Sundry Works Help · Threads

Posting your paintings to Threads

A second Meta connection, separate from Instagram and Facebook.

What it's for

Posting your branded picture and its caption straight to Threads, the same way the Instagram and Facebook connection does. Pick Threads in the Format row on the Post tab and the publish card appears underneath. It can go now or on a timer - see Posting on a timer.

This is a separate connection from Instagram and Facebook, even though the same company is behind all three. Connecting one does nothing for the other. Threads is its own app in the Meta dashboard with its own App ID and Secret.

Before you start

One thing has to be true, and it is not obvious:

• The Instagram & Facebook connection has to be working as well - but only for posting at the press of the button. Threads will not take an uploaded file: it wants a web address and fetches the picture itself, so the post is parked as a hidden photo on your Facebook Page for the half-minute that takes, then deleted. Nothing ever appears on the Page. Posting now with no Meta connection means no Threads post.
• Putting a Threads post on a timer does NOT need Meta. The picture is already sitting on sundry.works waiting for its moment, so there is a web address to hand and nothing has to be parked anywhere. Threads connected is the whole requirement.

Threads refuses to send a sign-in back to anything but a secure web address. Sundry Works' is https://sundry.works/api/connect.php, the same one Instagram and Facebook use - it finishes the sign-in and gives you a link back to the app.

Setting it up

1. Go to developers.facebook.com and open the app you made for Instagram and Facebook.
2. Add the "Threads API" use case.
3. Under that use case, switch on threads_basic, threads_content_publish and threads_read_replies. The last one lets the Comments tab read the replies to your posts. Sundry Works asks for all three when it signs in, and a permission that is not switched on here cannot be asked for - if one is missing, press Customize on the use case and add it.
4. Set the Redirect Callback URL to https://sundry.works/api/connect.php - exactly that. It has to match what Sundry Works sends character for character, or the sign-in is refused with "URL Blocked" before it starts. It is the same address the laptop and the phone both use.
5. Fill in the Uninstall Callback URL and the Delete Callback URL as well, with the same address. The form will not save while they are empty, and the error it gives does not mention them.
6. Save, then reload the page and look at the Redirect Callback URLs box again. Meta's form will sometimes report success without having stored anything, and the only way to know it took is to come back and see it there.
7. On that same use case page, copy the Threads App ID and the Threads App Secret. These are NOT the same as the app's own App ID and Secret you used for Instagram - taking the wrong pair is the most common mistake here.
8. Still on that page, find "Add or Remove Threads Testers" near the bottom and add your own Threads account. The app stays in development mode, which means only accounts listed there can use it - and your own is not on the list until you put it there.
9. Then accept the invitation, which happens in Threads and not in the dashboard. In the Threads app: Settings, then More Settings, then Website Permissions, then Invites. Sundry Works is listed there. Press Accept.
10. In Sundry Works, press Settings in the rail, then Threads along the top of the page, and paste the App ID and Secret into the card called "Your Threads keys".
11. Press Connect to Threads. It keeps the App ID and Secret, then takes you to Threads; authorize it, and you will be sent back.

The invitation step is the one everybody misses, because nothing tells you it exists. Skip it and the sign-in fails with "The user has not accepted the invite to test the app" - which sounds like somebody else's problem rather than a screen you have not visited yet. Note that Invites is its own item inside Website Permissions, not the first thing you see there. If nothing is listed, update the Threads app and open it again.

Posting

Open a painting, go to the Post tab, and pick Threads in the Format row. The picture goes to 1080 × 1350 and the publish card appears at the bottom with the Threads caption already in it.

Threads stops at 500 characters and quietly cuts anything past that, so the box counts as you type and tells you how far over you are. You can still press the button - the post goes out, just shorter than you wrote it.

If it goes wrong

• "URL Blocked: the redirect URI is not whitelisted" - the address Sundry Works sends and the address stored in the Meta dashboard are not identical. Meta compares them character for character. Reload the Threads settings page, read the Redirect Callback URLs box exactly as it stands, and make sure it says https://sundry.works/api/connect.php with no trailing slash. An older https://sundry.works/threads.html from the Windows program can stay in the box beside it; it does no harm.
• "Form can't be saved" while you are still setting it up - that is Meta, not you. Usually the Uninstall and Delete boxes are empty; the error names neither of them.
• "Threads needs the Instagram & Facebook connection too" - exactly what it says. Connect Meta first, on the card above.
• "The user has not accepted the invite to test the app" - you are on the tester list but have not approved it yet, or you were never added. Both halves are needed: added in the dashboard under "Add or Remove Threads Testers", then accepted in Threads under Settings, More Settings, Website Permissions, Invites.
• The sign-in works but posting fails - check that threads_content_publish is actually switched on, not just listed.

The rest of the Help

Start here

• Getting started with Sundry Works - What Sundry Works does and how the tabs fit together.
• Using Sundry Works on your phone - Putting Sundry Works on your phone, beside the laptop or instead of it.

Your catalogue

• What's due and what's unfinished - Where the app opens: what to carry on with, what needs you, what's coming up.
• Cataloguing your paintings - Your catalog - add paintings and open the one you're working on.
• Reviewing everything one painting makes - Everything the open painting makes, on one page, with the one decision each needs.
• How to price a painting consistently - Work out a consistent price for the open painting.
• Tracking what sold and who bought it - What sold, who took it home, and what it brought in.
• Story cards, show labels and a portfolio - More than one at a time: a whole show's story cards or labels, or a portfolio to send.

Making things from a painting

• Writing a story for a painting - Generate a written story for the painting and keep the best one.
• Making a printed card for a painting - Lay out the printed card for the painting.
• How to make a certificate of authenticity - A painting's two printed documents: its certificate, and the label for its back.
• Web-sized copies of a painting's photo - Export web-sized copies of the painting's photo.
• Branded posts of your paintings - Branded static posts for Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook.
• Making a reel of a painting - Build the vertical reel frame and video for social media.
• Designing an artist's business card - The card you hand out, laid out down to the last millimetre.
• Making an artist bio sheet for a show - One page about you, to stand beside your work at a show.

Running the business

• Setting up your artist brand - Set up once: your identity, brand assets, and colours.
• An address book for galleries and collectors - Galleries, collectors and suppliers - what they bought, and when you last spoke.
• Checklists for shows and studio jobs - Reusable checklists for shows, errands, and anything you repeat.
• A calendar for shows and deadlines - Shows, deadlines, and events, with a countdown to each one.
• All your post comments in one list - What people said on your posts, from every platform, in one list.

Connections and setup

• Posting to Instagram and Facebook - Connect your accounts so you can post directly from Sundry Works.
• Posting your paintings to Threads - A second Meta connection, separate from Instagram and Facebook.
• Posting your paintings to Bluesky - The easiest connection of the four - a handle and an app password.
• Pinning your paintings to Pinterest - Pins with a link back to your page, sent by the Sundry Works service.
• What social media may do with your paintings - What each place you post to may do with your pictures, and what you can do about it.
• Scheduling posts to go out later - Line a post up now and let it go out later, with the app closed.
• Configuring Sundry Works - Where everything plugs in: your social accounts, your website, your AI service, and where the catalogue lives.