What is the PostSnag panel?

The PostSnag panel is the window that opens on top of Facebook and shows you what PostSnag is capturing as you scroll, along with live analytics on everything you've collected from the current profile.

The panel is a PostSnag interface built directly into the Facebook page: a small floating button that expands into the full panel. It is not Chrome's built-in side panel feature, so browser settings that control Chrome's native side panel have no effect on it, and there's nothing to enable in Chrome itself beyond having PostSnag installed.

One click, right on the page you're viewing

Click the PostSnag icon on any Facebook page and the panel opens right there, on top of the page you're already looking at. There's no separate popup step first and no new window to wait for: the panel appears over Facebook itself, so you can start scrolling and capturing right away.

How to open the panel

1. Go to a facebook.com tab and make sure you're signed into Facebook.

2. Click the PostSnag icon in your browser toolbar, or the floating PostSnag button in the corner of the page.

3. If you're signed into PostSnag already, the panel opens straight to its main view. If not, it opens to a sign-in screen headed "Welcome Back to PostSnag."

4. After you sign in, a short "Setting things up..." screen appears for a couple of seconds while PostSnag prepares your library, then the main panel loads.

If you're signed out of PostSnag, or you're on a tab that isn't Facebook, clicking the toolbar icon opens a small popup instead of the panel, with sign-in and an Open Dashboard button. Navigate to any Facebook page and click the icon again to reach the full panel. See Why does the PostSnag icon open a small popup instead of the panel?

What's in the panel

Capture status

• Collected, a running count of posts captured from the current profile or group.

• Scanning Profile, or Scanning Group when you're on a group's own feed, showing the name or username directly underneath (or "Profile" plus a number, for a numeric profile.php URL), with a hint to scroll down to collect more posts.

• A status pill that reads Capturing, with a pulsing dot, while a post is being processed, and Synced once a capture pass has settled.

Export To Dashboard

The button that sends everything you've captured to your PostSnag dashboard. It reads Sign Up To Export if you're not signed in yet, prompting you to create a free account before it sends anything anywhere. While an export is running, a note under the button reads "Don't close this tab, this can take a minute."

No free-plan notice inside the panel

The panel itself doesn't show a message about your plan's caps: it captures and syncs the same way regardless of plan. On the Free plan you get 3 profile scans and 2 group scans in any rolling 7-day window, and each scan previews the first 30 posts in your dashboard. That cap shows up once you open your dashboard, where posts beyond the 30-post preview are blurred behind an upgrade wall and a profile or group scanned beyond the weekly allowance is fully locked until you upgrade. If you want a running count of how many weekly scans you have left, that lives in the smaller toolbar popup, not the on-page panel. See Why does the PostSnag icon open a small popup instead of the panel? and What's included in the Free plan?.

Analytics

Once a profile has captured posts, the panel builds live analytics from what you've captured so far, even before you export: your overall engagement, a breakdown of your post types, and a look at your top-performing posts, giving you an early read on a profile without waiting to reach the dashboard. The full, detailed breakdown, along with side-by-side comparisons and library-wide charts, lives in your dashboard once you export. See How do I read a profile's Analytics?

Refresh, theme, and close

A refresh button sits in the panel's header, next to the light and dark theme toggle and the close button. It starts a profile over: it clears the posts the extension has captured on this computer but not yet exported, then reloads the Facebook page so the profile scans fresh, as if you had never scanned it. Anything you already sent to your dashboard with Export To Dashboard stays there untouched. The panel asks you to confirm before it clears anything. Use it when a scan looks stuck or you want a clean re-scan; export first if there is anything in the panel you want to keep.

What the panel doesn't do

The panel has no content ideas feature and no manual filters. Its controls are the refresh button, the theme toggle, sign-in, and the export button. Filtering, searching, and sorting your captured posts all happen on the dashboard after you export, not in the panel itself. See What's in the PostSnag dashboard? (a tour).

Before you've captured anything

The panel shows one of two messages depending on where you are:

• "Open a Facebook profile to start grabbing", if no profile page is open.

• "No posts captured yet. Scroll the profile and posts will appear here as they come into view", if you're on a profile but haven't scrolled yet.

Common questions

Is the PostSnag panel the same as Chrome's side panel?

No. It's a PostSnag interface injected into the Facebook page itself, not Chrome's built-in side panel feature. Chrome's side panel settings don't affect it.

Do I need to open a popup before I can start capturing?

No. Click the PostSnag icon on any Facebook page while you're signed in, and the panel opens right there, on the page you're already viewing.

What does the refresh button in the panel do?

It clears the posts captured on this computer that you have not exported yet, then reloads the page so the profile scans fresh. Your dashboard is not affected. Export first if the panel holds anything you want to keep.

Does the panel warn me when I'm about to hit a Free plan limit?

No, not inside the panel itself. It keeps capturing and syncing the same way on every plan. The limit shows up as a blur or a lock once you open your dashboard; the toolbar popup separately shows your remaining weekly scans.

Can I filter or sort which posts the panel captures?

No. The panel captures posts as you scroll; filtering, searching, and sorting your captured posts happen on the dashboard after you export.

Related articles

• How do I capture posts from a Facebook profile?

• How does scroll-to-capture work, and why does scrolling matter?

• What data does PostSnag capture from each post?

• What's included in the Free plan?

• Why does the PostSnag icon open a small popup instead of the panel?

PostSnag is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Meta Platforms, Inc.