Can I capture Facebook Reels?

Yes. PostSnag captures Facebook Reels as one of its supported post types, right alongside photos, videos, albums, links, and text posts. A Reel is captured the same way as any other post: as you scroll past it on a profile's main timeline, PostSnag reads its real playable video file, a cover image, its duration, its caption, and its engagement numbers straight from your own Facebook session. There's no separate mode, no extra click, and no setting to turn on. If a Reel loads onto the page while you scroll a profile's normal feed, PostSnag captures it, video and all.

How PostSnag recognizes a Reel

PostSnag classifies every post it captures into one of six types: reel, video, photo, album, link, or text. It decides which type a post is from the structural signals on the page itself, not by guessing from a URL, and it checks in a set order: first whether the post is part of an album, then whether it's a Reel, then whether it's a native video, then a single photo, then an external link, and finally plain text. That order matters because a post can look like more than one type at once; checking for albums and Reels first is what keeps a Reel from getting misfiled as a plain video or a video-in-an-album from getting misfiled as a Reel.

What PostSnag saves from a Reel

• The video file. PostSnag saves the actual, playable video behind the Reel, the file itself, not a static preview image standing in for it.

• Cover image. A still cover image alongside the video, the same frame Facebook shows before a Reel starts playing.

• Duration. How long the Reel runs.

• Caption. The text the creator posted with the Reel.

• Engagement. Reaction total, comment count, share count, and a view count for the Reel's plays, the same fields PostSnag captures for any video post.

• Date and time. The exact time the Reel was posted, read from Facebook's own post data where it's available.

• The creator's name and profile link, and the original post URL, same as any other post.

Where Reels come from: the profile's main timeline, not its own Reels tab

PostSnag captures Reels by reading a profile's main timeline as you scroll it, the same feed where photos, videos, and every other post type show up. A Reel that appears on that main timeline gets captured exactly like any other post.

Many profiles also have their own separate Reels tab, at a URL like facebook.com/username/reels. PostSnag does not capture from that tab. It's a sub-tab of the profile, not the main timeline, so opening it and scrolling there doesn't add anything to your capture: the panel shows a message telling you to switch back to the main feed to keep scanning. If you want a profile's Reels, scroll their normal timeline; PostSnag picks up every Reel that loads there along with everything else.

Reels in your dashboard and exports

A profile's page in your dashboard has its own Reels tab, sitting alongside Posts and Analytics, so you can browse a creator's captured Reels on their own instead of hunting for them inside a mixed feed. This tab is for viewing, multi-selecting, and exporting the Reels you've already captured; it isn't a way to capture more of them, since capture only ever happens on Facebook itself. The global Posts page carries the same split: a dedicated Reels view alongside its main post list. PostSnag still records a Reel as its own post type the moment it captures it.

The Export menu has three options: Download data for AI (a Markdown file and a CSV file together), Download media for AI (a .zip of the images and videos), and Download Data & Media for AI (a .zip with both). Exporting works the same way for a Reel as it does for any other post type, with one real upgrade: choose Download media for AI or Download Data & Media for AI and you get the Reel's actual video file, not a link to a thumbnail. Choose Download data for AI and you get the Reel's caption and engagement as data, with a link back to the original post rather than the file itself. See What is included in a PostSnag export? for the full comparison.

What doesn't work

PostSnag captures Reels tied to a specific profile's main timeline, whether that profile is a personal account, a Page, or a creator profile. It does not capture from a profile's own Reels tab, and it does not capture from Facebook's general, top-level Reels feed or the Watch tab either, since none of those are the profile's main timeline PostSnag recognizes for capture. If you want a creator's Reels, open their profile and scroll their main feed rather than their Reels tab or Facebook's general Reels feed.

Reels posted inside a Facebook Group

A Reel posted by a group member is captured the same way any of that member's group posts are: either by opening their profile from inside the group and scrolling their main timeline, or by scrolling the group's own feed directly. Either path tags the Reel to that group and keeps it separate from that person's own personal posts. See How do I capture posts from a Facebook Group? for the full how-to on both paths.

If a Reel's cover image looks blank or wrong

Media loads into Facebook's page separately from a post's text, and a Reel's video and cover image can occasionally still be loading in the moment PostSnag captures it. Scrolling slowly and pausing briefly on Reels gives them time to finish loading before PostSnag reads the post. See How do I get the most complete and accurate capture? for the full checklist.

Common questions

Does PostSnag save the actual Reel video file?

Yes. PostSnag saves the real playable video file behind every Reel, along with its cover image, duration, caption, and engagement.

Does PostSnag capture how long a Reel runs?

Yes. PostSnag captures the duration for every Reel it saves.

Will my captured Reels show up as their own view in the dashboard?

Yes. A profile's page has a dedicated Reels tab alongside Posts and Analytics, and the global Posts page has its own Reels view too.

Can I capture only someone's Reels?

Not by opening their Reels tab; PostSnag doesn't capture there. Scroll their main timeline instead. It's mixed with their other posts as you capture, but once you've exported, the dashboard's Reels tab shows just their Reels on their own, so you can view and export them separately even though capture happened on the main feed.

Does PostSnag capture Reels from a profile's own Reels tab, or Facebook's general Reels feed or Watch tab?

No, none of the three. Capture only works on a profile's main timeline. A profile's own Reels tab, Facebook's general Reels feed, and the Watch tab all fall outside what PostSnag captures from.

Related articles

• What data does PostSnag capture from each post?

• How do I capture posts from a Facebook profile?

• Which Facebook profiles, Pages, and creators does PostSnag work on?

• How do I capture posts from a Facebook Group?

• How do I get the most complete and accurate capture?

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