Overview
In Contently, the Tweet/Twitter/X social copy box may still enforce an older character limit (commonly 140) even when you want 280. You may also see a mismatch where Requirements indicates 280, but the Tweet input still enforces 140.
This happens because Tweet/social copy inputs are implemented as publication-level Custom Fields, and existing stories may retain older field constraints until the field is refreshed on the story.
Solution
Issue
The Tweet/Twitter/X social copy input enforces an outdated character limit (commonly 140 characters) even when you want 280.
Symptoms
- Writers/editors have to edit the Tweet/Twitter/X social copy down to 140 characters.
- On existing stories: Requirements shows 280, but the Tweet copy box still enforces 140.
Root cause
The Tweet/Twitter/X field is a publication-level Custom Field. Character limits are configurable per publication and may have been set when the publication was created. After changing the publication-level limit, existing stories may not automatically refresh the editor field constraints.
A) Update the Tweet/Twitter/X character limit (publication-level)
Prerequisite: You must be a publication owner/admin (or have equivalent permissions).
- Open your publication settings in Contently.
- Navigate to Custom Fields (where editor fields like “Tweet”/social copy boxes are configured).
- Locate the Tweet/Twitter/X custom field.
- Update the character limit to your desired value (for example, 280).
- Save changes.
Expected result: New stories created after this change should use the updated limit.
B) Refresh the Tweet field on existing stories (workaround)
If an existing story still enforces the old limit after the publication-level change:
- Open the affected story in Contently.
- Go to the story’s Requirements section.
- Remove/delete “Tweet” from Requirements.
- Save the story/Requirements.
- Return to Requirements and add “Tweet” back.
- Re-open the Tweet copy box and confirm it now reflects the updated character limit.
Why this works: Removing and re-adding the Requirement forces the story to re-associate the field with the updated Custom Field configuration.