How to Get Primary and General Messages on Instagram

Feeling overwhelmed by an Instagram inbox that's a chaotic mix of client messages, spam, questions from your mom, and replies to your Stories? You're not alone. Instagram's Primary and General message tabs are designed to fix this exact problem by helping you filter and prioritize your direct messages. This guide will walk you through what these tabs are, how to use them, and how to turn your DMs into an organized, stress-free tool for your brand or business.

What Are Primary and General Messages on Instagram?

Think of the Primary and General tabs as a built-in triage system for your DMs. Instead of one long, messy list of every message you've ever received, Instagram gives you two separate folders. This feature is automatically available for Business and Creator accounts, turning your inbox from a simple message log into an effective communication hub.

The Primary Tab: Your VIP Section

The Primary tab is your main inbox. It's designed for conversations with people you know and messages you consider most important. By default, you'll receive notifications for every new message that lands here. Treat this folder as your high-priority queue - it's for conversations that require a timely response.

• Perfect for: Close friends, family, key clients, team members, hot leads, and active collaboration partners.
• Notifications: ON by default. A message in Primary demands your attention.

The General Tab: The "Get to It Later" Pile

The General tab is your secondary inbox. It's meant for messages that aren't urgent or that you want to read later. By default, notifications are turned off for messages moved to this tab, which is a fantastic way to reduce digital noise and stay focused on what matters most.

• Perfect for: Cold outreach from brands, non-urgent questions from followers, casual chats, and messages you need to file away.
• Notifications: OFF by default. You can check these messages on your own time without constant interruptions.

How to Move Messages Between Primary and General

Organizing your inbox is simple and takes just a few taps. Instagram makes it easy to move conversations from one tab to the other, so you can dynamically manage your priorities as conversations evolve.

Option 1: The Quick Swipe (Fastest Method)

This is the go-to method for quickly sorting one or two conversations at a time.

1. Open your Instagram Direct Messages by tapping the messenger icon in the top right corner.
2. In either your Primary or General tab, find the conversation you want to move.
3. Swipe left on the conversation thread.
4. Tap the button that says either "General" (if it's in Primary) or "Primary" (if it's in General). The conversation will instantly move to the other tab.

Option 2: Moving from Inside the Conversation

This is useful if you are already inside a message thread and decide it belongs in the other folder.

1. Open the message thread you want to move.
2. Tap the person's or brand's name at the top of the screen to open the chat details.
3. Under "Chat settings," tap Move.
4. The conversation will immediately switch to the other tab. The option will then change to "Move to Primary" or "Move to General" depending on where it now lives.

Option 3: Sorting in Bulk (For Major Cleanups)

If your inbox is a disaster zone, you can move multiple chats at once to speed up the organization process.

1. From your main inbox screen (either Primary or General), tap the icon with three dots and three lines in the top right corner.
2. This enters an "edit" mode. Tap the circles next to all the conversations you want to move.
3. Once you've selected all the desired chats, tap Move at the bottom of the screen.
4. The selected conversations will all be shuffled over to the other tab without you having to manage them individually.

Creating a Smart DM Strategy with Primary and General Tabs

Knowing how to move messages is one thing, knowing why is what separates a cluttered inbox from a powerful business tool. A clear strategy helps you reduce response times for important messages and engage with the community faster.

For Creators and Influencers

As a creator, your DMs are a blend of opportunity, community, and noise. Here's how to sort it all out:

• Keep in Primary:
  • Messages from brands about potential collaborations or partnerships.
  • Conversations with your manager, agent, or creative partners.
  • DMs from other creators you regularly connect with.
  • Urgent questions from followers related to a current giveaway, event, or product launch.
• Move to General:
  • General fan messages and compliments (you can set aside time each week to reply to these in batches).
  • Unsolicited and irrelevant brand pitches. You can review these later or ignore them without cluttering your priority list.
  • Replies to your Stories that don't invite a longer conversation.

This system lets you focus your energy on income-generating activities and high-value relationships while still carving out time for community engagement without the constant dings and notifications.

For Businesses and Brands

For a business, every DM could be a customer, a complaint, or a future sale. Prioritization is everything.

• Keep in Primary:
  • Customer service issues and complaints that need immediate attention.
  • Inbound messages from potential customers asking about a product or service. This is your "hot lead" folder.
  • Inquiries from potential partners, suppliers, or media outlets.
  • Direct feedback from highly engaged customers.
• Move to General:
  • Positive reviews or comments that don't require an immediate conversational response.
  • Questions that are clearly answered in your bio, on your website, or in a recent post's caption.
  • Low-priority follow-ups or "just browsing" messages.
  • Spam or messages from bots.

This approach transforms your inbox into a sales and customer support pipeline. Anything in Primary is an active task, while anything in General can be addressed during dedicated administrative time.

A Quick Word on Notifications

The real power of the Primary/General system lies in notification management. By default, incoming Primary messages will buzz your phone, while General messages arrive silently. This is ideal, but you can customize it.

To check your settings:

1. Go to your profile and tap the three-line menu in the top right corner.
2. Tap Settings and privacy.
3. Tap Notifications.
4. Tap Messages.

Here, you'll see separate toggles for "Message requests," "Messages from individual and group chats" in your Primary folder, and "Messages from individual and group chats" in your General folder. For maximum focus, keep Primary notifications ON and General notifications OFF.

Troubleshooting: "I Don't See Primary and General Tabs!"

Don't panic if your inbox looks like a single, unorganized list. This is almost always for one simple reason: You have a Personal account.

The Primary and General inbox functionality is exclusive to Creator and Business accounts on Instagram. Personal accounts have a single, unified inbox.

Switching is free and comes with other benefits like access to analytics and the ability to run ads. Here's how to do it:

1. Go to your profile and tap the three-line menu.
2. Tap Settings and privacy, scroll down, and tap Account type and tools.
3. Tap Switch to professional account and follow the on-screen prompts.
4. Choose either "Creator" (best for public figures, influencers, and artists) or "Business" (best for brands, retailers, and service providers).

Once you switch over, the Primary and General tabs should appear in your inbox, ready for you to start organizing.

Final Thoughts

Using Instagram's Primary and General message tabs is a simple but powerful way to transform a chaotic inbox into a well-organized workflow. By strategically separating your high-priority conversations from the rest, you can respond faster to what moves your brand forward and reduce the stress of constant notifications, all without missing a single important message.

While managing DMs inside Instagram is a great start, the real overwhelm often comes from juggling DMs and comments across Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, LinkedIn, and more. From our shared inbox at Postbase, we've designed a unified inbox that brings all your communications into one clean, manageable stream. You can reply, assign conversations to teammates, and clear your queue without ever having to jump between different apps again.