How to Turn a Spreadsheet Into Scheduled Posts in Seconds

If, like me, you like a little bit of content material batching — I wager you’ve a spreadsheet for that. 👀

What if I instructed you *waggles eyebrows* that you do not have to manually copy-paste each single put up into your social media scheduling device?

Bulk Add does that in a single go.

You construct a CSV, add it to a channel, and the posts land in your queue or your drafts. It is obtainable on each Buffer plan, together with Free.

Beneath are directions for creating the spreadsheet, importing it, and a little bit of troubleshooting recommendation (simply in case).

Bye-bye, busywork!

Key takeaways

• Bulk Add is accessible on each Buffer plan, together with Free.
• Free plan: as much as 10 posts per channel per add, restricted additional by the slots left in your queue. Paid plans: as much as 100 posts per channel per add.
• Go over your plan’s restrict and Buffer schedules posts as much as the restrict, then skips the remainder — with out displaying an error.
• Bulk Add solely handles textual content and single-image posts proper now.
• The Posting Time column should be YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm in 24-hour time, zero-padded. Excel usually robotically reformats this column, so for those who’re working into points, it is most likely this!
• Each picture wants a public, direct URL that ends with a file extension. Google Drive and Dropbox share hyperlinks should be transformed first.

What Buffer’s Bulk Add does

Bulk Add helps you to add a batch of posts to a Buffer channel directly by importing a CSV file. Every row within the file turns into one put up. You may set the textual content, a picture, tags, and a posting time per row, then ship the entire batch to your queue or reserve it as drafts.

It is obtainable on each Buffer plan, together with Free. You will discover the choice inside the channel settings.

Bulk Add works per channel, quite than per account. So you may add one CSV to at least one channel at a time. Proper now, the Bulk Add function helps textual content and single photos solely (however watch this area for updates on that entrance!) 👀

What number of posts you possibly can add on every plan

Buffer’s Free plan helps as much as 10 scheduled posts per channel, so that may come into play right here, too. For instance, in case your Fb Web page already has three posts scheduled, you possibly can add seven extra.

Find out how to bulk add posts in Buffer

Step 1. Obtain the CSV template

We have prepped the spreadsheet (CSV) for you for every channel, and you will find it proper inside Buffer.

To get our CSV template:

• Click on the Publish tab within the left sidebar.
• Choose the channel you need to add posts to.
• Click on the gear icon (⚙️) subsequent to the channel identify.
• Click on the Common tab.
• Click on Bulk Add.
• Click on Obtain Template.

Remember to seize a contemporary spreadsheet for every channel and each new Bulk Add, as a result of templates differ by channel. Pinterest, for instance, wants a Board Identify column that Instagram’s template would not have. Add a file lacking a column that the channel requires, and the posts will not undergo.

Step 2. Fill in your posts

Add your content material to the spreadsheet. One row = one put up.

This is what every column within the spreadsheet does:

Some useful tricks to bear in mind while you add your posts to the spreadsheet:

• Column titles are case-sensitive and should match the template precisely. (So do not make any adjustments there.)
• Each put up wants textual content, a picture URL, or each. Instagram posts want a picture URL. Pinterest posts want a board identify.
• No clean rows between posts. An empty row can cease the add from finishing.
• Save as CSV UTF-8 for those who’re utilizing emojis in your posts. Excel and Google Sheets each produce dependable recordsdata; Apple Numbers and a few third-party CSV instruments can add invisible characters or change your column headers.

Listed here are a number of extra how-tos:

Find out how to add line breaks to your put up textual content

To get paragraph breaks inside a put up, add the road break within the Textual content cell itself: Ctrl + Enter on Home windows, Cmd + Enter on Mac. Edit contained in the cell, not the method bar.

Find out how to bulk add photos

Each picture wants a direct URL: a hyperlink that ends in a file extension and opens the picture by itself, not inside an internet web page. It additionally must be seen to anybody with the hyperlink.

A standard Google Drive or Dropbox share hyperlink will not work till you exchange it:

• Google Drive: set entry to Anybody with the hyperlink, then take the file ID from the URL (the lengthy string between /d/ and /view) and rebuild it as https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=FILE_ID
• Dropbox: affirm Anybody with the hyperlink can view, then change the tip of the URL from dl=0 to uncooked=1
• Imgur: hyperlinks are public by default, so simply right-click the picture, open it in a brand new tab, and use that URL

Hold photos below 5MB — bigger recordsdata might fail to load.

Alternatively, you possibly can skip including picture URLs within the CSV and easily add your posts as drafts. From there, you’ll have the ability to add the precise photos to every put up instantly in Buffer earlier than scheduling.

Find out how to use the Tags column

‘Tags’ right here means Buffer tags — the labels you employ to arrange and report on posts — not hashtags. They’re case-sensitive, and so they should exist already in your account. If a tag in your CSV would not exist, Buffer imports the put up and drops the tag. The tag simply will not seem.

Hashtags go within the Textual content column with the remainder of your caption.

Step 3. Add, evaluation, and make sure

With all of your posts correctly added to the template spreadsheet, you are virtually there! Subsequent:

1. From the Publish tab, choose your channel.
2. Click on the gear icon (⚙️) subsequent to the channel identify.
3. Click on the Common tab, then Bulk Add.
4. Click on Add File and select your CSV.

Buffer reads the file and reveals you a preview on the Overview Content material display screen. That preview is your affirmation that the file was parsed — for those who do not see it, the add did not undergo.

Observe that seeing the preview doesn’t suggest your put up is already scheduled. You could click on both Add Posts to Queue or Save as Drafts. Shut the dialog earlier than selecting one, and nothing is added.

Drafts are the safer choice if you wish to add media or first feedback earlier than something goes out.

If particular person rows have issues, you may see the error beneath every one. After the nice posts are scheduled, you possibly can click on Obtain CSV with put up errors to get simply the damaged rows again, repair them, and re-upload — a lot better than looking by way of 80 strains to search out the three that failed.

4 methods creators, manufacturers, and companies use Bulk Add

Break one lengthy piece right into a month of posts. Flip a weblog put up, video script, or podcast episode into a number of bite-sized updates, add them in a single go, and fill your queue for weeks. Writing them in a sheet is quicker than writing them in a composer, and turning one lengthy piece right into a month of posts is the place Bulk Add is an absolute winner for me.

Arrange seasonal and recurring content material in a single sitting. Vacation promos, “Tip Tuesday,” month-to-month newsletters — prep them as soon as, add, and Buffer will deal with the remainder.

Load a full month per shopper. Should you’re working a number of accounts, one CSV per shopper channel is a really completely different afternoon from clicking by way of the composer 60 occasions. Pair it with the crew options constructed for companies for approvals.

Transfer a calendar over from one other device. Export scheduled content material from an previous platform into CSV, tweak as wanted, and import instantly into Buffer with out rebuilding all the things put up by put up. We’ll dig into this just a little extra beneath!

Transferring your content material calendar over from one other device

Should you’re switching schedulers, you most likely have already got a CSV — most instruments will export your scheduled content material. Getting it into Buffer is generally a reshaping job.

1. Export your scheduled posts out of your present device.
2. Obtain Buffer’s template for the channel you are transferring, and duplicate your content material into it. Your caption column turns into Textual content; your date column turns into Posting Time, reformatted to YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm.
3. Kind out your photos. Exported recordsdata normally reference photos saved contained in the previous device. These URLs will not work, so re-upload the pictures someplace public and use direct hyperlinks.
4. Depart the unsupported stuff behind. Movies, carousels, and first feedback will not switch — flag these rows and rebuild them within the composer. I like to recommend importing the textual content as a draft as a part of the majority add, and simply including the ultimate parts in evaluation.
5. Add in batches that suit your plan’s restrict.

If you wish to reformat the spreadsheet you are utilizing, quite than use Buffer’s template, that is an choice too. I undoubtedly advocate you obtain Buffer’s model anyway to cross-check the 2, and ensure each column is accurately named and makes use of the precise format.

Continuously requested questions

Are you able to bulk add posts to Buffer on the Free plan?

Sure. Bulk Add is accessible on each Buffer plan, together with Free. On Free, you possibly can add as much as 10 posts per channel per add, restricted additional by what number of slots are left in your queue.

What number of posts are you able to bulk add directly?

As much as 10 per channel per add on the Free plan, and as much as 100 per channel per add on paid plans. The restrict is per channel, per add, so you possibly can run a number of uploads in a row.

Are you able to bulk add movies or reels?

No. Bulk Add helps textual content and single-image posts solely. Video posts, together with reels, should be created within the composer.

Why did solely a few of my posts add?

You probably went over your plan’s per-upload restrict. Buffer schedules posts as much as the restrict and skips the remainder with out displaying an error. Break up the file into smaller batches, or test your plan’s restrict.

Does bulk add work for Instagram?

Sure, however each row wants a picture URL — Instagram posts cannot be text-only. Uploads create commonplace Instagram posts; you possibly can’t mark a row as a reel or a narrative, although you possibly can add a picture put up and change it to a narrative in your queue earlier than it publishes.

Are you able to bulk add to Pinterest?

Sure, utilizing Buffer’s Pinterest template. It wants the identify of an current board, takes every Pin’s description from the Textual content column, and contains optionally available Title, Alt Textual content, and Hyperlink fields.

Why is not my picture displaying up?

Normally, the hyperlink is not a direct picture URL. Examine that it ends in a file extension, that sharing is ready to public or anybody with the hyperlink, that the file is below 5MB, and that opening it in a brand new tab reveals the picture by itself quite than inside an internet web page.

Tell us for those who’re caught!

Bulk Add is quicker, less complicated, and designed to suit the way in which you already work. Whether or not you’re managing a handful of posts or 100, it will prevent time and assist you keep constant.

If one thing will not add, the step-by-step troubleshooting information goes deeper than this text does, and our crew will fortunately have a look at your CSV for those who’re caught.

Skip the busywork and check out Bulk Add in your Buffer dashboard in the present day →