CivAll Social has four tools for working on posts together: post names, shared drafts, dated drafts on the Planner, and internal notes. They are all internal. Names and notes never reach a social network, and a draft never sends on its own.
Name a post
- In the composer, click Add a name on the top row of the post card.
- Type a name of up to 100 characters and press Enter. Press Escape to cancel.
The name is the same one you set with Rename in the draft switcher. It stays with the post when you schedule it, edit it, send it for approval, and publish it. You see it on Planner cards, in Approvals, and in the Drafts and Recent posts lists on the Publish dashboard.
A name is optional. A post without one looks the way it always has.
Tip
Hover over the name to see the reminder: “Post names are internal only and will not publish.”
Share a draft and take turns editing
The icon to the left of the post name sets who can see a draft:
| Icon | Setting | Who sees the draft |
|---|---|---|
| People | Shared with team | You, plus teammates who can compose or publish on every account the draft is addressed to |
| Lock | Private | Only you |
Click the icon to switch. A new draft starts with whichever setting you chose last, and CivAll remembers that choice with your user account, not your browser.
A shared draft is visible to teammates only once it has a name. Until then, the icon’s hover text reads “Shared with team once you name it. Until then, only you can see it.”
Teammates find your shared drafts under Shared with me in the composer’s draft switcher and the Planner’s Drafts panel. On the Publish dashboard, the Drafts list gains an Author column.
One editor at a time
Only one person edits a shared draft at a time. If you open a draft a teammate is editing:
- The draft opens read-only with a banner: “Read-only - name is editing this draft.”
- Click Take control, then confirm in the Take editing control? dialog.
- CivAll saves your teammate’s changes, moves them to view-only, and hands you the draft with their latest edits.
When the editor closes the draft, it becomes available to the next person without a takeover. In draft lists and on Planner cards, the current editor’s avatar appears with a pencil badge so you can see who has the draft open.
While someone else is editing, you cannot finish the draft or move it on the Planner. When a teammate finishes a draft you have open, you see “A teammate finished this draft” and can no longer edit or submit it there.
Note
Drafts created before this feature was released stay Private. Nothing is shared until its author names it and has sharing turned on.
Plan with dated drafts on the Planner
A draft set to Schedule with a date and time appears on the Planner on that day, marked with a Draft pill. Under the date, the composer confirms: “On Planner as a draft for date and time. It won’t publish until you click Finish.”
- It never sends on its own. When its time passes, the card stays on its day with an Overdue pill.
- Open it by clicking the card and choosing Edit Draft.
- Move it by dragging the card to another day. Dragging a draft from the Drafts panel onto a day gives it that date only. It does not schedule the post.
- Finish it by completing the post and clicking Finish. It becomes a normal scheduled post and the draft card is replaced.
To hold a slot, hover over a day on the Planner and click New post. CivAll saves what you enter as a draft, even if that is only a name. If you close the drawer without entering anything, nothing is saved.
Drafts is its own option in the Planner’s Post Type filter and is shown by default. A saved view that already has specific post types selected does not show drafts until you check Drafts.
Leave internal notes
- Click Add internal notes. The link is below the post card in the composer, below the form when you edit a scheduled post from the Planner, and at the top of the sidebar in Approvals.
- Type your note and press Enter.
The notes form one log that follows the post from draft through approval, scheduling, and publishing. The heading shows the count, for example Internal notes · 2. You can edit or delete only your own notes. A note can be up to 2,000 characters.
In the composer, the link appears once CivAll has saved the draft for the first time.
Who can do what
| Action | Who |
|---|---|
| See and edit a shared draft | The author, and teammates who can compose or publish on every account on the draft |
| See a shared draft with no accounts selected yet | The author, and teammates who can compose or publish on at least one account |
| Rename, make private, or delete a shared draft | The author only |
| Finish a shared draft | Anyone who can edit it, within their own publishing permissions, while no one else is editing |
| Read and add internal notes | Anyone who can open the post |
| Edit or delete an internal note | The person who wrote it |
Teammates with view-only access to an account do not see shared drafts for it. If you lose access to a post’s accounts, you lose access to its notes as well.