How to Turn a Pinterest Board into a Moodboard

To share a Pinterest moodboard as a file, you can export the pins as an A4 PDF or one collage image. PinBoardSaver, a Pinterest board downloader for Chrome, creates both after downloading your board. You can use the whole board, choose sections or pick individual pins.

Choose the pins for the moodboard

Start with a specific brief, such as “warm kitchen with oak cabinets and stone counters.” Keep references that help explain those choices and remove repeated images. If you are comparing two directions, put them in separate sections so you can export each one on its own.

You can leave the original board intact and select a shortlist during download. If you do plan to delete pins, save a backup of the board first.

Export the moodboard with PinBoardSaver

The PDF and the collage image are built from pins the extension has already downloaded, so the order is fixed: download first, choose a layout second.

1. Install the PinBoardSaver extension if you have not yet, open your board in Chrome and click the extension icon.
2. The panel lists “All Pins”, already ticked, and each section of the board as a checkbox. To use part of the board, untick “All Pins” and tick only the sections you want.
3. Click “Start Download” and wait for the “ZIP Ready!” screen. “Download to Device” saves the ZIP with every pin as a separate file.
4. On that same screen, click “Create PDF” or “Export as Image”, set the options, then click “Create PDF” or “Create Image”. The file downloads as soon as it is generated.

To hand-pick pins instead, click “Select Pins Manually”, click the pins you want on the board page, then click “Download” in the bar at the bottom. You land on the same “ZIP Ready!” screen.

The free plan saves 20 pins per download, so a free moodboard holds at most 20 images. “Select Pins Manually” lets you choose which 20; Premium removes the cap. Both exports place image files only, so video files are skipped.

“Create PDF” opens “Choose PDF Layout” with two options:

• “One per page” centers each image alone on a portrait page, useful when people need to see individual references at a larger size.
• “Collage”, selected by default, fills columns the way a Pinterest board does, so portrait, landscape and square images share a page naturally, and adds pages as they fill up. You set “Columns” (2 to 20), “Orientation” (“Portrait” or “Landscape”) and “Show pin names”, which prints each pin’s name in small gray type under its image.

The page is always A4. There is no US Letter option, so choose fit-to-page when you print on Letter paper. The complete walkthrough is in how to save a Pinterest board as PDF.

Turn the board into one collage image or a wallpaper

Use “Export as Image” for a single collage file. You can also use the result as a desktop or phone wallpaper.

The options are “Columns” (2 to 20), “Format” (PNG, JPG or WEBP), “Width” (“Social (1080px)”, “HD (1920px)”, “Print (4000px)” or “Custom”, from 200 to 16,384 px) and “Show pin names”. It opens at 3 columns, JPG and “HD (1920px)”.

You set the width; the height is whatever the pins need. Each image is scaled to the column width and placed, in download order, into whichever column is shortest at that moment, on a white background. There is no dragging or cropping. To change the arrangement, change “Columns” and click “Create Image” again: more columns give a shorter image, fewer a tall strip. A result taller than 16,384 px, which can happen with many pins in two columns, stops with an error; add columns or reduce the width.

For a wallpaper:

1. Download only the pins you want on screen. A dozen or two read better than hundreds.
2. Set “Width” to the pixel width of the screen. “HD (1920px)” matches a 1920×1080 monitor; for a wider display, or for a phone, choose “Custom” and type the number.
3. Adjust “Columns” until the shape is close to the screen. For about 20 mostly vertical pins, start near 8 columns for a widescreen monitor and near 4 for a phone, then export, look and adjust.
4. The extension does not crop to a screen ratio. Let your system’s wallpaper setting fill the screen, or crop the file in an image editor first.

Which export setting for which job

A print can only be as sharp as the files behind it. “Start Download” saves the original file where Pinterest has one; on the free plan, pins picked with “Select Pins Manually” are saved as medium-size copies, so use “Start Download” for anything you plan to print large.

Arrange the images in a design tool

“Collage” gives every image the same column width. To make one image larger, group material samples or add a color palette, import the pins into a design tool and arrange them there. For example:

In Figma, “Copy for Figma” on the “ZIP Ready!” screen copies the pins for the PinBoardSaver Figma plugin, which places them in one frame on your canvas; see the Pinterest to Figma guide. For Canva, PowerPoint or Keynote, use the ZIP: every pin is a separate file, and each section is its own folder.

Share the board with its context

When you send the file, explain what needs feedback: the color palette, materials or photography, for example. “Show pin names” adds captions people can refer to when discussing an image.

Label the images as references and check the rights before using any in published work. Keep the ZIP too: each file name includes a pin ID that opens at https://www.pinterest.com/pin/<id>/, and 0_info.txt records the board’s name, URL, owner and export date. See using images saved from Pinterest for help tracing the source and license.

FAQ

Can you make a mood board on Pinterest itself?

Yes. A board, or one section of it, works as a living moodboard, and that is where the collecting should happen. A presentation or an approval needs a fixed file that stays the same after you send it: a PDF or an image.

How do I turn a Pinterest board into a collage?

Download your board with the extension. On the “ZIP Ready!” screen click “Export as Image”, choose “Columns”, “Format” and “Width”, and click “Create Image”. You get one file with the downloaded images arranged in columns.

Can I make a Pinterest board my wallpaper on an iPhone?

Yes, with one detour: the extension runs in Chrome on a computer. Create the image there with “Custom” width set to the phone’s pixel width, send the file to the phone and set it as the wallpaper.

Can you export a Pinterest board to PDF?

Yes. After the download, “Create PDF” makes an A4 document: “One per page” in portrait, or “Collage” in “Portrait” or “Landscape”. The free plan covers 20 pins per download.