LinkedIn carousel posts: how to make a PDF people swipe

A LinkedIn carousel is a PDF you upload as a document post, which readers swipe through one page at a time in the feed. To make one, plan one idea per page, set type large enough to read on a phone, make the first page work as a headline, and export it as a PDF. The format suits content with a sequence. For most other posts, plain text is faster to make and reads as well.

The name causes some confusion. LinkedIn has had other swipeable formats over the years, but the one most people mean by a carousel today is the document post: you attach a PDF, give it a title, and LinkedIn shows the pages in a swipeable frame.

How to post a carousel on LinkedIn

1. Design the pages in whatever tool you already use: slides software, a design tool, even a word processor.
2. Export as a PDF. Check it on your phone before uploading, since that is where many people will see it.
3. In LinkedIn, start a post and choose the option to add a document.
4. Upload the PDF and give it a title. Readers see the title, so write it for them, not as a file name.
5. Write the post text above it. The text still matters: it is what people read before deciding to swipe.

LinkedIn's help pages list the current file size and page limits for documents. Check them if you are planning a long deck, though a carousel that tests those limits is usually too long anyway.

When a carousel beats a text post

• The content is a sequence the reader should follow in order: steps in a process, stages of a project.
• Each part needs a picture: a landing page teardown one section per page, a before and after of a design.
• It is a reference people will want to keep, like a checklist they save and come back to.
• There is a chart or diagram that needs its own page to be readable.

When text is better

• The idea fits in a few short paragraphs. Splitting it across ten pages only adds swipes.
• The post is a receipt: one number and what caused it. A sentence carries it better than a slide.
• The post is an opinion or a finding that relies on tone. Text reads as a person talking; slides read as a presentation.
• You post several times a week. A carousel takes far longer to make than a text post, and a cadence built on carousels rarely lasts.

How to plan the slides

Write the carousel as text first. If you cannot write it as a list of short lines, it will not work as pages either.

1. Write the whole thing as a numbered list, one line per point.
2. Cut the list to the points that each need their own page. Most carousels are better at six to ten pages than at twenty.
3. Turn the first line into a cover page that says what the reader gets. 'Five checks before a first VAT return' tells them; 'Tax tips' does not.
4. Give every middle page one idea: a headline of a few words, and at most two short lines under it.
5. End with a page that sums up the list, so someone who saves it has the whole thing on one page.

One idea per slide

The most common carousel mistake is a page with a paragraph on it. People swipe fast. A page that needs more than a few seconds to read gets skipped, and a skipped page breaks the sequence. If a point needs a paragraph, it belongs in the post text, not on a slide.

A useful test: cover the body text on each page and read only the headlines in order. If the headlines alone make sense as a list, the carousel works. If they only make sense with the body text, rewrite the headlines.

Readable type on a phone

Many people will see your carousel on a phone, in a frame narrower than the screen. Design for that, not for the large monitor you are working on.

• Use a square or portrait page. A wide page shrinks to a thin strip in the feed.
• Set headlines much larger than you think you need, and body text no smaller than you would read comfortably on a phone at arm's length.
• Use high contrast: dark text on a light background, or the reverse. Avoid text over photos.
• Keep a wide margin on every side. Edges are where text gets cropped or crowded.
• Use one typeface, two sizes and one accent colour, and keep them the same on every page.
• Export a test PDF and swipe through it on your own phone before you post it.

The cover page

The first page does the job of the first line of a text post: it decides whether anyone swipes. Say what the carousel contains and who it is for, in as few words as possible. A number helps when it is honest: 'Six steps' tells the reader how long this will take. Avoid covers that only tease. If the reader cannot tell from the cover what they will get, most of them will not find out.

Write the post text too

The words above the carousel are what people read before they decide to swipe. Give the post text its own opening line, say what the carousel covers, and add one detail that is not on the slides, such as where the method came from. Do not repeat every slide in the text.

How GoodSocials handles this

GoodSocials publishes text posts and text posts with a single image. It does not publish documents or carousels. If a post is better as a carousel, the text GoodSocials drafts makes a good outline for the pages, but you design and upload the PDF yourself.

For the posts it does publish, GoodSocials can generate one image per post, up to 200 a month per profile. How those images look is set by your visual principle, and a revise comment on any image updates it for the next ones.