🛠️ Signal Genesys: Fixing an Invalid Publish Date Error on Press Releases

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Camilo Aponte

Last updated on Oct 1, 2026

Overview

If you receive an "Invalid publish date" error when trying to publish a press release in Signal Genesys, the date entered in the publish date field is either incorrectly formatted, set in the past, or missing entirely. This article shows you where to find the publish date field and how to correct it to resolve the error.

What the Error Means

Signal Genesys validates the publish date before submitting a press release to distribution partners. The invalid publish date error appears when:

The date is set in the past — press releases must be scheduled for today or a future date and time.
The date format does not match the expected format for your region.
The publish date field was left blank.
A previously scheduled release was never published and its scheduled date has now passed.

Where to Find the Publish Date Field

Open the press release you want to publish inside Signal Genesys.
In the press release editor, look for the Article Details, Distribution Settings, or Settings panel — this is typically located in the right-hand sidebar or at the top of the editing form.
Locate the field labeled Publish Date or Publication Date.
Click the field to open the date and time picker.

Note: If you do not see the Publish Date field immediately, scroll down within the settings panel — it may appear below other metadata fields such as Category or Tags.

How to Fix the Invalid Publish Date Error

Click the Publish Date field to open the date picker.
Select today's date or any future date.
If a time field is also present, ensure the time is set to a future time when using today's date.
Click Save, Update, or Apply to confirm the change within the editor.
Attempt to publish the press release again — the error should no longer appear.

Additional Tips

If the date picker does not accept your input, try typing the date manually using the format shown in the placeholder text (commonly MM/DD/YYYY or YYYY-MM-DD).
Ensure your browser's timezone matches your intended publish timezone — Signal Genesys evaluates dates against server time.
If the publish date field appears greyed out or read-only, the press release may be in a locked or processing state. Cancel the current submission attempt, return to the draft, update the date, and resubmit.
For releases stuck in a Pending state with an expired date, create a new draft rather than attempting to republish the old entry.

Still Getting the Error?

If you have set a valid future date and the error persists, contact Search Atlas Support via the in-app Help Widget. Provide the title of the press release, the date and time you are trying to set, and a screenshot of the error message if possible.