How to Find Draft Posts on LinkedIn

You’ve been there. You just spent thirty minutes crafting the perfect LinkedIn post - the hook is sharp, the insights are valuable, and the call to action is clear. Then you get a phone call, click another tab, or your app closes accidentally. Just like that, your work seems to have vanished. This article will show you exactly where to find those saved drafts on LinkedIn, for both desktop and mobile, so you never lose your brilliant ideas again.

Why Finding LinkedIn Drafts Can Feel So Tricky

Unlike an email service with a dedicated "Drafts" folder, LinkedIn's draft feature for posts is more of a temporary safety net than a permanent storage solution. Your draft isn’t saved to your account in the cloud, it’s saved locally to the specific browser or app you were using. This is the single biggest reason for confusion. A draft you started on your laptop won't be waiting for you on your phone, and vice versa.

Understanding this is half the battle. Your draft likely still exists, you just need to go back to the exact place you created it. Let's walk through how to do that step-by-step.

How to Find Your LinkedIn Drafts on Desktop

Finding a post draft on a desktop browser is straightforward once you know that the draft lives inside the post creation tool itself. Follow these simple steps.

Step 1: Return to the LinkedIn Homepage

Open the same web browser where you originally wrote the post. It's important to use the same browser (e.g., Chrome, Safari, Firefox) because, as mentioned, the draft is saved locally in that browser's storage.

Step 2: Open the Post Composer

At the top of your LinkedIn feed, you'll see the box that says "Start a post." Click it to open the post composer window, just as if you were about to write something new.

Step 3: Look for the Draft Recovery Prompt

If a draft is saved, LinkedIn will immediately show you a small pop-up notification at the bottom of the composer. It will say something like, "You have a post draft, would you like to continue editing or discard?"

This is your entry point. You’ll be given two options:

• Continue: This will load your previously saved text, images, or video back into the composer so you can pick up right where you left off.
• Discard: This will permanently delete the draft, giving you a blank slate to start over. Be careful with this one - there’s no "undo."

And that’s it. Click "Continue," and you’ll have your content back.

How to Find Your LinkedIn Drafts on the Mobile App (iOS & Android)

The process on the LinkedIn mobile app is very similar, but the user interface has a slight, helpful difference. Here’s how to recover your work on your phone.

Step 1: Open the LinkedIn App

Make sure you’re opening the app on the same phone where you started writing the draft. Again, drafts do not sync between your phone and your computer.

Step 2: Tap the "Post" Button

Along the bottom navigation bar of the app, tap the center “Post” button (it has a plus icon). This action opens the content creation screen.

Step 3: Restore From the Draft Banner

When the post composer opens, you don't need to do anything else. If a draft was saved, a banner will appear at the top of the screen that says, "Your draft from [Date]." Simply tap on that banner, and the app will instantly load your draft content into the editor.

If you choose to ignore it and start typing something new, the app will ask if you want to discard your previous draft. Unlike the desktop version, this mobile banner makes your saved draft a little more visible and harder to miss.

What if You Still Can't Find Your Draft? Common Problems and Solutions

If you've followed the steps above and still can't find your work, don’t panic. It's likely due to one of these common reasons. Unfortunately, in most of these cases, the draft is permanently gone, which highlights why depending on LinkedIn's native draft feature is risky.

Problem 1: You're Using a Different Device or Browser

This is the most frequent issue. A draft created in Chrome on your work laptop will not appear in Safari on your personal laptop, nor will it be on your iPhone's LinkedIn app. You must return to the exact same environment where you started it.

Solution: Retrace your steps. Think about which device and browser you were using and try the recovery steps there.

Problem 2: You Cleared Your Browser's Cookies or Cache

Since drafts are saved in your browser's local storage, clearing this data will wipe them out. If you've recently used a "clean up" utility on your computer or manually cleared Cache & Cookies, your draft was likely deleted in the process.

Solution: Unfortunately, there's no way to recover a draft in this scenario. This is a strong argument for writing your content somewhere else first.

Problem 3: The Draft Was for a LinkedIn Article, Not a Post

This is an important distinction many people miss. LinkedIn has two main content types: short-form Posts (the updates that appear in the feed) and long-form Articles (blog-style posts published on the LinkedIn platform).

These two content types have completely separate draft systems.

Posts use the temporary local storage method we've just covered. Articles, on the other hand, have a dedicated, cloud-saved folder. To find an article draft:

1. Go to your LinkedIn Homepage on a desktop browser.
2. Under the "Start a post" box, click “Write article.”
3. This will take you to the publishing tool. Near the top of the page, you should see a "Publishing menu" or similar link. Click it, then select “Drafts.”
4. This page lists all of your saved article drafts, which you can continue editing at any time, from any device.

If you think you lost a long piece of work, double-check if you started it as an Article instead of a Post. You might be in luck!

A More Reliable Way to Manage Your LinkedIn Content

Relying on LinkedIn’s post draft functionality is like working on an important document without ever hitting "Save." It might work for a quick thought, but for content you’ve invested time in, you need a better system. Moving your content creation process outside of the native LinkedIn platform not only protects you from losing work but also helps you create better content.

1. Create Your Content in a Separate Document

This is the simplest and most effective change you can make. Write your posts in a dedicated tool like Google Docs, Notion, Evernote, or even the Notes app on your phone. These tools are designed for writing and automatically save your work to the cloud. This gives you:

• A Permanent Backup: Your content is safe, no matter what happens to your browser.
• Better Editing Tools: Spell check, grammar tools, and word count are often more robust in a dedicated editor.
• A Content Repository: You create a personal archive of every post you've ever written, making it easy to reference or repurpose content later.

2. Use a Content Calendar to Plan Ahead

Instead of writing posts on the fly, start planning them in advance. A simple content calendar (even a spreadsheet) allows you to map out your topics, themes, and posting schedule for the weeks and months ahead. This transforms your social media presence from reactive to strategic.

When you plan ahead, you can:

• Ensure Consistency: Never wonder "what should I post today?" again.
• Align with Goals: Tie your content directly to your business goals, like announcing a product launch or promoting a webinar.
• Batch Your Work: Spend a few hours writing all your posts for the week, freeing up mental energy for the rest of your tasks.

Once you’ve written and planned your content, you can copy and paste it into LinkedIn when you’re ready to post.

Final Thoughts

LinkedIn's draft recovery feature is a helpful failsafe for a 'post' that goes momentarily missing. You can find it by reopening the post composer on the original device you used. However, it’s far too unreliable to be considered a proper drafts folder, especially for content that you’ve put serious effort into creating.

At Postbase, we built our platform to be the secure, centralized hub for all your social content, precisely to solve this problem. Our visual content calendar allows you to write, plan, and save all your LinkedIn posts (along with content for TikTok, Instagram, and more) in one reliable place that syncs across all your devices. Instead of depending on a temporary browser cache that can be erased at any moment, your work is always safe, organized, and ready to be scheduled with a single click, ensuring your great ideas never get lost in the shuffle.