To filter your Instagram feed, navigate to Elevated › Instagram Feed, open your feed in edit mode, and proceed to Step 3 (Filters). Under the Feed Filters panel, you can use the Show Posts Containing and Hide Posts Containing fields to define keyword or hashtag parameters. You can also specify a Maximum Number of Posts to cap the total quantity of media rendered inside your layout.

Table of Contents

• Step 1: Access the Feed Filters Step
• Step 2: Configure Inclusive Filtering (Show Posts)
• Step 3: Configure Exclusive Filtering (Hide Posts)
• Step 4: Set the Maximum Post Display Limit
• How Inclusion and Exclusion Rules Intersect
• Troubleshooting Common Filter and Moderation Issues

Step 1: Navigate to the Feed Filters Step

Navigate to Elevated › Instagram Feed in your WordPress dashboard. Click on the My Feeds tab, locate your target feed from the list, and click the Edit button to launch the wizard.

At the top of the setup wizard, click step 3 (Filters) to load your moderation panel.

Step 2: Configure Inclusive Filtering (Show Posts)

To restrict your feed so that it only displays posts matching specific topics, keywords, or campaigns:

1. Look for the Show Posts Containing the input field.
2. Type your target word or hashtag, such as #sale or collection.
3. Click the blue + button to lock the keyword into the whitelisted filter array.

Only media containing these exact matching strings in their Instagram captions will render in your public feed.

Step 3: Configure Exclusive Filtering (Hide Posts)

To ensure that specific personal, out-of-stock, or non-brand-aligned posts are blocked from displaying on your public pages:

1. Look for the Hide Posts Containing input field.
2. Type the word or hashtag you want to exclude, such as #personal or sold out.
3. Click the blue + button to add the term to the blacklisted filter array.

Any posts containing these exact matching terms inside their captions will be dynamically hidden from the output layout.

Step 4: Set the Maximum Post Display Limit

To cap the total size of your feed:

1. Look for the Maximum Number of Posts input field.
2. Enter a specific number, such as 8 or 12, to limit how many items are rendered on your frontend page.
3. Leave this value set to 0 to allow the feed to display all available cached posts from your account.

Click Next to save your filter parameters and proceed to Step 4 (Post Elements).

How Inclusion and Exclusion Rules Intersect

If you configure both inclusion (Show Posts Containing) and exclusion (Hide Posts Containing) rules on a single feed, the filtering engine processes them sequentially:

1. The whitelist rules are applied first to filter out any posts that do not contain your whitelisted keywords.
2. The blacklist rules are then parsed across that filtered subset to strip out any posts containing your excluded words.

Troubleshooting Common Filter and Moderation Issues

The feed is completely empty after saving a filter

This occurs if your whitelisted words or hashtags are misspelled, or if your Instagram account does not contain any published posts that match your whitelist criteria. Keep in mind that while matching is case-insensitive, terms must match exactly. Check your spelling or click the small x on active filter terms to remove them and restore your feed.

Excluded blacklisted posts are still displaying on the website

If blacklisted posts continue to render on your live page after you have saved your filters, your local server cache is likely out of sync. To resolve this, navigate to the Settings tab at the top of the Elevated Instagram Feed dashboard and click the red Clear Cache button under the Clear Cached Media configuration setting. This clears your local media files and forces your filter rules to apply immediately.

Related Documentation – Instagram Feed Filters

• How to Choose an Instagram Feed Template
  Learn how filters behave across standard grid, slider, and masonry templates.
• How to Configure Instagram Layout Settings
  How to align your manual row counts, column limits, and pagination settings with your filtered post limits.
• How to Clear Cache and Refresh Instagram Feeds
  Step-by-step guide to clearing your local media database to force your filters to apply immediately.
• Instagram Feed Supported Content Types
  Learn how filters handle different media types, such as Reels, single images, or carousel posts.