How to Edit a Post on Facebook

Hit ‘publish’ on that Facebook post, looked again, and felt that sinking feeling when you spot a typo? It happens to everyone, from social media managers running major brands to people sharing family photos. Thankfully, fixing a mistake is simple if you know where to look. This tutorial will walk you through exactly how to edit a post on Facebook from your computer or phone, explain what you can change after publishing, and offer some best practices for handling edits professionally.

How to Edit a Facebook Post on Desktop

Making a quick fix from your laptop or desktop computer is the most straightforward way to edit a post. The user interface gives you plenty of space to see what you’re doing and make changes with ease. Here’s how to do it in just a few clicks:

1. Locate Your Post: Go to your Facebook profile, Page, or Group and find the post you need to update.
2. Open the Menu: In the top-right corner of the post box, you'll see three horizontal dots (...). Click these dots to open the post menu.
3. Select "Edit Post": From the dropdown menu, choose the "Edit post" option. A new window will pop up showing your original post content, ready for changes.
4. Make Your Changes: Now you can fix that typo, rewrite a sentence, add or remove tagged people or pages, or update the location you checked in from. Your original text and settings will be ready for you to adjust.
5. Save Your Work: Once you’re happy with the changes, click the blue "Save" button. Facebook will update the post immediately, and you're all set.

Keep in mind that once you save, your post will display a small, grey "Edited" link below your name. Anyone who sees the post can click this to view the post’s version history, including your original content and all subsequent edits. It’s part of Facebook's commitment to transparency.

How to Edit a Facebook Post on Your Phone

Whether you’re on the go or just prefer using your phone, editing a post through the Facebook mobile app is just as simple. The process is virtually identical for both iOS and Android devices, so these steps will work for pretty much any smartphone.

For Both iOS and Android

1. Find the Post in the App: Open your Facebook app and navigate to the post you want to fix. You can find it on your timeline, a Page you manage, or in a group.
2. Tap the Three-Dot Menu: Just like on desktop, you’ll find a three-dot menu icon (...) in the upper-right corner of your post. Tap it to reveal your options.
3. Choose "Edit Post": In the menu that appears, tap "Edit post." This will take you to an editing screen that looks a lot like the original composer window.
4. Modify Your Content: Correct your caption, adjust tags, or change the feeling/activity associated with the post. Do whatever you need to do to make it right.
5. Tap "Save": Once your edits are complete, tap the "Save" button in the top-right corner. The app will refresh your post with the corrected content.

Just like with desktop edits, the "Edited" history link will appear on the post, making your changes visible to curious readers.

What Parts of a Facebook Post Can You Actually Edit?

While fixing typos in your text is easy, Facebook has some hard rules about what can and cannot be changed after a post is live. Knowing these limitations can save you a lot of frustration and help you decide whether an edit is enough or if you need to delete and start over.

What You Can Edit ✅

• The Post Text/Caption: This is the most common use case. You have full freedom to add, remove, or rewrite any part of the text accompanying your post. That includes adding or changing hashtags.
• Tagged People or Pages: Realize you forgot to tag a collaborator or want to remove a tag from someone in a photo? You can add, adjust, or remove tags freely.
• Location Check-in: If you checked into the wrong restaurant or forgot to add a location, you can easily add, change, or delete it after posting.
• Feeling/Activity: You can modify that "Feeling happy" or "Watching a movie" status at any time.
• Alt Text for Images: For accessibility, you can and should edit the alt text on your images. To do this, click the photo itself, then select the "Options" menu, and find "Change Alt Text." This helps people using screen readers understand your visual content.

What You Can't Edit (and What to Do Instead) ❌

• Images and Videos: This is the big one. You cannot add, delete, or reorder photos or videos within a post after it has been published. The media is "baked in" to the post. If you used the wrong photo or want to add another one to an album post, your only option is to delete the entire post and re-upload it with the correct media. The downside, of course, is that you will lose any engagement (likes, comments, shares) the original post had.
• Link Previews: When you share a link, Facebook generates a preview with a title, description, and an image pulled from the webpage. You cannot change this preview after the post is live. If the link preview is wrong or unattractive, you’ll have to delete the post. Pro Tip: Before you repost, you can use Facebook’s Sharing Debugger tool to clear Facebook's cache and "scrape" the link again to fetch the most up-to-date preview information.
• Post Audience: In many cases, you cannot change the audience of a post after it has gained some traction - for instance, changing it from "Public" to "Friends." This is a security and privacy feature to prevent "bait-and-switch" scenarios where a post is made public to gain engagement before being restricted to a smaller audience. If the option is greyed out, you'll have to create a new post with the desired visibility setting.

Can You Edit a Boosted Post or Facebook Ad?

For brands and marketers, this question comes up a lot. You’ve put money behind a post, it’s live, and then you see a glaring error. The rules for editing ads and boosted posts are much stricter than for organic posts to preserve the integrity of the advertising system.

Once your boosted post or ad is active and serving impressions, Facebook locks down most of the components to prevent misleading changes. After all, someone might have liked or commented based on the original image and text, and changing it after the fact would invalidate their engagement.

What You Might Be Able to Edit

On some occasions, Facebook's Ad Manager may allow you to make very minor text corrections in an active campaign. However, this is not guaranteed and often depends on the campaign objective and how long it's been running. Relying on this is not a solid strategy.

What You Absolutely Can't Change

• The creative (the image, video, or carousel)
• The headline
• The call-to-action (CTA) button
• The destination link

The standard industry practice is clear: if you need to make a material change to an active ad, your best course of action is to stop the campaign, duplicate the ad or ad set, make your edits in the new duplicate version, and submit it for review. This keeps your reporting clean and ensures you don't violate an advertising policy.

Your Edit History is Public: Why Transparency Matters

Remember that "Edited" note that appears on your post? It acts as a public log of your changes. Clicking on it reveals every previous version of your post's text. This feature is intended to create accountability and prevent people from changing the entire meaning of a post after it has received likes and comments.

For brands, businesses, and content creators, how you handle this matters for audience trust.

Best Practices for Editing Posts

• For Minor Typos & Omissions: A quick, silent fix is perfectly acceptable. If you just spelled a word wrong or forgot a comma, there’s no need to draw attention to it.
• For Major Factual Errors: If you’re correcting a genuine mistake - like a wrong date, an incorrect price, or a misleading statistic - it’s good practice to acknowledge the change. Simply add a note to the bottom of your post, such as "EDIT: Corrected the event time from 8 PM to 7 PM. Apologies for the confusion!" This shows you’re honest and accountable, which builds trust with your audience.
• Knowing When to Delete vs. Edit: If your post contains a fundamental error that makes it completely wrong (e.g., you accidentally used an insensitive image or shared a link to the wrong product), a simple edit might not be enough. The original, incorrect version will still exist in the edit history. In these serious cases, it’s often better to delete the post entirely and republish it with a brief acknowledgment of the misstep.

Troubleshooting: "Why Isn't Facebook Letting Me Edit My Post?"

Sometimes you’ll run into a wall where the "Edit post" option is either missing or grayed out. If you’re struggling to figure out why, it’s likely one of these common reasons:

• It's Not Your Post: You can only edit your own content or content posted on a Page where you have an Admin or Editor role. You cannot edit posts made by other people on their own profiles or in groups (unless you're a group admin with specific powers).
• The Post Type Doesn't Support Edits: Some specialty posts, like starting a Watch Party or certain auto-generated life events, have restricted editing capabilities.
• A Temporary Glitch: Has Facebook simply served up a bug? It happens. Before you panic, try a hard refresh of your browser (Shift + F5 on Windows, Cmd + Shift + R on Mac) or force-quit and restart the mobile app. This often solves the problem.
• Page or Group Role Permissions: If you are managing a Facebook Page or Group, your specific role may limit your ability to edit content posted by others. Check with the primary Page owner or group admin to see if your permissions are set correctly.

Final Thoughts

Editing a post on Facebook is a straightforward skill, but mastering it means understanding the platform's limitations and how to be transparent with your audience. Having the confidence to quickly fix a typo or correct an error gives you greater control over your social media presence and allows you to communicate more effectively.

Mistakes happen, but with careful planning, you can minimize the need for last-minute edits. That's why we built the visual calendar in Postbase - to help you and your team see all your content laid out by week or month, catching those little mistakes and perfecting your captions long before anything goes live.