Create carousel posts

A carousel is a post with more than one media item. Add the files to a single post and Planoly treats it as a carousel.

Build a carousel

1. From Calendar, select Create Post.
2. Select Click to add your channels and pick your channel.
3. Add your media. Drop several files at once, or select Add media to add them one at a time.
4. Drag the thumbnails to set the slide order.
5. Write your caption, then Save as draft or Schedule post.

How many slides each channel allows

Instagram Reels, Facebook Reels, Facebook Stories, TikTok video posts, Pinterest pins, and YouTube videos take one media item, so they cannot be carousels.

When a post carries several channels, each channel's own limit applies to its own tab.

Instagram media rules

On a channel set to auto-post, Planoly checks each file in an Instagram Post/Reel carousel before it lets you schedule. A channel set to Reminder is checked only on how many media items the post carries.

• Images: PNG, JPG, GIF, or WEBP, up to 300 MB, between a 9:16 and a 1.91:1 aspect ratio. Images over about 7 MB are compressed when you upload them.
• Videos: up to 300 MB, between a 9:16 and a 1.91:1 aspect ratio inside a carousel. Planoly does not check video length on an Instagram carousel.
• Planoly does not check pixel dimensions on an Instagram carousel.

A file that breaks one of these rules is flagged in the issues control, with the rule it broke.

Combine drafts into one carousel

If you already have separate drafts and want one carousel out of them:

1. Switch the post list to Instagram grid view.
2. Select two or more drafts.
3. Select Combine into carousel in the selection bar.
4. The post builder opens with the slides in grid order. Add your caption and save or schedule.

Only drafts can be combined. Placeholders, scheduled posts, and published posts cannot.

Merge rows in bulk create

Bulk create has its own merge. Select two or more rows and choose Merge into carousel. The rows' media are concatenated in display order and their captions are joined.

Unlike the grid's combine, a bulk-create merge is undone with Unmerge in the row menu, any time before you create the posts. Bulk create accepts up to 20 files at a time.

First comment on a carousel

Instagram carousels support a first comment and per-channel captions. See Auto-post first comments.