WordPress has an automatic publish feature according to a certain schedule. Just set the date, month, and time in the post draft, your article will be published automatically. So, you no longer need to log in to WordPress to post on the D-day.
However, what if it turns out that your article failed to publish by WordPress? This term is called the missed schedule error and is one of the most common WordPress errors. In the end, you have to manually publish the article. You certainly don’t want this to happen again in your next post, do you?
So, in this article, we’ll cover how to fix this so you can keep posting on schedule. However, before that, we first explain the meaning of the missed schedule error and what causes it. For that, see the full explanation below.
What is the Missed Schedule Error and its Causes?
When you want to post a new article on WordPress, there are actually several choices you can make. You can save it to draft, publish on the spot, or publish on a schedule automatically.
However, if you choose to publish on a schedule, sometimes WordPress will fail to publish your articles. You will see a flag like the one below on your posts tab.
Like it or not, you have to post the article manually. Upset again, you don’t get a notification from WordPress that your article posting schedule is missed. This is what is called a missed schedule error in your article.
Maybe you are wondering, why does the missed schedule error occur in WordPress? Here’s the explanation. WordPress uses cron jobs to be able to publish articles on a scheduled basis. Simply put, this cron job is software that functions for scheduling so that it can perform certain tasks according to schedule.
Examples include the WordPress feature for publishing articles on a scheduled basis. So, the missed schedule error occurs because the WordPress cron job cannot check the schedule that has been created. Why can’t the WordPres cron job run its job?
A common cause is that the server configuration is not working properly, affecting the default WordPress cron job. As a result, WordPress also uses an alternative method so that the cron job can still run.
The trick is to use website visitors as a WordPress cron activation. In other words, when someone visits your website, the new WordPress cron starts checking if there are any articles that need to be published.
Lucky if your website is always visited by users all the time. What if it turns out that your website is not visited much at that time? It was the missed schedule error that occurred.
But take it easy, there are several ways to overcome it. You don’t have to always check your posting schedule. Let’s look at the explanation below.
How to Overcome the Missed Schedule Error
After you understand what and why Error Missed Schedule can occur, now is the time to find out how to fix it. There are two ways you can deal with missed schedule errors.
First, by using a plugin. Second, by doing a little setting up on your server. Check out the explanation of the two below carefully, OK?
1. Use Plugins
If your publish schedule continues to experience missed schedule errors, some of these plugins can be a powerful way. This plugin will look for posts on your website that have “missed schedule” status, then if found, this plugin will publish them immediately. So you no longer need to publish it manually. Here are some plugins that you can use.
WordPress Missed Schedule Plugin
The way this plugin works is quite simple. Every 5 minutes the WP Missed schedule plugin will scan your list of posts. If several posts are found that missed the schedule, this plugin will immediately publish those posts.
You also need to know that the number of missed schedule posts that can be published in one check is 5 posts. The rest will be published at the next interval.
To use this plugin, you need to download it from Github and upload it manually on your website dashboard. The method is quite easy. Check out the following guide.
– Click the following link Github WP Missed Schedule Plugin. Then click Code > Download ZIP.
– Login to your WordPress Dashboard, then select the Plugin menu > Add New Plugin.
– Upload the plugin manually by clicking Upload Plugin.
– Click Choose File, then upload the ZIP file you just downloaded.
– Click Install Now and finally click Activate Plugin.
After that, your plugin is active and can make improvements to posts that have missed schedules. So, if you want to see if this plugin is working properly, you can check it. Here’s how.
Click Plugins > Installed Plugins. Find WP Missed Schedule and click “Miss” to see a list of missed schedule posts published by this plugin.
Schedule Post Tigger Plugin
Apart from using the WP Missed Schedule plugin, you can use the Schedule Post Trigger Plugin. Here’s how it works. When a user visits your website, this plugin will scan posts with missed schedule status. If a missed schedule post is found, this plugin will publish it immediately.
The way this plugin works is actually almost the same as the WordPress cron. It’s just that this plugin scans posts with missed schedule status to publish immediately.
To use this plugin, you don’t need to download and upload like WP Missed Schedule. Just login to your website dashboard. Select Plugins > Add New. Look for Schedule Post Trigger in the Plugins search and click Install Now. Finally click Activate.
Now, you don’t have to worry if the WordPress cron fails to publish your post on schedule.
2. Manage Cron Jobs Via Your Server
Apart from using a plugin, another way to deal with missed schedule errors is to manage cron jobs through your server.
If your hosting service provides settings access to the server, it means you can configure cron jobs. Configuration on the server is done so that cron jobs can run without waiting for users to visit your website.
Listen and follow these steps carefully.
The first step, you must first disable your WordPress cron so it doesn’t overlap. The trick is to access your website via an FTP client such as FileZilla. Enter the root folder and look for the wp-config.php file.
Right click on the file and select the Edit option. Then look for lines like this:
define(‘DB_COLLATE’, ”);
Under that line of code, add the following code:
define(‘DISABLE_WP_CRON’, true);
After that, save your files again and your WordPress cron has been disabled. The next step is to manually configure cron jobs on your server. The trick, login to cPanel.
Select the Cron Jobs menu to set a new schedule for cron jobs on your server. You can set the time interval for cron jobs to check tasks in WordPress.
Set the time for the cron job as the table above. After all tasks are filled in, click Add New Cron Job. Now the cron job on your website server is set up to check. This means that if you schedule posts, missed schedule errors are unlikely to occur.
Conclusion
Now, you already know how to deal with the missed schedule error, right? This missed schedule error certainly cannot be taken lightly. If not resolved, your work will certainly increase by having to upload posts manually.
Well, to fix this, you can use a plugin or configure your server. If you are still having problems configuring, you can use the customer service provided by the hosting service.
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