How to Merge Instagram Follower Exports Into One Complete List

If you've run the same Instagram export more than once, you've probably noticed the row counts don't match. 464 one time, 435 the next.

The interesting part is that those aren't the same rows. Each export is a different partial slice of the same list — which means combining them gets you further than either one alone.

Why merging recovers people

Instagram doesn't return a complete follower list in one pass. Each run gives you an overlapping but distinct subset (the full explanation here).

So two exports that both look "464 of 548" are not interchangeable. One has people the other missed.

Measured on a 548-follower account:

Merging recovered 59 people that no single export had — about 12% more than the best run on its own.

A second account showed the same pattern more starkly. Four incomplete exports — 172, 174, 176 and 45 rows — merged to 197 unique people out of 200. That's 98.5% coverage without a single complete export among them.

Four bad exports beat one good one.

How many exports is enough

Each export adds less than the one before, because the easy people are already collected. The coverage curve from that 200-follower account:

Two or three gets you most of the way. The fourth added nothing — at that point the list was exhausted.

Stop when an export adds nobody new. That's the real completion signal, not matching the follower count on the profile.

Merging in ListLift

Exports are kept in History. Tick two or more of the same profile and the same list, then press Merge.

It combines them into one file, keeping everyone who appeared in any of them, and reports what you gained:

523 unique from 3 exports of @example — +59 more than the best single run (464), out of about 548.

Two things it won't do, both deliberate:

• It refuses to mix lists. Merging one account's followers with another's following produces a file that isn't a list of anything, so it stops and tells you what you selected.
• It skips exports whose data has aged out. Only the most recent runs keep their full rows; older entries keep a summary only. Those can't be merged, and it says so rather than quietly dropping them.

Merging manually in a spreadsheet

If you're working with CSV files directly, the process is the same — the only thing that matters is what you deduplicate on.

1. Open the first export.
2. Paste the rows from the other exports underneath, without the header lines.
3. Deduplicate on the User ID column.

Use User ID, not username. Usernames change — people rename accounts, and the same person can appear under two different handles across exports taken weeks apart. The numeric ID never changes, so it's the only safe key.

In Google Sheets, Data → Data cleanup → Remove duplicates, ticking only the User ID column. In Excel, Data → Remove Duplicates, same idea.

One caveat about time

Merging exports from the same sitting gives you a clean snapshot.

Merging exports taken weeks apart gives you a union across time — which includes people who have since unfollowed. If you're merging to get a complete current list, use recent exports. If someone appears only in a three-week-old export and nowhere since, they've probably unfollowed rather than been missed.

This matters most if you're comparing lists to find unfollowers. A merged file built from old exports will overstate your follower list and understate unfollows.

The short version

• Exports differ from each other, so merging recovers real people.
• Expect around 10-12% more than your best single run.
• Three or four exports is the useful limit.
• Deduplicate on User ID, never username.
• Same profile, same list, and ideally the same sitting.