Publisher updates preserve settings, licence state, topics, generated posts, jobs and automation history. Treat an update as an operational change because background work and WordPress Scheduled posts may be active.

Before the update

1. Read the release notes from the installed version through 3.7.6.
2. Back up database and wp-content and verify the restore procedure.
3. Record installed version, licence status/environment, provider selections, WordPress timezone and schedule configuration.
4. Export or screenshot safe History information with keys/domains/customer data masked.
5. List active queued/running/cancelling jobs.
6. List Publisher-generated WordPress posts with Draft, Pending and Scheduled status and their dates.
7. Pause Publisher scheduling and wait for the current provider request/job checkpoint to settle when practical.
8. Keep the previous known-good ZIP offline.

Do not update while WordPress is in the middle of replacing the plugin directory through another request.

Install or replace

Open Plugins → Add New Plugin → Upload Plugin, select the intact 3.7.6 ZIP and install. When WordPress offers to replace the current version, review the versions and confirm.

Activate if needed and verify NextlerAI Publisher 3.7.6. Do not delete database options, topic tables, generated posts or job records.

What 3.7.6 changes during migration

Version 3.7.5 introduced native WordPress Scheduled posts for quality-approved Auto-publish articles, exact slot dates, exclusive reservations and a Publisher publication watchdog.

Version 3.7.6 moves reconciliation out of plugin bootstrap and into a safe one-time background event. The event is scheduled shortly after normal load so WordPress is not forced to transition post status while it is replacing/loading the plugin.

This means a successful upload is not the end of verification. Allow background cron to run, then inspect the result.

Post-update verification

Core state

• Plugin screen reports 3.7.6.
• Licence is Active and Runtime access enabled.
• Settings/provider keys remain saved and masked.
• Topics, generated posts, reports and History are present.
• Dashboard inventory and System Status load.

Jobs

• Previously active job has one understandable state.
• No duplicate job was created by update.
• A checkpointed queued job can resume through the normal worker.
• Completed/failed/cancelled history remains readable.

Schedule and native posts

1. Confirm WordPress timezone.
2. Confirm cadence, first date, publication times, lead, daily cap, workflow and pause state.
3. Allow the one-time reconciliation event to run.
4. In Auto publish mode, confirm automation-ready future articles appear as native WordPress Scheduled posts with the intended date/time.
5. Confirm each post has one Publisher reservation/slot and no article is reused.
6. Confirm History includes Scheduled and the correct message.
7. For paused, disabled, Review or Draft-only workflows, confirm Publisher-created future schedules were safely removed while content remains Draft/Pending as appropriate.

Controlled functional test

On staging or with Draft output:

1. refresh inventory;
2. test the text provider;
3. approve one topic;
4. generate one manual Draft;
5. inspect report, links and media;
6. create one future automation slot;
7. confirm native Scheduled state and exact time;
8. verify publication/watchdog history.

Do not resume full automatic volume before this sequence passes.

Rollback plan

Rollback is not only a file replacement when 3.7.5/3.7.6 scheduling metadata has already been written.

1. Pause scheduling.
2. Record active jobs, ledger slots and native Scheduled posts.
3. Restore the database and files from the same pre-update point whenever possible.
4. Replace the plugin with the matching known-good ZIP.
5. Confirm licence, settings and schemas.
6. Check that no future post or cron event survives from a different database state.
7. Test one Draft job before resuming.

Do not combine a new database with older plugin files unless the release notes explicitly support that direction.

Troubleshooting

• Scheduled posts do not appear immediately: confirm cron ran the one-time reconciliation and the workflow is active Auto publish.
• Posts changed status during pause/review: compare with the documented safe hold mapping; content should remain preserved.
• Duplicate cron events: keep pause on, record event arguments/slots and reschedule once after verifying settings.
• Job stuck after update: inspect checkpoint, lock age and worker/cron; do not delete an active job.
• Licence read-only: correct product/domain/environment; do not reinstall to bypass entitlement.
• Provider key missing: a blank save preserves an existing key, but a restored database/salt mismatch can affect encrypted secrets; re-enter/test securely.
• Wrong publication time: verify WordPress timezone and both local/GMT post dates.

Completion checklist

• Backup and previous ZIP are recoverable.
• Version and licence are correct.
• No settings/topics/posts/history disappeared.
• Active jobs were not duplicated.
• Background reconciliation completed.
• Native Scheduled posts and slot reservations are correct.
• One Draft and one future-slot test passed.
• Automation resumed deliberately.