Get them before they're gone
Pinterest is a great site to bookmark hidden gems of content, but it’s not always the most convenient app to use when you’re browsing the web and see something worth sharing or collecting for later.
If you’re a Google Chrome browser user, you can find a great selection of Pinterest plugins (known as browser extensions) in the Chrome Web Store. If you aren’t a Chrome user, many of these extensions are also found in the Microsoft Edge, Apple Safari, and Mozilla Firefox extension stores as well.
Finding and Installing Chrome Extensions
All of the Pinterest Chrome extensions we’re highlighting here can be found on the Chrome Web Store. You can either use the direct link we’ve provided or search for each extension from the storefront.
You need to be logged in on both the browser and the web store with your Google account to add an extension to your browser. Use the Add to Chrome button and the extension will be added to your browser.
You may have to go to Settings > Extensions to toggle an extension on, since not all of them are activated by default. You can also disable or delete extensions you no longer want. Extensions can be pinned to the Chrome toolbar for easy access, by using the puzzle piece icon on that same toolbar.
1. Pinterest Save Button
The Pinterest Save Button is an official extension by Pinterest. As you browse the internet in Chrome, you can click the button at any time to save ideas, pin images, and snip relevant content to Pinterest.
There’s not much to criticize about the Save Button, since its strength is that it laser focuses on one thing. It’s an essential extension for anyone who likes to create and share things on Pinterest rather than mainly browsing it.
2. Pinterest Enhanced
Pinterest is a great website, but there are definitely a few things about how it looks and operates that could do a bit of improvement. That’s exactly what Pinterest Enhances does. It re-imagines the Pinterest homepage a little to make it less chaotic to use.
With this extension installed, Pinterest Enhanced will display all images with a fixed height, creating a perfectly-organized grid of images. You’ll only see pin information when you hover your mouse over each image. It also makes it easy to download the full-size version of images and search for their sources online.
3. No Pinterest Results
Whether you love Pinterest or not, the site does have an annoying tendency to flood Google results with low-quality images and snippets of web pages, instead of showing you the original content those pins are based on.
No Pinterest Results is a simple extension that, when activated, prevents Google from showing any results that originate from the site. It does this by simply putting the same search parameters into the Google search bar that you could do yourself, but it’s far more convenient to just use a toggle button.
4. Shareaholic for Pinterest
Plenty of websites have integrated “Pin It” buttons to let you send images to Pinterest as you browse, but there are even more image-heavy sites that don’t offer this convenience.
Shareaholic is an incredibly popular Pinterest extension that lets you send images from any website to your pinboards. It’s perfect for Pinterest users who don’t want to always snip web content, but just want to collect images.
5. Promoted Pin Hider
Just like most websites that you can use for free, Pinterest uses advertising to make money. There’s nothing wrong with that of course, but sometimes it can feel like promoted pins are getting in the way of the content that you’re actually looking for.
That’s why Promoted Pin Hider is such a handy extension. It doesn’t actually block those pins, but it blanks them out so that you only see real pins and not ones that have been bumped to the top through a payment scheme.
6. Image Downloader
Many of us like to browse Pinterest so that we can download cool images curated by the community, but Pinterest doesn’t make it particularly easy to download images or to get the best quality version hosted on the site.
Image Downloader is an extension that works with multiple websites, including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. The extension shows you thumbnails for every image found on the web page, even ones that are obscured. You can quickly make a selection of images you want to download or simply batch download everything. It’s way faster than performing a right-click on every image to download it.
7. Pinterest Love: Pinterest Screenshot Saver++
There have been a few great Pinterest screenshot extensions over the years, but as with most extensions, they come and go. The good news is that Pinterest Screenshot Saver++ might be the best one yet and doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere soon.
It offers many features:
- Listing all pinnable images on a page.
- Removing Pinterest from Google Image results.
- Save images from any web page to Pinterest.
- Night mode for Pinterest.
- Screenshot editing and annotation.
That’s not an exhaustive list, but if you’re only going to install one Pinterest extension, this should be at the top of your list.
8. Mobile Pinterest for PC/MAC
Pinterest was never really meant to be used in a desktop browser, so the experience on a PC or Mac can feel much less slick than the iOS or Android Pinterest app. There are ways to run mobile apps on a PC or Mac, but this extension gets much the same result using a simple mobile-shaped window that reflows the page into the same sort of configuration as the app.
If you prefer to use Pinterest this way and don’t want to mess around with mobile app emulation on your desktop system, this simple extension is a winner.
9. PinDown
Pindown is an immensely popular add-on that lets you save full-size images from Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr, and Behance. That’s a great combination since these websites have major overlap when it comes to their respective user bases.
PinDown will download images you select to a local folder on your computer. From there you can easily upload them, or use them on your computer directly. One thing that sets it apart from other similar plugins is its support for a wide variety of Pinterest page types. So you can download from boards, board sections, the main feed page, category pages, and more.
10. Pinterest Palooza
Pinterest is a great way to discover content, but it’s not always easy to find the source for that content. Pinterest Palooza turns the process of finding the source of a Pin into a one-click process. Just click on the thumbnail of the Pin and you’ll go straight to the source website.
If you want to see the Pin’s detail page instead, this plugin adds that as a button on each Pin. If you hold the control key, the original page will open in a new tab.
11. Pinterest Tag Helper
This extension is a little more niche, but if you’re a website owner who wants to add a Pinterest Tag to your site.
In case you didn’t know, a Pinterest Tag is a snippet of code that’s added to your site’s code. It allows Pinterest to track visitors to your site and what they do there after clicking on your Pinterest advert. This is crucial to know whether a Pinterest advert actually led to the behavior you wanted, such as clicking on a link to purchase a product, registering an account, or signing up for a newsletter.
The Pinterest Tag Helper Extension is a small tool that simply tests whether you’ve properly installed your Pinterest tag and that it’s working as intended. Sure, it’s a niche extension, but if you ever advertise through Pinterest you’ll want to know about it!
12. Pinterest Ranking/Keyword Tool – Pindodo
If you want people to find your Pins, you need to tag them with the right keywords. This is a practice known as SEO or Search Engine Optimization and most serious content creators use a keyword research tool.
This extension from Pindodo makes it easy to access their Pinterest ranking data and tools to make sure you pick keywords that will put your Pins on the first results page on Pinterest.
This isn’t a free service though. You need to pay for either a Starter ($5) or Pro ($20) monthly plan, with annual plans also available. The good news is that you get a 14-day free trial as soon as you sign up and you don’t have to provide credit card details up front.
13. Tailwind Publisher
This is another mega-popular extension that’s proven to be a priceless tool for those looking to market themselves, their services, or their products on Pinterest. Social Media is hard work, especially if you try to do everything by hand.
Tailwind offers tools designed for bloggers, physical stores, influencers, service providers, and a few other user categories. You can schedule and automate your posts to Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram.
The free tier of the service includes the management of one profile for each of the three platforms. However, you’re limited to 20 posts across all of them per month and only have basic analytics and 20 post designs to choose from. As soon as you switch to one of the paid tiers those limitations grow much smaller.
14. Pinterest Board Name Generator
This is a somewhat silly Chrome extension, but it turns out that if you need inspiration for new Pinterest boards, this simple name generator might offer exactly what you need. Every time you click the button the extension will show you another random board name title. Most of them are complete nonsense, but after just a few minutes of clicking a few ideas seemed quite promising. “Naughty cookies” indeed!
15. PinThemAll
This extension makes it easy to quickly create content to share as a Pinterest Pin. You can make collages of images that are posted as a single picture or quickly screenshot a website and share it.
When you click on the collage button, you’ll be taken to the PinThemAll editor page where you can see the images scraped from the URL you were browsing. You can make collages for free, but there will be a watermark and the resolution is lower than you’d get from the premium service. For the average casual Pinterest user, we think the free service is perfectly acceptable.
16. AutoPinner
Pinterest is hard work when you start to get serious about it, but AutoPinner takes almost all the pain out of getting large amounts of content onto Pinterest. This extension (and its underlying service) lets you bulk upload and edit images. Pinterest forces you to edit each Pin individually, but AutoPinner works around that with a much better workflow.
Another really neat trick is the ability to bulk import images from Instagram or a quick shortcut to posting images to Pinterest while you’re browsing Instagram and it automatically adds credits for those imports. AutoPinner will literally save you dozens of hours every month. The service lets you get started for free, but if you really need to handle heavy-duty social media responsibilities on Pinterest you’ll undoubtedly want to look at their paid options.
17. Photo Zoom
Sadly, the popular Pinterest Photo Expander extension is no longer with us, but this easy-to-use Photo Zoom extension does practically the same thing. With the extension installed all you have to do is hover your mouse pointer over a thumbnail on Pinterest (or Facebook and Instagram) and the software will instantly extract the HD version of the image and display it for you.
Combined with an extensive set of keyboard shortcuts, Photo Zoom can make your Pinterest browsing and image collection time much more efficient.
The Extension Is Gone!
Depending on when you read this, there’s a chance that you’ll get the dreaded 404 error when clicking on one of the links listed above. Unfortunately, there’s always been a rather rapid turnaround with Chrome extensions, with even popular ones disappearing overnight.
Don’t be too disappointed, since usually there are many other options that do the same thing. Simply search the Chrome Web Store using similar keywords and you should find something suitable in seconds.