How it appears in the feed
How to do it
- Paste your draft Keep your line breaks. LinkedIn preserves them, and they change where the fold lands.
- Check the desktop fold The preview marks where the text is cut, around 210 characters on desktop.
- Switch to mobile Mobile shows roughly 140 characters or 3 lines, whichever comes first.
- Rewrite the opening until it stands alone The lines above see more are your headline. Make sure they make sense without the rest.
Where LinkedIn cuts your post
A LinkedIn post can be up to 3,000 characters, but the feed shows only the opening. The rest sits behind a see more link that most readers never tap.
| Surface | What shows before see more |
|---|---|
| Desktop feed | About 210 characters, or fewer if you use line breaks |
| Mobile app | About 140 characters or 3 lines, whichever comes first |
| Post with an image or document | Text is folded the same way; the media shows below it |
LinkedIn does not publish exact numbers, and the cut depends on screen width and line breaks. Treat 140 characters as the safe budget for the hook.
Line breaks move the fold
Each line break takes a visual line. A post that opens with three one-line sentences may fold after about 100 characters on mobile, because the third line break uses up the space. That is fine if those lines carry the point. It is a problem if line three is a throat-clearing sentence.
What a good opening does
- States the outcome or the claim in the first sentence.
- Avoids a greeting or a restated title.
- Leaves a reason to tap see more, such as a number or a promise the body pays off.
Images and link previews
LinkedIn link previews render best at 1200 x 627 pixels. Single images work at 1200 x 1200 (square) or a 4:5 vertical. Always add alt text. The social media image sizes guide has the full list.
Previewing agent drafts
If an AI agent writes your LinkedIn posts, the preview matters more, because a model tends to open with context instead of the point. In SocialHandoff, every LinkedIn draft lands in the approval inbox where you can edit the opening before it publishes. LinkedIn publishing takes one post per publish with one image and alt text; a thread an agent drafts is joined into one post. See the LinkedIn scheduling guide, the B2B LinkedIn use case, or count the full post with the LinkedIn character counter.