Pinterest Board Settings
How to Make a Pinterest Board Public (Step-by-Step Guide)
Pinterest boards are private by default when you create them as secret boards. But there are plenty of reasons you might want to flip that switch — sharing a mood board with a client, collaborating with a team, or simply making your curated inspiration accessible to others.
One common reason people want to make a Pinterest board public is to download it using third-party tools that only work with publicly visible boards. In this guide we will walk you through exactly how to change your board visibility settings — and show you a faster alternative that skips that step entirely.
How to Make a Pinterest Board Public
The process takes less than a minute and works the same way on both the Pinterest website and the mobile app. Follow these five steps:
Go to your Pinterest board
Open Pinterest and navigate to the board you want to make public. You can find it on your profile page under the Boards tab.
Click the "..." menu button
On the board page, look for the three-dot menu icon (also called the ellipsis or overflow menu). It appears near the top of the board, usually next to the board title.
Select "Edit board"
From the dropdown menu that appears, click "Edit board" to open the board settings panel.
Toggle off "Keep this board secret"
In the board settings, find the toggle labelled "Keep this board secret". If your board is currently private, this toggle will be switched on. Click it to turn it off.
Click Done
Confirm your change by clicking the "Done" button. Your board is now public and anyone can discover and view it on Pinterest.
Quick tip: On mobile, the three-dot menu may appear as a pencil icon at the top right of the board. Tap it to open the same Edit board settings described above.
Why Make a Board Public?
There are several good reasons to change a board from secret to public:
Share inspiration
Once a board is public, anyone with the link — or anyone searching on Pinterest — can view and save your pins. It is ideal for sharing mood boards, gift guides, travel plans, or recipe collections.
Collaborate with others
Public boards can be seen by collaborators you invite, making it easier to work together on projects, events, or creative briefs without exchanging screenshots.
Download your content
Some download tools only work with public boards. If you want to save your pinned images or videos to your computer, making the board public first may be a required step — unless you use a tool like Pinsuite.
The Faster Alternative: Download Without Changing Privacy
If your only reason for making a board public is to download it, you do not need to change your privacy settings at all. The Pinsuite browser extension lets you download private and secret boards directly from your browser — no privacy changes required.
Because the extension runs inside your logged-in Pinterest session, it can access any board you have permission to view — including secret boards only you can see. You get full-resolution images and videos without ever touching your board settings.
Learn about the extensionHow to Make a Pinterest Board Private Again
Changed your mind? Reverting a public board back to private is just as quick. The steps are almost identical to making it public:
- Open the board on Pinterest.
- Click the "..." menu button near the board title.
- Select "Edit board" from the dropdown.
- Toggle on "Keep this board secret".
- Click Done to save.
Once saved, the board will immediately revert to secret status. People who previously saw it through a shared link will no longer be able to access it.
Ready to download your Pinterest boards?
Pinsuite lets you back up entire boards — public or private — with full-resolution images and metadata included.