| Plan | ✓ Professional ✓ Advanced ✓ Scale ✓ Enterprise |
With bulk scheduling, you can upload a CSV (comma-separated values) file to create many posts at once. Follow the format below to build your file. Download the sample CSV, or click Download sample in the Import a CSV file window.
Video guide
Required Columns
The first 4 columns are fixed: they must appear exactly in this order with exactly these headings:
| Column # | Header | Description |
| 1 | message | Post message/caption |
| 2 | type | One of: image, video, article, message, pdf. Use pdf (or document) with a public PDF link to publish a LinkedIn document post. |
| 3 | link | Link to image, video or an article |
| 4 | time |
A date and time, for example 2027-04-22 5:05 pm or 2027-04-22 17:05. Time can be in 24-hour or am/pm format. A time only, for example 1:25 pm, schedules the post for today. now publishes the post right away. queue next or queue last adds the post to your publishing queue. |
|
Note Media links must point to publicly accessible URLs, like the media links in the sample CSV. If your profiles don't share the same caption or media, use a separate spreadsheet for each profile. |
Optional Columns
The rest of the columns in the CSV are optional and are used to take advantage of post customizations. Here are the columns that can be used and what they mean. You can use them in any order as long as you use the exact heading; they will be mapped correctly. You can also download an example CSV with custom fields.
| Header | Descriptions | Applies to networks |
| comment1 | First post comment |
      |
| comment2 | Second post comment |
|
| comment3 | Third post comment |
|
| comment4 | Fourth post comment |
|
| comment5 | Fifth post comment |
|
| message_<profile> | For a specific message per profile, create additional columns like message_facebook, message_instagram, etc. This way, you can set captions per network |
|
| comments_enabled | Enable post comments. Possible values are 'yes' and 'no' |
|
| like | Like the published posts. Possible values "yes" or "no" |
|
| title | Title (meaning depends on the network) |
   |
| description | Description (meaning depends on the network) |
|
instagram_publish_as |
When this row type is 'image' possible values are: IMAGE, CAROUSEL (multi-images), STORY. When this row type is 'video' possible values are: REELS, TRIAL_REELS, VIDEO, STORY
|
|
graduation_strategy |
Graduation strategy for trial reels MANUAL or PERFORMANCE (default)
|
|
share_to_feed |
Possible values "yes" or "no" | |
| tags | YouTube and Tumblr tags separated by colon (:). These are not Vista Social tags. To add Vista Social tags, use publication_tags. |
|
| publication_tags | Vista Social tags (formerly post labels). Separate multiple tags with three pipe characters (|||), for example Campaign|||Evergreen. Tags that don't exist yet are created automatically if you have the Manage tags permission in every profile group. | All networks |
| collaborators | Collaborators to invite separated by colon (:) | |
| user_tags | Tag users in posts. For example user1[x|y]:user2[x|y] X and Y coordinates are represented as a number between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0.22) | |
|
facebook_publish_as |
When this row type is 'image' possible values are: IMAGE, CAROUSEL (multi-images), STORY. When this row type is 'video' possible values are: STORY, REELS, VIDEO | |
board |
Name of Pinterest board | |
section |
Name of Pinterest board section | |
subreddit |
Subreddit name | |
link |
Pin link | |
snapchat_publish_as |
Possible values are: STORY, SPOTLIGHT, SAVED_STORY. Default is STORY. | |
save_to_profile |
Possible values "yes" and "no". If set to "no" Spotlight will not be shown on the public profile. | |
locale |
Locale indicates the language and country. Default is: en_US | |
| category | YouTube video category | |
| thumbnail_url | A link to the video thumbnail. Applicable if "link" is a link to a video | |
| thumbnail_offset | The offset in milliseconds from the start of the video for generating the thumbnail. Applicable if "link" is a link to a video | |
| pin_comment | true or false - Pin Comment | |
Scheduling multi-media posts
To schedule a carousel or a post with multiple media, add each media link in its own row. Keep the rest of the post the same in every row: caption, post type, scheduled date and time, comments, and any other columns.
After you upload the file, rows with the same details are grouped into one post. The extra media shows as +1, +2, and so on.
Mixed-media carousels (images and videos in the same post) aren't supported yet.
Choosing how to schedule imported posts
After you upload your CSV, use the dropdown at the top right of the Import a CSV file window to choose what happens to the posts:
- Schedule per CSV uses the date and time from the time column.
- Save as draft or Save as idea saves the posts without scheduling them.
- Queue last, Queue next, or Queue available adds the posts to your publishing queue.
If you use Publishing Queues and choose a queue option, an All queue labels dropdown appears. Select the queue label where you want to add the posts.
Adding tags to CSV posts
Use the publication_tags column to add Vista Social tags (formerly post labels) right from your CSV, so you don't have to tag each post after scheduling.
- Add a column with the header publication_tags.
- Enter one tag per post, or separate multiple tags with ||| (for example, Fitness|||Wellness).
- Tags that don't exist yet are created automatically during import if you have the Manage tags permission in every profile group.
- Tags don't show in the list of imported posts. Click a post to open Edit bulk post and review or change its tags before scheduling.
- Tags are saved on scheduled posts, drafts, and ideas.
- Don't confuse publication_tags with the tags column, which only adds platform tags to YouTube and Tumblr posts.
For more details, see How to add tags to CSV bulk scheduled posts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What format should I use when exporting from Excel?
A: Use CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited). It works best with Vista Social and keeps special characters intact.
Q: How many rows can I include in a CSV?
A: Up to 200 rows. For best results, upload no more than 100 posts at a time.
Q: Why were multiple posts grouped into one multi-media post?
A: Rows with the same details, such as caption, post type, and scheduled time, are grouped into one post. To publish them separately, give each post a unique date and time in the time column.
Q: Can I schedule a carousel using a CSV?
A: Yes. Add each media link in its own row and keep the caption, post type, scheduled time, and other settings the same in every row. Mixed-media carousels aren't supported yet.
Q: Can I publish a LinkedIn document post from a CSV?
A: Yes. Set the type to pdf (or document) and put a public link to the PDF in the link column.
Q: Can I add CSV posts to my publishing queue?
A: Yes. Enter queue next or queue last in the time column, or choose a queue option in the dropdown after you upload the file.
Q: Can I choose a queue label directly in the CSV?
A: No. Choose a queue option during bulk scheduling, then select the label in the All queue labels dropdown.
Q: What's the difference between the tags and publication_tags columns?
A: publication_tags adds Vista Social tags to any post. Separate multiple tags with |||, and tags that don't exist yet are created automatically. tags only adds platform tags to YouTube and Tumblr posts.
Q: Why are my emojis showing incorrectly after importing the CSV?
A: CSV files exported from Excel don't support emojis. Use Google Sheets instead. Some emojis may still not be supported and can appear as �.
Need help?
Reach out to our support team, and we are happy to help.
Related Reading:
How to add tags to CSV bulk scheduled posts
Sign up now and try Vista Social for 14 days, free!