can have its own default

Why Is Auto Publish Not Available for My Post?

Due to API limitations, Auto Publish isn’t available for every post type or social profile.

If you don’t see the Auto Publish option in the Post Builder, one of the following may be true:

• You haven’t enabled Auto Publish for the profile.
• You need to refresh your social profile.
• The post type doesn’t support Auto Publish.
• The social profile doesn’t support Auto Publish.
• You’re creating or editing a post that must be published through notification publishing.

Notification publishing is only available for Instagram and TikTok.

Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube Shorts, LinkedIn, Threads, and Snapchat posts will always be auto published.