> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.ocoya.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Preview a post before publishing

> See how a post will look on each network before it goes out.

The post editor has an **Edit** / **Preview** toggle at the top. Preview renders your post the way each network will show it — not a generic mock-up, but a per-network view with that platform's own layout.

## Why it's worth using

The same caption looks different everywhere, and the differences are the ones that embarrass you:

* Where a network **truncates** the caption behind a *more* link
* How a **thread** breaks across posts on X, Threads, Bluesky and Mastodon
* Which image leads a carousel
* Whether a link renders as a **link preview card** or as bare text

Previews exist for every network Ocoya publishes to, so a post going to five channels can be checked five ways before it leaves.

## Link previews

On the networks that show them, the preview includes the **link preview card** — the title, description and image the network pulls from the page you linked.

That card comes from the linked page's own metadata, not from Ocoya. If it looks wrong, the fix is on that page rather than in the post. It's still worth checking here, because a missing or ugly card is much easier to fix before publishing than after.

## What the preview can't tell you

It's a faithful rendering of your content, not a simulation of the network:

* It doesn't prove the channel is still connected — a post can preview perfectly and fail because access lapsed. See [Why didn't my post publish?](/help/post-didnt-publish)
* It doesn't apply the network's own cropping to video thumbnails.
* It doesn't show how the post ranks or who sees it.

## Check the per-channel version

If you've written [different captions per channel](/help/post-editor), the preview shows each channel's own version — so switching between them is the quickest way to confirm the short version really is on the channel that needed it.

## Related

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="The post editor" icon="square-pen" href="/help/post-editor">
    Per-channel captions and what the editor checks as you write.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Long posts and threads" icon="list" href="/help/long-posts-and-threads">
    What a long caption becomes on X, Threads, Bluesky and Mastodon.
  </Card>
</Columns>