13-Aug-2026 — publish walks and social events to Facebook and Instagram, with a preview before posting #356
What's new
Walks and social events can now be posted to the group's Facebook Page and Instagram account straight from the site, so the details only have to be typed once. Each post carries the event's own photo, the date, start location, distance and grade, and a link back to the event on the website. Where an event has no photo yet, one can be added at the point of publishing and it is saved onto the event itself, so the website and the post both show it. Posting starts from the walk or social event itself: a Publish menu opens a window showing exactly what will go out, so nothing is sent without being seen first. A new Social Media Publishing page on Walk Admin lists everything coming up, shows what has already been posted and flags anything whose details have changed since. Facebook does not allow any app to create a Facebook Event, so these are ordinary Page posts: they reach the same feed, but there is no RSVP list and no entry in the Page's Events tab, and the screens say so plainly. Alongside this, walks and social events now offer an "Add to calendar" download and a subscribable calendar feed, which is the more useful option for anyone not on Facebook. Publishing is switched off by default and has to be turned on per site.
At a glance
- Publish a walk or social event from the event itself, using a Publish menu, without going to an admin page
- See exactly what will be posted before anything is sent: the wording, the photos and how the post will appear
- Post to Instagram as well as Facebook, wherever an Instagram account is linked to the Page
- New Social Media Publishing page on Walk Admin for preparing a whole programme in one pass
- Export to Ramblers is now reachable directly from the walk programme views, for groups holding their walks locally
- Posts include the event's photo, its key details and a link back to the event on the website
- Add a photo at the point of publishing when an event has none, and it is saved onto the event
- Warned before posting twice: it says when an event has already been posted, and when the details have changed since
- Sort the publishing list by date, title or status, and share or bookmark the view you are looking at
- Date ranges offer presets such as "Next 3 months" or "Last year" where a screen has no quick-range control of its own
- Choosing a date range preset now resizes the slider to that range instead of leaving it fixed at the full span
- Linear walks open with the map showing both start and finish rather than only the start
- Expanding or maximising the map on a walk page is remembered in the web address again, so the view can be shared or reloaded
- A walk's web address stays clean until a map option is actually changed, so it can be copied and shared without a trail of settings
- Checkboxes now follow Ramblers styling everywhere they appear, including the volunteer screens
- Shared links to walks and social events now show a proper preview card with title, description and photo
- New "Add to calendar" link on a walk or social event, plus a calendar feed covering the next twelve months
- Publishing an album to Facebook now includes a link back to the album on the website, which was missing before
- Album thank-you text now credits the walk leader held on the website, falling back to the Ramblers contact name only when the website has none