The limit, and the number that matters more
A LinkedIn post holds 3,000 characters. That is the ceiling, and the counter above measures it. The number that decides whether the post is read is much smaller: the feed shows about the first 210 characters on desktop, about 140 in the app, and then a “see more” link. Everything after it is read only by people who tap, so the opening lines carry the post. The preview next to the counter shows the two cuts for your own text.
Treat the fold as an observation, not a rule. LinkedIn draws it on a line count, so a post that starts with short lines folds after fewer characters and one that starts with a dense paragraph folds after more, and LinkedIn can change the layout without notice. For the rest of the rules, including what the API takes and what it refuses, see the LinkedIn limits page.
What a post can carry
Text up to 3,000 characters; up to 20 pictures of up to 10 MB each, or one video of 3 seconds to 30 minutes and up to 500 MB, but not pictures and a video together; and one link, shown as a preview card. Hashtags at the end of a long post sit behind the fold, so they are invisible until someone taps. To schedule a post to a Company Page or a personal profile, read how to schedule LinkedIn posts.
Why a counter is not enough
A post can be under 3,000 characters and still fail. An unescaped bracket makes LinkedIn reject the post or silently drop a sentence; a video with pictures is refused; a file over the size limit is refused. Preflight runs these checks on every LinkedIn post before it leaves, which is what the verdict under the counter shows. The same checks are on every plan, including the free one, which has three channels.