How do I capture my first Facebook profile? (Quick start)

PostSnag takes about five to ten minutes to go from a fresh install to your first captured Facebook profile sitting in your dashboard: add the extension, sign in, open a profile, scroll, then click Export To Dashboard.

Follow the steps below in order. Each one tells you exactly what to click and what you should see.

Before you start

You'll need three things:

• A Chromium-based browser. Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc, Opera, or Vivaldi. Safari and Firefox aren't supported yet.

• A Facebook account you're signed into, browsing normally as yourself.

• A PostSnag account. Free to create, no card required, and separate from your Facebook login.

1. Add PostSnag to Chrome

Open the Chrome Web Store listing at chromewebstore.google.com/detail/postsnag/mgaicfnchelmoancalnebajninjeiphl and click Add to Chrome. A permissions popup appears; click Add extension to confirm. For the full walkthrough and what each permission does, see How do I install PostSnag from the Chrome Web Store?

2. Pin PostSnag to your toolbar

Click the puzzle-piece Extensions icon at the top right of your browser, find PostSnag in the list, and click the pin icon next to it. This keeps the icon visible so you can open the panel or reach your dashboard in one click.

3. Sign in

Click the PostSnag icon and sign in with your email and password, or with Continue with Google. This creates your PostSnag account, which is completely separate from your Facebook login; PostSnag never asks for your Facebook password. The first time you sign in, you'll see a brief "Setting things up..." screen for a couple of seconds while the panel loads, then the main panel appears.

4. Open a Facebook profile, Page, or group

Go to facebook.com, signed into your own account as usual, and open any public profile, Page, or group. The PostSnag panel opens automatically in the corner of the page.

5. Scroll to capture

Scroll down like you normally would. Watch the panel's Collected count climb as posts load, with a status pill that reads Capturing while it's actively reading the page.

[Screenshot: The PostSnag panel mid-scroll on a profile, showing the Collected count and the Capturing status pill]

Two things make your first capture more complete:

• Let the page finish loading before you start scrolling. The very first post on a freshly opened profile can appear before PostSnag has fully attached to the page.

• Scroll steadily from the top rather than jumping around. Slow, continuous scrolling gives images and albums time to load, so PostSnag captures the media along with the post data.

6. Click Export To Dashboard

Once you've scrolled through what you want to capture, click Export To Dashboard. This sends the profile and everything you've captured for it to your PostSnag account, and opens your dashboard in a new tab, already signed in with no second login required.

If you're on the Free plan and you scrolled past 30 posts, the panel shows a notice: "Your free plan saved the first 30 posts of this profile." Everything you scrolled is still saved locally; upgrading later and clicking Export To Dashboard again syncs the rest without rescanning.

7. Explore your dashboard

Your profile now has its own page in the dashboard. From here you can:

• Filter and sort using the type chips (All, Video, Photo, Album, Link, Text), a search box, and a sort dropdown (Facebook's own order, most reactions, comments, or shares).

• Open Analytics to see engagement totals, the mix of post types, posting patterns by day, and the top-performing posts from what you captured.

• Save posts to Bookmarks or organize them into a Folder.

• Export a Markdown or CSV file of the posts you're viewing, ready to paste into an AI tool.

[Screenshot: The dashboard's profile detail page after a first export, showing the post grid, filter chips, and Analytics tab]

What a good first capture looks like

Don't expect a perfect, pixel-exact match to what you'd count by hand on Facebook. A post that was still loading when you scrolled past it, or the very first post on the page, can occasionally get missed on a first pass; that's a normal part of capturing a live, scrolling page, not a bug. If a count looks off or a post seems to be missing, scroll back over that section or rescan the profile from the top. See What can and can't PostSnag capture? for the full picture of what to expect.

Common questions

Do I need a paid plan to try this?
No. The Free plan covers your first capture: 3 profile scans a week, up to 30 posts saved per profile on each scan.

What if the Collected count stays at zero?
Refresh the profile page, confirm you're signed into Facebook in that tab, then scroll slowly from the top. See Why is nothing getting captured on a profile? if it persists.

Can I capture a Facebook Page the same way?
Yes. Pages work exactly like profiles: open the Page and scroll.

Can I capture more than one profile at once?
No. Capture and export one profile, Page, or group at a time, then repeat the same flow on the next one.

What happens if I close the tab before exporting?
Nothing is lost right away. Captured posts stay saved in your browser, so you can reopen the profile later and export then, but it's simplest to export before you move on to something else.