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Planning · Guide 20

See your posts as a grid

Instagram is judged as a grid. Nobody sees a carousel on its own — they see it next to the eight before it. This is that view, built from what you actually downloaded.

~10 secondsAny planYou need: exported postsResult: the nine-up view
YOUR GRID
What it is built from
✓posts you downloaded
—not ones you abandoned
—no Instagram connection
What it shows you
1a run of dark covers
2nine of the same shape
3where a series lands
4fixable before posting
Nobody sees a carouselon its own.They see it next to the eightbefore it — which is the onlyway a grid is ever read.
Posts you exported
~10 seconds
Nothing to connect

Do it in 5 steps

1

Export some posts first

The grid is built from posts you actually downloaded, not ones you generated and abandoned. An export is the only moment somebody commits to a post, so it is the only honest basis for "what your feed looks like".

Step 1export some posts first
2

Open it from the Library

It is linked from the Library rather than sitting in the nav. A top-level entry would imply we know what is on your profile, and we do not — the distinction matters enough to cost it a menu slot.

Step 2opened from the Library
3

Look at the covers together

Three across, newest first. The thing you are looking for is not whether each post is good; it is whether three dark covers in a row have made a hole in the grid, or whether every cover uses the same layout.

Step 3three dark in a row
4

Fix what the grid shows you

The usual fixes are a different design variant on one post, or a photo template between two typographic ones. Change it, export again, and the grid updates.

Step 4spread the dark ones out
5

Read the caveat and believe it

This is your PostPop exports, not your profile. If you post things made elsewhere, your real grid has those in it too. The screen says so rather than letting you assume.

Step 5this is not your profilePostPop exports only —posts made elsewhere are not here.

What the grid is actually for

Not vanity. It shows you a specific, fixable problem.

Three dark covers in a row

Each post is fine. Together they make a block, and a visitor reads a block as one thing rather than three. The grid is the only place this is visible.

RHYTHMEach post is fine.The row is a block.A visitor reads a block asone thing, not as three.

Every cover the same shape

A big headline on a plain ground nine times reads as a template, and a template reads as automated. Swapping a design variant on two of nine fixes it.

SAMENESSNine of the same shapereads as a template.Two different designs out ofnine is enough to break it.

Not your real profile

We have no Instagram connection and do not publish. This is the posts you took away from PostPop — a useful preview, not a mirror, and it says so on the screen.

HONESTNo Instagram connection.We do not publish.Posts you made elsewhere arein your real grid, not in this one.A preview, not a mirror.
TIP
A series shows up here first If you run a named weekly series, the grid is where its rhythm becomes visible — every third tile recognisable from across the room. That is the effect you are after. See Guide 17 · Run a weekly series.

Nine good posts, two grids

Same posts. One was ordered with the grid in mind.

Posted in the order they were made

Three dark covers landed together. The top row is a hole in the grid.

Ordered with the grid in mind

The same nine posts. Spread out, the dark ones read as a pattern instead of a blot.

Common questions

Why is my grid empty?+
It fills with posts you downloaded, not ones you generated. Export one and it appears.
Is this my real Instagram grid?+
No. There is no Instagram connection. It is your PostPop exports arranged the way a profile arranges them — a preview, not a mirror.
Can I reorder the tiles?+
Not yet. It shows them newest first, which is the order a profile would show them.
Does it include posts I made elsewhere?+
It cannot. If half your feed is made in another tool, read the grid as a view of your PostPop half.

Look at the last nine together.

Free · built from your real exports · no connection needed.

Open my grid →

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