I hope this technique is as helpful for you as it has been for me. It’s well known that you can only post to Instagram from your phone app. Which means you’ve probably done all kinds of digital gymnastics in order to get your best photos onto your phone to share. Many people upload them to Dropbox or another file-sharing site, then download to their phones. I thought I had a good system, which was to use Lightroom mobile to sync photos between my desktop and phone.
But this is better. Soooooo much better.
The Lr Mobile and Dropbox solutions are a little buggy and sometimes don’t synchronize the photos. Most of all, they still require that you use the phone to do the posting. Also, you can’t use the return key to leave a space between paragraphs. That means you have to compose your post in another app then copy and paste to Instagram to have any degree of formatting. But now you can format your posts and type with a genuine keyboard instead of fat-fingering your way through a typo-ridden paragraph in the Instagram app. Here’s what you do.
Using Google Chrome
If you’re not using Google’s Chrome browser, it’s a great browser to get you going on this Instagram solution and it’s my favorite browser. In this case, Chrome lets you view the code for all parts of a webpage, and allows you to view it as if you were using a mobile device.
You can also use Apple’s Safari and Microsoft Edge, by turning on Developer mode and changing the User Agent to an iPhone or other smartphone.
You DON’T need to know how to code
A. Don’t freak out — I don’t know anything about coding, either. All you do is go to Instagram.com, then right-click on a blank area of the page. Choose Inspect and your window will split and give you a view of the code on the page.
B. Ignore all that colorful gibberish. All you need to do is click on the icon at the top left that looks like a smartphone and a tablet. This changes the view in your page to how it would look for a mobile device.
C. Click to refresh the webpage and now you can see the controls you usually see in the Instagram app, including the + button to add a new post. Keep the Inspect pane open.
Start posting
When you click the + button, you’ll be able to navigate to anyplace your pictures are on your computer. You can now post to Instagram from your computer and share your best pictures however you like — including with watermarks and all the finishing you’ve done.
Instagram is a terrific tool for sharing your photos, and now that you know how to post directly from your computer, you can share your best pictures and even type a decent paragraph to go with them. Happy posting.
OMG this is so much better!!! I’ve used Later for some time, and it’s great… but still requires so many more steps. Thank you for posting this!
HI Levi. This didn’t work on my laptop using chrome. This what the bottom on my Instagram page looks like:
ABOUT USSUPPORTPRESSAPIJOBSPRIVACYTERMSDIRECTORYPROFILESHASHTAGSLANGUAGE
© 2018 INSTAGRAM No + button to post?
Mark Harrington
[email protected]
Mark – Have you hit refresh on the page after you clicked the device icon in Chrome?
If you have some blocking software in place, you might need to disable blocking all the URL domain names at instagram.com.
This also works with Firefox on Windows 10, and I had the same issue using uBlock plugin.
Works a charm to run the browser in smartphone emulation mode The formal name for it there is “Responsive Design Mode”… The icon is on the extreme far right of the inspection panel top line…
That is brilliant! Many thanks :)
I use the flume app on my Mac https://flumeapp.com
It’s really helpful for me and also wait for the next brilliant post that helps for every one..
there’s a chrome extension called ‘Desktop for Instagram’ which works even easier!
Thanks for the great information Levi! I am currently using a plug-in for Lightroom called LR to Instagram. Itworks but you still don’t get the formatting. This way sounds so much better. I can’t wait to try it out!
I’m still using Firefox, so I decided to try and see if it would work: although the steps are somewhat different, it worked–except for the fact that the two windows are one on top of the other–which makes it very awkward. So I decided to try to look at the app in the Microsoft store, installed it, and voila, it works just like in the phone. Thanks for initiating the brainstorm. Windows 10 and Firefox 63, BTW, Lou
Thank you, thank you! Wonderful! Quick and easy!
One quick question. I started to try this out and got as far as adding a pic and some text to post. When I tried to add a location to the post, I got a message that location settings on my “phone” need to be turned on. I’m not quite sure why this should matter. I don’t post from my phone from the site of the shot (nor have I had any problem entering a location) and certainly the location of my desktop should not matter. Any way to fix this?
Artie – Did your browser prompt you to let your location be seen? If not, this might be a limitation of this process.
The reason to use email to your iphone is that like Gramblr this technique does not seem to allow multiple photos which instagram now supports — also still have to reimport from LR at 1:1 or photos are cut off …..
tried the other methods but couldn’t post a photo. used your method and voila – thank you
Maybe its me but there is no + button where it should be, Also no other buttons like Home, Search, Heart aint there :(
Ridder – Be sure to refresh the page after going into device mode, otherwise you won’t see those icons!
The + button was on the bottom, not the top, for me.
Nice simple solution, but an even simpler solution that doesn’t involve going into the developer console everytime is the “User-agent” switcher extension. It allows you to permanently spoof the user agent string for any site you wish, including instagram, to make it think you’re on a mobile. That advantage is that you don’t need to switch it off again when you browse to other sites.
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/user-agent-switcher-for-c/djflhoibgkdhkhhcedjiklpkjnoahfmg
Everyone seems to say this is awesome… well, i guess i will be giving it a shot tomorrow afternoon when its time for my Monday post
I post to Instagram from my PC using the “Grids” app.
This is cool, although I’m still one of those that use Instagram for my phone photos almost exclusively!
Just curious, how do you edit your comment if you want to make a change? Thanks!
JoAnne – I’m not seeing any comments on this article from you. If you don’t see an (Edit) link you’ll need to resubmit.
Thanks for the great information Levi! I am currently using a plug-in for Lightroom called LR to Instagram. Itworks but you still don’t get the formatting. This way sounds so much better. I can’t wait to try it out!
I use the flume app on my Mac https://flumeapp.com
That is brilliant! Many thanks :)
It’s really helpful for me and also wait for the next brilliant post that helps for every one..
I’m still using Firefox, so I decided to try and see if it would work: although the steps are somewhat different, it worked–except for the fact that the two windows are one on top of the other–which makes it very awkward. So I decided to try to look at the app in the Microsoft store, installed it, and voila, it works just like in the phone. Thanks for initiating the brainstorm. Windows 10 and Firefox 63, BTW, Lou
OMG this is so much better!!! I’ve used Later for some time, and it’s great… but still requires so many more steps. Thank you for posting this!
HI Levi. This didn’t work on my laptop using chrome. This what the bottom on my Instagram page looks like:
ABOUT USSUPPORTPRESSAPIJOBSPRIVACYTERMSDIRECTORYPROFILESHASHTAGSLANGUAGE
© 2018 INSTAGRAM No + button to post?
Mark Harrington
[email protected]
If you have some blocking software in place, you might need to disable blocking all the URL domain names at instagram.com.
This also works with Firefox on Windows 10, and I had the same issue using uBlock plugin.
Works a charm to run the browser in smartphone emulation mode The formal name for it there is “Responsive Design Mode”… The icon is on the extreme far right of the inspection panel top line…
Mark – Have you hit refresh on the page after you clicked the device icon in Chrome?
Thank you, thank you! Wonderful! Quick and easy!
One quick question. I started to try this out and got as far as adding a pic and some text to post. When I tried to add a location to the post, I got a message that location settings on my “phone” need to be turned on. I’m not quite sure why this should matter. I don’t post from my phone from the site of the shot (nor have I had any problem entering a location) and certainly the location of my desktop should not matter. Any way to fix this?
Artie – Did your browser prompt you to let your location be seen? If not, this might be a limitation of this process.
tried the other methods but couldn’t post a photo. used your method and voila – thank you
Maybe its me but there is no + button where it should be, Also no other buttons like Home, Search, Heart aint there :(
Ridder – Be sure to refresh the page after going into device mode, otherwise you won’t see those icons!
there’s a chrome extension called ‘Desktop for Instagram’ which works even easier!
Everyone seems to say this is awesome… well, i guess i will be giving it a shot tomorrow afternoon when its time for my Monday post
I post to Instagram from my PC using the “Grids” app.
This is cool, although I’m still one of those that use Instagram for my phone photos almost exclusively!
Just curious, how do you edit your comment if you want to make a change? Thanks!
JoAnne – I’m not seeing any comments on this article from you. If you don’t see an (Edit) link you’ll need to resubmit.
The reason to use email to your iphone is that like Gramblr this technique does not seem to allow multiple photos which instagram now supports — also still have to reimport from LR at 1:1 or photos are cut off …..
Nice simple solution, but an even simpler solution that doesn’t involve going into the developer console everytime is the “User-agent” switcher extension. It allows you to permanently spoof the user agent string for any site you wish, including instagram, to make it think you’re on a mobile. That advantage is that you don’t need to switch it off again when you browse to other sites.
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/user-agent-switcher-for-c/djflhoibgkdhkhhcedjiklpkjnoahfmg
Thanks for the great information Levi! I am currently using a plug-in for Lightroom called LR to Instagram. Itworks but you still don’t get the formatting. This way sounds so much better. I can’t wait to try it out!
I use the flume app on my Mac https://flumeapp.com
That is brilliant! Many thanks :)
Thank you, thank you! Wonderful! Quick and easy!
Everyone seems to say this is awesome… well, i guess i will be giving it a shot tomorrow afternoon when its time for my Monday post
Maybe its me but there is no + button where it should be, Also no other buttons like Home, Search, Heart aint there :(
Did you refresh the page?
OMG this is so much better!!! I’ve used Later for some time, and it’s great… but still requires so many more steps. Thank you for posting this!
HI Levi. This didn’t work on my laptop using chrome. This what the bottom on my Instagram page looks like:
ABOUT USSUPPORTPRESSAPIJOBSPRIVACYTERMSDIRECTORYPROFILESHASHTAGSLANGUAGE
© 2018 INSTAGRAM No + button to post?
Mark Harrington
[email protected]
If you have some blocking software in place, you might need to disable blocking all the URL domain names at instagram.com.
This also works with Firefox on Windows 10, and I had the same issue using uBlock plugin.
Works a charm to run the browser in smartphone emulation mode The formal name for it there is “Responsive Design Mode”… The icon is on the extreme far right of the inspection panel top line…
there’s a chrome extension called ‘Desktop for Instagram’ which works even easier!
I’m still using Firefox, so I decided to try and see if it would work: although the steps are somewhat different, it worked–except for the fact that the two windows are one on top of the other–which makes it very awkward. So I decided to try to look at the app in the Microsoft store, installed it, and voila, it works just like in the phone. Thanks for initiating the brainstorm. Windows 10 and Firefox 63, BTW, Lou
The reason to use email to your iphone is that like Gramblr this technique does not seem to allow multiple photos which instagram now supports — also still have to reimport from LR at 1:1 or photos are cut off …..
One quick question. I started to try this out and got as far as adding a pic and some text to post. When I tried to add a location to the post, I got a message that location settings on my “phone” need to be turned on. I’m not quite sure why this should matter. I don’t post from my phone from the site of the shot (nor have I had any problem entering a location) and certainly the location of my desktop should not matter. Any way to fix this?
Just curious, how do you edit your comment if you want to make a change? Thanks!
tried the other methods but couldn’t post a photo. used your method and voila – thank you
I post to Instagram from my PC using the “Grids” app.
This is cool, although I’m still one of those that use Instagram for my phone photos almost exclusively!
It’s really helpful for me and also wait for the next brilliant post that helps for every one..