How to Schedule YouTube Shorts

Scheduling YouTube Shorts is one of the easiest ways to stay consistent, reach a wider audience, and grow your channel without burning out. This guide will walk you through exactly how to schedule your Shorts, find the best times to post, and build a stress-free content workflow.

Why You Should Schedule Your YouTube Shorts

If you're still uploading Shorts in real-time, you're making your job harder than it needs to be. Scheduling isn't just a convenient feature, it's a core strategy for serious creators. Here's why it's a total game-changer:

• Consistency is Everything: The YouTube algorithm loves consistency. When you post regularly, you signal to YouTube that you're an active creator, which can help your content get promoted more often. Scheduling removes the daily pressure of having to create and post something new, letting you maintain a steady stream of content effortlessly.
• Batch Your Work and Save Hours: The most efficient creators don't create one video at a time. They batch their content - filming multiple Shorts in one session, editing them all at once, and then scheduling them out over days or weeks. This workflow frees you from the creative grind and lets you plan your content calendar far in advance.
• Post at the Perfect Time (Even When You're Asleep): Your audience isn't always online when you are. Scheduling allows you to publish Shorts at peak viewing times - like weekday evenings or weekend afternoons - when your target viewers are most likely to be scrolling. This boosts your video's initial velocity, giving it a better shot at going viral.
• Avoid Creator Burnout: Having a buffer of scheduled content is a lifesaver. It means you can take a day off, go on vacation, or deal with a creative block without your channel going silent. Scheduling is what transforms content creation from a daily chore into a sustainable long-term business.

How to Schedule YouTube Shorts on a Desktop

YouTube makes it surprisingly simple to schedule your Shorts from a computer. The process happens during the standard upload flow, but the scheduling option is tucked away on the final screen. Follow these steps, and you’ll have it down in no time.

Step 1: Open YouTube Studio and Upload Your Video

First, log in to your YouTube account and navigate to YouTube Studio. You can get there by clicking your profile picture in the top-right corner and selecting “YouTube Studio” from the dropdown menu.

Once you’re in the dashboard, click the red “CREATE” button in the top-right corner and choose “Upload videos.”

Step 2: Select Your Short Video File

A new window will pop up. Drag and drop your video file into the window or click “SELECT FILES” to browse your computer and find the video you want to upload. For it to be recognized as a Short, your video must meet two requirements:

• It must have a vertical aspect ratio (e.g., 9:16).
• It must be 60 seconds or less in length.

YouTube will automatically classify it as a Short if it meets these criteria.

Step 3: Fill Out the Video Details

While your video uploads, you'll be taken to the "Details" screen. This is where you add all the important metadata for your short.

• Title: Write a concise, catchy title that grabs attention. It’s a good practice to include #shorts in either the title or the description, though YouTube is pretty good at identifying them automatically now.
• Description: While less prominent on Shorts, the description is still valuable for SEO. Add relevant keywords and a brief sentence or two about the video's content.
• Thumbnail: YouTube will automatically select a frame from your Short to use as a thumbnail. You can't upload a custom thumbnail for Shorts viewed on the Shorts shelf, but the selected frame will appear in other places on YouTube like search results or your channel page.
• Audience: Make sure to select whether your video is "Made for Kids" or not. For most creators, this will be "No, it's not made for kids."

Once you've filled everything out, click “NEXT” to move past the "Video elements" and "Checks" screens. These don't typically apply to Shorts.

Step 4: Schedule Your Short

You’ve arrived at the final and most important screen: “Visibility.” This is where the scheduling magic happens. You’ll see a few options: Private, Unlisted, Members Only, and Public.

To schedule your Short, select the “Schedule” option at the bottom.

Two new dropdowns will appear: one for the date and one for the time. Click each one to open a calendar and a time selector.

• Choose the exact date you want your Short to go live.
• Select the precise time, down to the minute. YouTube will automatically adjust to your local time zone, which it displays right underneath for clarity.

Once you've set your preferred date and time, double-check everything looks right. When you’re ready, click the blue “Schedule” button in the bottom-right corner. That's it! Your Short is now in the queue and will be published automatically at the time you chose.

Can You Schedule YouTube Shorts on a Mobile Device?

This is a common point of confusion, and the answer is both yes and no, depending on how you upload.

You cannot currently schedule a Short that you create directly within the YouTube app using the Shorts camera and editing tools. When you create a Short this way, your only option is to publish it immediately.

However, there's a simple workaround: upload your pre-made video file through the YouTube Studio mobile app or your mobile browser.

If you've already edited your vertical, under-60-second video on your phone, you can schedule it just like you would on a desktop.

Scheduling with the YouTube Studio App:

1. Open the YouTube Studio app on your phone.
2. Tap the “+” (Create) icon at the top right of the screen.
3. Select the video file from your phone's gallery.
4. Fill in the Title, Description, and other details.
5. On the final step, under “Visibility,” tap to open the options.
6. Choose “Schedule” and select your desired date and time.
7. Tap schedule, and you’re done!

This method offers the best of both worlds - you get the convenience of uploading from your phone with the powerful scheduling capabilities of the desktop experience.

How to Find The Best Time to Post Your Shorts

Scheduling is powerful, but it's most effective when you publish your content when your audience is ready to watch. So, how do you find that perfect time slot? Don’t guess - use data from your own channel.

Check Your YouTube Analytics

Your channel's analytics hold the key. Here's how to find the data you need:

1. Go to YouTube Studio on your desktop.
2. Click on “Analytics” in the left-hand sidebar.
3. Navigate to the “Audience” tab.

Scroll down until you find a chart titled “When your viewers are on YouTube.” This chart shows you the days and times when your audience has been most active over the last 28 days. The darker the shade of purple, the more viewers were online.

How to Use This Data

• Look for the Darkest Purple Blocks: These are your primetime slots. Schedule your Shorts to go live about 30-60 minutes before these peak times to give the algorithm time to index and start pushing your content right as viewership is ramping up.
• Identify Daily Patterns: Do you see a consistent peak on weekdays around 5 PM? Or is your audience more active on weekend mornings? Use these patterns to build a rough weekly posting schedule.
• What if the Chart is Empty? If you have a brand-new channel, this chart might not have enough data to populate. In that case, start by testing some generally popular time frames:
  • Lunchtime (12 PM - 2 PM): When people are taking a break from work or school.
  • After Work/School (4 PM - 7 PM): As people unwind and start scrolling on their commute home or on the couch.
  • Weekends (Afternoons and Evenings): Viewership is often higher for longer stretches on Saturdays and Sundays.

The most important thing is to test and measure. Try scheduling Shorts at different times based on your data and see what performs best. Track not only views but also engagement (likes, comments, shares) to understand what content resonates most and when.

Final Thoughts

Learning how to schedule YouTube Shorts transforms your entire content strategy from a scramble to a system. By batch-creating your videos and scheduling them during peak viewer times, you can stay consistent, optimize your reach, and ultimately free up more time to focus on what matters most: making great content.

At our core, we believe that an amazing social media strategy shouldn’t feel like a chore. We built Postbase because we were tired of tools that made simple things complicated. Being able to visualize your entire content calendar - including YouTube Shorts alongside your Instagram Reels and TikToks - and schedule everything from one clean, reliable platform lets you work smarter, not harder. It’s what we always wished we had for ourselves.