Scheduling a Send
Schedule your newsletter issue for a specific date and time or send immediately.
When an issue is ready, you can send it immediately or schedule it for a specific date and time. Scheduling is useful for batching your work — you can build several issues in advance and have them go out on their own.
Before you send
Before scheduling or sending an issue, verify:
- Subscriber list — you have at least one confirmed subscriber.
- Sending domain — your workspace has a verified custom sending domain, or you are using Distill's shared domain for testing.
- Issue content — links and summaries are finalized; the foreword (if written) is complete.
If your workspace does not have a verified sending domain, emails will be sent from Distill's shared sending domain. For production sends to your real subscriber list, you should set up and verify your own domain first. See Domain Setup for instructions.
Send immediately
- In the issue editor, click Send in the top-right corner.
- In the send dialog, select Send now.
- Choose the subscriber list to send to.
- Review the send summary:
- From address
- Subscriber list and count
- Issue title
- Click Confirm send.
The issue status immediately changes to Sending. Distill dispatches emails through AWS SES. For most lists, delivery completes within a few minutes. Once all emails are dispatched, the status changes to Sent.
Schedule for a specific time
- In the issue editor, click Send in the top-right corner.
- In the send dialog, select Schedule for later.
- Choose the subscriber list to send to.
- Select the Date and Time.
- Confirm the Timezone — Distill uses your workspace's configured timezone. If no timezone is set, UTC is used.
- Review the send summary.
- Click Schedule.
The issue status changes to Scheduled, and the send time is shown in the issue list.
You can schedule an issue and continue editing its content right up until the scheduled send time. Edits made while an issue is in Scheduled status are included in the send.
Timezone handling
Scheduled sends use the timezone configured for your workspace. To check or update your workspace timezone:
- Click the Settings icon (Settings) in the sidebar.
- Look for the Timezone setting under workspace settings.
- Select your preferred timezone from the dropdown.
If no workspace timezone is configured, all scheduled sends use UTC.
Canceling a scheduled send
If you need to cancel a scheduled issue before it goes out:
- Find the issue in the issue list (it will show "Scheduled" status).
- Click into the issue editor.
- Click the Cancel schedule button (next to the scheduled time indicator).
- Confirm the cancellation.
The issue returns to Draft status. You can reschedule or edit it before sending again.
Send status progression
An issue moves through the following statuses as it is sent:
| Status | Description | Can edit? |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | Being built; not scheduled or sent | Yes |
| Scheduled | Send time is set; waiting to dispatch | Yes (until send time) |
| Sending | Currently being dispatched | No |
| Sent | Fully delivered to all subscribers | No |
Once an issue reaches Sending or Sent status, its content is locked. You cannot edit the links, summaries, or foreword of a sent issue.
Post-send analytics
After an issue is sent, you can view delivery and engagement analytics from the Analytics tab within the issue:
- Emails sent, delivered, bounced
- Open rate (based on tracking pixels)
- Click rate (based on tracked links)
- Unsubscribe count from this issue
Analytics update in near real-time as subscribers open and click links in the email.