Post Status and Failures
Track your scheduled social posts on the Publish tab, understand each status, cancel or retry a post, fix common failures, and learn how posting locks a design.
After you schedule a design, its post shows under Scheduled Posts on the Publish tab of the design editor. From there you can see where each post is up to, look at its details, cancel it, or retry it if it failed.
How to create a post is covered in Scheduling a Post.
Quick start (5 minutes)
- Open the design and click Publish in the side tabs. A design with posts opens on Socials for you.
- Find your post under Scheduled Posts.
- Read its badge: Sending to Instagram, Scheduled, Published to Instagram or a red failed line.
- Click Details to see the preview, caption and settings.
- To stop it, click Cancel Post. If it failed, click Retry or Dismiss.
Example: a café schedules a post for Friday at 9:00 AM. The card shows Sending to Instagram, then Scheduled with “Scheduled for Oct 31, 9:00 AM”. On Friday it changes to Published to Instagram, with a View on Instagram button.
The Scheduled Posts list
Scheduled Posts lists every post made from this design, newest first, on every platform. Published posts stay in the list too. Cancelled and dismissed posts are removed from it.
Each scheduled post shows:
- A status badge, like Scheduled.
- The platform and post type, like “Instagram Reel”.
- When it goes out, like “Scheduled for Oct 31, 9:00 AM”.
- The slides it uses, like “Slides 1, 2, 3”.
The list updates by itself every few seconds while a post is sending or scheduled, so you can leave the tab open and watch.
What each status means
| Status | What it means | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| Sending to Instagram | Orsa is handing the post and its files over for posting. | Details, Cancel Post |
| Scheduled | The post was accepted and is waiting for its time. | Details, Cancel Post |
| Published to Instagram | The post is live. | Open the card, View on Instagram |
| Post failed (red) | The post didn’t go out. The reason follows, like “Reel failed · Not sent: brand is not active”. | Retry, Dismiss |
The badge uses your platform’s name, like Sending to TikTok or Published to LinkedIn. The red line starts with the post type, like “Post failed” or “Story failed”.
A post set to Post now goes through the same steps. It goes live about 2 minutes after you confirm.
See a post’s details
- Click Details on a sending or scheduled post.
- You see:
- A preview of the post in a mock-up of the app, with your caption.
- Advanced: each option you set, like “Collaborators: @harborcoffee” or “Made for kids: No”.
- Slides: each slide, whether it’s an image or video, its alt text and tags, and a View file link to the exact file being posted.
- Click Hide details to close it.
Published posts
A live post shows as Published to Instagram (or your platform), with the date, the format, like Carousel or Video, and for some platforms who can see it.
Click the card to open it:
- A copy of the post with your account name, slides and caption. Click …more to read a long caption.
- View on Instagram opens the live post. It appears once the platform sends Orsa the post’s link.
- Post settings lists the settings the post went out with. They’re “Set at publish — change these on Instagram directly”.
Orsa can’t edit or delete a published post. Do that in the platform’s own app.
Cancel a post
You can cancel a post while it’s Sending or Scheduled.
- Click Cancel Post on the post. It asks “Cancel this post? It won’t be published.”
- Click Cancel Post again to confirm, or Keep. You see “Post cancelled” and the post leaves the list.
If the platform can’t remove it from its queue right now, you see “Couldn’t cancel this post on Instagram. Try again in a moment” (with your platform) and the post stays scheduled.
When you cancel:
- The post is removed from the platform’s queue, so it won’t go out.
- It no longer counts toward your social post allowance.
- The design unlocks, unless another post is still scheduled or published.
- The design’s Status stays as it is. It doesn’t go back from Approved.
Cancel well before the post’s time. A post that’s already live can’t be cancelled.
Change a scheduled post
There’s no way to edit a scheduled post. To change the time, caption, slides or any option:
- Click Cancel Post.
- Make your changes to the design, if needed. It’s unlocked now.
- Click New Post and schedule it again.
Example: a shop scheduled a sale post for 9:00 AM but the sale now starts at noon. It cancels the post, fixes the time on the design, and schedules a new post for 11:30 AM.
Retry or dismiss a failed post
A failed post shows as a red line with the reason, like “Post failed · Not sent: brand is not active”. Long reasons are cut short. Click (or tap) the line to read all of it.
- Retry sends the post again with the same files and settings. You see “Retrying post”, and the post goes back to Sending. If its time has passed, it goes out about 2 minutes after you click Retry.
- Dismiss asks “Dismiss this failed post?”. Click Dismiss again to remove it from the list. You see “Post cancelled”.
You can retry a post up to 3 times. After that, Retry is replaced by Retry limit reached. Click Dismiss and create a new post. A retry also counts toward your social post allowance, so it’s refused when you’ve reached the limit.
Fix the cause before you click Retry. Otherwise it fails again for the same reason.
Common failure messages and fixes
| Message | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| “Not sent: brand is not active” | Your brand isn’t active, for example because it hasn’t finished setup. | Finish setting up the brand (see Creating and Setting Up a Brand), then click Retry. |
| “Not sent: no connected instagram account” (with your platform) | The account was disconnected after you scheduled. | Connect it again (see Connecting Your Social Accounts), then click Retry. |
| “Publishing failed. Please retry” | Something went wrong while handing the post over. | Click Retry. |
| Any other message | The platform turned the post down and said why. | Read the reason. If it looks temporary, click Retry. If something about the post needs to change, click Dismiss, fix the design and create a new post. |
Messages you might see before the post is created, in the preview or as a pop-up:
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| “No connected instagram account” (with your platform) | Connect the account. See Connecting Your Social Accounts. |
| “Social post limit reached for this period. Upgrade your plan or add a Social Post Pack for more.” | See Plans and Billing. |
| “Another post is scheduled within 2 minutes of this time” | Move the time a few minutes. See Platform Rules for Posts. |
| “Failed to generate media for the post” | Try again, tick fewer slides, or lower Pixel ratio in Export settings. |
Rules that block the schedule button, like slide counts and caption length, are in Platform Rules for Posts.
Get notified when a post goes out or fails
Orsa sends a Social publishing notification to the bell when a post goes live or fails:
- “Instagram post published”, with the design’s name.
- “Instagram post failed”, with the design’s name and the reason.
It goes to the person who created the design and everyone assigned to it. Click it to open the design.
To turn these off, go to My Account and switch off Social publishing under Notifications. See Notifications.
Design lock and status changes
Scheduling a post changes the design too.
The design locks. While a post is sending, scheduled or published:
- A banner at the top of the canvas says, for example, “Scheduled to Instagram — editing is locked”, with the time. Click Manage in Publish on it to open the Publish tab.
- The canvas, pages and Info fields are read-only.
- Delete Design is greyed out. Its tooltip says “Locked: this design has a social post scheduled or already published”.
Cancelling every scheduled post unlocks the design. Failed posts don’t lock it. A design with a published post stays locked for good. To reuse it, duplicate it from its card on the Create page and edit the copy. More in Locked designs.
Email deliveries never lock a design.
The status changes by itself:
- When a post is Scheduled, the design’s Status becomes Approved, unless it’s already Approved or Published.
- When a post is Published, the design’s Status becomes Published.
Example: a designer leaves a design in Review. A teammate schedules it anyway. The design moves to Approved, then to Published on the day it goes live.
Ideas for keeping on top of your posts
A Monday check.
An agency opens the Calendar each Monday, clicks each of the week’s designs, and checks on its Publish tab that every post says Scheduled.
React to failures fast.
A café owner keeps Social publishing notifications on. When “Instagram post failed” arrives, she clicks it, reads the reason on the Publish tab, fixes it and clicks Retry.
Last-minute change.
A shop spots a typo an hour before posting. It clicks Cancel Post, fixes the caption and schedules a new post for the same time.
Tips for the best results
- Keep Social publishing notifications on, so a failed post doesn’t go unnoticed.
- Fix the cause before you click Retry. You only get 3 retries.
- Get sign-off before you schedule. Scheduling moves the design to Approved on its own. See Reviews and Approvals.
- Cancel early. Cancel well before the post’s time if you change your mind.
- Duplicate published designs to make a new version, rather than trying to edit the original.
Common questions
How do I edit a scheduled post? You can’t. Click Cancel Post, make your changes and create a new post.
My post has said Scheduled for days. That’s normal. It stays Scheduled until its time, then changes to Published.
My post is published but there’s no View on Instagram button. The link appears once the platform sends it to Orsa. Check back a little later.
Retry disappeared. The post has been retried 3 times. Click Dismiss and create a new post.
My failed post’s reason is cut off. Click (or tap) the red line to read the full message.
I cancelled a post. Is it deleted from Instagram? A cancelled post never went out, so there’s nothing on Instagram. To remove a post that’s already live, delete it in Instagram.
Why is my design locked? It has a post that’s sending, scheduled or published. Cancel the scheduled posts to unlock it. Published designs stay locked, so duplicate the design to make changes.
Why did my design’s status change to Approved? Scheduling a social post moves the design to Approved. It moves to Published when the post goes live.
Who gets the published or failed notification? The design’s creator and everyone assigned to it, unless they’ve turned off Social publishing.
Do failed posts count toward my allowance? No. Only sending, scheduled and published posts count. A failed post counts again once you click Retry.
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