How to Backup Your Pinterest Boards in 2026
Pinterest has no built-in backup. This is the only reliable way to backup your Pinterest boards as local files — before they disappear.
Pinterest boards are more fragile than they appear. Accounts get banned or deleted — sometimes without warning, sometimes due to copyright disputes, sometimes due to automated policy enforcement that incorrectly flags legitimate content. Group boards you contribute to can be deleted by the board owner. Boards you depend on from other creators can be made private or deleted at any time. And Pinterest itself doesn't offer any export or backup feature. The only reliable backup for a Pinterest board is a local copy — every image and video file downloaded to your own storage.
This matters most for three groups: designers who use curated Pinterest boards as ongoing creative reference; businesses that maintain brand boards as part of their visual identity work; and anyone who has invested significant time building Pinterest boards that represent years of curation. For all three groups, losing a board means losing irreplaceable reference material. PinDownCloud turns any public Pinterest board into a downloadable ZIP file — your local backup that persists regardless of what happens to the Pinterest account.
How to backup Pinterest boards with PinDownCloud
Three steps to a complete local backup of any Pinterest board.
- 1
Install PinDownCloud and prepare your backup list
Install the free PinDownCloud Chrome extension from the Chrome Web Store. Before you start downloading, make a list of the boards you consider most important to back up — your own boards plus any boards from other accounts that you rely on for regular reference. Start with the most important boards first: your own boards, boards you've contributed to extensively, and boards from accounts that you suspect might be at risk (accounts with copyright-sensitive content, accounts that seem inactive). The extension works in Chrome, Edge, and Brave — any Chromium-based browser.
- 2
Download each board as a ZIP backup
Navigate to each Pinterest board you want to back up. Click the PinDownCloud button at the top of the board page, confirm the pin count, and click Download Board. You can submit multiple boards for download before the first one finishes — PinDownCloud queues them and delivers each ZIP via email when ready. You don't need to wait for one download to finish before starting the next. Each board gets its own ZIP file, named after the board, with all images and videos numbered sequentially.
- 3
Organize your downloaded backup files
As each ZIP arrives by email, download it to a dedicated backup folder on your computer or external drive. Organize by board name: create a folder structure like /Pinterest Backups/Board Name/. Unzip each file into its corresponding folder. For boards you want to keep backed up over time as they're updated, you can re-download with PinDownCloud periodically and compare the file counts to see if new pins have been added. A board with 300 images last month and 350 images this month gained 50 new pins.
What can cause Pinterest boards to disappear — and how to prepare
Understanding why boards disappear helps you prioritize what to back up urgently. The most common causes: account deletion by Pinterest (copyright strikes, spam detection, policy violations — accounts are sometimes deleted without appeal). Group board chaos: when the creator of a group board deletes the board or their account, all collaborators lose access immediately. Board visibility changes: the board owner can change a board from public to secret at any time, making it immediately inaccessible to everyone who doesn't follow the account.
A scenario that affects even your own boards: Pinterest's copyright enforcement. Pinterest responds to DMCA takedowns by removing specific pins, and in cases of repeated infringement, entire accounts. If your board contains repinned images from commercial sources, there's a non-zero chance that specific images get removed without notice. A local backup ensures you still have the images even if Pinterest removes them from the platform. This is particularly relevant for mood boards that include brand imagery, product photography, or editorial photos.
Practical backup schedule for different types of boards: For boards you're actively curating (adding new pins regularly), back up monthly — the delta between backups represents your most recent additions. For boards that are mostly static (finished project references, completed client mood boards), a one-time backup is usually sufficient. For boards from high-risk accounts (active in fashion/photography where copyright enforcement is aggressive, accounts with declining activity), back up as soon as possible — these are the most likely to disappear.
Start backing up your Pinterest boards today
Install PinDownCloud free and download any Pinterest board as a local ZIP backup. Every image and video, original quality, delivered to your email. Free plan available.
Install Extension — It's FreeFrequently asked questions
- Does Pinterest have a built-in backup or export feature?
- No — Pinterest has no built-in backup, export, or download-all feature. The only official data export Pinterest offers is through 'Request your data' in account settings, which provides a CSV of your pin metadata (title, link, board) but does NOT include the actual image files. PinDownCloud downloads the actual image and video files.
- Can I backup private or secret Pinterest boards?
- PinDownCloud can only back up publicly accessible boards. For your own private boards, you'd need to temporarily change them to Public in Pinterest settings, run the backup download, then change them back to Private. This is a practical workaround for backing up boards you own.
- How large are Pinterest board backup ZIPs?
- Depends on the board content. A board with 200 images (no videos) is typically 150–400 MB — images from Pinterest's CDN are usually 200–600 KB each. A board with video pins will be larger. A board with 500 images and some videos could be 1–3 GB. Make sure you have enough local storage before starting a large board backup.
- Is it legal to backup Pinterest boards?
- Downloading Pinterest content for personal backup and reference use is generally considered fair use in most jurisdictions. The key constraints are: don't redistribute the downloaded content, don't use it for commercial purposes without obtaining rights from the original creators, and only back up public boards (not private/gated content). For personal design reference and archiving your own curated boards, local backup is standard practice.