How to schedule a Ghost post or newsletter

By Ahmad Ajmi October 5, 2026

Before you schedule a Ghost draft, decide where it goes and when. You can publish it on the web, send it by email, or do both. Each uses the editor’s publishing controls. Choosing a future time does not choose the destination or readers for you.

This guide covers those choices before the final scheduling step. You need a draft and permission to publish it. For email, set up a newsletter first. It must have subscribers too.

The screenshots use sample content from Aspire Themes’ Hanoi demo.

Check the destination before the date

Start with the outcome you want:

Publish only: publish a post at its own URL without sending email.
Email only: deliver a newsletter to its selected subscribers.
Publish and email: publish the post and send it to the selected newsletter audience.

These options are in Ghost’s publishing menu. Open the draft from Posts, then select Publish. Read the summary of where the content will go. Do not assume each post will become an email.

Ghost publishing menu with Publish and email, Publish only and Email only options — The publishing options sit above the newsletter and recipient count.

Select Publish only. The recipient summary then reads Not sent as newsletter. That confirms you have chosen to send no email. It does not mean scheduling has failed. The site’s newsletter setup controls which email options you see.

To send email, you need a newsletter set up with subscribers. Each newsletter has its own subscribers. Its recipient count may differ from your site’s total member count. If email options are missing, follow Ghost’s newsletter setup guide first. Self-hosted sites also need email delivery set up.

Preview the post and email

Return to the editor and open Preview. Check the web version on desktop and mobile. If you plan to send email, check that preview too. The site’s design does not tell you how the email will look in an inbox.

Ghost Preview toolbar above an unpublished Hanoi example, with Web, Email, device and Free member controls — Preview has web, email, and device controls. You can choose a reader state too.

Check the title, links, images, and ending in each version you plan to use. For restricted content, check the available reader previews. They show what a visitor or member can see. Web access and email recipients are separate choices. The post access guide explains who can read protected web content.

The site’s timezone

Open Settings. Under General settings, find Timezone. The current interface calls the control Site timezone. Check its value before planning a send to another region.

The Hanoi demo uses UTC. Its scheduling panel shows UTC beside the time too. Your site may use another timezone. Follow the label in your own panel. Do not assume Ghost uses your computer’s local time.

Suppose your local time is three hours ahead of UTC. You want to release at 09:00 local time. Your site uses UTC. Set the scheduled time to 06:00 UTC. This works only if the offset is three hours on the release date. Check the date and time in both timezones. Account for daylight-saving changes too.

Schedule and confirm

Open Publish again in the draft. Check the destination. For email, check the newsletter and recipients too. Then:

Open the timing option. The default is Right now.
Select Schedule for later.
Enter the future date and time. Check the timezone shown.
Select Continue, final review. Check the destination, audience, and time again.
Complete the scheduling action only if the review matches your plan. The final button includes the date. In this web-only example, it reads Publish post, on October 6th. Choose your own future date; do not copy the screenshot.

Ghost scheduling controls set to October 6, 2026 at 06:00 UTC, with Continue, final review — Schedule for later shows the future date and time. The demo uses UTC.

Ghost final review stating that a post will be published on the site on October 6, 2026 at 06:00 — The final review shows the future time and web destination again.

Changing the date in the first panel does not complete scheduling. If you leave before the final action, the publishing step remains unfinished.

Ghost explains this process in its publishing and scheduling guide.

Check the scheduled post

After scheduling, find the post under Posts → Scheduled. Check its planned time. Ghost has one view for drafts, one for scheduled posts, and one for published posts. See Ghost’s guide to managing content.

If it is still a draft, reopen the publishing flow. Check whether you completed the final scheduling action. If an email option is missing, return to newsletter setup instead of changing the date again. At the planned time, check the public URL for a web post. For a newsletter, check the delivery result. A scheduled state shows the plan. It does not prove that the later email arrived.