Why does my post appear as "sent" in Metricool and not auto-published?
Updated last month
If you scheduled content for Instagram or TikTok and see the status "sent" in Metricool instead of "published," and you received a notification via email or on your mobile device, it means the post was configured for manual publishing.
When auto-publishing is turned off, Metricool doesn't publish automatically. Instead, it sends you a notification so you can complete the publication from the Instagram or TikTok native app.
The "sent" status means Metricool has already processed the post and the notification is on its way. From that point, you need to complete the publication manually.
What to do if you wanted auto-publishing
If the post already shows as "sent," you can't enable auto-publishing on that same post. The process has already started.
Option 1: Duplicate the post with auto-publishing enabled
Go to the Metricool calendar
Click on the post that was sent
Select Duplicate
In the duplicated post, turn on the Auto-publishing button
Schedule the post with a new date and time
Save the post
If the original post was scheduled for multiple social networks and some of them already published successfully, uncheck those networks before saving the duplicate to avoid posting them twice.
Option 2: Publish manually from the notification
If the timing works for you, complete the publication from the notification:
Open the notification you received (email or mobile app)
It will open the Instagram or TikTok app with the content ready
Publish from the native app
See the article on how to manually publish via notification for more details.
How to prevent this from happening again
Before saving any scheduled post, check that the Auto-publishing button is turned on.
If the auto-publishing button appears disabled and you can't turn it on, see Why can't I enable auto-publishing?
How planner settings carry over to new posts
The toggles you enable or disable in the composer are saved and applied to your next posts. For example, if you turn off Auto-publishing on a post, new posts will also have auto-publishing disabled until you turn it back on.
The same applies to other options, such as the URL shortener in Global Presets. The last configuration you saved remains active for new posts until you change it again.
Always review the composer toggles before saving a new post, especially if you recently switched a setting for a one-time manual publish.
See How Planning settings work for more details on how planner settings are configured and applied.