How to Reorder Highlights on Instagram

Getting your Instagram Highlights in the perfect order can feel surprisingly tricky, but it's a simple fix once you know the hidden method. Having your most important information front-and-center can transform your profile from a simple photo feed into a strategic resource for followers and potential customers. This guide breaks down exactly how to reorder your Highlights to create a polished, strategic first impression. We’ll cover the step-by-step process and share some pro tips for making your Highlights an indispensable part of your brand.

Why the Order of Your Instagram Highlights Matters

Think of your Instagram Highlights as the navigation bar for your brand's digital storefront. They sit directly below your bio and are one of the first things visitors see when they land on your profile. A messy, disorganized set of Highlights can create a confusing experience, while a well-organized row tells a clear story and guides users exactly where you want them to go.

Here’s why taking a few minutes to get the order right is a massive win for your social media marketing:

• It Controls the Narrative: You decide what new followers see first. Whether it's your main product line, customer reviews, or an "About Us" story, the correct Highlight order lets you shape their initial perception of your brand.
• It Boosts Conversions and Clicks: Want people to shop new arrivals, sign up for your newsletter, or read your latest blog post? Placing the "Shop," "Subscribe," or "Blog" Highlight at the very beginning (far left) dramatically increases the chances someone will tap on it.
• It Improves User Experience: A logical sequence makes it easy for people to find what they're looking for. Putting an "FAQ" or "How to Order" Highlight upfront reduces friction for potential customers and can cut down on repetitive questions in your DMs.
• It Creates a Professional Look: A thoughtfully ordered set of Highlights with branded covers looks polished and intentional. It signals that you invest in your brand's presentation and take your social presence seriously.

The One Golden Rule of Instagram Highlight Order

Before jumping into the "how," it's important to understand the one rule that governs the order of your Highlights. Instagram doesn't offer a drag-and-drop feature to rearrange them. Instead, it operates on a simple chronological principle:

Your Highlights are automatically sorted from left to right based on the most recently updated Highlight.

When you add a new Story to an existing Highlight, Instagram considers that Highlight "updated" and immediately bumps it to the far-left position. This is the entire mechanism. The secret is that you don't actually have to post a new, live Story to trigger this. You can use your Story archive to "update" any Highlight you want, at any time, moving it to the front of the line.

How to Reorder Highlights on Instagram: The Step-by-Step Archive Method

This simple process allows you to reorder your Highlights in just a few taps without posting anything publicly to your Story. Let's say you want to move your "FAQ" Highlight to the very first position.

Step 1: Choose the Highlight You Want to Move

Go to your Instagram profile and identify the Highlight you want to be displayed first. This is the one that will ultimately sit at the far left of the row.

Step 2: Start Editing the Highlight

Press and hold the chosen Highlight cover until a menu pops up. Select "Edit Highlight." Alternatively, you can tap the Highlight to open an archived story, then tap the three-dot "More" icon in the bottom-right corner and select "Edit Highlight."

Step 3: Navigate to Your Story Archive

Once you're in the editing screen, you'll see two tabs at the top: "Selected" and "Stories." You'll be on the "Selected" tab by default, which shows all the Stories currently in that Highlight.

Tap on the "Stories" tab. This will open your entire Instagram Story archive, showing you every Story you've ever posted (assuming you have the "Save Story to Archive" setting enabled).

Step 4: Add a Temporary Story from Your Archive

Now, simply scroll through your archive and tap on any old Story to add it to the Highlight. It truly doesn't matter which Story you pick, as you're going to remove it in a moment. You’ll see a blue checkmark appear on the Story you've chosen.

There's no need to spend time finding a relevant one. Just pick the first one you see. This action of adding a Story is what tells Instagram's algorithm that the Highlight has been updated.

Step 5: Save Your Changes

Once you’ve selected a temporary story, tap "Done" in the top-right corner. Go back to your profile, and you'll see that the Highlight you just edited has magically jumped to the first position.

Step 6: Remove the Temporary Story (The Cleanup)

You’re almost finished, but you’ve still got that random archived Story living in your newly positioned Highlight. Let’s get rid of it.

1. Press and hold the same Highlight again and select "Edit Highlight."
2. You'll be on the "Selected" tab this time. Find the Story you just added from your archive and tap it to uncheck the blue checkmark.
3. Tap "Done" again.

Now, if you check your profile, you’ll see the Highlight is still in the first position, and its contents are exactly what they were when you started. You’ve successfully reordered it without altering the content.

A Strategic Approach to Ordering Multiple Highlights

What if you want to create a specific sequence of five or six Highlights? For example, you want your profile to read: 1. Shop | 2. Reviews | 3. FAQ | 4. About Us | 5. Events.

To do this, you have to work in reverse order of your desired outcome. Here's how:

1. Start with the Highlight you want to be LAST. In our example, this is "Events." Use the archive method described above to update it. Now, it's in the first position, but everything else is behind it.
2. Move to the highlight you want to be NEXT TO LAST. Update your "About Us" Highlight using the archive method. This will push "Events" into the second position, and "About Us" will become first. Your order is now: About Us, Events, [everything else].
3. Keep working backward. Next, update "FAQ." It will become first, pushing "About Us" to second and "Events" to third. Your order is now: FAQ, About Us, Events, [everything else].
4. Update your second-place Highlight. Update "Reviews." It will become first.
5. Finally, update the Highlight you want to be FIRST. Update your "Shop" Highlight. It will claim the number one spot, pushing all the others down the line in the exact order you arranged them.

Your final order will be: Shop | Reviews | FAQ | About Us | Events. This backward-editing process gives you complete control over your profile's narrative flow.

Pro Tips for Optimizing Your Instagram Highlights

Reordering is just one part of the puzzle. To create truly effective Highlights that help you grow your brand, make sure you're following these best practices.

1. Design On-Brand Highlight Covers

The first thing people see are your Highlight covers. A mismatched set of images pulled from your Stories looks cluttered. Instead, create a cohesive set of custom covers that align with your brand's colors, fonts, and overall vibe. You don't need to be a graphic designer for this, tools like Canva offer thousands of templates specifically for Instagram Highlight covers. A simple icon on a branded background is often all you need for a clean, professional look.

2. Write Clear, Keyword-Friendly Titles

Instagram limits Highlight titles to about 15 characters before they get cut off with an ellipsis (...). Keep your titles short, sweet, and descriptive. Think about the keywords your audience would search for, simple is better. Use titles like "About," "Shop," "FAQ," "Team," or "Reviews." You can also use emojis to add personality and save on character space, but don't overdo it.

3. Curate Content Strategically

Your Highlights should function as a permanent resource, not a dumping ground for every Story you post. Be selective and organize your content into logical categories. Consider what a new visitor to your profile needs to know. Useful Highlight categories include:

• Product/Service Based: "New Arrivals," "How to Use," "Services," "Pricing," "DIY Tips."
• Customer Focused: "Reviews," "FAQ," "Testimonials," "Results," "User Photos."
• Brand story: "About Us," "Our Story," "Meet the Team," "Behind the Scenes."

4. Audit Your Highlights Regularly

Set a calendar reminder to review your Highlights every quarter. Do they still contain relevant information? Are there outdated promotions or broken links? Remove old slides to keep the information fresh and useful. This is also a good opportunity to re-evaluate the order to see if it still aligns with your current business goals.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, reordering your Instagram Highlights is a small tweak with a big impact. By simply adding and removing a story from your archive, you gain full control over how visitors experience your profile, allowing you to tell a stronger brand story from the moment they land on your page. It’s one of the simplest things you can do to make your profile more strategic and professional.

Keeping a profile this polished requires a big-picture view of your content. That's why we built the visual calendar in Postbase, so you can plan everything - your grid posts, your short-form videos, and the very Stories that become your perfectly organized Highlights. By seeing your entire content strategy in one place, you can stop juggling apps and finally create a seamless workflow for building a cohesive brand presence that drives results.