As a busy professional, you likely juggle multiple priorities throughout your workday. Between meetings, emails, and projects, finding time to create engaging LinkedIn posts may prove challenging. Fortunately, LinkedIn offers a handy drafts feature that allows you to save posts and revisit them later before publishing to your connections.
Saving LinkedIn Posts as Drafts
When composing a new post in the LinkedIn mobile app or website, you’ll notice a “Save as draft” option at the top of the screen. Clicking this will store your unfinished post as a draft that you can return to and edit at a later time. Your drafts will be saved automatically as you type and will remain available to edit as long as you don’t manually delete them.
To access your drafts on LinkedIn’s mobile app, tap your profile photo in the top left corner, then select “Drafts” from the menu. On the website, click the arrow next to the post button and select “Drafts” to see your unpublished content. From there, you can open a draft and pick up where you left off before sharing it with your network.
Benefits of Saving LinkedIn Posts as Drafts
Saving LinkedIn posts as drafts offers several advantages:
- Saves your work in progress so you don’t lose text you’ve already written
- Allows you to spread out post creation over multiple sittings
- Lets you refine and perfect your posts before publishing
- Enables drafting posts in advance to publish on a specific date/time
- Helps organize your draft posts so they don’t get lost
Whether you only have a few minutes here and there to work on posts or prefer to brainstorm content ideas over multiple days, the drafts tool makes managing your unpublished posts simple and efficient.
Tips for Successfully Saving LinkedIn Posts as Drafts
Here are some top tips to leverage LinkedIn’s draft feature:
- Save posts frequently as you write to avoid losing any work
- Give drafts descriptive names so you can easily identify them later
- Note key next steps needed to complete the post
- Set reminders to revisit drafts so they don’t get forgotten
- Review old drafts periodically and delete any you no longer need
- Use drafts to batch create content ahead of busy periods
Managing Multiple LinkedIn Drafts
As your unused content accumulates, keeping your drafts organized can become tricky. Here are some strategies to maintain order:
- Group drafts into relevant categories or themes
- Tag drafts with keywords like names or topics
- Add notes about intended publishing dates/outlets
- Star or favorite important drafts you want to prioritize
- Sort drafts by last modified date to see your most recent work
Taking the time to develop an approach that works for your content creation process will help maximize the value of LinkedIn’s drafts feature.
Posting vs. Saving as Draft on LinkedIn
When finishing a post on LinkedIn, you have two options:
- Post: Publishes the content immediately to your connections.
- Save as draft: Stores the post as an unpublished draft that can be edited and shared later.
Generally, you should choose “Post” when your content is ready to be consumed by your audience. If you need more time to write, refine, or confirm details in the post, selecting “Save as draft” allows you to revisit it before officially sharing.
Keep in mind drafts are only visible to you – your network won’t see them until they are posted. Also, LinkedIn will automatically save in-progress posts as drafts in case of technical issues or accidental closing of the app/site.
Draft Post Visibility on LinkedIn
Who can see your LinkedIn draft posts depends on the posting setting selected:
Post Visibility | Who Can See Draft |
---|---|
Public | Only you |
Connections only | Only you |
Group members only | Only you and group members (once posted) |
In other words, draft posts are only visible to you personally regardless of your eventual post setting. Group member visibility only applies after you publish the post.
Do LinkedIn drafts expire?
Saved LinkedIn drafts do not automatically expire and can stay in your drafts folder indefinitely without posting. However, there are some circumstances where LinkedIn drafts may be removed:
- Manually deleting a draft
- Closing your LinkedIn account
- LinkedIn removing drafts inactive for over 90 days (unconfirmed)
To ensure your drafts remain accessible, make sure to log into your account consistently and publish or delete old drafts you no longer need. Also be aware that LinkedIn drafts are not downloadable – once deleted, the content is permanently removed.
LinkedIn Post Draft Limit
How many draft posts can you save on LinkedIn? LinkedIn has not published an official limit.
Based on user reports, it appears possible to have at least a few hundred drafts saved at one time. However, as your drafts list grows, the LinkedIn app/site may run more slowly.
To maximize performance, try to focus on drafts that are relevant and delete old posts you no longer need. Regularly publishing drafts can also help avoid reaching any potential storage limits imposed by LinkedIn.
Pros of Saving as a LinkedIn Draft
Here are key advantages of using LinkedIn’s save as draft option:
- Preserves work in progress so content isn’t lost
- Allows writing flexibility over multiple sessions
- Enables polishing and perfecting posts before publishing
- Allows scheduling future publication dates/times
- Organizes drafts in one easy-to-access place
Cons of Saving as a LinkedIn Draft
Some potential downsides of LinkedIn drafts include:
- Only visible to you until published
- Possible to forget/neglect and leave in drafts indefinitely
- No downloading option – drafts only live on LinkedIn’s servers
- Account or technical issues could result in draft loss
- No confirmed auto-delete policy after period of inactivity
Steps to Publish a LinkedIn Draft Post
Publishing a completed LinkedIn draft post is simple:
- Open the LinkedIn app or website and log into your account
- Navigate to the drafts folder under your profile menu
- Select the draft you want to publish to open it
- Make any final edits or additions to the post
- Choose your post visibility (Public, Connections, etc)
- Click the blue “Post” button to share live
After posting, the content will no longer appear in your drafts folder and will be visible on your LinkedIn profile based on the selected privacy setting.
Posting vs Scheduling LinkedIn Drafts
When ready to publish a LinkedIn draft post, you have two options:
- Post now: Shares the post immediately to your audience.
- Schedule: Allows selecting a future date/time for the post to publish.
Posting immediately is ideal for timely, relevant content you want connected with right away. Scheduling is useful for coordinating content around specific events or campaigns at a later planned date.
LinkedIn Post Draft Character Limits
LinkedIn imposes the following draft post character limits:
Post Type | Character Limit |
---|---|
Standard text-based post | 700 |
Long-form post | 10,000 |
Article post | 100,000 |
Image, document, and video posts have varying limits based on the media type. Checking the post length indicator before saving as draft can help ensure your content fits the parameters.
Video Overview: Saving LinkedIn Posts as Drafts
This quick video summarizes how to save LinkedIn posts as drafts:
- Drafts allow saving unfinished posts to complete later
- Access drafts from profile menu in mobile app or website
- Name drafts clearly for easy identification
- Refine and edit drafts before posting to connections
- Don’t forget about old drafts – delete ones you won’t use
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blU8s4qw3Wc
Infographic: LinkedIn Post Drafts Overview
This infographic provides a visual summary of using LinkedIn’s draft feature for posts:
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Key points include:
- Click “Save as draft” when writing a post to store for later
- Find drafts in your profile menu on mobile/web
- Drafts autosave as you write and remain available indefinitely
- Only you can see drafts – connections see posts once published
- Use drafts to manage your content workflow efficiently
Conclusion
Leveraging LinkedIn’s draft feature allows busy professionals to prep content on a flexible schedule before sharing. Though drafts remain private, storing posts-in-progress removes the risk of losing work and streamlines your process. With the ability to draft, edit, refine, organize, and schedule posts, managing your LinkedIn content marketing is simpler than ever.
A few key tips include:
- Save frequently while writing to capture your progress
- Name or tag drafts clearly for easy reference
- Set reminders to revisit unfinished drafts
- Delete old drafts you no longer need
- Develop a consistent drafting workflow that fits your style
By incorporating LinkedIn’s draft tool into your posting habits, you can maximize your content output and engagement with a growing professional audience. Just don’t forget to actually publish those drafts once they are ready for prime time!