How to Post to Instagram From a Mac or PC

Upload directly from Instagram or use a third-party tool

By
Elise Moreau
Elise Moreau
Elise Moreau
Freelance Contributor
  • University of Ontario
  • George Brown College
Elise Moreau is a writer that has covered social media, texting, messaging, and streaming for Lifewire. Her work has appeared on Techvibes, SlashGear, Lifehack and others.
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Updated on November 4, 2021
Reviewed by
Kayla Dube
Kayla Dube headshot
Reviewed by Kayla Dube
  • J. Everette Light Career Center
Kayla Dube has 4+ years' experience in videography and filmmaking. She frequently works in production with indie film companies.
lifewire's editorial guidelines

If you want to upload photos and videos to Instagram from a desktop, you can do it directly on Instagram. Or, you can use third-party tools that offer analytics features and a bit more functionality.

We'll explain how to use Instagram's desktop-upload process and look at three third-party Instagram-uploading tools.

Post to Instagram Using Instagram's Desktop Upload Feature

Instagram in a web browser showing upload screen

As of October 2021, Instagram allows users to create posts and upload photos and videos directly from a PC or Mac desktop using Instagram in a web browser. Here's how it works:

  1. Open Instagram in a web browser and select the plus sign in the upper-right corner.
Instagram on the desktop with the plus sign highlighted

2. In the Create New Post screen, either drag over your photos and videos or click Select From Computer to choose your media.

Instagram desktop Create New Post with Select From Computer highlighted

3. Crop the picture to your liking and click Next.

Instagram photo upload with Next highlighted on Filter page

4. Add a filter if you like and click Next.

Instagram upload filter screen with Next highlighted

5. Add a caption, tag people, if you like, and click Share. You've created your Instagram post.

Instagram post with Share highlighted

There are fewer options when you post to Instagram from the desktop. For example, while you can turn off commenting, you can't share the post to Facebook or hide like and view counts.

Later

Later instagram and social media scheduler home page
What We Like

  • Uses Visual Instagram Planner for scheduling.

  • Previews posts before they happen.

  • Modern interface design.

  • Try any membership tier free for 14 days.

What We Don't Like

  • Analytics are basic.

  • Free plan has limited customer support.

If scheduling Instagram posts so they go live at certain times is important to you, then Later is worth a try for its simple calendar scheduling interface, bulk upload feature, and convenient labeling to keep all your media organized. Best of all, it's free to use not only with Instagram but also with X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Pinterest, and TikTok.

With a free membership, you can schedule up to 30 posts a month on Instagram with 5 MB allowed for photos and 25 MB for videos. An upgrade to a Starter membership ($15 per month) gives you 60 scheduled posts a month for both photos and videos, unlimited uploads allowing for 20 MB for photos and 512 MB for video, information on the best time to post, and more. Higher-tier plans offer even more functionality.

Iconosquare

Iconosquare website
What We Like

  • Schedules and previews Instagram posts.

  • Easy interface to navigate.

  • Provides insights to grow followers.

What We Don't Like

  • Some features require additional payment.

  • Relatively expensive.

  • Basic analytics.

Iconosquare is a premium social media management tool geared toward businesses and brands that need to manage their Instagram and Facebook presence. In other words, you can't use this app to schedule Instagram posts for free, but you can at least do so for as little as $15 a month with the Pro level (plus get access to other features like analytics, comment tracking, and more).

This tool gives you a calendar that allows you to move forward in time (weeks or months ahead if you want) and see all your scheduled posts at a glance. All you have to do is click on the day and time in your calendar or, alternatively, the New Post button to create a post and add a caption (with optional emojis) and tags before scheduling.

Although you can crop your photos with this tool, there are no advanced editing features or filters available.

Sked Social

Sked Instagram scheduler home page
What We Like

  • Manages multiple Instagram accounts.

  • Accommodates posts and videos containing multiple images.

  • Lots of editing tools.

  • Reliable scheduling and previewing.

What We Don't Like

  • Rudimentary story-posting tools.

  • No free plan.

  • Steep price.

Like Iconosquare, Sked Social (formerly Schedugram) focuses on its scheduling feature in addition to several other Instagram features that appeal to businesses that manage lots of content and lots of followers. It's not free, but there's a seven-day trial, after which you'll be charged $25 a month billed annually.

The tool lets you upload both photos and videos via the web and schedule all of them without a mobile device (although Sked Social mobile apps are also available for iOS and Android devices). Unlike some of the other tools mentioned above, this one offers editing features such as cropping, filters, image rotation, and text that you can add to your posts before you schedule them. (Two higher-level plans offer additional features.)

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