Forge Academy: Publishing Workflow

A publishing workflow is complete when the intended message appears on the intended account and the team can verify what happened. Writing, approval and scheduling are separate decisions along the way. Treating them separately makes it easier to prevent wrong-account posts, catch stale offers and investigate a failure without creating a duplicate.

This lesson follows the operational states around Forge's documented Manual, Auto and Batch controls. The state descriptions below are a working checklist, not a claim that every phrase is an interface label. For exact control definitions and reference charges, use the Forge User Guide and the current information in your account.

Identify the destination before preparing the release

Begin with the Node and its linked publishing surface. A channel is a connected platform account; a surface combines a platform with a format. “LinkedIn” alone is not a complete destination. Your operator needs to know the account identity and whether the selected format is appropriate for the text, media and link.

In Channels, check the intended account and its connection status. On the Node, inspect the surface and associated credential. A person who manages both a personal profile and a company page must confirm which identity will publish. If the credential needs reauthorisation, reconnect through Channels before proceeding.

Check the media required by that surface. Instagram Image, Facebook Image and Threads Image require an image in the documented workflow; supported text surfaces can have different requirements. Instagram Image requires JPEG. Apply both the current workspace upload limit and the selected surface's validation. A file being accepted into the Node does not remove the need to review the destination preview.

Give each operational state a clear meaning

Working state	What is established	What still needs checking
Prepared	The offer, destination and required assets have been identified	Whether the wording and claims are approved
Drafted	There is text to inspect	Accuracy, suitability, links and release authority
Approved for release	The responsible reviewer has accepted the specific content	Its timing and whether conditions will remain valid
Scheduled	A future publication or generation run is planned	What that run will do and whether the prerequisites remain available
Publication attempted	The workflow has tried to send the post	Whether it reached the destination successfully
Confirmed	Content History and the destination have been checked	Any follow-up, correction or later performance review

These distinctions matter particularly for Auto. A scheduled generation run with approval required is not the same event as an approved post already waiting to publish. Likewise, pressing a publish control is not sufficient evidence that the destination accepted the post.

Use Manual for one immediate, deliberate publication

Choose Manual on the selected surface. Write the commentary or use Generate, then review the actual draft. Confirm the factual claim, any limitations, the image, the link and the action you want the reader to take. Use Publish Now only when the content is ready to go live.

Manual publishes immediately; it is not a future scheduling mode. For example, if an illustrative consultancy announcement refers to a workshop taking place next month, Manual is appropriate only when you want the announcement published now. It does not make the workshop date the publishing date. Use Batch or Auto when you need future scheduling.

After publishing, check Content History and the destination account. Processing can take a few minutes. Preserve the publication ID if you need to investigate an uncertain or failed result.

Use Auto with an explicit review capacity

Choose Auto on a surface and configure frequency, days and time of day. Decide whether generated posts require approval before publication, then save. With approval required, generated content appears in Approvals; without it, the workflow publishes automatically. Start with approval while you establish that the Node produces suitable drafts.

Choose a schedule the reviewer can support. An illustrative plan of 2 generated posts per week needs capacity to examine those 2 drafts, resolve questions and act before the content becomes stale. More frequent generation does not create more review time. Check Content Plan for active automation and its next run. Verify that the timing shown corresponds to your intended publishing time; ask Support if the time basis is unclear.

Approval controls publication, not the generation event or its charge. A draft waiting in Approvals has already been generated. Deleting it does not return the generation credit. If you need to stop new drafts, review the automation's current settings and available controls; leaving drafts unapproved does not stop scheduled generation.

Reassess Auto when the offer changes. An expired promotion, withdrawn service or obsolete proof item can make previously suitable inputs unsafe to reuse. Update the source information and review upcoming activity before continuing. The content calendar guide develops the planning side of this decision.

Use Batch when the individual posts are already defined

Choose Batch and use Add variation for each prepared post. Review the commentary in every variation, choose a specific image when appropriate and use a custom URL only where the surface supports it. Configure the start date, frequency, days and time, inspect the estimated credits, then use Schedule Plan.

The number of variations must match the number of scheduled slots. In an illustrative release sequence, 4 variations require 4 slots. A plan with 4 variations and 3 slots will not be scheduled. A correct count does not establish editorial suitability: the post announcing registration must still precede the post saying registration is closing.

Inspect the resulting posts in Content Plan. If the remaining sequence is no longer appropriate, the documented Batch control is Deactivate plan. Confirm what remains scheduled after your action. Already published posts are a separate matter and should be checked on the destination platform.

Understand which event consumes credits

The owner-provided guide lists reference costs of 1 credit for a Manual publication, 1 credit per Auto-generated post and 1 credit per scheduled Batch post. These are reference charges; Billing remains the current source before you commit. The important operational distinction is that Auto charges at generation rather than approval.

The same guide describes automatic refunds for failed Manual and Batch publication, and for draft generation that fails validation. An Auto publication failure does not return the credit when generation succeeded. Do not infer a refund simply because a post has not appeared. Check the actual action, its status and the current guidance; raise a support ticket with the publication ID if you believe the charge is incorrect. The pricing guide explains workload planning in more detail.

Investigate exceptions without losing the publication trail

When the outcome is uncertain, first establish what is visible in Content History and on the destination. Avoid submitting the same message again while the original may still be processing.

• Credential error: reconnect the affected account in Channels, confirm its identity and investigate the original post before retrying.
• Required media or rejected image: check the surface's required format and current size limits, then correct the asset.
• Content validation failure: inspect the message against the selected format and edit the commentary where appropriate.
• Insufficient credits: check Billing and the cost of the intended action before continuing.
• Unexpected platform response: preserve the publication ID, check for an existing live post and contact Support if the problem persists.

If content reached the wrong account, treat it as an editorial incident rather than an ordinary retry. Inspect the live post, involve the account owner and decide the correction needed on that platform. Then correct the Node's linked surface or credential before the next publication. The content governance guide helps assign responsibility for such decisions.

Close the release with a short verification record

Record the intended account, the publication reference, the final message and any exception that required intervention. If a scheduled post depended on a date, offer or external page, note whether that dependency was still valid at release. This can be a team record outside Forge; it should not be assumed to be an additional built-in audit module.

A confirmed publication is ready for later observation, not an immediate performance verdict. Follow the Performance Loop lesson when supported data becomes available. If you need a first-pass setup before this operational routine, return to Getting Started.

Open Forge and trace one publication through destination, review, timing and confirmation. For help choosing the right mode for your review capacity, request a demo of your publishing workflow. The Forge overview explains how publication connects to the underlying business knowledge.