How to Download Instagram Reels from an Excel or CSV File

Who this is for

Social media managers tracking campaign posts, researchers collecting examples, and anyone who exported Instagram data from an analytics tool usually end up with the same thing: a spreadsheet with a column of post links. This guide turns that sheet into files.

Step by step

1. Check the file type. Excel's default .xlsx works, and so does .csv. The old .xls format from Excel 97 to 2003 does not; open it in Excel and use Save As, Excel Workbook (.xlsx).
2. Leave the layout alone. Links can be in any column and any sheet, mixed in with other data. You do not need to delete the other columns or move the links into column A.
3. Open the bulk downloader and drag the file onto the upload box, or click it to choose the file.
4. Watch the table. Every post link found in the file gets a row. Rows turn Ready with a count like "1 video" or "3 photos", or Failed with the reason when you hover.
5. Download all as ZIP. Files are named Instagram_<post-id>_1.mp4, _2.jpg and so on, so every file traces back to its post.

What gets picked up from the sheet

The whole workbook is scanned, every sheet and every cell, for Instagram post, reel and IGTV links. A few details make this work on messy real-world exports:

• Media URLs are skipped. Export files often carry columns like image_url or video_url pointing at scontent.cdninstagram.com. Those are raw media addresses, not posts, and they are ignored rather than mistaken for links.
• Hyperlinks count. A cell that says "View post" but links to a reel is read by its link, not its text.
• Duplicates collapse. The same post listed twice is downloaded once.
• Tracking parameters do not matter. Links ending in ?igsh= or utm_ tags resolve to the same post.

Google Sheets

Use File, Download, Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) or Comma-separated values (.csv), then upload that file. Either works.

When a row fails

Hover the Failed label to see why. It is almost always one of three things: the post is private, it was deleted, or Instagram briefly throttled the request. Press Retry failed to try just those rows again before downloading. The ones that already succeeded are kept.

More than 50 links?

Each file is capped at 50 links to stay under Instagram's rate limits. Split a bigger sheet into files of 50 and run them one after another. If a file has more, the first 50 are processed and the page tells you how many were left out.

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