How do I send a PDF, buttons or product cards in the DM?

Before you start

• You need Legend Pro or a higher plan. On other plans these options show a crown.
• Turn on the Welcome Message too. Cards and files work best after the person has tapped a button, because the tap opens a normal chat.

Steps

1. Open the post’s editor: Quick Automation → Instagram → Posts → click the post → Send Link or PDF card. (For a new post, use New Automation → Comment to DM → Send Link & PDF.)
2. Under Send a DM!, keep Single Message (“Send one DM immediately after the trigger.”).
3. Choose the message type:
   • Button: a card with a picture, a title, a short text and buttons.
     • Click Upload Cover image to add a picture (PNG only).
     • Click the title and text to edit them.
     • For each button, fill Button Text and Button URL. Track link clicks is on for buttons by default.
     • Click Add more button for up to 3 buttons. Remove Button deletes one.
   • Products: swipeable cards, for example one per product or size. Click Add product for each card. “You can add upto 10 products with 3 links each, you can send 30 links.”
   • PDF: click Upload PDF and choose your file.
4. Set your trigger words and public replies as usual.
5. Click Publish.

On the phone app

In the post editor (Send Link or Images → Edit Automation), open Send a DM! and choose Single Message. Four icon tabs give you text, button card, carousel and PDF:

• Button card: image, title, description, up to 3 buttons. “Paste link to auto-fill” fills the card from a link.
• Carousel: tap Add Carousel Card for up to 10 cards.
• PDF: tap Tap to upload PDF.

Tap Publish. These are paid options in the app (Legend Pro is called Starter there).

What your followers see

• Button: a card with your picture and text, and up to 3 buttons. Each button opens its link.
• Products: a row of cards they can swipe sideways. Each card has its own picture, text and up to 3 buttons.
• PDF: a file in the chat that they can open and save.
• With a Welcome Message on, they first get the welcome card, tap it, then get your card or file.

Good to know

• Each card or file is one DM, so it uses 1 credit on plans with credits.
• To send a picture on its own, or a voice note, use DM Sequence. See How do I send several DMs in a row?
• To count who opens your buttons, keep Track link clicks on. See How do I see how many people clicked my link?

What you can’t do

• Add more than 3 buttons to one card.
• Add more than 10 product cards.
• Take payment inside the DM. Buttons open your website or shop page, where people pay.
• Use a JPG or WebP as the button cover image in this editor.

How to turn it off

Switch back to Text/Link, or switch off the whole automation. See turn off, edit or delete an automation.

If it doesn’t work

• “PDF Missing” (phone app) or nothing uploaded: upload the file again before you publish.
• The options are greyed out with a crown: your plan doesn’t include them.
• “Button Limit reached. Upgrade your plan”: your plan allows fewer buttons, or you already have 3.
• People got a link instead of the file: Instagram refused the file, so InstantDM sent its link as text.
• Nothing arrived at all: Why didn’t my automation send a DM?