Managing and approving draft posts
⭐️ While drafts are available on all plans, approving drafts is only available on our Team and Agency plans.
In this article:
- Video walkthrough
- Creating draft posts
- Managing draft posts
- Managing approvals
- Frequently Asked Questions
Video walkthrough
In the video below, Katie walks you through the steps to manage your draft posts, as well as how to use Buffer to collaborate with your team through the post approval process.
Creating draft posts
All users with access to social channels, regardless of permissions, are able to create draft posts.
There are a couple of different places you can create draft posts:
- From any social channel’s queue
- From any social channel’s drafts tab (shown in the image just below)
- From the calendar
To understand how to best use drafts, head to this article: Saving and scheduling draft posts
Managing draft posts
Your permission level will dictate which options you have available to you when managing draft posts.
Account owners and users with Full Posting Access are able to edit, delete, and move all drafts to the queue.
Users with Approval Required Access are only able to edit, delete, and request approval on their own drafts.
Requesting approval on a draft
As a user with Approval Required Access, you will need to request approval on your draft once you're happy with it. To do so, simply click Request Approval and your draft will be moved to the "Approvals" tab.
📝 If you are the account owner or a user with Full Posting Access, you will not have the option to request approval on your drafts.
Reverting approval on a draft
If you've already requested approval but want to keep working on your draft, you can move it back to the drafts list by clicking Revert Approval Request.
Adding a draft to the queue
As the account owner or a user with Full Posting Access, you can move any draft from the drafts list to the queue even if the user who created the draft has not yet requested approval. If you're ready to schedule the post, you should see one of two options:
- Clicking Add to Queue means no day and time was selected, so it will get added to the next available queue slot.
- Clicking Schedule Post means it has a pre-set day and time and will be scheduled at the date and time it was pre-scheduled for.
If a user with Approval Required Access has already requested approval on a post, it will appear in the Approvals tab. Account owners and users with Full Posting Access can review and approve posts there.
Editing or deleting a draft
If you want to make modifications to a draft, click Edit, make any changes you like and then click Save. Likewise, if you'd like to remove a draft completely, click Delete and then Confirm. Remember, the account owner and users with Full Posting Access can edit any drafts, while users with Approval Required Access can only edit their own.
Managing approvals
Draft posts that users with Approval Required Access have requested approval on will appear in the Awaiting Approval tab, where both the account owner and users with Full Posting Access are able to review and approve them.
📝 If you'd like to receive an email when a new draft is ready to review, click your profile avatar at the top right of your dashboard, followed by My Preferences. From there, select the Notifications tab and toggle the "Collaboration" notification to Enabled.
Editing and approving draft posts
If you'd like to make modifications to a draft post in your Drafts or Approvals areas, click Edit, make any changes you'd like, and then click Save. When the post is ready, simply click the Approve button on the post.
- If you see Approve & Add to Queue, it means the post doesn't have a pre-set day and time, so it'll get added to the next available timeslot.
- If you see Approve & Schedule Post, there's a day and time set, so it'll get scheduled for the day and time it was pre-scheduled for.
Moving a draft post back to the drafts list
If you'd like to move the post back to the drafts list so that the user can continue to work on it, click Move to Drafts, and the user who created the post will receive an email notification as long as they have their "Collaboration" notifications set to enabled.
Deleting a draft post
If you'd like to remove the post completely, click Delete and then Confirm.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it possible to see a list of all posts awaiting approval? Can I approve all of my organization's drafts in one place?
Yes, by using our All Channels view (currently in Beta), you can access a list of all of your posts that are awaiting approval, making the approvals process super easy and efficient. Learn more about How you can use the All Channels view in Buffer here.
