Short answer: before a holiday or a long absence you have three sensible choices in PostRSS: leave everything running, run a calmer version of it, or pause it on purpose. Leaving it running works when the website keeps publishing. A calmer version uses exact times, a posting window and a low limit per update, so that pages stay active without bursts. A pause means switching the sources off and switching them on again when you return. Pick the option that matches what your website will do while you are away, check the reports before you leave and again when you come back.
Automation is supposed to let you stop thinking about posting, and a holiday is the real test. The common fear is not that something will break, it is that something will happen while nobody is looking: a page that goes silent, a burst of posts after a long gap, an old item that reappears or an announcement that no longer makes sense. PostRSS gives you the settings to prevent each of these, but they live in different places, so it helps to go through them in order. This guide is a checklist for the week before you leave and for the day you return, built only from options that PostRSS provides today.
PostRSS posts what the feed contains, so the best plan depends on the website. There are three typical cases. In the first, the site keeps publishing: a team writes, a shop adds products, a scheduled series is ready. In the second, the site publishes less: a small business that closes for two weeks. In the third, the site stops completely, for example because the owner is the only writer.
For the first case, the automation should keep running. For the second, it should run calmly and, if the business is closed, perhaps stop. For the third, there is nothing to post, so a pause costs nothing and prevents surprises. Write one sentence for your own situation before you touch any setting, because the rest of this guide depends on it.
If the site will keep producing items, leaving PostRSS as it is can be the best choice. The feed is checked at the interval you set, new items are posted, and the reports record what happened. Before you go, open the reports for each target and confirm that the last runs succeeded. A target that is failing on the day you leave will still be failing when you come back.
Check the usage against your plan as well. If the site publishes more than usual because of a scheduled series or a sale, make sure that the allowance covers the month. The subscription shows the posts used this month next to the posts limit, and each target reports its own used value.
When the business will be closed or the team will be smaller, a calmer rhythm protects the audience from a flood and protects the owner from messages that nobody can answer. PostRSS has four settings for this. The first is exact times: instead of checking the feed every few minutes, list the moments when it should run, for example one weekday slot in the morning. The second is the posting window, which allows posts only between two hours of the day. The third is the maximum posts per update, which you can set to one so that a backlog is released slowly. The fourth is the publishing order, which decides whether the newest or the oldest items go first.
Exact times and posting windows are available on paid plans. If you are on the Free plan, you can still use the interval and the limit. The guide to exact times, windows and intervals explains how to set them. A good calm setup for a closed business is a single slot on three weekdays with a limit of one, which keeps the pages alive without promising a reply.
A pause is right when posting would be inappropriate or misleading while you are away. Examples are a shop that cannot ship, a clinic that is closed, a team whose only editor is on leave or a feed that you know will be wrong during maintenance. Every source has an active setting. Turn the source off and PostRSS stops posting from it. The configuration stays, so that you do not have to rebuild anything when you return.
If you pause, think about what should happen to items published during the pause. When you switch the source on again, items that were published while it was off may still be in the feed and may be posted. If you do not want that, use the start date setting so that only items from the date you return are posted. If you do want them, the catch-up option with a low limit releases them slowly. The guide to catching up older feed items explains both choices.
You do not have to treat all targets alike. A company might keep its Telegram channel running with a calm schedule for existing customers, pause the Facebook Page that invites new orders and leave its developer channel untouched. Because every source has its own settings, you can pause the ones that need it. Make a short list before you leave: for each target, write whether it runs normally, runs calmly or is paused, and the date it returns to normal.
Some items should not be posted while you are away even if the site publishes them. A page about a limited offer that ends while you are on holiday, a call to book an appointment or a post that asks people to write to a mailbox that nobody reads are typical examples. A keyword filter can exclude them. Exclude always wins over include, and items removed by a filter do not count against the allowance. The guide to include and exclude keyword filters has the details. Remember to remove the exclusion when you return.
Some teams prefer to have a colleague who can react if a feed breaks. On Enterprise plans, the owner can invite additional users from the Team menu, and they work inside the same account. They can see the data and use the options that are not reserved for the owner. Owner-only actions, such as disconnecting accounts, stay with the owner. If you are the only user, consider writing a short note for a trusted colleague that explains what the automation does, which feeds it uses and who to call if it stops. Never share your password. The article about inviting colleagues to one account explains how the roles work.
A family hotel closes for two weeks in November for renovation. Its blog will not be updated, so the feed is quiet and the Facebook Page would simply stay silent. The owners decide to pause nothing, because nothing will be posted anyway, but they add a scheduled article about the renovation before they leave and set it to appear in the middle of the closure. They check the report on the day they leave and again on the day of reopening.
An online shop keeps selling while its owner is away, but customer service answers only on weekdays. The shop switches its product source to a calm schedule: one slot on three weekdays, a limit of one post per update and a posting window that ends in the early evening. New products still appear on the pages, and nobody is invited to write at a time when the mailbox is empty.
A consultant who writes one article a week takes a month off. The blog will not change, so the automation has nothing to do. She leaves it running and, before she goes, writes and schedules two articles on the site, so that the feed produces something while she is away. PostRSS posts them when they are published. She does not switch anything off, and she does not have to remember to switch anything on.
A holiday is a bad time for experiments. Do not change the network connections, do not move to a new plan and do not rebuild filters in the last hour before departure. If something goes wrong, you will not be there to fix it. Make the necessary changes at least a few days ahead, watch one or two runs and leave with a setup that has been proven. If you have to make a change on the last day, make the smallest one and check the report immediately.
Do not switch everything on at once. Start with the reports, so that you see what happened. Look for failed runs, for items that were skipped and for any target that is no longer connected. Then switch the paused sources back on one at a time, starting with the least risky. If you used a start date, make sure it is the date you want. If you removed an exclusion, add it back to normal and check the first post.
Finally, return the calm sources to their usual rhythm, and write one line in your notes about what worked. Next time the preparation will take ten minutes.
Before you leave, decide for each source whether it runs, runs calmly or pauses, and set it accordingly. Exact times, a posting window and a low limit make a calm version, the active switch makes a pause and a start date or catch-up controls what happens when you return. Check the reports on both sides of the break. The options are described on the features page, and the plan limits are on the pricing page.
Turn off the sources that should not post. A source has an active setting, and when it is off, PostRSS does not post from it. The configuration is kept.
It can, if items published during the pause are still in the feed. Use a start date, or keep the posts per update low, so that the release is controlled.
Yes. Use exact times or a posting window and a low limit per update. These options are available on paid plans.
On Enterprise plans the owner can invite additional users who work inside the same account. Owner-only actions remain with the owner.
The report of every target, the usage against the plan and whether all connected accounts are active.
What changed in the networks, what broke, and how to fix it before it costs you reach.
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