To schedule WordPress posts at intervals while skipping weekends, set the interval and restrict publication to Monday through Friday. In PubliPal Free, a calculated date that lands on a blocked day moves forward to the next allowed day. The following post is then timed from that adjusted date.
That last detail matters. A daily schedule can run Thursday, Friday, Monday and Tuesday. A two-day interval follows a different pattern; it does not count two working days between posts.
This guide uses PubliPal, PluginHub's bulk scheduling plugin, to work through those rules with concrete examples.
Choose the publishing pattern first
Write down the outcome you want before changing settings. “Publish once every weekday” and “publish every two days, avoiding weekends” describe different schedules.
For a batch of finished articles, three useful patterns are:
- One post each weekday, for a short series that readers follow during the working week.
- One post on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, for a lighter weekly rhythm.
- One post every two calendar days, moving any weekend date forward to Monday.
These are planning examples, not claims about the best publishing frequency for search rankings. Choose a pattern that fits the content and the readers.
If the articles are not selected yet, start with how to schedule existing WordPress drafts in bulk, then return to the timing step.
Example 1: publish once each weekday
Assume six ready articles, a future Thursday start at 9 am, no holidays excluded and time randomisation turned off.
In PubliPal's Settings step:
- Set Start Date to the intended Thursday and Start Time to 09:00.
- Set the interval to Every 1 day.
- Enable Weekdays only (Monday-Friday).
- Continue to Review and expand the full list of calculated dates.
The resulting pattern is:
| Article | Planned publication |
|---|---|
| 1 | Thursday, week 1, 9 am |
| 2 | Friday, week 1, 9 am |
| 3 | Monday, week 2, 9 am |
| 4 | Tuesday, week 2, 9 am |
| 5 | Wednesday, week 2, 9 am |
| 6 | Thursday, week 2, 9 am |
After Friday, the next daily candidate is Saturday. Because Saturday and Sunday are blocked, that article moves to Monday. The following article takes Tuesday. The weekend posts do not all accumulate on Monday morning in this example.
Example 2: publish only on Monday, Wednesday and Friday
To choose specific weekdays, leave Weekdays only off and select Monday, Wednesday and Friday in the allowed-day controls. Use a 1 day interval and a future Monday start.
With randomisation off and no other exclusions, the sequence becomes Monday, Wednesday, Friday, then the following Monday. Each next-day candidate moves forward until it reaches an allowed day.
This is a way to place a finite batch on those weekdays. It does not create an endless queue that automatically collects every new draft you write. Add future content deliberately when it is ready.
Review the dates before applying the schedule, especially if you combine selected weekdays with a longer interval.
“Every two days” is different from “every other working day”
Now consider a Thursday start, a 2 day interval and weekdays only. Keep the other settings the same.
The next calculated date is Saturday, so it advances to Monday. Two days after that is Wednesday, then Friday. Two days after Friday is Sunday, which advances to Monday.
The sequence is Thursday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Monday. It is based on calendar intervals followed by a check for allowed days.
If you need a precise set of weekly publishing days, use selected weekdays and inspect the complete preview. Do not assume a two-day interval counts only working days.
Keep the site timezone in mind
PubliPal uses the WordPress site timezone. Check Settings → General → Timezone before building the batch. WordPress's General Settings documentation explains the available city and UTC-offset options.
If the publishing location observes daylight saving, a named city timezone is generally the useful choice because it carries those seasonal rules. A fixed UTC offset does not describe a city's changing offset throughout the year.
Review schedules that cross a clock change. PubliPal rejects a start time that falls in a daylight-saving gap rather than silently treating it as a different time. Choose a valid local start time and check the dates again.
Use a time window only when varying the time helps
For a daily series that should always be scheduled at 9 am, leave randomisation off.
If you prefer varying planned times, enable Randomize time within window and choose a range such as 09:00–11:00. For unchanged content, settings and dates, PubliPal calculates the same times for preview and application.
A randomised window can make the spacing less uniform. Always read the timestamps in the preview, particularly with intervals shorter than a day. For the weekday examples above, keep this option off so the pattern is easy to verify.
There is no SEO reason to disguise when articles were scheduled. Use the control only if varying times serves your publishing workflow.
Weekdays are not the same as public holidays
A Monday public holiday is still a Monday. The weekdays-only option does not know your organisation's holiday calendar.
PubliPal Pro adds exclusions for specific dates, date ranges, annual dates and recurring weekday rules. These are useful for a planned closure or a date on which publication must be avoided. Excluded dates move forward, which can also shift later posts.
The Free and Pro comparison distinguishes these exclusions from the weekday controls already included in Free.
Check the preview and the first publication
Before applying the batch, confirm the selected days, site time, article order and any dates that moved forward. If you included previously scheduled posts with Leave, their retained dates can fall outside the new pattern. Choose the handling option deliberately.
After applying, check the saved schedule. When the first post is due, verify that it becomes public. Publication still depends on WordPress running its scheduled events; a weekday rule does not repair delayed cron execution.
If plans change, use the guide to rescheduling unpublished posts to adjust the saved schedule.
Explore PubliPal's interval and weekday controls when you want to spread a prepared batch across the days you actually publish.