Appearance
Publishing and Scheduling
The episode workspace's Publish tab controls when your episode records, when it goes live, and everything about its status afterwards.
Edit the dates or content disclosure, then click Save in the black bar. Saving applies the settings together; it does not publish, schedule, run automations or send anything to an external host. Save or discard your changes before taking those actions. RSS credit changes apply immediately and have their own confirmation toast.
Before you can publish
- Audio required: a self-hosted episode can't be published without an uploaded audio file. The Publishing card shows an Audio required warning until one is in place. See Upload Audio.
- Audio must be publishable: if the audio is still being converted (a WAV upload mid-processing), publishing and scheduling wait until conversion completes. See Audio Processing.
- The Publish readiness checklist in the editor tracks the rest (title, description, cover art, credits, recording date). See Create an Episode.
Set your dates
The Scheduling card holds two dates:
- Recording date and time (required): when the episode records. This is also the month the episode counts against on your plan; moving it to another month moves the episode's slot. Your plan sets how far ahead you can schedule a recording, and the field shows that limit.
- Publish date and time (optional): a future date to schedule, or the original date of a restored episode. Leaving it empty uses the moment you click Publish now.
Dates use the timezone shown beside the fields. Scheduled episodes keep their dates locked until you cancel the schedule. A live episode keeps its recording date locked, but you can correct its publication date separately.
Declare AI content
The Content Disclosure card asks Does this episode include AI content? Choose Yes, No, or Inherit from show to use your podcast-wide setting. This disclosure travels with your feed for directories that ask for it.
The episode address
The Publishing card shows the episode's public web address (your-show.show.fm/e/…) before anything goes live, so you always see the URL you are about to publish.
- If the address no longer matches your title, a one-click Use my title button renames it on the spot.
- Episodes created by a booking start with a
recording-…address. That placeholder is replaced with your title automatically the moment you publish or schedule the episode. - You can change the address any time from the Details tab. Before publication a change simply replaces the address; after publication the old address keeps working through a permanent redirect, and a published episode's address can change up to three times in 30 days.
- Embeds and your RSS feed identify episodes by a permanent ID, so address changes never break them.
Publish now
- On the Publish tab, click Publish now.
- Confirm in the dialog.
The episode is immediately added to your podcast's RSS feed and becomes available to podcast apps and subscribers.
If your show has connected WordPress sites, the dialog also has an Also post to switch for each one. See Post Episodes to WordPress.
Restore an original publication date
- Open the restored draft episode's Publish tab.
- In Scheduling, set Publish date and time to its original date and time, using the timezone shown.
- Click Publish now, check the date in the confirmation, and confirm.
The episode goes live immediately with that date in your feed. Its recording date and episode slot stay the same. Publishing still counts towards the month you actually publish, even when the feed date is older.
Correct a live episode's publication date
- Open the episode's Publish tab.
- In Scheduling, click Change publication date.
- Set Publication date and time to the correct moment, no later than now.
- Click Save publication date.
The episode stays live with the same audio and identity. The correction updates its feed date and may move it in date-ordered episode lists. Podcast apps show the change when they next refresh your feed. Recording dates, booking times and plan usage do not change, and completed automations do not run again.
Release an automation date lock
Publication date changes are blocked while the episode has pending, running, delayed or retrying automation work. This also includes work attached through its booking or guests.
- Open the episode's Automations section and review its upcoming work.
- Skip pending jobs you no longer want, or wait for running and delayed work to finish.
- Refresh Publish, then make the correction.
Pausing or disabling a rule does not clear its existing work. Completed, failed and skipped history does not lock the date. If another person changes the episode's publication date or status while your form is open, refresh before trying again.
Schedule for later
- Click Schedule instead.
- Pick the Publish date and time in the dialog (it must be in the future) and confirm.
The episode's status changes to Scheduled and show.fm publishes it automatically at that time. The Schedule dialog has the same Also post to switches for connected WordPress sites, and the Share & embed card appears straight away so you can prepare a post for the same time. While an episode is scheduled, the schedule is the only publishing action on offer: to publish early or pick a different time, click Cancel scheduled episode first. The episode returns to draft, won't publish automatically, and the Publish now and Schedule instead choices come back.
After publishing
An extra card appears on the Publish tab once an episode is live:
- Episode analytics with a View analytics button for its downloads, launch curve, and audience. See Episode Analytics.
The Share & embed card, with the public listen link and buttons that open Embeds on this episode, is there from the moment the episode is scheduled or published. See Share and Embed.
Take an episode down
There are two ways to remove a published episode from your feed, and the difference matters:
- Archive removes the episode from your feed but preserves its publish date. If you republish later, it returns with the original date, so subscribers don't see it as a new episode.
- Unpublish removes the episode from your feed and resets its publish date. If you republish later, it appears as a new episode.
Prefer Archive unless you specifically want the episode to come back as new.
Bring an archived episode back
Archived episodes offer two actions:
- Republish: the episode returns to your feed with its original publish date.
- Reset to Draft: the episode goes back to draft so you can rework it and publish fresh.
Episodes from bookings
Booking-created episodes start life with a recording-… web address stamped from the booking time. Retitle the episode as usual; when you publish or schedule it, the address is replaced with one derived from your title automatically (shown in the Publishing card first).
An episode created by a guest booking sits in Pending Confirmation and can't be published yet. The Publishing card shows a Review booking button that takes you to Guests, where you confirm or decline the booking. The decision is also on Overview, on the Booking request card, and confirming in either place does the same thing. See Episode Archive for triaging pending bookings from the episode list.
Externally hosted shows
On a show hosted elsewhere, the Publish tab is different: there is no Publish now, because your host publishes the audio. Instead the episode moves through four stages, Draft, Prepared, On your host and Linked, and the Publish tab either walks you through copying the episode to your host and telling show.fm when it is live, or, once your host is connected, publishes it there for you. The Scheduling card holds only the recording date; the go-live moment belongs to your host. See Externally Hosted Shows for the whole flow.
Plan limits that affect publishing
Two separate monthly limits can come up here. Both run on calendar months and reset on the 1st.
Publishing limit (Free plan only). Free accounts can publish 2 episodes per calendar month. Unpublishing an episode does not free up the allowance; it resets on the 1st of the next month. Paid plans have no monthly publishing cap.
Monthly episode slots (all plans). Every episode occupies a slot in its recording month, and each plan includes a set number of slots per month. If a month is full, you can move the recording date to another month, add an episode pack, or upgrade your plan. See Billing and Plans for how slots and episode packs work, and Plan Limits for your plan's numbers.
Delete an episode
Deleting is permanent and removes the episode and all its data: audio, transcript, notes, chat and analytics. Hosts and Producers can delete from two places, and both ask the same question before anything is removed:
- On the episode's Publish tab, find Danger zone, click Delete episode, and confirm.
- On the Episodes list, open the episode's more-actions menu (the ⋮ button), choose Delete episode, and confirm. The list stays on your current search and filters, without the deleted episode. See Episode Archive.
On an externally hosted show, deleting removes only show.fm's copy. It does not touch the episode on your host; delete it there if you want it gone.
No undo
Deleting an episode cannot be undone. If you just want it out of your feed, use Archive instead.