Short-form publishing calendar template
A free, editable calendar for tracking short-form content you have already decided to publish — what it is, who owns it, whether it is cleared, and where and when it goes out.
For solo podcasters and YouTubers keeping a weekly queue, and for teams coordinating ownership, rights and review across channels.
Version v1.0 — 2026-09
What this template does
It gives a team one shared record of what is ready to publish, so nobody has to reconstruct the state of a queue from chat messages. Everything in it is a decision you have already made.
- Tracks each clip from idea through review to published, with an owner on every item.
- Keeps captions, aspect ratio and rights checks visible next to the item they belong to.
- Records the date, time and platform you have chosen, in whatever time zone you work in.
- Works in Google Sheets, Excel, Numbers or a Notion import, with no account anywhere.
What it deliberately does not do
- It does not tell you when to post. There is no "best time", no suggested cadence and no ranking of platforms — the planned date and time are yours to choose.
- It does not estimate how anything will perform. No views, no reach, no engagement, no benchmarks against other creators.
- It is not legal advice and not a statement of any platform’s policy. The rights column is a prompt to check, not a clearance.
- It needs no Short.now account, and nothing you type is sent to us or to anyone else.
Download the template
Both files carry the same columns and the same five illustrative rows. Take whichever suits your workspace.
This template is an organizational aid. It is not legal advice, not a guarantee about any platform’s policies, and not a forecast of views, reach, revenue or engagement.
The fields
The full schema, so you can judge the template before downloading it. Ten columns are required; five are optional.
| Column | Required | Type | What it records |
|---|---|---|---|
| Planned date | Required | ISO date (YYYY-MM-DD) | The publication date you have chosen. The template does not suggest a date or imply that one is better than another. |
| Planned time | Optional | Local time (HH:MM) | The slot your team intends to use. Optional, and read in whatever time zone you name. |
| Time zone | Optional | Free text, e.g. Europe/Lisbon | Makes the planned time unambiguous when people work across zones. |
| Platform | Required | Picklist Options: YouTube Shorts, TikTok, Instagram Reels, LinkedIn, X, Other | Where this item is going. A destination, not a ranking or a prediction. |
| Content source | Required | Text, URL optional | The episode, recording, campaign or source asset the clip comes from. |
| Clip premise | Required | Text | The specific idea you are publishing — what this clip actually is. |
| Hook | Optional | Text | The opening line or on-screen idea, if you have settled on one. |
| Aspect ratio | Required | Picklist Options: 9:16, 1:1, 16:9, Other | The output format this item has to be delivered in. |
| Caption status | Required | Picklist Options: Not started, Draft, Reviewed, Approved | Where the captions have got to. |
| Owner | Required | Text | The person or role answerable for this item. |
| Review status | Required | Picklist Options: Needs review, Changes requested, Approved | Where editorial approval has got to. |
| Publication status | Required | Picklist Options: Idea, In production, Ready, Scheduled, Published, Paused | The operational state of the item. |
| Reuse rights checked | Required | Picklist Options: Yes, No, Needs confirmation | A reminder to check you may publish the material. This is a prompt, not legal advice. |
| Asset link | Optional | URL | A link to a file or project you control. Nothing is uploaded anywhere by this template. |
| Notes | Optional | Text | Working context for your team. Stays in your copy of the file — never in a share link and never in analytics. |
The example rows
Both files ship with five rows built from fictional assets. They are there to show how the statuses move and how the filters behave — they are not a recommended posting frequency, channel mix or outcome. Delete them before you start.
Build a starter row
Fill this in to download a one-row CSV with the same columns. It is built in your browser: nothing is uploaded, nothing is stored, and none of it goes into the page link.
How to fill it in
The same five steps are on the Instructions sheet inside the workbook.
- Duplicate this file, or import the CSV into whichever workspace you already use.
- Add only content you have permission to publish.
- Set an owner and a review status before you mark anything Ready or Scheduled.
- Treat the planned date and time as a coordination choice, and adjust it for your audience, your team and each platform’s requirements.
- Confirm rights and the platform’s own policy before you publish.
How the template is put together
One field model generates the CSV, the Excel workbook and the table on this page, so the three cannot drift apart. Required columns are the ones a queue breaks without: a date, a destination, what the clip is, the format, and who is answerable for it. The status columns are deliberately short — a queue people actually update is better than an exhaustive one they abandon. Optional columns exist because plenty of teams do not need a time zone or a hook field, and an empty column is friction.
Fill the queue, then make the clips
Short.now finds and cuts clips from your long-form video, so the rows in your calendar have something to point at.
Try Short.now free