Failed post notifications

Sometimes posts you schedule to your networks might fail to publish due to content issues, expired account authorizations, or network rate limits. Sprout Social provides multiple notification methods across email, desktop, and mobile so your team can quickly identify, diagnose, and resolve publishing issues.

How Failed Post Notifications Work

Sprout delivers failed post notifications through three distinct channels depending on who created the post and individual notification settings:

Note: Failed post email notifications are strictly author-specific. Teammates who subscribe to failed post alerts for a profile will receive in-app Notification Drawer alerts and mobile push notifications, but will not receive an email.

Notification Permissions & Subscription Requirements

To receive desktop Drawer or mobile push notifications for a profile's failed posts, a user must have at least one of the following Publishing Permissions for that profile:

• Needs Approval

• Can Reply

• Full Publishing

Setting Up Failed Post Notifications

Failed Post Notifications on Desktop

The Notifications Drawer on Sprout desktop gives you real-time insight into publishing issues.

1. Click the Notification Drawer icon in the top-right corner.

2. Click the Settings (gear) icon to open Notification Preferences.

3. Under the Publishing section, ensure the Failed Posts toggle is switched ON.

4. To view issues:

   • Open the Notification Drawer and select Publishing from the filter dropdown.

   • Click the issue you want to troubleshoot, then click View Post to navigate directly to the post in the Failed Posts stream.

   • Review the network error, fix and resend your post, or delete it.

(Best Practice: Only dismiss or delete a notification from the Drawer once you have reviewed or resolved the underlying issue).

Failed Post Notifications on Mobile

Enable notifications on Sprout’s mobile app to monitor posts on the go.

1. Open the Sprout Social app on your mobile device.

2. Tap the overflow menu (three dots / settings) at the bottom right.

3. Tap Notification Preferences.

4. Scroll down to Publishing and toggle Failed Posts to ON.

When you receive a mobile push notification for a failed post, tap the alert to open Compose directly with the failed content pre-populated so you can edit and reschedule.

Managing and Resolving Failed Posts in Sprout

The Failed Stream is the dedicated workspace where you can review all posts that encountered publishing errors, understand why the failure occurred, and resend the content.

1. Navigate to Publishing > Failed Posts.

2. Filter by specific Profiles in the right panel or sort by failure time above the stream.

3. A banner at the bottom of each failed post describes the root issue:

   • Click Show Details to see the specific error returned by the social network.

   • Click the Compose/Edit icon to modify, re-authorize, or reschedule the post.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Why did my teammate receive an alert about a failed post, but I did not get an email?
Email notifications are only sent to the teammate who created and scheduled the post. If you scheduled the post, you will receive an email. If another teammate scheduled it, you will only see the failure in your desktop Notification Drawer or via mobile push (if you have permissions for that profile and enabled notifications in your preferences).

Can multiple team members receive email alerts for a single failed post?
Currently, email notifications cannot be routed to multiple users or team distribution lists. Teams looking to monitor failures across shared profiles should use the desktop Notifications Drawer or check the Publishing > Failed Posts stream.

What are the most common reasons a post fails to publish?
Posts typically fail due to:

• Expired social profile access tokens requiring re-authorization.

• Media files that exceed network file size, length, or bitrate limits.

• Social network API temporary outages or rate limits.