How to build a carousel

1. Send frames from The Archive. Select the frames, then Send to Carousel. They arrive one per slide, in the order you selected them.

2. Set the shape of the document. The ratio menu on the document toolbar sets the slide size for the whole project. Portrait Post at 1080 by 1440 is the sensible default for a feed carousel. The filmstrip menu adds, duplicates, moves and deletes slides, up to twenty.

3. Choose a view. Continuous for a composition that runs across the seams. Single slide when each slide stands alone.

4. Set how each photo fills its slide. Select a photo, open Position, and use the Size group. Fit Slide shows the whole frame. Fill Slide crops to cover. Width 2x spans two slides. Then reach for Crop if the framing needs work.

5. Add brand assets and text if you want them. The seal icon opens your assets. Add Text drops a text element, and its Text tab sets the font, size, tracking, alignment and colour. The font list is a fixed four in this build: Altesse, Stevie Sans, Stevie Bold and System. The colour swatches are your brand colours. Layers restacks anything that landed in the wrong order.

6. Save. Press Save. Do this before you go anywhere else, because nothing is saved until you do.

7. Export or schedule. Cmd E exports the slides as PNGs. The Export menu also offers PDF. Or press Schedule to put the carousel on your Instagram calendar.

Starting one on your phone

If you have the iPhone app you can pick frames and rough out a carousel there. Those drafts show up in the Saved Carousels panel under [ FROM YOUR PHONE ], and clicking one opens it as a full editable project.

It goes one way, phone to Mac. Anything you do on the Mac stays on the Mac.