Publishing Presets

What are presets?

A preset is a saved group of platforms that you can select with a single click when creating a post. Instead of manually checking off Twitter, Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads every time you want to share a text post, you just pick the "Text-first" preset and all four are selected instantly.

Think of presets as shortcuts for your most common posting patterns.

System presets

Octopost comes with five built-in presets that cover the most common use cases:

All Platforms

Selects every platform you have connected. Good for announcements or content you want maximum reach on. Only platforms you have actually connected will be included -- if you have not linked TikTok, it will not try to post there.

Short-form Video

Selects TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Designed for when you have a short video you want to push across all the video-first platforms. YouTube will automatically treat vertical videos under 60 seconds as Shorts.

Professional Networks

Selects LinkedIn and Twitter. For career updates, industry takes, company news, and work-related content where you want to keep it professional.

Decentralized Social

Selects Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads. For folks who are active on the newer, more open social platforms. These three all support longer text (300-500 characters) and have a more community-oriented feel.

Text-first

Selects Twitter, Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads. The go-to preset for quick text posts, thoughts, and hot takes. These four platforms are all text-native and work well with the same content.

Creating custom presets

System presets are great starting points, but you will probably want your own.

1. Go to Settings > Presets (or click the gear icon next to the preset dropdown in the post editor).
2. Click New Preset.
3. Give it a name -- something descriptive like "My Newsletter Promo" or "Daily Update".
4. Check the platforms you want included.
5. Optionally, enable cross-linking and configure a primary platform (more on that below).
6. Click Save.

Your custom preset will now appear in the preset dropdown whenever you create a new post.

You can create as many presets as you want. Edit or delete them at any time from Settings.

The cross-link feature

Cross-linking is an optional feature you can enable on any preset. Here is what it does:

Instead of posting the exact same content to every platform, cross-linking posts your full content to one primary platform first, then posts a shorter message with a link to the original post on all the secondary platforms.

Why use this?

• Drive engagement to one place. If you want all the replies and discussion on Twitter, post the full thing there and link to it from Bluesky and Mastodon.
• Avoid duplicate content. Some audiences follow you on multiple platforms. Cross-linking means they see the full post once and a pointer everywhere else.
• Respect platform culture. Some platforms (especially Mastodon) have norms against fully automated cross-posts. A link with context feels more native.

How it works

1. When you enable cross-linking on a preset, you pick a primary platform. This is where the full post goes first.
2. After the primary post is published and Octopost gets back the post URL, the secondary platforms receive a message based on your cross-link template.
3. The template can include variables that get filled in automatically.

Setting up cross-linking

1. Edit a preset (or create a new one).
2. Toggle Cross-link enabled on.
3. Select your Primary platform from the dropdown. This is where the full content gets posted.
4. Customize the Cross-link template -- this is the message that gets sent to all the other platforms in the preset.
5. Save the preset.

Template variables

The cross-link template supports these variables:

Example templates

Simple link share:

New post on {platform}: {link}

This would produce something like: "New post on Twitter: https://x.com/you/status/123456"

With context:

{excerpt}... Read the full post: {link}

This grabs the beginning of your post so followers get a taste before clicking through.

Casual:

Just posted this on {platform} -- {link}

You can write whatever you want in the template. The variables are optional; use whichever ones make sense for your style.

Setting a default preset

If you have a preset you use for almost every post, you can set it as your default:

1. Go to Settings > Presets.
2. Find the preset you want as your default.
3. Click the three-dot menu and select Set as Default.

Now, every time you open the post editor, that preset's platforms will already be selected. You can always change the selection for individual posts -- the default just saves you a click.

Only one preset can be the default at a time. Setting a new default automatically unsets the previous one.

Tips

• Start with system presets and see how you use them for a week. Then create custom ones based on your actual patterns.
• Name presets clearly. "Blog Promo" is better than "Preset 3". Future you will thank present you.
• Use cross-linking thoughtfully. It works best when you have a clear primary platform where you want engagement. If you want identical posts everywhere, just skip it.
• Review your presets periodically. As you connect new platforms or your posting habits change, update your presets to match.