How to make a carousel on Instagram

The steps in the Instagram app

From Instagram’s Help Center, read on 10 October 2026. A post with several photos and videos is what Instagram calls a carousel.

1. Tap Create at the top, or swipe right anywhere in Feed.
2. Tap Post, then tap Select multiple.
3. Select up to 20 photos and videos from your phone’s library. Tap one to adjust how it is cropped, then touch the screen to move it in the frame.
4. Tap Next. Choose a filter to apply it to every slide, or tap a slide to edit it alone.
5. To change the order, tap and hold a slide and drag it to another spot. To remove one, tap and hold it and drag it to the delete icon.
6. Tap Next, then choose Single caption for one caption, or Multiple captions for a caption on each slide.
7. Add a location, tag people in each photo, and tap Share.

On a computer the steps are the same in a different order: click Create on the left, click Post, choose Select from computer, and select up to 20 files. You can add one location and caption for the whole post. Posting to Instagram from a computer covers the rest of the desktop route.

One shape for every slide

Instagram applies one orientation to every item in the post. You can’t pick a different one for each photo or video, so a slide in another shape is cropped to match the rest. Per Instagram’s page on image resolution, a photo keeps its resolution when its shape is between 1.91:1 and 3:4, up to a width of 1,080 pixels; any other shape is cropped.

Make the first slide the one that works alone: in the feed and on your profile Instagram shows the first photo or video, with the others a swipe away.

A carousel is a post, not a reel

Instagram’s page says videos in a carousel are not reels: they don’t appear in the Reels tab and don’t get reels features. For a reel, use Create and Reel instead; Instagram’s reel page covers it. Likes and comments belong to the whole carousel, not to a single slide.

After you share

You can reorder slides, remove one, and edit the caption, the location and the tags: open the three-dot menu on the carousel, choose Edit, long-press to reorder, then Done. You can’t add a new photo or video after sharing, only delete the post and post it again. Posts with several videos can take longer to upload, so use a steady connection.

Making the slides

Instagram only assembles the slides; it doesn’t design them. Two ways to make them first:

• In Canva. Canva’s guide to Instagram carousels starts from a template found by searching “Carousel”, then swaps in your images and text. To finish, you export a PNG for an image-only carousel or an MP4 if the design has video, or share straight to the network. It lists 1080 × 1350 for an Instagram feed post, and says what separates a strong carousel is its order, not its slide count: a clear opening, one idea per slide, a middle that builds and a last slide that lands the point.
• In Mellow Hub’s free carousel maker. The carousel maker turns one idea per slide into designed slides and downloads them as PNGs at 4:5, 3:4 or 1:1, in your browser with no sign-up. For a picture that runs across several slides, the carousel splitter cuts it into slides that line up edge to edge and numbers them.

Posting a carousel through Hub

Instagram’s API, which scheduling tools use, is narrower than the app: a carousel holds up to 10 items, photos are JPEG within 4:5 to 1.91:1, and 3:4 isn’t accepted (Meta for Developers, updated 28 September 2026). Mellow Hub publishes carousels of up to 10 items to a professional Instagram account, checks the item count and caption before sending, and can send the same slides to LinkedIn, Threads and other networks in one post.

Hub is paid: plans start at $19 a month (Solo), after a 7-day trial with a card on file that costs nothing if you cancel before it ends, and a monthly plan's first month is 20% off. Publishing is unlimited on every plan, under a fair-use ceiling that stops automated floods (900 publications a month on Solo). One publication is one post on one account, so a post sent to five networks counts as five. There are no automatic overage charges.