Schedule a Facebook post from your computer or phone

Facebook builds scheduling into Pages and into groups you help run. Where you post decides which steps you follow.

If clients find you through a Page, you're set: everything below works. If you've only ever posted from your personal profile, Buffer says Facebook doesn't offer scheduling there ^[4], and that turning on professional mode adds it ^[4]. Meta calls it pro mode. It adds professional tools to the profile you already have, without making a new one ^[5].

To turn it on, click your profile photo, then your name, then Options below your cover photo, and Turn on pro mode ^[5].

1. Switch to the Page you want to post as ^[1].
2. Click Meta Business Suite in the left menu, then Create post below your Page's profile picture.
3. Add your text, photos or video.
4. Next to Scheduling options, turn on Set date and time.
5. Pick the date and time. Click Active times if you'd like Facebook's suggested hours.
6. Click Schedule.

Any time from 20 minutes to 29 days away works ^[1]. That's about four weeks, so you can set up a month of posts in one sitting, but not a quarter.

Times follow your current time zone ^[1]. If most of your clients live in another city, convert the time before you pick it. Active times suggests hours from when your followers were most active on Facebook and Instagram over the past seven days ^[6].

On a phone, Meta's steps use the Meta Business Suite app, which schedules posts, stories and reels ^[2].

1. Open the app and tap Content in the bar at the bottom ^[2].
2. Choose Posts, Reels or Stories at the top, then tap Create.
3. Add your text and a photo or video, then tap Next.
4. Tap Schedule for later and choose the date and time ^[2].
5. Tap Schedule.

The post then sits on its date in Planner ^[2]. Meta Business Suite is free, on a computer and in the app ^[7].

Go back to Meta Business Suite from your Page and click Planner in the left menu ^[1]. Switch between Week and Month at the top left, click the post, then click Options ^[1]. From there you can:

• Edit the post's text, media, link or location ^[1].
• Duplicate it as a new post ^[1].
• Reschedule it to a new date and time ^[1].
• Move it to drafts, which cancels the time but keeps the post, or delete it outright ^[1].

The Content tab in Business Suite sorts your posts by status ^[6], so its Scheduled tab is the quick way to see what's still waiting.

If you run a group for clients or your community, you can schedule there too. Admins and moderators can schedule group posts ^[3]. On a computer ^[3]:

1. Go to facebook.com/groups and pick your group.
2. Click Write something and write the post.
3. Click Calendar next to Post.
4. Pick the date and time, then click Schedule.

The Calendar button only shows once you've started typing ^[3]. To change a post later, open Scheduled posts in the Admin tools menu, where you can reschedule it or post it now ^[3].

Admins can also set a post to repeat daily, weekly or monthly with Admin Assist ^[3]. It suits a thread you'd otherwise post by hand every week.

Meta Business Suite can schedule one post to your Page and your Instagram account together ^[6]. Pick both under Post to, then change the caption for each one if you'd like ^[6].

Check two things first. Business Suite caps an Instagram post at ten photos ^[6]. And Meta's own troubleshooting page warns that a post scheduled to both may not go out on both ^[8], so look at each account once the time has passed.

Sizes differ between the two, so check social media image sizes before you upload. For Instagram's own scheduling options, see how to schedule Instagram posts.

• You're on your personal profile. Switch to your Page first, or turn on pro mode ^[4].
• The time is too close or too far. A Page post has to be between 20 minutes and 29 days away ^[1].
• You don't have the right access to the Page. Scheduling needs Facebook access or task access ^[1], or in Business Suite, full control or content permission ^[6]. Ask the Page's owner to give it to you ^[8].
• You're in a group but not an admin or moderator. Only they get the Calendar button ^[3].
• The post also goes to Instagram, and Instagram has a problem. Meta says to check for unresolved issues in the Instagram app first ^[8].

If a post was scheduled but never went out, open Business Suite, click Content, then Scheduled, and look for an error ^[8]. Meta's fix is to open the post and click Publish now ^[8].

Start with your own followers. The Active times button in Business Suite suggests hours from when they were most active over the past seven days ^[6].

The big studies split on the hour. Buffer's top Facebook slot is 9 a.m. on Thursday ^[9], while Sprout Social's best window is 12 to 8 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays ^[10]. The best time to post on Facebook guide shows how to test both on your own Page.

Plan the week in the content calendar template first, then schedule straight from it.

Meta Business Suite covers Facebook and Instagram. If your week also goes to LinkedIn, TikTok or YouTube, you'll be scheduling in three or four places, and that's when one calendar for every network saves the most time.

Before you pick one, check it can post to the kind of Facebook account you use. Buffer, for one, says it doesn't connect to personal or professional-mode profiles at all ^[4].

Postmosis schedules posts to a connected Facebook Page from the same calendar as your Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube and Threads posts, in your own time zone, once your accounts are connected. A Facebook post can go with text alone, up to 10 pictures or one video, and shows Scheduled, Posted with a link, or Failed with the reason and a Retry. See scheduling