Posting
Basics
How do I post something to Tumblr?
Ready to post something to your blog? Grand. Nothing is quite so invigorating as a fresh post.
On the web: You've got two buttons to choose from. Both are very easy to find.
- At the top of your dashboard, you can click the icon of the type of post you want to make.
- Or, from anywhere on your dashboard, you can click the blue compose button that's always hanging out in the upper right-hand corner.
On mobile: Just tap the blue compose button at the bottom of your screen.
I have a few blogs. How do I choose which one I’m posting from?
On the web: In any post form, click the arrow next to your blog name. Choose the blog you want to post from.
On mobile: In any post form, tap your blog name. Choose the blog you want to post from.
How do I post a photo?
You’ve got several options, my little friend.
On the web: First, open a new photo post form. From there, you can either:
- Click the camera icon to upload images from your computer.
- Drag files directly from your desktop into the post form.
- Or click the globe icon to post a photo from a specific URL.
Tip: To add click-through links, hover over the photo and click the link icon that appears in the top right corner.
Another tip: Take a selfie using your webcam by clicking on the li’l smiley face.
On mobile: Open a new photo post form. Take a photo, or upload one from your camera roll. Done. These aren’t even really instructions. These are just statements. That’s how easy this is.
How do I post a photoset?
It’s embarrassingly easy!
On the web: Just pop open a new photo post and do one of the following:
- Drag more than one file into the post form.
- Select more than one file when you’re uploading a photo.
You can choose up to 10 images. Then just drag them around to create the layout you want. If you’ve already added photos, you can add more by clicking the camera icon below them that says “Add another.”
Tip: If you hold down the alt/option key, the camera icon turns into a globe and you can add more photos from the web via URL instead of uploading from your computer.
Another tip: You can caption individual photos in a photoset, if you want. Just hover over the photo in question and click on the ellipsis in the corner. Alas, people will only see these captions if they happen to click on the photo in the dashboard. So...don’t put anything actually important in there. Unless you want to hide it like buried treasure, that is. Buried treasure is pretty important.
On mobile: Just pop open a new photo post and tap up to 10 images. Then drag them around to create the layout you want.
How do I post a live photo?
If you have an iPhone 6s or 6s Plus, you can post Live Photos to your Tumblr. Create a photo post with a Live Photo just like you’d create a still photo post, and tiny concentric circles in the corner of the Live Photo will show others that it’s interactive.
Other folks with an Apple device running iOS 9.1 or above can tap and hold the photo to see a three-second clip with sound. If someone is viewing your post on a browser, an older iOS version, or different device, it will appear as a still photo without sound.
Note that if you’re not connected to wifi, you’ll need to tap on a Live Photo to download it, then you can tap and hold to view. This helps avoid too much data usage.
What should I do if I’m having trouble uploading an image?
Try the following:
- For static images, make sure the file is no larger than 10MB and is either a JPEG or a PNG.
- If you’re posting an animated GIF, make sure it is no larger than 2MB and no more than 540 pixels wide.
- Try saving a brand new version of the file using the photo/image application of your choice. This can sometimes help remove any encoding snags that may have been in the original file.
- We don’t support CMYK files or other non-RGB image files, so save the image in RGB and try uploading again.
How do I make a GIF?
First, it’s helpful to know that the GIF maker is mobile only.
- Open up a new GIF post form.
- Select a video or a burst.
- Choose a 3-second clip that will become a GIF. Here you can pinch the screen to crop the GIF, drag the blue box underneath the GIF to shorten its duration, adjust the slider at the bottom of the screen to decide how fast you would like it to play, and tap the circular arrow to toggle between loop and rebound.
- Tap "Next" to edit your GIF. To add text, tap "Aa", then tap the checkmark when you're done typing. Change the color of text added to a GIF by tapping what you wrote and slide along the color selector. Pinch the screen to change the size of the text or rotate it. Select one of the filter options for your GIF by tapping the magic wand icon.
- Tap “Next” again and your GIF is pre-selected and ready to pop into your post when you hit “Next.”
Some helpful tips for your GIF-ing:
- The shorter your GIF is in duration, the smoother it will appear.
- Speed up a slow-mo GIF to 3x or 4x to make a nice-looking normal-speed GIF.
- Tap the rebound button once to make your GIF go back and forth, twice to make it run in reverse.
- You can select multiple GIFs from the photo post form to make a photoset.
How do I post audio?
Easiest way is to just start typing an artist or song name. If it’s on Spotify or Soundcloud, we’ll find it and post it for you. You can also click on the little headphones icon on the right and post your own MP3s—one per day, 10MB max—and update the artist, title, and album info once the file has been processed. M4A, M4P, and WMA files don’t get along with our uploader, and we don’t accept URLs that point to a web page or Flash embed.
Note: For arcane reasons, you can only make audio posts from the web. You can, however, call 1-866-584-6757 to make an audio post using your cellular phone.
How do I post videos?
On the web: If it’s on Vimeo, YouTube, or some similar site you can just open a new video post, click the globe icon, and paste its embed code or video link into the post form. You can also click the camera icon to upload your own MOV or MP4 files—up to 100MB per day.
On mobile: Open a new video post. Then pick a video from your camera roll, or record a new one.
How do I post a live video?
You can post live videos through YouNow (iOS, Android), Kanvas (iOS, Android), Upclose (iOS, Android) and YouTube. Create an account, and be sure to give them access to your camera and microphone—that part’s important for streaming things.
Each live video app is a little different, but when you go into their settings you’ll look for sharing options. Turn on Tumblr sharing (log into Tumblr if prompted) and tap “Allow.” If you have more than one blog, you can use the app’s settings to pick which one you’re posting to. For more on live video, check out our Support post about it.
How do I format text in a post?
Just select the text. All of your formatting options will pop up in some little bubble buttons. You can make it:
- Bold
- Italicized
- A heading
- A link
- Strike-throughed (not a word, please forgive)
- A numbered list
- A bulleted list
- A blockquote
How do I insert an inline photo or video into a post?
In your blank post form:
- Upload images by clicking on the camera icon.
- Paste in a video embed code by clicking on the little video camera.
- Search for a GIF by clicking on the little GIF icon, then typing something into the box that appears.
- To add an image from a URL, just paste the URL into the post box.
- If you get persnickety about image widths, keep in mind that images 300px and larger will automatically scale to fit the Dashboard (540px).
You can put up to five total inline photos or videos into your post.
I’m the kind of fun-loving person who likes writing posts in HTML. Can I do that?
We admire both your persnicketiness and your mistrust of rich text editors. If you prefer raw-ass code, just click the settings gear in the top right-hand corner of the post. You can switch to HTML editing in the menu that shows up.
I just wrote a super-long wall of text. Any advice for how I can make it more digestible?
Sure! There are a couple tools in your toolbelt specifically for this situation.
When your cursor is on a new blank line in the post, you can click on the tools that appear on the right-hand side of the post box:
- Add horizontal lines, to break your long-ass post into tidy little sections.
- Add a read-more link. When people see the post in their dashboard, they won’t see anything past where you put the link. Instead, they’ll see some blue text that says “Keep reading.” They can click that text to read the rest of your post.
How do I add tags to a post?
There’s a section at the bottom of the post that says “#tags.” Type your tags there, hitting enter (or comma) after each one.
Remember: Tags on Tumblr can have spaces in them. They are the most legible tags on the internet. Hooray! To further strengthen your tagging prowess, read more about tags here.
What else is lurking in that post settings gear?
An assortment of odds and ends. Most people won’t need to use them, but they’re always there for you, just in case.
- You can set the content source of your post.
- You can give your post a custom URL.
- The publication date of your post, which, yeah, you can sneakily change.
- The option to let people photo-reply to your post.
I don’t want to post this post right now. Can I save it for later?
Certainly. You’ve got a few options for how to fit posting into your busy lifestyle. On the web, just click the arrow on the right side of the “Post” button. On mobile, tap the gear wheel icon. From here, you can decide to:
- Post now. That’s the default setting. The post is published as soon as you hit “Post.”
- Add it to your queue.
- Save it as a draft.
- Post it privately.
- Schedule it to post at a specific time and date.
Learn more about all this over in Advanced Post Options.
How do I share this post with my friends on Facebook and my followers on Twitter?
Traitor! No, ha ha, just kidding. You can use the Facebook and Twitter buttons at the bottom of the post form to share it each one, accordingly. It doesn’t get shared until you actually post it, by the way.
Learn more about connecting your Facebook or Twitter account to Tumblr.
How do I get one of those clever “Buy” buttons to show up on my post?
If you’re browsing on one of our partner sites like Etsy or Kickstarter and you see something you simply MUST pressure all of your friends into buying / supporting immediately, click the share button on that site and share it as a post on Tumblr.
You can also share the item via the Tumblr bookmarklet to make that button appear—or if you’re comfortable with a certain level of geekery, you can manually add the listing’s URL as the content source of the post (that option is hidden in the gear icon at the top-right corner of the post form).
Other ways you can make the button appear:
- Make a link post that points to the URL in question.
- Add the URL to a photo’s clickthrough link in a photo post.
- Share the page using the Tumblr bookmarklet.
- Add the URL as the content source in any post type. (This one is a little geeky—the content source field is hidden in the gear icon at the top-right corner of the post form.)
How do I remove existing posts from my blog?
- Choose the blog from the Account menu at the top of the Dashboard.
- Click the gear icon at the bottom of the post you want to remove, then choose "Delete." If you want to remove a large number of posts, we recommend using the Mass Post Editor, which you can access on the right side of the page or via tumblr.com/mega-editor/blogname.
Just a quick note: when you delete a post from your blog, it will not delete the reblogs of that post.
Reblogging
What's a reblog, precious?
A reblog is when you see a post you enjoy on Tumblr, and by clicking the reblog button, you make the post appear on your blog too. Now all of your followers can enjoy the post, thanks to your signal boost.
You should feel free to add commentary, or pics, or a gif when you reblog something. Or not! Whatever floats your perfectly specific boat.
How do I reblog?
Well, first, make sure you’re logged into Tumblr. Once you are, just look in the lower right corner of that post on the dashboard (or the upper right hand corner of a blog post’s permalink page) and you’ll see the reblog button. Hit it. From there, you can add your own caption if you want, and publish it on your blog.
How do I reblog starting from a certain post in the reblog thread?
Click the username of whoever made the reblog you want to reblog from. It'll open up, and you can click or tap its reblog icon to reblog that post.
Can I edit earlier reblogs, or the original post, in my reblog?
You can choose whether or not you want to include that stuff in your own reblog, but you can't really go in and edit other people's text, you little scamp.
Can I remove captions on a post that I’m reblogging?
Sure. While you’re reblogging, just look for the X next to the existing commentary . Punch it, and all those words will disappear.
Keep in mind that this is an all-or-nothing thing: you can’t delete a single reblog caption within the thread.
How can I be sure my posts are credited properly, once others start reblogging them?
Use the content source field! In fact, we’ll automatically use it for you. No matter how many times an original post of yours gets reblogged, you’ll always be credited as the source. Rebloggers might add a gif, or some commentary, or take out the caption entirely, but your username will always, always be stuck to the bottom of the post. Click on that source link any time you want to see what was originally posted.
Bookmarklet
What’s the bookmarklet?
It’s a neat little thing that lets you quickly post stuff to Tumblr while browsing other sites. Grab it here. You can make the same types of posts as with the regular post form, except that you can’t post audio and you have to use commas to separate each tag (under the Advanced tab).