How do I schedule an Instagram post from CoSchedule?

Click +Create, choose Social and then Social Message, and choose your Instagram account. Enter your caption, add your images or videos with the image icon labeled Add media to message, choose where and how the post publishes, set the date and time, and click Save.

How many images or videos can I add to one Instagram post?

You can add up to 10 images, videos or a mix of both to one post. Several images publish to the feed as a carousel.

What is the difference between Direct Publish and Publish via Mobile Notification?

Direct Publish has CoSchedule publish the post for you. Publish via Mobile Notification lets you finish the post on your phone.

What can't direct publishing add to an Instagram post?

When CoSchedule publishes directly, Instagram doesn't allow music or other audio from Instagram, polls, trial reels, or more than 10 items in a carousel. To add music or other in-app features, publish with mobile push notifications and finish the post in the Instagram app.

Publish posts to Instagram

Schedule posts to your Instagram feed from CoSchedule: a single image, a carousel of up to 10 images and videos, or a video. Available on Starter, Professional and Suite for Instagram Business and Creator accounts.

Schedule an Instagram post

Open your calendar and click +Create in the upper-right corner.
Choose Social, then select Social Message.
Choose your Instagram account from the drop-down menu.
Enter your caption. You can add links, hashtags and emojis. The character count shows in the lower-right corner.
Click the image icon (Add media to message) and add your images or videos.
Choose where the post publishes: your feed, or feed & reels for a video. The options depend on the media you added (see the table below).
Choose how it publishes: select Direct Publish to have CoSchedule publish it for you, or select Publish via Mobile Notification to finish it on your phone.
Select the date and time, or use Best Time Scheduling. Change the status if you need to.
Click Save.

Where each type of media can publish

Media you add	Where it can publish
One image	Feed or Stories
Several images	Feed (as a carousel)
One video	Stories, Reels, or Feed & Reels
Several videos	Reels, or Feed & Reels
A mix of images and videos	Feed (as a carousel)

You can add up to 10 images, videos or a mix of both to one post. Instagram's own app allows more, but posts published through tools like CoSchedule are limited to 10.

Choose a video cover

When a video publishes to Feed & Reels, you can pick its cover image from the video.

Under Video Thumbnail, click Select Thumbnail from Video.
Use the scrollbar to choose the frame you want.

Before you publish

Captions can be up to 2,200 characters and contain up to 30 hashtags.
Images can be up to 8 MB. If an image's aspect ratio is outside what Instagram accepts, CoSchedule crops it before publishing.
Videos must be at least 3 seconds long.

Instagram limits how many posts an account can publish through tools like CoSchedule in 24 hours (Meta currently documents 100). Posts from CoSchedule and any other tool count toward the limit. Posts over the limit fail.

What direct publishing can't do

Instagram doesn't let any scheduling tool add these when it publishes a post directly:

Music or other audio from Instagram
Polls
Trial reels
More than 10 items in a carousel

To add music or other in-app features, publish with mobile push notifications instead and finish the post in the Instagram app.

Add more to your post

Tag people: after you attach media, choose Tag People and type each username exactly as it appears on Instagram.
Add collaborators
Preview your grid
Tag products
Tag a location
Schedule a first comment