Auto-publishing
Auto-publishing is the second autopilot toggle in a channel. Auto-generation produces episodes; auto-publishing pushes them out.
Turning auto-publish on
Section titled “Turning auto-publish on”In the channel editor, flip Auto-publish on.
When this is on, every successful episode is immediately pushed to whatever destination(s) you’ve connected — currently YouTube via the YouTube connection.
When it’s off, episodes get produced and saved to your episode list, but they sit there until you click Publish on each one.
Combinations to know
Section titled “Combinations to know”| Auto-generate | Auto-publish | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Off | Off | You manually trigger episodes and publish them. Pure manual mode. |
| On | Off | Popcorn produces episodes on schedule. You review and publish manually. Recommended for new channels. |
| On | On | Full hands-off. Episodes generate and publish on schedule. Recommended for established formats you trust. |
| Off | On | Possible but unusual — episodes only fire when you manually trigger them, but they auto-publish when they finish. |
What happens on a published episode
Section titled “What happens on a published episode”When an episode is auto-published to YouTube:
- Popcorn uses the channel’s title settings (Dynamic or Manual) to set the title.
- Same for description.
- The privacy setting from the channel applies (Public / Unlisted / Private).
- The episode is uploaded to the connected YouTube account.
- The YouTube URL is stored on the episode and shown in your episode list.
Publishing destinations supported today
Section titled “Publishing destinations supported today”- YouTube — fully supported.
On the roadmap
Section titled “On the roadmap”- TikTok — coming.
- Instagram (Reels) — coming.
Until those are live, you can download any episode (or any movie) and post it to those platforms manually.
Stopping auto-publish without losing episodes
Section titled “Stopping auto-publish without losing episodes”Just toggle Auto-publish off. The schedule keeps running and episodes keep generating — but new ones won’t go out until you turn auto-publish back on or publish them manually.
Publishing a single episode manually
Section titled “Publishing a single episode manually”Open the episode (sidebar → channel → episode card) and use the same publish controls as a regular movie. See Downloading & publishing.