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Who can use this?
  • Requires a Cloud API WhatsApp channel. Carousel is unavailable on On-Premise channels.
  • Needs permission to create WhatsApp templates.
A carousel template sends a single text message followed by up to 10 cards the customer swipes through horizontally. Each card carries its own media, its own body text, and its own buttons — so one message can present ten products, ten properties, or ten packages, each separately actionable.
Carousels render on mobile WhatsApp and on WhatsApp Web. Reach for a carousel when you have several comparable things and want the customer to pick one. A product range, a set of appointment slots, several plan tiers. Don’t reach for one when you have a single message to send, or when the options aren’t comparable — a carousel where each card says something unrelated reads as clutter. Ten cards is a ceiling, not a target; three well-chosen cards usually outperform ten.

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Constraints

Meta enforces these, and a template that breaks them is rejected rather than trimmed:
Cards must be structurally identical. If card 1 has an image header and two buttons — one Quick Reply, one URL — every other card needs an image header and the same two button types in the same order. You can change the text, the destination, and the media; you cannot change the shape.
Open Create New Template and select Carousel as the category. Carousel is a Marketing-category template, so it’s billed as Marketing on every send — see How WhatsApp Message Pricing Works. If Carousel is greyed out, your channel isn’t on Cloud API.

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Step 2: Write the opening message

The body text you enter here is the single message that appears above the cards. Treat it as the framing line — what the set of cards is, and what you want the customer to do with them. This is where you fix the shape every card will follow:
  • Carousel type — Image Carousel or Video Carousel. All cards use the type you pick here.
  • Button types — up to two per card. Button 1 defaults to Quick Reply; you can change it. Each button can be Quick Reply, URL, or Phone Number.

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Step 4: Add the cards

Click + Add Carousel Card for each card. For every one, provide:
  • Card header — the image or video, within the size limits above.
  • Card body — the text for this card.
  • Button text — the label for each button you defined in Step 3, plus the URL or phone number where applicable.
Repeat up to 10 times.
Every card needs body text. Submitting with an empty card body is the most common validation error — Gallabox flags the specific card rather than failing the whole form, so check for an inline error on each card if submission is blocked.

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Step 5: Submit for approval

Submit the template to Meta. Approval follows the same process and timelines as any other template — see Create and Manage Templates. Once approved, a carousel template sends like any other: from a broadcast, a sequence, a bot flow’s Send WhatsApp Template node, the Inbox, or the API. Variables work per card, so a single carousel template can be personalised per recipient — each card’s body text and button URL can carry its own placeholders. When you send it, you’ll fill in card-level variables alongside the message-level ones.

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FAQs

No. You choose Image Carousel or Video Carousel for the whole template, and every card follows it.
The button types and their order must be identical across cards. The button text and destination can differ — so card 1’s URL button can point somewhere different from card 2’s.
Yes. Customers see and scroll carousel messages on the WhatsApp Web client as well as on mobile.