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Page Scheduling

Page scheduling lets authors finish a SharePoint page or news post today and have it go live automatically at a future date and time. A site owner enables the capability on the Site Pages library, after which any author can set a publish date on an individual page. Until the scheduled moment arrives, the page remains a draft visible only to people who can edit the site, which makes it ideal for announcements, campaigns, and time-sensitive communications.
Related Features
News Post, Page, Page Approval, Site Pages Library

Common Use Cases

  • Timed announcements: news posts written in advance that go live exactly when the organization is ready to share them
  • Campaign launches: benefits enrollment, events, and initiative pages that appear on the launch date, not before
  • Coverage during absences: communicators queue content ahead of vacations and holidays so publishing continues without them
  • Regional timing: posts scheduled to land at the start of the workday for a particular office or time zone
  • Embargoed content: organizational changes and sensitive updates prepared early but held until the official moment
  • Steady news cadence: a backlog of stories scheduled across the week to keep the intranet feeling fresh

Benefits

  • Publish without being online: the page goes live automatically, even when the author is unavailable
  • Separation of writing and timing: content is finished when convenient and released when strategic
  • Drafts stay private: until the scheduled moment, the page remains a draft hidden from regular site visitors
  • Clear visibility: a schedule icon next to the page in the Site Pages library shows what is queued
  • Works with approval: scheduling and page approval combine so reviewed content still launches on time
  • No third-party tools: scheduling is native to SharePoint, with no extra licensing or external publishing tools

How It Works

  • Enabled per site: a site owner turns scheduling on for the Pages library, making the option available to authors
  • Scheduled per page: each page or news post gets its own scheduling toggle with a publish date and time
  • Draft until the moment: the page stays a draft, then publishes automatically at the scheduled time
  • Two scheduling surfaces: authors can schedule from the page details while editing or from the details pane of the Pages library
  • News behaves like news: a scheduled news post starts appearing in news web parts and feeds once it goes live
  • Removing a schedule: scheduling can be removed from a page, after which it can be published immediately like any other page

Limits and Nuances

  • Rescheduling after edits is mandatory: a scheduled page that is edited will not publish at all unless it is scheduled again
  • No subsite support: scheduling is not available on subsites
  • Site owner controls the switch: only a site owner can enable or disable scheduling for a site
  • Approval comes first: on sites with page approval, a scheduled page must be approved before it can publish, and late approval publishes it immediately
  • Publication only: scheduling sets a go-live moment, and there is no companion setting to unpublish a page at a future date
  • Content type changes can interfere: Microsoft documents that pages switched to a different content type may lose the ability to schedule

Common Questions About Page Scheduling

How do I schedule a SharePoint page or news post?

Scheduling happens in two steps. A site owner first enables scheduling for the site’s Pages library. After that, any author can turn on the scheduling toggle in a page’s details, pick a date, enter a time, and schedule the page. From that moment the page is queued and publishes automatically at the chosen time.

Can people see a scheduled page before it goes live?

Regular site visitors cannot. A scheduled page remains a draft until its publish time arrives, so it is visible only to people with edit rights on the site, such as authors and owners. Once the scheduled moment passes, the page publishes automatically and becomes visible to everyone with access to the site.

What happens if I edit a page after scheduling it?

You must schedule it again. Editing a scheduled page, whether to change content or adjust timing, cancels the queued publication, and the page will not publish at any time unless the schedule is reapplied. You can also remove scheduling entirely during an edit and publish the page immediately instead.

Does scheduling work with page approval?

Yes. On sites where page approval is configured, a scheduled page must first be approved. Once approved, it publishes at the scheduled date and time. If approval arrives after the scheduled time has already passed, the page publishes immediately upon approval. A page that is never approved is never published, regardless of its schedule.

Do scheduled news posts show up in news feeds early?

No. A scheduled news post behaves like a draft until its publish time, so it stays out of the News web part, the SharePoint start page, and mobile news feeds. When the scheduled time arrives and the post publishes, it begins appearing wherever news from that site normally surfaces.

Who can set up scheduling across an intranet?

Scheduling is enabled site by site, so a consistent rollout across departments takes coordination between site owners and a clear publishing process. Greg Zelfond, the SharePoint consultant behind LookBook 365, builds complete intranets out of the box and configures publishing features like scheduling, approval, and news so communications teams get a working editorial workflow from day one.