How to Change Highlight Order on Instagram

Strategically arranging your Instagram Highlights can completely change how visitors perceive your brand, yet Instagram doesn't offer a simple drag-and-drop solution. You've likely tried holding down on a Highlight, hoping to move it around, only to find the option isn't there. This guide will show you the trick to take back control and organize your Instagram Highlights in the precise order you want, turning your profile into a powerful conversion tool.

Why Does Your Instagram Highlight Order Even Matter?

Think of your Instagram Highlights as the main navigation bar on a website. They sit in the most valuable real estate on your profile - right below your bio and above your feed. Before anyone scrolls through your beautifully curated grid, their eyes land on your bio and your Highlights. This is your chance to tell them exactly who you are, what you offer, and where they should look first.

Your content strategy shouldn't stop at your feed posts and Reels, it extends to how you present your archived Stories. Getting the order right guides new followers on a specific journey.

• For Businesses: You can place your most important sales funnels first. An e-commerce brand might order their Highlights as: "New Arrivals," "Sale," "Best Sellers," "Reviews," and "FAQs." This directs potential customers from discovery to social proof to purchase.
• For Creators & Influencers: A content creator could arrange their Highlights to build a personal connection: "Start Here," "My Faves," "Tutorials," "Partners," and "Contact Me." This tells followers exactly how to get the most value from your content and how to work with you.
• For Service Providers: A coach or consultant could create a flow like: "About Me," "Services," "Testimonials," "Results," and "Book a Call." Each Highlight strategically moves a potential client closer to making a decision.

An unordered set of Highlights looks unintentional. A thoughtfully ordered collection tells visitors that you are professional, organized, and clear about the value you provide. It’s a small detail that makes a huge impact on brand perception.

The Simple (but Frustrating) Rule of Highlight Order

Before you can change the order, you need to understand Instagram's logic. This is the part that confuses most users. Instagram automatically organizes your Highlights chronologically based on the last story that was added to them.

In simple terms: the Highlight you updated most recently will always appear first (at the far left) on your profile. The second most recently updated Highlight will be second, and so on. Your oldest Highlight will be pushed all the way to the right.

This is not a bug - it’s the intended design. The platform assumes that your freshest content is the most relevant. While that might be true sometimes, it rarely aligns with a strategic content plan. Knowing this rule is the key to manipulating the system to get the order you want. To reorder your Highlights, all you need to do is "update" them in the reverse order you want them to appear.

The Easiest Step-by-Step Method to Reorder Your Highlights

Ready to finally put your "Shop," "New," or "Start Here" Highlight exactly where it belongs? This method reliably works every time and only takes a minute once you get the hang of it. We'll use the 'Add from Archive' trick, which lets you update a Highlight without posting a new, live story.

Step 1: Plan Your Ideal Order

First, decide on the final order you want. For this example, let's say a local bakery wants its Highlights to appear like this:

1. Catering
2. Menu
3. Reviews
4. Hours
5. About Us

Since the most recently updated Highlight appears first, you'll need to work backward. That means you’ll update "About Us" first, then "Hours," then "Reviews," and so on, finishing with "Catering."

Step 2: Go to Your Story Archive

You don't need to post anything new. The magic happens in your archive, where all your past Stories are saved (unless you’ve disabled this feature).

• Go to your Instagram profile.
• Tap the three horizontal lines in the top right corner to open the menu.
• Select "Archive."
• At the top, make sure "Stories Archive" is selected, not "Posts Archive" or "Live Archive."

Step 3: Select a Story and Add it to Your Last Highlight

Working backward from our plan, the last Highlight in our desired list is "About Us."

1. In your archive, tap on any old Story. It truly doesn't matter which one because we can remove it later. Pick one that won't disrupt the flow of the existing Highlight.
2. At the bottom of the screen, tap the "Highlight" icon.
3. A list of your existing Highlights will pop up. Select the one you want to appear last - in this case, "About Us."
4. Instagram will add that old Story to the "About Us" Highlight. This action counts as an update.

Step 4: Repeat the Process for Each Highlight

Now, just repeat the process for the rest of your Highlights, working from right to left based on your ideal order.

• Tap another story in your archive. Add it to the "Hours" Highlight. Now, "Hours" will jump to the left of "About Us."
• Do it again. Add a story to the "Reviews" Highlight. It will now be in the third position.
• Next, add another story to the "Menu" Highlight.
• Finally, add a story to the "Catering" Highlight.

Step 5: Check Your Work and Clean Up

Go back to your main profile page. Voila! Your Highlights should now be in the perfect order: Catering, Menu, Reviews, Hours, About Us.

But wait, you've just added a random old Story to the end of each Highlight. That might confuse viewers. You can easily remove it:

1. Tap and hold the Highlight you want to clean up.
2. Select "Edit Highlight."
3. Navigate to the "Stories" tab.
4. You’ll see a grid of all the Stories in that Highlight. Find the one you just added (it will be at the very end) and tap to uncheck it.
5. Tap "Done."

Don't worry - removing the Story won't change the order back. The "update" has already been logged by Instagram. Your Highlight order is now locked in until you update another one.

Pro Strategies for Highlight Management

Getting your Highlights in order is just the beginning. To truly make your profile stand out, combine strategic ordering with a professional aesthetic and efficient workflows.

Create Consistent, Branded Highlight Covers

Your Highlight order draws the eye, but the covers create the impression. Unprofessional or mismatched covers can make an otherwise excellent profile look messy. Consistent covers signal professionalism and a strong brand identity.

• Design Your Covers: Use a simple tool like Canva to create custom covers. Search for "Instagram Story Highlight Cover" templates. Keep them simple, using your brand colors, fonts, or a set of uniform icons.
• How to Add a Cover Without Posting It: You don't need to post your cover image as a live Story. Simply tap and hold the Highlight, select "Edit Highlight," and then tap "Edit Cover" at the top. From there, tap the image icon to select a cover directly from your phone's camera roll.

The Quick Placeholder Story Hack

If digging through your archive feels a bit slow and you want to reorder just one or two Highlights quickly, this hack is a game-changer. It's especially useful for social media managers who need to make rapid updates.

1. Post a "Junk" Story: Create a completely innocuous Story. It could be a solid black screen, a simple dot on a white background, or a quick photo of your keyboard. The goal is for it to be something you can delete in seconds.
2. Immediately Add to Highlight: Before anyone really sees it, add this junk Story to the Highlight you want to move to the first position.
3. Delete the Story: Go back to your live Story and delete it immediately.
4. Check Your Profile: The chosen Highlight will have jumped to the front of the line because its "last updated" time is now the most recent. The junk Story is gone from public view, and your Highlight is perfectly positioned.

Final Thoughts

While you can't just drag and drop your Instagram Highlights into place, reordering them is simple once you understand the platform's chronological logic. By adding any Story - new or from your archive - to a Highlight, you refresh its position, giving you complete strategic control over your profile's most valuable real estate.

Keeping all the details of your social strategy straight, from post schedules to Highlight order, is a lot to juggle. As a team that lives and breathes social media, we knew the frustration of trying to manage today's content with yesterday's tools. That's why we designed our visual calendar in Postbase to give you a clear, bird's-eye view of your entire strategy. Seeing everything in one place, from scheduled Reels to campaign launch dates, helps you stay organized so you can focus on the bigger picture instead of getting bogged down in platform quirks.