Content failed to publish
Fix an SEO article that shows Failed, a scheduled post that never went live, or a blog connection error on the Connect Blog tab.
When Distro can't publish an article, it keeps the article, marks it Failed and records the reason. Most failures come from the blog connection (expired or wrong credentials) or from a missing step such as approval. Fix the cause, then publish again.
Where to see the error
- Drafts tab: the article's status is Failed. Failed articles only show under the All filter.
- Overview → Recent activity: the failed action with the error message in red.
- Overview engine card and Calendar: the post shows Failed.
- Connect Blog tab: the platform card shows Error and "Last error: …" after a failed connection test.
- Right after clicking Publish or Schedule: a red message at the top of the editor.
Distro doesn't email you about a failed publish, so check Recent activity if a post didn't appear on your site.
Likely causes and fixes
| Message or symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| "This article must be approved before it can be published or scheduled." | The article isn't approved. | Click Approve, then publish. |
| "Select a connected blog first." | No blog chosen in the Publish box. | Pick one under Select a connected blog. |
| The Publish box says to connect a blog | No working blog connection for this product. | Connect one on Connect Blog. |
| "The "…" connection is not connected (status: …). Test the connection first." | The connection was never tested successfully, or its last test failed. | Click Test on the Connect Blog card and fix any error it shows. |
| "WordPress rejected the credentials (401/403)…", "Ghost rejected the Admin API key.", "Webflow rejected the token.", "Shopify rejected the token." | The password, key or token is wrong, expired or was revoked. | Create a new application password, key or token in your platform, then disconnect and connect again with it. |
| "… API returned 4xx/5xx" or "Webhook returned …" | Your platform refused the request: missing permissions, a field mismatch, or a temporary outage. | Check the platform's API permissions and field settings (for Webflow, Contentful, Sanity and Strapi, the field IDs on the card). Try again later if the platform is down. |
| "That address points to a private or local network, which isn't allowed." or "Could not resolve …" | The site URL isn't a public address, or has a typo. | Use your blog's public https:// address. |
| "Scheduled time must be in the future." | The chosen date and time have passed. | Pick a later time and click Schedule. |
| "This article already exists in … Publish it from … to avoid a duplicate post." | The article was already pushed to that platform as a draft. | Publish it from your CMS. |
| Blogger stops working after a while | Blogger access tokens expire. | Connect again with a fresh token. |
Publish again
- Fix the cause above. If you changed credentials, check the card shows Connected.
- Open the article from Drafts (use the All filter).
- It stays approved, so choose your blog and click Publish, or set a new time and click Schedule.
In Review only and Review, then auto-schedule, Distro doesn't retry a failed publish on its own. Autoblog tries failed articles again on its next runs once the cause is fixed.
Scheduled post never went live
- The blog was disconnected. Disconnecting stops all publishing to that blog, including posts that were already scheduled. Reconnect it, then schedule the article again.
- Review, then auto-schedule with no blog that can publish. Approved articles stay Approved instead of being scheduled. Connect a blog, then publish or schedule them.
- Push to your CMS as drafts mode. Articles go to your CMS as drafts and never publish on their own. Publish them from your CMS. If a push fails, the article stays in Distro and the error shows only in Recent activity.
Autoblog didn't publish
The engine card at the top of Overview lists what is blocking it, and Distro sends a "Content engine paused" notification for lasting problems. Common reasons:
- No blog connected (or "Autoblog needs a connected CMS that supports direct publishing."): connect a blog that can publish. Manual Export doesn't count.
- Autoblog needs an active Growth or Scale plan: check your plan on Plan & billing (profile menu), or switch to Review, then auto-schedule.
- Monthly article limit reached: new articles resume on the 1st of next month. See Plans, trial and billing.
- Not a post day, or today's post already went out. Autoblog publishes once per day, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday on Growth, daily on Scale.
For how each mode behaves, see Publishing content: modes and connected sites.
Email us at hello@usedistro.com with what you tried and what you see. Signed in? Help & support in the app has walkthrough videos and a message form.