Instagram makes copying comments oddly hard. On a normal webpage you'd highlight the text and hit copy — but in the Instagram app, comments aren't selectable text, they're tappable elements. Try the usual drag-to-highlight and nothing happens. So how do you actually get a comment out of Instagram and into a message, a doc, or a spreadsheet? It depends entirely on how many you need.
Copy one comment on mobile (long-press)
The app has a built-in shortcut most people never notice:
- Open the post and scroll to the comment you want.
- Tap and hold the comment (long-press) until a menu pops up.
- Tap Copy.
The entire comment text is now on your clipboard — paste it into a DM, Notes, or anywhere else. This is the cleanest way to grab a single comment on iPhone or Android. The catch: it copies one comment per long-press. Great for saving a nice piece of feedback, useless for capturing a whole thread.
Copy one comment on desktop (highlight)
On instagram.com in a browser there's no long-press menu, so you fall back to the manual method:
- Click at the start of the comment text.
- Drag to highlight the whole comment.
- Press Ctrl+C (Windows) or Cmd+C (Mac).
Highlighting can be fiddly — it's easy to grab the username, timestamp, or the next comment by accident — but for one or two comments it does the job.
Where manual copying falls apart
Both methods share the same ceiling: one comment at a time. That's fine for a quote or two. But the moment you need real volume — the entries in a giveaway, every question on a product launch, a month of feedback for a report — manual copying breaks down fast:
- A popular Reel can have thousands of comments. Long-pressing each one is hours of work.
- You'll miss replies, which are collapsed and easy to skip.
- Pasted comments arrive as one blob of text — no columns for username, likes, or timestamp, so you can't sort or count anything.
- There is no "select all comments" button in Instagram. It doesn't exist.
Copy every comment at once (export to a spreadsheet)
When you need all of them, skip copying entirely and export the comment section to a file:
- Copy the Instagram post or Reel URL (the ⋯ menu → "Copy link", or just the address bar on desktop).
- Paste it into the Instagram comment exporter.
- Download the CSV (or JSON).
Every comment lands in its own row, with username, comment text, like count, and timestamp in separate columns — the entire comment section in one file, replies included. Open it in Excel or Google Sheets and you can sort by likes, filter for a keyword, or find one person's comments in seconds. The first 100 comments of any public post are free with no signup, so you can try it on a real post right now. For getting the file straight into a sheet, see how to export Instagram comments to Excel.
Which method should you use?
| You need… | Best method |
|---|---|
| One nice quote to paste in a DM | Long-press → Copy (mobile) |
| A couple of comments on desktop | Highlight → Ctrl/Cmd+C |
| Every comment on a post | Export to CSV |
| Giveaway entries or a full report | Export to CSV, then filter/analyze |
Once the comments are in a spreadsheet
Getting the text out is step one. The real payoff is what you do with it: pick a random giveaway winner, find a specific person's comments by searching the username column, or run AI analysis to tag every comment by sentiment and theme. See how to analyze Instagram comments for the full workflow. Copying one comment is a clipboard trick; copying them all is where the data starts to earn its keep.
Try it
Grab any public Instagram post URL, paste it into the Instagram comment exporter, and download the first 100 comments free — no login, no card. It's the fastest way to get past Instagram's one-comment-at-a-time ceiling.