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FAQs

Troubleshoot Blotato Make modules, media, templates, and publishing.

For installation, use Make.com setup. For request shapes and completion checks, read REST versus MCP and Async jobs and polling.

How do I use the Source modules in Make.com?

The Source modules allow you to extract content from YouTube, TikTok, articles, PDFs, audio, or AI research queries.

Create Source Module

  1. Add a Blotato module

  2. Select the source-creation operation exposed by the installed module.

  3. Select the source type available in that module and provide its input. If it infers a type from a URL, inspect the resulting request when extraction fails. For an HTTP request, send an explicit REST sourceType from Create Source.

  4. Optionally add Custom Instructions to transform the extracted content

  5. Run to get a source ID

Get Source Module

  1. Add a Blotato module after Create Source

  2. Select "Get Source"

  3. Pass the source ID from Create Source

  4. Run and inspect status. Use content only for completed. For failed, stop and read message from the REST result. For queued or processing, wait at least 10 seconds before checking the same ID again within a bounded wait.

  5. If timestamps need removal, clean the completed content in a later step. If your installed module offers Clean Transcript, use its local transformation. Do not add cleanTranscript as an API query parameter.

Scenario Pattern

One Sleep followed by Get does not guarantee completion. Follow Make completion checks.

Example: YouTube to Visual Content

  1. Create Source with YouTube URL

  2. Sleep at least 10 seconds.

  3. Get Source and branch on its status.

  4. Once completed, pass its content to an authorized visual-generation step.

  5. Verify the visual before a separate authorized publication.

Troubleshooting Make.com and n8n Automations

The most common errors I see are related to:

  • wrong API key or account IDs

  • invalid JSON (e.g. wrongly formatted)

  • invalid API request (e.g. wrong parameters)

  • invalid file format (e.g. wrong video dimensions)

Store the API key in the module's connection credential and verify its account selection. Saved mappings still need checking after a social account is reconnected.

Here's a step-by-step checklist to troubleshoot your Make.com automation:

  • Check your Blotato API key, Account IDs, and Page IDs are correct

  • Check that the correct Account ID is connected and passed in every Publish API call

  • If you are publishing to a Facebook Page or LinkedIn Company Page, you must also pass the Page ID, in addition to Account ID.

  • Check your "Failed" dashboard for additional context: https://my.blotato.com/posts?status=failed

  • Verify that the JSON data in the HTTP Request contains the right parameters:

  1. Ask ChatGPT to check if your JSON is valid.

  2. Check it again with JSON Validator: https://jsonlint.com

  3. If your JSON is valid, ask ChatGPT to compare your JSON to Blotato's API docs. Use this prompt:

Issues with JSON Request to Blotato API?

I recommend using ChatGPT to troubleshoot your JSON payload:

  1. Ask ChatGPT to check if your JSON is valid.

  2. Check it again with JSON Validator: https://jsonlint.com

  3. If your JSON is valid, ask ChatGPT to compare your JSON to Blotato's API docs. Use this prompt:

Submitting Wrong Video Dimensions to API?

A video longer than 120 seconds must arrive ready for the target platform. Blotato does not crop, resize, or re-encode longer videos.

For a portrait Instagram Reel longer than 120 seconds, use this export preset. A 9:16 frame is a recommendation, not an automatic crop rule:

  1. Choose a 9:16 frame for the portrait layout.

  2. Export at 1080 x 1920 or 720 x 1280 pixels.

  3. Export as MP4 with H.264 video and AAC audio.

  4. Set the video bitrate to 25 Mbps or lower.

  5. Keep the file size at 300 MB or smaller.

  6. Keep the duration at 15 minutes or shorter.

  7. Confirm the media URL opens without a login or access token.

  8. Pass the direct media URL to content.mediaUrls in the Publish module.

Follow the Instagram Reel troubleshooting checklist for the web-app and API steps.

How to Preserve Newlines in Multi-Paragraph Posts?

To preserve newlines in posts with multiple paragraphs, use the prebuilt Make module "Transform to JSON" and feed in your text. Then, update your HTTP request module: change text to use the resulting JSON string.

How do I get my Heygen avatar video with captions?

You'll need to change 2 steps:

  1. In the CREATE HEYGEN VIDEO step, there is a setting to enable captions. Make sure it's turned on.

  2. In the Blotato Publish step, pass the video_url_caption from the GET VIDEO step into the mediaUrls parameter. This will use the video version with captions.

Remember to test your workflow after making this change to make sure everything works as expected.

How do you customize text styles in the carousel/slideshow?

It's on my roadmap to add more customization options and templates for carousels/slideshows!

Right now, the only customization is the caption position (top, middle, bottom).

How do you post a slideshow or carousel?

Using the official Blotato node, it's now super easy to post a slideshow or carousel. In your publishing node, update the Media URLs parameter - give it a comma separated list of URLs to be posted as a slideshow/carousel.

I'm using an older template with textToImageModel and imageToVideoModel parameters. Do these still work?

Those parameters belong to an outdated template format. If your Create Video module fails with a 400 error like body.textToImageModel must be object, body.imageToVideoModel must NOT be valid, this is the cause: the old POST /v2/videos/creations request format with textToImageModel and imageToVideoModel as string fields no longer works.

If your scenario uses a raw HTTP module, point it at the current endpoint instead:

  • URL: POST https://backend.blotato.com/v2/videos/from-templates

  • Body:

That templateId is the "AI Video with AI Voice" template. Remove the old textToImageModel and imageToVideoModel fields entirely, then poll GET /v2/videos/creations/{id} for the result. See Create Visual for the full migration guide.

Or switch to the new CREATE VISUAL system instead:

  1. Browse all available templates at https://my.blotato.com/videos/new to see how they look

  2. In n8n or Make, add the Blotato CREATE VISUAL node and select a template

  3. Start with a carousel template -- carousels render near-instantly, so you get a fast test run

  4. Click Execute to generate the carousel

  5. Open your Logs to see the JSON payload for each template

  6. Override your desired inputs one-by-one

If you were making AI story videos, use the template called "AI Video with AI Voice."

Full documentation for each template: Visual Templates

How do I schedule a post for a specific time?

Set the Scheduled Time field in the Publish module using ISO-8601 format with timezone.

Format: YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ (UTC) or YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS+HH:MM (with offset)

Examples:

  • 2026-03-10T14:00:00Z (2:00 PM UTC)

  • 2026-03-10T09:00:00-05:00 (9:00 AM Eastern)

In Make.com expressions, use formatDate() to build the timestamp:

Do not pass a date without timezone information. The API rejects timestamps without a timezone offset.

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