How to schedule YouTube Shorts

Shorts are the easiest way into YouTube for a small business: a phone, a minute of footage and no editing suite. Scheduling them means you can film a batch in one go and let them go out through the week. Here are the two ways to do it.

1. In YouTube Studio

YouTube Studio comes with every channel. Upload the video, fill in the title and description, and at the visibility step choose Schedule rather than Public, then pick a date and time. It is free, and if YouTube is the only place you post, it is all you need.

2. With a scheduler

A scheduler earns its place when the same short clip also goes to Instagram Reels and TikTok, or when YouTube is one of several channels you plan together. Our guide to the best YouTube scheduling tools compares the options, YouTube's own included.

What makes a video a Short

A square or vertical video of three minutes or less is treated as a Short by itself; you don't have to mark it. A landscape video stays a normal video, so film upright if a Short is what you want.

Get the video right before it is queued

• Vertical 9:16 fills the screen on a phone.
• Open on the interesting bit: the first second decides whether people keep watching.
• The title is what people search for, so name what the video shows rather than something clever.
• Put the link or the key point in the first line of the description, where it shows under the video.
• The description holds 5,000 characters. Check a draft with our free character counter.

One clip, three platforms

The same vertical video usually works as a Short, a Reel and a TikTok. Write a caption for each rather than pasting one everywhere: our post on repurposing one idea into a week of content covers how.

Scheduling YouTube with Optimate

Optimate's YouTube scheduler uploads videos and Shorts at the time you pick, with your title and description, and the same post can send the clip to Reels and TikTok too. Start your 14-day free trial, no card needed.