How to export your Instagram saved posts
You want to use Instagram less. But just giving up your 600 saves? Feels like throwing out photos.
How do I export my saved Instagram posts?
Through the official data export: profile, menu, Meta account (some people still see Accounts Center), Your information and permissions, Export your information, Create export. Pick your profile, choose “Export to device” and narrow down which information you want, including the format and date range.
Good to know: your saves arrive as a list with the account, link and timestamp. The photos and videos themselves are not included. So it is a backup of your links, not a copy of the posts.
Step by step
Get to the export
Profile, menu at the top right, Meta account, Your information and permissions, Export your information. Instagram is moving people to Meta accounts, so the path may be labelled slightly differently for you.
Create the export
Create export, choose your profile, “Export to device.” You can pick specific information here. For saves, the section with your saved content is enough, which keeps the file much smaller.
HTML or JSON
HTML just opens in your browser and you click through it. JSON is meant for spreadsheets and tools. If you are not sure what you need: HTML.
Wait
It is usually quicker, but according to Instagram it can take up to 30 days for the email with the link. You get notified by email and in the app.
Download in time
Once the export is ready, Instagram gives you four days to grab it under “Available downloads.” After that it is gone and you have to request a new one.
What is in it and what is not
Included: account, link, timestamp
For each save you get who posted it, the link and when you saved it. Collections show up with their names.
Not included: images and videos
The posts belong to the people who posted them, so Instagram only exports your reference to them. If the original is deleted, your link leads nowhere too.
Not included: captions
So you will not see what the Reel was about. That is why the export mostly helps when you remember the account or the time frame.
And what do I do with the list now?
Honestly: most people open the file once, scroll through 600 links in shock and close it again. Completely normal. An export is a safety net, not a plan.
What helps: go through it once and only mark what you genuinely want to do in the next few months. That is rarely more than twenty things. Move those into a list, in Swiva for example, by opening the link and sharing the post to Swiva from there. The rest can stay in the archive.
Careful with export extensions
They want your login
Extensions that also download photos and videos run inside your logged in browser. That means they can potentially see everything you see.
Rights to the content
Mass downloading other people's posts is a legal grey area. For your own memory, the link is usually all you need.
What Swiva cannot do here
Swiva does not import your Instagram export and does not connect to your account. You share the posts that matter to you one by one. That is on purpose, because we should only see what you send us.
A few quick answers
Does the export include the photos?
No. Your saves arrive as a list with the account, link and timestamp. The images and videos belong to the people who posted them.
How long does the Instagram export take?
Often not long, but according to Instagram it can take up to 30 days. After that you have four days to download it.
Can I export only my saves?
Yes, you can pick specific information for the export. If you only choose your saved content, the file is much smaller.
Does the export work on a computer?
Yes, Instagram describes the export for the browser too. There it also runs through Accounts Center or your Meta account.
Are shared collections included?
Collections show up in the export with their names. What other people put into a shared collection is their save, not yours, though. Better not rely on that.
Your next good idea gets to stay.
Save it to Swiva and come back to it when you actually have time for it.
Free to download, for iPhone and Android.