Instagram has historically made it difficult to create clean-looking captions with line breaks and paragraphs. But thankfully, there are tools and tricks to get around this, and Instagram has improved their own capabilities over the years (finally!)

So how are people creating line breaks and separate paragraphs in their posts for that nice, polished look? And how are they using line breaks to push their hashtags further down so you don’t have to see them right after the caption?

As a social media manager, I’ve tested a lot of methods. Below are the ones I think work best!

Please note: This was post was originally shared in 2019, with updates added annually since.

How to add line breaks to Instagram posts

2022 Update

Prior to now, when you would press the enter button to create a line break in a caption while drafting a post, the line break would disappears when the post was actually published. Finally, after years of this strange inconvenience, Instagram has rolled out the ability to keep these line breaks so that when you type them while drafting directly in the app, they remain when the post goes live.

This change was rolled out to different accounts over time, so you may not have seen it right away. If you don’t yet have this feature, try updating the app. You should be all set now – hallelujah!

Still having trouble accessing this feature? Here’s the workaround I used before Instagram made my social media manager life easier:

Websites like IG Linebreak Caption Generator allow you to paste your caption with regular line breaks (typed with the enter/return key) and then convert that text into hidden characters that will maintain the line breaks when you share on Instagram. Save their website as a shortcut on your phone so you can easily add line breaks to captions on the go!

How to Separate Hashtags from Captions in Instagram

Okay, now that you know how to create paragraphs and separate lines in captions, here are a few ways you can separate your hashtags so they don’t clutter your Instagram captions.

Keep a template in the Notes App

In the Notes app (or whichever caption-drafting app you’d like to use), create several consecutive line breaks, followed by your hashtags. When it’s time to post on Instagram, draft your caption (either in the Notes app, above these line breaks, or in Instagram itself). Then paste the line breaks and hashtags you just typed out into Instagram after your caption.

Psst – unsure which hashtags will help you reach the right audience for your winery? See my blog post on What hashtags to use on Instagram and Tiktok!

Copy Linebreaks from a Previous Post Into Your New Caption

Once you’ve done the above method on any of your prior posts, it can be easier (and faster) to go back to a previous post with line breaks, click ‘edit,’ and then copy the line breaks and hashtags and paste them into your new post’s caption. Then you can edit the hashtags as needed for your new post, and publish! This is my preferred method when I’m in a hurry.

Put All Your Captions in a Comment On Your Post

Many people simply publish their Instagram posts with just the caption and no hashtags, and then comment immediately on their post with their hashtags. The argument for this is that not only are you creating a clean separation of hashtags from your caption, but you’re also creating an instant comment on your post, which theoretically the Instagram algorithm will view as ‘engagement’ on your post (even though it’s just you), therefore displaying your post higher in your followers’ feeds because your post got good initial ‘interaction.’

The Instagram algorithm is smart, so my bet is, they’ve found a way to filter out engagement that comes from yourself when determining where your posts show up in your followers’ feeds. (Furthermore, since I schedule many of my clients’ social media posts, I like using the line break method because it still looks clean, but I can include the hashtags in the scheduled post and not have to manually comment them later).

Which methods do you prefer? Have questions on how to make this work for your business? Get in touch!

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Meaghan Webster is an experienced photographer and marketing manager in the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California. She helps clients with everything from social media, to email marketing, websites, and content creation. Learn more about her work at meaghanwebster.com or see her latest updates at instagram.com/meaghanwmarketing.