How To Manage Your Instagram Drafts: A Step-by-Step Guide

With Instagram’s drafts feature, you can save unfinished posts, Reels, and Stories to finalize and share later. Keeping Instagram drafts is especially useful when you want to continue polishing your work or haven’t quite landed on the perfect caption yet.

Working in drafts also helps you manage your content schedule, letting you plan and prepare your posts and Stories ahead of time so you can publish them deliberately. This means you can finesse your content and share it at peak engagement times.

Read on for a step-by-step guide to saving, revisiting, and deleting Instagram drafts.

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Why Are Your Instagram Drafts Gone?

Instagram drafts might disappear due to app updates and bugs. Clearing app data, logging out mid-editing, and reinstalling the app can also cause drafts to seemingly go missing. Or perhaps you accidentally deleted your draft.

The sudden disappearance of saved drafts can be frustrating when you’ve put time and effort into creating that content. Luckily, it’s possible your drafts aren’t lost. You just might not know where to look for them! We’ll cover where to locate drafts and how to ensure they’re safely stored for future editing and sharing.

How To Save a Draft on Instagram

The process for saving a draft on Instagram varies based on content type. Whether you’re creating posts, Reels, or Stories, follow these steps to save your drafted Instagram content.

Saving a Post Draft

To save a draft of a post, follow these steps:

1. Create a post — Open Instagram and tap the “+” icon to create a new post. Select a photo or video from your device’s gallery or capture content directly from Instagram’s camera. Press “Next.”
2. Edit — You need to make edits or add a caption to the post to save it as a draft, meaning you can’t just use the raw photo or video. To enhance your post, you might apply filters or crop the frame. You can also add captions, tag other users, list hashtags, add music, and pin a location. When you’re ready, tap “Next.”
3. Return to the editing screen — When you reach the final posting screen, tap the back arrow in the top-left corner to return to the editing screen. Then tap the “X” button in the top-left corner. 
4. Save your draft — A prompt will appear asking you if you want to discard the post or save it as a draft. Select “Save draft.”

Saving a Reel Draft

Follow the steps below to save a draft of an Instagram Reel:

1. Create a Reel — Open Instagram, tap the “+” icon, and choose “Reel.” Record your video or upload clips from your gallery. At this stage, you can also add subtitles, music, and effects.
2. Edit — Tap “Next” to access the editing screen. This is where you can edit your video by trimming and rearranging clips and adding enhancements like stickers.
3. Return to the editing screen — Once you’re happy with your changes or want to pause editing, press the “Next” button. This will take you to the page where you can post the Reel or save it as a draft.
4. Save your draft — Tap the “Save draft” button located on the bottom left. 

Saving a Story Draft

Use the steps below to save a draft for an Instagram Story:

1. Create a Story — Open Instagram and create your Story using the “+” button. You can select photos or videos from your library or use Instagram’s camera to record. Enhance the content with text, music, and visual effects if desired. Remember, if you’re using a photo or video from your camera roll, you need to edit it to save it as a draft.
2. Prepare to save the Story — When you’re done editing, tap the “X” located in the top-left corner of the screen. This opens a popup menu asking if you want to discard the Story.
3. Save your draft — Click “Save draft” and save your Story to share later.

How To Find Drafts on Instagram

Now that you can create and save drafts, let’s discuss managing them. You’ll need to know how to find and delete drafts on Instagram to manage your posts, Reel, and Stories. 

Note that Instagram drafts are saved on your specific device. You can only access the draft from the device you created it with, not by signing into your account from another laptop, phone, or tablet.

Managing Post Drafts

Follow the steps below to locate and delete Instagram post drafts:

1. Open Instagram — Open the Instagram app from the device you created the draft on. 
2. Access post drafts — Tap the “+” icon as if you were going to create a new post. On the screen that appears, select “Drafts,” located beside the “Recents” dropdown. This opens a page displaying every saved post draft.
3. Delete drafts — Tap “Manage” and then “Edit,” selecting the drafts you want to delete. Press “Done.” You’ll be prompted to confirm your choice by clicking “Discard posts.”

Managing Reel Drafts

To find and delete drafts of Reels, follow these steps:

1. Open Instagram — Open the Instagram app from the device you created the draft on.
2. Access Reels — Tap the “+” icon at the bottom of the screen and select “Reel” as if you were going to create a new Reel.
3. View drafts — On the Reel creation screen, tap “Drafts.” This shows you a list of saved drafts that you can choose to post.
4. Delete drafts — To discard drafts, choose what you want to delete, then tap the three dots in the top-right of the preview. Confirm your choice to permanently delete it by clicking “Delete.”

Managing Story Drafts

Follow these steps to locate and delete drafts of Instagram Stories:

1. Open Instagram — Open the Instagram app from the device you created the draft on. 
2. Access Stories — Tap the “+” icon at the bottom of the screen and select “Story” as if you were going to create a new Story.
3. View drafts — Tap the small square in the bottom-left corner, which provides a preview of recent images and videos in your camera roll. On the page that opens, tap “Drafts” to find all your saved drafts for posting or removing.
4. Delete drafts — On the drafts page, click the “Select” button in the top-right corner. Select each Story draft you’d like to delete by tapping the circle on its preview image. Then, press “Delete” at the bottom of the page. You’ll need to confirm your choice by selecting “Delete” again on the popup that appears.

Perfect Your Drafts With Captions

Drafts is a handy feature that lets you perfect your content and strategically plan your publishing schedule. To make Instagram posts, Reels, and Stories that really shine, polish your drafts with Captions. 

Use Captions’ advanced AI editing tools to enhance your videos and elevate them to professional-level status in less time. Add subtitles, transitions, and royalty-free music with ease to create posts that perform. 

FAQs

Can My Instagram Drafts Disappear?

Yes, Instagram drafts can disappear due to app glitches, updates, or saving errors. To prevent these issues, ensure the app version is up to date and carefully walk through the steps outlined in this article to save your work properly.

How Do I Access My Drafts on Android?

Accessing drafts on Android is the same as on iOS. Just remember that you can only access drafts from the device on which you created them.

Are My Instagram Drafts Private?

Yes, Instagram drafts are only visible to you. They’re stored in your account on the device you created them on. Other app users can only see content you’ve actively published. 

How Can I Edit a Draft Before Posting It?

To edit a draft, open Instagram. Tap the “+” icon and select “post,” “Reel,” or “Story.” Then, choose the draft you want to edit, make your changes, and share.