Summary: This guide is for anyone who can't publish a news item. If your "Publish" button is greyed out or completely missing, the cause is almost always one of three things: missing permissions, missing mandatory fields, or a stalled media upload. It also explains why a specific business unit, department, or group may be missing from your audience list.
1. Permissions: the missing button
Unlike standard Feed updates, official news items are high-visibility content. Network administrators often restrict publishing rights to specific roles, so the network doesn't get cluttered with non-essential announcements.
- How to tell: If the option to create a news item is completely absent from your screen, or the specific department, location, or group you want to target is missing from your selector, your current role lacks the permissions.
- The solution: Contact your network administrator, HR department, or regional manager. They can either publish the announcement on your behalf, or upgrade your profile to a role that includes news creation rights (such as an Organization Admin or Group Admin).
Why can I post news, but not to a specific BU, department, or group?
News permissions can be granted on a global (network-wide) level or a local level.
- Global permissions: Network administrators have global rights. They can select the entire network and any business unit or department as the audience, even if they are not part of it themselves.
- Local permissions (the most common issue): If you have news publishing rights for one specific department (say, the "Morning shift" department), you can only publish news to that audience. The audience dropdown is restricted, and you won't be able to select other departments (like the "Afternoon shift" department).
If you are targeting a Group, two extra rules apply:
- You are not an administrator of that group: To publish official news inside a specific group, you generally need to be a Group Administrator of that group. Standard members usually only have permission to post regular updates (depending on the group's settings and preferences), not news items.
- The group is Secret: If the group is marked as Secret and you are not an active member, it will not appear as an option in your audience selector. This applies even if you have permission to post to any business unit, department, or group.
Because these restrictions come from the security roles your organization configured, you cannot bypass them yourself. Ask the relevant admin or manager to post on your behalf, or request a role upgrade if your job requires you to post to that area regularly.
2. Missing mandatory fields: the greyed-out Publish button
If the News composer opens fine but the "Publish" button stays unclickable (greyed out), a required field is still empty. Check your draft against all three requirements:
| Mandatory field | Requirement | What to check |
| Title | Required at the top of the article. | Make sure it doesn't include rare or uncommon characters that break the system. |
| Body text | Required in the main editor block. | A news item cannot contain only a headline or only an attached image. |
| Audience | Required in the "Publish to" section. | You must explicitly select a target audience (the entire network, a Business Unit, or specific Groups). |
3. Media upload failures: stuck processing
If your fields are filled in but the system still won't publish, the problem is likely a stuck media attachment.
Media processing: The platform must completely upload and process any attached images, documents, or video files before a post can go live. Large, high-definition video files can take several minutes to process, depending on your connection. The system blocks the "Publish" button until processing is finished.
- The solution: Check that your internet connection hasn't dropped. If your connection is stable but the upload stays frozen, click the X on the media card to remove the attachment from your draft, then try uploading it again. For very large files, consider compressing the file before re-attaching it.
Tip: You can hit refresh to retry, but copy the content you created first, so you can easily paste it back into the reloaded screen.
Frequently asked questions
Why can I post regular updates to my group but not an official news item?
Standard updates are meant for everyday team messaging. Official news items reach broader audiences and trigger wider alerts, so access to the News tool requires specific permissions managed by your administrators.
Is there a limit on how large an attached video file can be for a news post?
The system accepts high-definition video files up to 2 GB, but very large attachments significantly prolong the processing time. If your internet connection is slow, the upload might time out, locking the Publish button. Try compressing your video file if it keeps freezing.
Can a news item consist entirely of a graphic flyer without any text?
No. Every news item must have a text-based title and a filled-in body section. If you want to share a visual flyer or infographic, type a brief summary of the event or policy in the body text field alongside your upload.
Still stuck?
First check with your network administrator, since permissions and audience access are set within your organization. If that doesn't solve it, email us at support@speakap.com with your network name, what you're trying to post, and a screenshot of the screen where you get stuck, and we'll help you out.Why Can't I Post a News Item?
Last updated: June 2026
Summary: This guide is for anyone who can't publish a news item. If your "Publish" button is greyed out or completely missing, the cause is almost always one of three things: missing permissions, missing mandatory fields, or a stalled media upload. It also explains why a specific business unit, department, or group may be missing from your audience list.
1. Permissions: the missing button
Unlike standard Feed updates, official news items are high-visibility content. Network administrators often restrict publishing rights to specific roles, so the network doesn't get cluttered with non-essential announcements.
- How to tell: If the option to create a news item is completely absent from your screen, or the specific department, location, or group you want to target is missing from your selector, your current role lacks the permissions.
- The solution: Contact your network administrator, HR department, or regional manager. They can either publish the announcement on your behalf, or upgrade your profile to a role that includes news creation rights (such as an Organization Admin or Group Admin).
Why can I post news, but not to a specific BU, department, or group?
News permissions can be granted on a global (network-wide) level or a local level.
- Global permissions: Network administrators have global rights. They can select the entire network and any business unit or department as the audience, even if they are not part of it themselves.
- Local permissions (the most common issue): If you have news publishing rights for one specific department (say, the "Morning shift" department), you can only publish news to that audience. The audience dropdown is restricted, and you won't be able to select other departments (like the "Afternoon shift" department).
If you are targeting a Group, two extra rules apply:
- You are not an administrator of that group: To publish official news inside a specific group, you generally need to be a Group Administrator of that group. Standard members usually only have permission to post regular updates (depending on the group's settings and preferences), not news items.
- The group is Secret: If the group is marked as Secret and you are not an active member, it will not appear as an option in your audience selector. This applies even if you have permission to post to any business unit, department, or group.
Because these restrictions come from the security roles your organization configured, you cannot bypass them yourself. Ask the relevant admin or manager to post on your behalf, or request a role upgrade if your job requires you to post to that area regularly.
2. Missing mandatory fields: the greyed-out Publish button
If the News composer opens fine but the "Publish" button stays unclickable (greyed out), a required field is still empty. Check your draft against all three requirements:
| Mandatory field | Requirement | What to check |
| Title | Required at the top of the article. | Make sure it doesn't include rare or uncommon characters that break the system. |
| Body text | Required in the main editor block. | A news item cannot contain only a headline or only an attached image. |
| Audience | Required in the "Publish to" section. | You must explicitly select a target audience (the entire network, a Business Unit, or specific Groups). |
3. Media upload failures: stuck processing
If your fields are filled in but the system still won't publish, the problem is likely a stuck media attachment.
Media processing: The platform must completely upload and process any attached images, documents, or video files before a post can go live. Large, high-definition video files can take several minutes to process, depending on your connection. The system blocks the "Publish" button until processing is finished.
- The solution: Check that your internet connection hasn't dropped. If your connection is stable but the upload stays frozen, click the X on the media card to remove the attachment from your draft, then try uploading it again. For very large files, consider compressing the file before re-attaching it.
Tip: You can hit refresh to retry, but copy the content you created first, so you can easily paste it back into the reloaded screen.
Frequently asked questions
Why can I post regular updates to my group but not an official news item?
Standard updates are meant for everyday team messaging. Official news items reach broader audiences and trigger wider alerts, so access to the News tool requires specific permissions managed by your administrators.
Is there a limit on how large an attached video file can be for a news post?
The system accepts high-definition video files up to 2 GB, but very large attachments significantly prolong the processing time. If your internet connection is slow, the upload might time out, locking the Publish button. Try compressing your video file if it keeps freezing.
Can a news item consist entirely of a graphic flyer without any text?
No. Every news item must have a text-based title and a filled-in body section. If you want to share a visual flyer or infographic, type a brief summary of the event or policy in the body text field alongside your upload.
Still stuck?
First check with your network administrator, since permissions and audience access are set within your organization. If that doesn't solve it, email us at support@speakap.com with your network name, what you're trying to post, and a screenshot of the screen where you get stuck, and we'll help you out.