Auto Populate fills the empty days in a period with suggested posts from the Content Hub, so you're planning a month by adjusting a draft instead of starting from a blank calendar. It's on Content Calendar, and it's Pro.
Running it
Auto Populate Schedule asks for:
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Time period | This week, the next 7 days, the next 30 days, or this month |
| Content pieces per day | 1, 2 or 3 |
| Content type | A mix, or reels only, feed posts only, stories only |
| Use custom day pattern | Instead of one type for the period, pick a type per weekday — reels Monday, posts Tuesday, and so on |
| Clear existing posts | Remove what's already scheduled in that period first. Off by default |
Only empty days are filled; with Clear existing posts off, days that already have something on them are left alone. Every suggestion is set to Instagram, at a random time between 9 AM and 3 PM — not your posting times. Change either by opening the post.
The survey
The first time, the dialog asks you to take a short personalization survey — what you post about, what you're trying to grow. Auto Populate uses the answers to pick the mix of content, and Update in the same spot lets you change them later. Without the survey it still runs; the mix is just less yours.
What you get: suggestions, not posts
Everything Auto Populate adds is a suggestion. It sits on the calendar like a real post — open one and its notes say Auto-populated content — but it's silent: no reminder email, and it doesn't count in the morning digest. A month of reminders for posts you never chose is how people learn to ignore the reminders that matter.
A suggestion becomes a real post the moment you open it and change anything: the time, the caption, the platform, the content. From then on it's treated exactly like one you scheduled yourself.
Making a suggestion real
- Open it on the calendar and adjust anything — that claims it.
- Its File line says Not exported yet, because no project exists. Open the template
it's based on, make it yours in the editor, and export.
- The line becomes Ready to send, and the reminder will carry that file.
Suggestions you never get to just stay silent. They're a preview of what a full month looks like, not a commitment.
Undoing it
Clear Schedule removes every post in a period — suggestions and real posts alike, with no undo. To remove one suggestion, open it and delete it.
Related Articles
The Content Calendar
Month, week and agenda views, what each post on the calendar shows, editing and moving posts, suggestions from Auto Populate, and Clear Schedule.
Get it posted
Scheduling a post
The three places you can schedule from, every field in the Schedule dialog, how "Next available" picks a slot from your posting times, and where those times and the reminder lead are set.
Get it posted
Does it post for me?
No. What scheduling actually does — the calendar entry, the reminder email, what's in it, when it arrives, and the settings that control it.
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Your first post
Pick a template in the Content Hub, fill it in the Image Editor, export it, get it onto your phone and schedule the reminder — every step, with screenshots.
Start here
The Content Hub: tabs, filters and favorites
How the library is organized into reels, posts and stories, what the pillar, topic, season and audience filters mean, what the four toggles do, what a template's page tells you, and how favorites and "unused" work.
Find content
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