A LinkedIn carousel post today is a document post: you upload a PDF and LinkedIn shows its pages as slides people click through in the feed. There is no separate carousel format any more; LinkedIn removed it in December 2023. For the document, LinkedIn Help sets these limits: PDF, PPT, PPTX, DOC or DOCX, no more than 100 MB and 300 pages, every page the same size (as of November 2026). LinkedIn prescribes no pixel size; the common choices are 1080 × 1350 px portrait (4:5) and the 1080 × 1080 px square. The structure: a cover slide that gives people a reason to keep going, one point per slide, a closing slide with a single action. AI helps with the outline, the slide copy and, with Claude, the finished PDF.
For regular posts, read AI for LinkedIn Posts: A Step-by-Step Guide; the Instagram version of this topic is Instagram Carousel: Size, Slides, Structure. Everything I've written about the platform is collected on LinkedIn with AI: Posts, Profile, Reach.
What a LinkedIn carousel post is today
LinkedIn once had its own carousel format and switched it off on December 14, 2023, together with profile videos, according to a LinkedIn notice quoted by Social Media Today in November 2023. Canva says so on its own template page: carousel posts can no longer be published, but the templates still work for post series. What's left is the document post, which behaves the way people expect a carousel to: one page at a time.
Two other formats look similar and are not the same thing:
- Multi-photo posts. Up to 20 images in one post. According to LinkedIn Help, the layout depends on the height and orientation of the first image, which gets the most visual weight. That's a photo layout, not a click-through.
- Carousel Ads. A paid ad in Campaign Manager with 2 to 10 cards, recommended at 1080 × 1080 px, max 10 MB per image (as of November 2026). These specs apply to ads only.
LinkedIn carousel size and file limits
What LinkedIn Help sets for documents (as of November 2026):
There's no pixel size in there. The only number comes from the help page on photos: 3:1 to 4:5, with 1080 px width recommended. Whether documents display taller than 4:5, the help pages don't say. That makes 1080 × 1350 px (4:5) the safe choice for LinkedIn carousel size; the 1080 × 1080 px square works too. Plenty of guides name both sizes, LinkedIn itself names neither.
So: identical page sizes, PDF export, nothing that moves.
Structure: cover, one point per slide, close
LinkedIn allows 300 pages and recommends no number. A rule of thumb, not a measurement: as many slides as you have points, plus a cover and a close. Five points, seven slides.
Cover slide. It stands alone in the feed and has to give people a reason to click: a specific claim, a common mistake, a question the reader already has. A topic as a headline isn't a reason. The document title LinkedIn asks for at upload can stay plain.
Content slides. One point per slide: a short headline and one or two sentences. Numbered steps and a page number show how far there is to go.
Closing slide. One-sentence summary, then exactly one action: save it, answer a question in the comments, visit your profile. Because viewers can download the PDF, a checklist that works on its own is worth putting here.
One of the LinkedIn carousel examples you could build, made up for illustration: an IT service provider covers "What should a backup quote include?". Cover: "Five questions to ask before you sign a backup quote." Slide 2: why an untested backup is worth little. Slides 3 to 7: one question each. Slide 8: summary and a request to save it for the next vendor meeting. The post text explains why the document exists instead of repeating it.
How to make a LinkedIn carousel, step by step
- Pick the one takeaway. A sentence the reader could repeat after the last slide.
- Write the slide copy as plain text first. All slides in one list before you design anything. That's where you notice slide 5 repeats slide 4.
- Design. One size, one font, two colours, headline and page number always in the same spot, text away from the edges.
- Export to PDF and check it. Page count, same page size, readable on a phone.
- Upload. On desktop, per LinkedIn Help: Start a post, More, Add a document, Choose file, add a title, Done, write the description, Post. In the app: Post, More, Document.
Check every slide before posting. You can't swap the document afterwards, only delete the post.
Tools and LinkedIn carousel templates
Canva. Canva has its own LinkedIn carousel templates plus a blank one; some are marked Pro (as of November 2026). Export via Share, Download, PDF. The Flatten PDF toggle under Advanced Settings merges the layers into one, which matches LinkedIn's rule for layered PDFs, and may increase the file size. What Canva's free plan covers is in Instagram Content Tools: What You Need.
A presentation app. PowerPoint, Keynote or Google Slides work the same way: set a custom portrait page size, build the slides, export to PDF. How AI helps with the deck itself is in How to Create a Presentation with AI. For illustrations, see Creating AI Images: Free and Free to Use.
Carousel generators turn a keyword into ten slides fast, but without your audience and experience the copy fits any profile. LinkedIn's own guidance calls generic, low-value content without substance "AI slop" and says it doesn't want it.
The Claude workflow: from copy to PDF
Option 1: Claude Slides. Anthropic says you can ask for a slide deck on every plan and download it, among other formats, as a PDF (as of November 2026). The recommended order: ask for an outline, correct it, then ask for the deck. If a fact is missing from your material, Claude is designed to ask for it or leave a visible placeholder. Anthropic's tutorial says nothing about page size, so state the size in your request and check in the PDF that every page is portrait and the same size.
Option 2: An HTML template. Claude writes the slides as a web page with a fixed size per page, and the browser saves it as a PDF. It pays off for recurring carousels, since only the copy changes. How Claude creates files like this in the chat is covered in Claude Artifacts: Create and Share.
Option 2 was reproduced for this post: an HTML file with five 1080 × 1350 px pages, exported with Chromium, gave a PDF with five identical 4:5 pages, just under 30 KB (not uploaded to LinkedIn). Without the background graphics option, the cover's dark background was missing, so turn that option on in the print dialog.
A brief to copy:
Goal: A LinkedIn carousel as an HTML file that I'll save as a PDF
from my browser.
Format:
- 7 pages, each exactly 1080 × 1350 px, using CSS
@page { size: 1080px 1350px; margin: 0 }, page break after each.
- Font: <your font>, colours: <two colours>, page number bottom
right, text at least 80 px from the edges. No animations.
Content (my slide copy, don't change it):
Page 1: <claim or question>
Pages 2 to 6: <one headline and one or two sentences each>
Page 7: <one-sentence summary, one action>
Limits: No numbers, names or examples that aren't in my copy.
If something is missing, write [ADD].
Write the slide copy first, or have it drafted from your raw notes as in AI for LinkedIn Posts: A Step-by-Step Guide.
Who drafts carousels and LinkedIn posts for me
An AI employee does: Conny. She knows my audience, my content pillars and my rulebooks for hooks and storytelling, turns them into reel scripts and carousels for Instagram, and checks every draft against the rules before I see it. She also drafts my LinkedIn posts: short posts on AI news, each with an image that shows me as a recurring pixel-art figure. She invents no personal facts about me: no anecdotes, no numbers, no client details. And posting is my gate: she drafts, I approve.
For another business, Conny doesn't take over my content pillars. You set tone, audience, platform and approval process, and expert carousels are among the things she can do.
Frequently asked questions
Does LinkedIn still have carousel posts?
Not as a separate format. LinkedIn removed them on December 14, 2023. What people call a carousel today is a document post with a PDF you click through.
What is the best LinkedIn carousel size?
LinkedIn gives no pixel size for documents, only the rule that all pages must be the same size. The common sizes are 1080 × 1350 px (4:5) and 1080 × 1080 px.
How many slides can a LinkedIn carousel have?
Up to 300 pages and 100 MB (as of November 2026, LinkedIn Help).
Can AI make the whole carousel?
The draft, yes: outline, slide copy, design, PDF. The takeaway, your experience and checking every number stay with you. LinkedIn says it plainly: you are ultimately responsible for everything you post.
What to do next
Take the question clients ask you most and write the answer as seven slides of plain text: cover, five points, a close with one action. Only then design it, in Canva or with the brief above in Claude, and check the PDF on your phone. The matching writing briefs are in my Prompt Templates. Short on topics? Try LinkedIn Post Ideas: 25 Formats and AI News. What LinkedIn says about distribution is in How the LinkedIn Algorithm Works in 2026. People who click through to your profile should find what they're looking for: LinkedIn Profile Optimization. How carousels fit into a consistent presence is in How to Build a Personal Brand on LinkedIn. If you want AI drafting for you regularly, read AI as Your LinkedIn Ghostwriter.
If you'd rather not build Conny yourself, she is a ready-made template in my community, the AI Employee Framework.
