diff --git a/google-cloud-pubsub/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/pubsub/v1/Publisher.java b/google-cloud-pubsub/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/pubsub/v1/Publisher.java
index 56895d66b400..55434aa17775 100644
--- a/google-cloud-pubsub/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/pubsub/v1/Publisher.java
+++ b/google-cloud-pubsub/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/pubsub/v1/Publisher.java
@@ -290,7 +290,12 @@ public void run() {
     }
   }
 
-  private void publishAllOutstanding() {
+  /**
+   * Publish any outstanding batches if non-empty.   This method sends buffered messages, but does
+   * not wait for the send operations to complete.  To wait for messages to send, call {@code get}
+   * on the futures returned from {@code publish}.
+   */
+  public void publishAllOutstanding() {
     messagesBatchLock.lock();
     OutstandingBatch batchToSend;
     try {