How to View Post Drafts on LinkedIn

You’ve written an amazing LinkedIn post, edited it perfectly, saved it as a draft, and walked away feeling productive. You come back later to publish it, and… it’s gone. If you've ever felt that mild panic while searching for a misplaced draft, you’re not alone. This guide will show you exactly where to find those saved drafts on both LinkedIn’s desktop site and mobile app, so you never lose a great piece of content again.

Why Bother with Drafts on LinkedIn?

Before we get into the “how,” it’s worth touching on the “why.” The drafts feature on LinkedIn isn't just a simple “save” button, it's a foundational tool for a smarter, more sustainable content strategy. When used correctly, it can transform how you show up on the platform.

• It Encourages Content Batching: The most productive creators don't write one post at a time. They sit down and batch their content, writing several posts in one session. Saving your work as drafts allows you to build a queue of high-quality content, freeing you from the daily pressure of having to think of something new to say. For more tips on this, learn how to plan LinkedIn content in advance.
• It Captures Fleeting Ideas: Inspiration doesn’t always strike at a convenient time. Maybe you have a brilliant thought during a meeting or while waiting in line for coffee. The drafts feature lets you quickly capture the core of an idea on your phone or computer, preserving it before it disappears. You can then return to it later to flesh it out.
• It Builds in a Review Cycle: Hitting “publish” moments after writing is often a recipe for typos and clunky phrasing. Saving a post as a draft gives you the critical distance needed to review it with fresh eyes. You can step away for a few hours, or even a day, then come back to polish your hook, check your clarity, and trim any unnecessary words. This is key to writing engaging LinkedIn posts.
• It Keeps Your Content Intentional: By separating the writing process from the publishing process, you can be more strategic about when your content goes live. You might draft a post on a Monday morning but schedule it for Wednesday afternoon when you know your audience is most active and engaged.

In short, using drafts turns your LinkedIn presence from a reactive, on-the-spot activity into a thoughtful, planned strategy that respects both your time and your audience's attention.

How to View Post Drafts on LinkedIn (Desktop Version)

Locating your drafts on the LinkedIn website can feel a bit like a scavenger hunt because it’s not in an obvious, dedicated “Drafts” folder. Here are the most reliable ways to find your saved work.

The Main Method: Using the Post Composer

This is the most consistent and direct way to access your entire list of drafts. Even if you don’t see any other notifications tempting you, this method will always work.

1. Navigate to the LinkedIn homepage (your feed).
2. At the top of the page, click the "Start a post" box.
3. The post composer window will pop up. In the top-left corner of this window, right below your name, you should see a link that says "View all drafts (X)", where "X" is the number of drafts you have saved.
4. Click on that link. This will open a new view showing a list of all your saved post drafts.

From here, you have an organized view of everything you've saved. This is your central hub for drafts on the desktop site.

Alternative Method: The Pop-Up Notification

LinkedIn often tries to help you out if it detects that you have unsent posts. You might see this prompt in a couple of different places.

• The Immediate Banner: If you save a draft, close the post composer, and then immediately click "Start a post" again, a large banner often appears at the bottom of the composer. It will say "You have 1 unsent post" and feature a prominent "View" button. Clicking this takes you directly to your drafts list.
• The Corner Notification: Sometimes, after saving a post and navigating around the site, a small, subtle notification box may appear in the bottom-left corner of your browser window with the same message: "You have X unsent posts." This is less common but another potential entry point.

While these pop-ups are helpful, they aren't always there. Relying on the "View all drafts" link within the post composer itself is the foolproof way to get there every time.

Editing, Posting, or Deleting Your Drafts on Desktop

Once you've clicked "View all drafts" and see your list, managing them is straightforward:

• To Edit a Draft: Simply click anywhere on the content of the draft you want to continue working on. It will open in the post composer, ready for you to edit.
• To Post a Draft: After opening it for editing, you can either click the "Post" button immediately or click the clock icon to schedule it for a later time and date.
• To Delete a Draft: Next to each draft in the list view, there is a small trash can icon. Click this icon to permanently delete a draft you no longer need. A confirmation prompt will ask if you're sure you want to discard it.

How to View Post Drafts on the LinkedIn Mobile App

The process on the mobile app (for both iOS and Android) is slightly different but thankfully a bit more obvious than on the desktop site. Here's how to find your drafts on the go.

1. Open the LinkedIn mobile app on your phone.
2. In the center of the bottom navigation bar, tap the "Post" button (it has a plus sign icon).
3. This will open the post creation screen. At the bottom of this screen, a banner should appear announcing, "You have X saved drafts for posts." Right next to this text, there will be a blue "View" button.
4. Tap "View." This will take you to a screen listing all the drafts you have created and saved on your mobile device.

Managing Drafts on the Mobile App

Once you're in the mobile drafts list, the actions are very similar to the desktop experience:

• Edit or Post: Tap on the draft you wish to work on. It will open in the post composer, allowing you to finish writing, add media, and hit "Post."
• Delete: Unfortunately, the mobile interface is less direct for deletion. You typically need to tap on the draft to open it and then hit the discard or "X" button to cancel and remove it. Some versions of the app might show three dots (...) next to the draft, which will give you a "Discard post" option.

One common experience on an app is that if you only have one draft saved, tapping "Post" might just auto-load that draft directly instead of showing you the "View" banner. If that happens, you can either continue editing or tap the "X" in the top-left to discard the post.

Common Questions and Limitations of LinkedIn Drafts

Finding your drafts is only half the battle. To use them effectively, you need to be aware of their significant limitations. Many creators have lost work by not knowing these two critical rules.

1. LinkedIn Drafts Expire After 7 Days

This is the most important thing to know: your LinkedIn drafts are not permanent. If you save a draft and don't touch it again, LinkedIn will automatically delete it after one week. The drafts feature is designed for short-term parking, not long-term storage of your brilliant ideas. If you have an evergreen post you want to save for months down the road, do not leave it in your LinkedIn drafts.

2. Drafts Do Not Sync Between Desktop and Mobile

This is the other major issue. A draft you create on the desktop website will only be visible on the desktop website. Likewise, a draft you save on the LinkedIn mobile app will only be accessible from the mobile app. The two systems are completely separate and do not talk to each other. If you start a post on your laptop with the plan to finish it on your phone later, you will be disappointed to find it missing.

Beyond Native Drafts: Building a Content Workflow That Works

Given the limitations of LinkedIn's native drafts feature - primarily the 7-day expiration and the lack of sync between devices - relying on it as your sole content management system is a risky strategy.

A more robust and reliable approach is to create a central, platform-agnostic content hub. This doesn't have to be complicated. It can be as simple as:

• A Google Doc or Word document with a running list of ideas and finalized posts.
• A Notion database or Trello board with columns for "Ideas," "Drafting," "Ready to Schedule," and "Published."
• A folder in Apple Notes or Evernote where you collect inspiration and write out full posts.

By moving your drafting process outside of LinkedIn, you gain several massive advantages:

• Permanence: Your ideas never expire or disappear.
• Accessibility: You can access and edit your content hub from any device.
• Organization: You can create archives, tag posts by topic, and plan content weeks or months in advance.
• Versatility: A post you wrote for LinkedIn can easily be tweaked and repurposed for a blog, a newsletter, or another social platform because the source content lives in a neutral space. For example, learn how to repurpose blog content for LinkedIn effectively.

Use LinkedIn's native drafts for what they are good at: temporarily holding a post you plan to publish within the next day or two. For everything else, build your content in a system you own and control.

Final Thoughts

Now you know exactly where to find your LinkedIn post drafts on both desktop and mobile, along with a few crucial limitations to keep in mind. Mastering this small feature helps in leveling up your content strategy, but always remember that they are a short-term tool, not a long-term content library.

Managing all those ideas in Docs and spreadsheets is a solid starting point, but the final step is still manually moving everything over to be scheduled. As we built our own brands, we got tired of that exact disconnect, which is why we built a better workflow into our tool. With Postbase, we handle our content from initial idea to final post in a single visual calendar. It serves as our permanent, centralized content hub, meaning we no longer have to worry about a great idea disappearing because it was stuck in a native draft folder that expired.