How To Add Highlights On Instagram Without Adding To Stories? (2025)

Introduced in 2017, the Instagram Stories Highlights feature has been popular today. Highlights can be a great marketing tool that allows you to add stories to appear on your profile as highlights, even after they disappear after 24 hours. Do you want to refresh your Instagram Highlights but not to bother your followers with new Stories? Stop cluttering your Instagram stories just to make highlights, because this guide will unravel this secret and guide you on how to add highlights on Instagram without adding to stories.

What Are Instagram Story Highlights?

If you use Instagram, you are no longer strange with Instagram stories, which appear in the Stories feed at the top of the screen and disappear after 24 hours. However, Instagram story highlights are totally different; they can live permanently on your profile. So what are Instagram Story Highlights?

Instagram Story highlights can be a great marketing tool if you want to create a collection of information readily available to new and existing followers. It can give a deeper insight into who you are, or just get across information about your products and answers to FAQs. You can think of them as groups of stories that you can create as folder sections on your Instagram profiles.

Instagram story highlights are pinned as circles underneath your bio section on the profile page. They are front and center on your profile, serving as the perfect indicators to show users what your brand is all about. You can make as many highlights as you want. When someone taps on a circle, a highlight appears in full-screen size like a regular story.

Why should you create Instagram highlights?

Instagram Highlight Story has two main attributes are Highlights Cover which allows you to add a custom image or icon to represent the topic, and the other attribute is Highlights Name which you can name for the Highlights as you do with naming folders. Instagram is a great tool for both individuals and businesses. Typically, Instagram story highlights let you showcase all the aspects of your personality.

• For individuals: you can save your moments and bring back the best stories in the past, from your summer trips to your commencement day photos.
• For businesses: Instagram highlights are the perfect place to display curated content about your brand, products, or services. You can have the best Instagram stories that you re-share with your followers and build a perfect user-generated content highlight as social proof of your brand’s quality.

How many stories can you add to a highlight?

There is no limit to how many Highlights you can create, but you can post up to 100 videos or images in each Highlight. When you exceed the limit, Instagram will pop up with a notification asking you to delete the oldest story to make room for the new one.

How To Make A Highlight On Instagram?

The process of making a highlight on Instagram includes several simple, easy-to-follow steps.

Create a new Instagram story highlight

To create a new highlight:

1. Open the Instagram app on your phone and go to your profile.
2. Tap the + icon at the top right of the screen, next to the hamburger menu icon.
3. Select Story highlight.
4. Tap to choose a story or multiple stories to add to the new highlight, then tap Next.
5. Enter a name for the Highlight, then tap Done.

If you have created highlights before, you will see a shortcut next to your highlights. It looks like a black circle with a plus sign inside. You can tap it to quickly create a new highlight.

Add stories to an existing highlight

After already creating a highlight, you can add more stories to it by following these instructions:

1. Tap the existing highlight you want to add, then tap More.
2. Select Edit highlight.
3. Select the Stories tab.
4. Select stories you want to add to the highlight.
5. Tap Done at the top right. 

These instructions can be applied to add new or achieved stories to Instagram highlights. However, if you want to upload some photos and videos in your highlights only, not in the Stories section, the process will be a bit more complicated.

How To Add Highlights On Instagram Without Adding To Stories: Step-By-Step Instructions 

Can you add to Instagram highlights without adding to stories? Yes, there is a way to do it.

Here are the steps:

Step 1: Make your profile private

First, tap the hamburger icon in the top right corner of your Instagram profile page to open Settings and Activity.

Then tap Account Privacy.

Toggle on the Private account switch, then select Switch to Private.

Step 2: Hide stories from everyone

Now go back to Instagram Settings and tap Hide Story and Live > Hide Story and Live from.

Manually select everyone in the list, then tap Done. 

Step 3: Upload stories

Upload photos and videos to stories as usual. As you’ve hidden stories, no one can see them now. You can rest assured that your followers’ stories feed won’t be spammed with your updates.

Step 4: Add to highlights

Now you can create and add stories to your highlights. Do as you usually do to create a new highlight or add stories to an existing one.

Step 5: Unhide stories

Wait 24 hours until all your stories disappear from the feed. Then go to Settings and Activity > Hide Story and Live > Hide Story and Live from > Deselect all followers > Done.

Above is a detailed guide on how to add to Instagram highlights without adding to the story. It’s important to note that you can only apply this guide to personal accounts. Professional accounts are public by default, so you can not make them private. 

How To Edit Existing Highlights?

You can easily edit Instagram highlights after creating them. Here’s how:

1. On your profile page, tap the highlight you want to edit.
2. Tap More > Edit highlight.
3. Make changes to your needs. You can:
   • Upload a new cover from your camera roll.
   • Change the title of your highlight.
   • Delete a story from a highlight in the Selected tab.
   • Add more stories in the Stories tab.
4. Then tap Done to save the changes.

How To Delete A Highlight On Instagram?

To get rid of an entire highlight on Instagram, follow these steps:

• On your Instagram profile page, locate the highlight you want to delete.
• Tap and hold for 1-2 seconds.
• In the pop-up menu, tap Delete Highlight.
• Select Delete to confirm your action.

Now the highlight is deleted from your Instagram profile. 

In case you just want to remove a specific story in a highlight, tap on the highlight and browse to that photo or video, tap More > Remove from Highlight. Tap Remove on the pop-up to discard the story from your highlight.

Pro Tips For Compelling Instagram Highlights

Now that you’ve learned how to add highlights on Instagram without adding to stories and other related things to master this feature, let’s explore some tips to take your Instagram highlights to the next level.

Organize your highlights

Create different highlights for different categories or themes. This makes your content more well-organized and easier to browse. 

Get creative with highlight titles

There are multiple ways to make your highlights more interesting, starting with titles. Typically, highlight titles should be short and united. You can also use emoticons to make them more lively or combine short titles to make a meaningful phrase, like what Samsung Vietnam did with its Instagram highlights.

Custom your highlight covers

Choose proper covers for your content. You can customize them to your brand guidelines. Try to keep them simple because they are quite small in your profile.

Cool Instagram Highlight Ideas To Boost Engagement

Stuck on ideas to create Instagram highlights? Here are some suggestions to create a buzz for your engagement.

• Products/Services
• Tips
• Events
• Team (about us)
• FAQs
• Sales
• New items
• Interactive polls
• On-going series
• Free resources
• Customer testimonials
• BTS content
• Brand values

Previous post: Top 13 Shoutout Instagram Accounts That Promote Other Pages

Frequently Asked Questions about Instagram Highlights

Q: What Are Instagram Highlights?

A: Instagram Highlights has basically become the de facto way for users to display their best past content on their profiles, Stories. This means that even if your content was created weeks or months back, it can be shared as if it were freshly produced, offering you an opportunity to keep the audience engaged. 

Q: How Do I Create Instagram Highlights?

A: The procedure for making a Highlight is:

• Profile view shows.
• The “+” symbol for new highlights appears under your bio, and tap it.
• Select Stories from your archive.
• Tap Next, name your Highlight, and pick a cover.
• Press Done — your Highlight is up!

Q: How Do I Add More Stories to an Existing Highlight?

A:  You’ll need to open the Highlight you want to change.

• At the bottom-right corner, tap the three dots (…).
• Pick Edit Highlight → Add.
• Go back through your archive to select the Story or Stories you want.
• Finally, tap Done to refresh your Highlight.

Q: Can I Add Highlights Without Posting to My Story?

A: Yes, Instagram allows only Stories that are already there to be added to Highlights.

In other words, you can do it quietly without showing it publicly. Here is the detailed method to do it:

• Visit your profile → settings → privacy → story.
• Select everybody (or everyone but you) to hide your story from.
• Post your Story — nobody is going to see it.
• Wait for the upload to finish.

Now you can add that Story to a Highlight. If you do not want it to be seen later, delete the Story from your archive after adding. So, you now have a Highlight that was never visible to the public. 

Q: Can I Change the Highlight Cover Without Adding a Story?

A: Simply press and hold the Highlight → Edit Highlight tap. Now, tap the Edit Cover option. From your camera roll, pick a picture — it can be from your Stories or not. Frame the photo and click Done.

Conclusion

This article has provided a clear and detailed guide on how to add highlights on Instagram without adding to stories. With some work and waiting, you can customize Instagram highlights as you wish without flooding your followers’ stories feed. Experiment with the given tips and ideas to elevate your highlights and create buzz for your brand. Follow GDT Agency now. With Agency-Grade Ads for Every Ambitious Brand, GDT Agency offers the professional infrastructure big agencies use without the overhead. Renting agency accounts puts enterprise-level tools and reliability into the hands of startups and established companies alike.

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