How to post a carousel on LinkedIn

Steps on desktop

1. Click Start a post at the top of your LinkedIn home page.
2. Click More, then the document icon.
3. Choose the file from your computer. You can also pick it from Dropbox or Google Drive.
4. Add a title for the document and click Done. The title is required.
5. Write the post text. You can add hashtags and mentions.
6. Click Post.

Steps on mobile

1. Tap Post in the bottom bar.
2. Tap the More icon, then Document.
3. Pick the file from your phone or a cloud service.
4. Add a title and tap Next.
5. Write the post text.
6. Tap Post.

File rules

LinkedIn does not publish a best page size. Square or 4:5 portrait pages fit the feed's image shapes and fill a phone screen. See LinkedIn image sizes for the shapes LinkedIn uses.

After you post

• You cannot swap the file. LinkedIn Help says you can edit the title and the post text, but to change the document you must delete the post and upload it again. Proofread every slide first.
• Readers can download it. Members can download your document as a PDF from the full screen view. Do not put anything in it you would not hand out.
• Find it later on your profile. Your uploaded documents appear on your profile's Activity page.

Why an upload fails

LinkedIn Help lists the usual reasons: an unsupported format, a file that is too big, too many pages, or a missing title. Two more come from its PDF rules: pages of mixed sizes and PDFs with layers. Export again as a flat PDF with one page size and try once more.

How to build slides people finish

A carousel is read one swipe at a time. Each slide has to earn the next swipe. These are our suggestions, not LinkedIn rules.

1. Slide one is the hook. State the payoff plainly: "7 pricing mistakes we made in year one".
2. One idea per slide. A heading and a short line. If it needs a paragraph, it needs two slides.
3. Big type. Most readers are on a phone. If you squint on your own phone, it is too small.
4. Number the slides. "3 of 8" tells people how far they have to go.
5. End with one ask. Follow, comment with a specific answer, or visit a link in the post.
6. Write the post text too. The text above the document is what shows in the feed first. Give the main point there as well.

For ready outlines, see our LinkedIn carousel templates.

Document post or multiple photos?

LinkedIn also lets you add several photos to one post. LinkedIn's developer docs list multi image posts as supported for normal posts. So which should you use?

For teaching, use a document. The page by page swipe is the whole point of a carousel.

Scheduling a carousel

LinkedIn's scheduling help lists events, jobs and services as things you cannot schedule from a personal profile. Documents are not on that list. For Pages, LinkedIn says you cannot schedule events, multiple photos, reshares, polls, jobs or service posts.

Tools that post through LinkedIn's official API can publish documents too. LinkedIn's developer docs list documents as supported for normal posts, and note that true "carousel" posts in the API are for ads only. That is why organic carousels are always documents.