States
Every post carries one state — a workspace-defined workflow step like Drafting or Review. States are fully customizable, but each one belongs to a fixed stage (state group) that gives it a consistent meaning, icon, and color no matter what you name it.
Stages
The nine stages are fixed. A state's stage is what WriteMars interprets; the name is for your team.
| Stage | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Idea | Raw concept, not yet actionable |
| Backlog | Accepted work, waiting to start |
| Drafting | Content is actively being prepared |
| Review | Waiting for feedback or approval |
| Approved | Reviewed and ready for scheduling |
| Scheduled | Publish date/time is set |
| Published | Live and visible to audience |
| Blocked | Cannot progress due to a dependency |
| Archived | Retired or cancelled, kept for history |
WriteMars's default state set is one state per stage, named after the stage (Idea, Backlog, Drafting, Review, Approved, Scheduled, Published, Blocked, Archived), each with the matching description above. If your workspace starts without states, create your own — there's no required minimum.
Customize states
Go to Settings → States:
- Click New state.
- Fill in Name (unique per workspace), an optional Description, and pick the Stage.
- Save. The state appears under its stage in the accordion list.
The list groups states by stage; each group has its own add button, and the search box filters by name or description. Edit or delete a state from its row. Deleting a state doesn't delete posts — posts in that state are left with no state.
Set a post's state
On the post detail page, open State in the right-hand property pane and pick a state (or No state to clear it). You can also filter the Posts view by state.
What stages do — and don't — drive
A stage gives each state its badge icon and color and groups states on the Settings → States page. That's the extent of it: stages are an organizational and visual layer.
Stages do not decide which list a post lands in. The Drafts, Scheduled, and Published views — and the matching Posts by status tiles on Home — segment posts by their real publish status, rolled up from each post's channels, not by the post's workflow state:
- Drafts — posts that are still unfinished: no channel is queued, or a channel needs approval or failed to publish.
- Scheduled — posts with a channel that's scheduled or mid-publish.
- Published — posts live on every queued channel.
So moving a post into a Scheduled-stage state does nothing to publishing, and a post in a Drafting-stage state can still appear under Scheduled once you actually schedule a channel. Use states to track your own process; the lists follow what's really happening on the networks.
A state is bookkeeping only — publishing is driven by each variant's schedule, not the post's state. See scheduling posts.
For sign-off gates that actually hold a variant until someone approves it, see approvals. The Home page also surfaces a Needs your review link counting the approvals waiting on you.