Instagram Stories has rocked the virtual world since the day it was launched. With limited features at first, you can now enjoy a lot of them. One of them is Featured Stories.
The basic nature of Stories is short-lived as they only last 24 hours. But thanks to the Bookmark Story feature, it keeps your story alive forever. And it’s also a great display and marketing tool for brands and individuals.
However, in order to add a Story to Bookmarks, that Story needs to be live for 24 hours. In other words, if you want to add an image to the Markup section, it will be seen first by everyone.
Sometimes we want to add an Instagram Highlight without putting it on as our Story or without anyone seeing it. Unfortunately, there is no way to do that directly. However, you can achieve this with another workaround.
Here you will find how to do it and also a method to change the Featured Cover Image without posting them to the Story.
Let’s jump in immediately.
Add Instagram highlights without adding to the story
Since no direct way exists, you need to follow the steps carefully.
1. Make your profile private
If you have a public profile, convert it to a private profile within 24 hours. But if you already have a personal profile, move on to the next section.
To make your profile private, on your Instagram profile screen, tap the three-bar menu, then Settings — both on Android and iPhone. Then activate the Private account.
2. Change story settings
Once you have a private profile, you’ll need to manually change your Story’s privacy settings and hide it from all your followers. You can keep it visible to some close friends.
Here’s how to hide Stories.
Step 1: Go to Instagram Settings and tap on Story Controls.
Step 2: Tap the option shown below Hide story from. You need to select all of your followers manually by tapping the little bubble shown to the right—yes, that’s a tedious option. Once selected, tap the Test icon in the upper right corner.
3. Upload stories
Now you need to upload Stories normally. Since you have hidden it from all your followers, no one will be able to see it.
4. Add Highlights
Once published, add the Story to the Featured Section. To do so, open a Story and tap the Bookmarks icon at the bottom. Select Highlights or create a new one.
Note:
5. Unhide everyone
After 24 hours when Stories are automatically included in the Archive, unhide everyone. You need to go to Instagram Settings > Story Controls > Hide Stories From. Uncheck Everyone.
That’s how you can add Stories to Highlights without anyone seeing. As mentioned before, the time period for this procedure is 24 hours.
Add featured Instagram cover photo without adding to story
We have some good news. First, you can change your Featured Item’s cover art, and second, you don’t necessarily have to add them to your Story. Sure, you can also choose from your existing Stories, but that’s not required as you can also add photos directly from your phone’s gallery.
Here’s how to go about it.
Step 1: Go to your Instagram profile screen.
Step 2: Long press on the Highlight with the cover photo you want to change. From the pop-up menu, choose Edit Highlights.
Step 3: On the Edit screen, tap the Edit Cover Photo option.
Step 4: To use an existing Highlight as your cover photo, navigate to the image or video. However, if you want to upload from the gallery, tap the small Gallery icon to the left of the image thumbnail.
Step 5: Select your image and click Next. Adjust the image to fit the circle. Then tap Done.
Step 6: You will be taken to the Edit screen. Tap the Done option.
That’s all you need to do to change the cover photo. Easy, right?
Bonus Tip: Create a Custom Cover
You can create cool cover photos for your Featured Items using Canva. It is a graphic design tool (websites and apps) used to create creative graphics.
Step 1: Sign up at the Canva site or use the mobile app. If you already have a Canva account, sign in.
Step 2: After logging in, scroll down to the main screen and click on any image in the Logo section.
Step 3: Long press on the elements you want to change. You can delete all existing elements and add new ones.
Step 4: Once you are done, save them to your device. Then use the steps from the previous section to add a custom cover.
Prepare
Many Instagram users want a way to add a Featured Item without posting it to a Story.
Here is a video tutorial on how to add Highlights without adding Instagram Stories from the Guiding Tech YouTube Channel (English):
https://www.youtube.com/embed/GF85Z2b7who/>
Now you know a workaround. You can try our tips and let us know if they work for you until Instagram introduces a separate method for that.
Categories: How to
Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/
