I'm Backdating Tons of Substack Posts

There are stories all over the internet of writers moving their blogs to Substack. The question is, how does a person apply the correct date to each post? I've got the answer.

Time & Date

If there’s one thing that drives writers to quit blogging, it’s loneliness and lack of interaction. Writing in isolation can feel like shouting into the void, and it’s a big reason blogging has such a high turnover rate. At first, getting your thoughts out feels satisfying, but after a while, posting without readers or responses starts to feel pointless. That’s where Substack makes a difference.

I’ll save the full story of Substack’s social benefits for another post, but here’s the short version: it’s a genuine network for writers. The platform includes tools that make connecting with other writers - and with readers - effortless. If you’ve ever used WordPress, you’ll know how frustrating the lack of community can be. I’ve used WordPress for decades, and I can attest to how barren it can feel. You practically have to beg people to visit your site, and that’s no fun.

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Switching to Substack

It’s not an easy decision, and I probably won’t move everything at once, but I do plan to shift most of my posts from WordPress to Substack. Yes, it’ll take time and effort, but I believe it will be worth it for the chance to connect and interact with others on the platform. In just the few weeks I’ve been using Substack, I’ve already seen positive results - results I haven’t experienced on WordPress in years.

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Backdating My Posts

Over the years, I’ve written countless posts that I’d like to keep. My plan is to move them from my current blogs and consolidate them here. The challenge is that some posts are time-sensitive, like those about seasonal weather or specific historical events. It would look odd to publish a winter story in the middle of July. That’s why I’ll need to backdate certain posts, and in this section, I’ll show you exactly how I plan to do that.

I’ll start by writing a post as usual. Or copying a post over. Whether or not I send it to my subscribers doesn’t matter, though if I do, they might find it odd to receive content that isn’t relevant to the current date. These steps also work for posts that are already live but need a date change.

1. After publishing the post on Substack, click the Posts link in the Dashboard.

2. Locate the post you want to backdate, then click the three dots (…) to open its menu and select Edit.

3. At the bottom of the page, click the Settings button.

4. Scroll down to Displayed Publication Date and adjust the date and time as desired.

5. Save your changes and repeat for the next post.

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Why Edit a Post Date?

By the way, the process I described above isn’t just for backdating. You can also futuredate and schedule posts, but I’ll leave that for another time.

I’ve already explained why I want to backdate my posts; mostly because I’m importing them from another platform and want them to appear in chronological order. But there’s another excellent reason to adjust post dates: creating a series.

Over the years, I’ve written many series, and almost every time, other posts ended up between the series entries. To keep the series posts in order, I need to adjust their dates, so there’s a very practical reason right there.

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In Conclusion

Now that I’ve wrapped up my thoughts on moving posts from WordPress to Substack and adjusting their dates, I’d love to hear from you. Have you ever made a similar move? I’m curious about your story: why you switched platforms and how you went about it. Until next time!