A Modern Workflow: The Best Way to Use Pinterest Boards in Figma

The other night, I mentioned Pinterest in a conversation and a friend looked at me, genuinely curious. “Wait,” they said, “do people still use Pinterest?”

I smiled. “For designers? Absolutely. It’s still the undisputed king of visual exploration.” I explained that its algorithm for finding similar concepts and styles is unmatched, precisely because it’s been trained for over a decade on the curation of millions of human tastemakers. It’s less of a social network and more of a professional tool.

But for all its power as an inspiration engine, there’s always been a frustrating gap between finding the perfect pin and actually using it in our primary design tool: Figma. This guide is about closing that gap for good.

For a detailed look at how Pinner stacks up against the competition, check out our Complete Guide to Pinterest-to-Figma Plugins.

The Old Way: The “Right-Click, Save As…” Grind

The traditional workflow is a familiar story of mounting frustration. It starts with you meticulously saving every pin you like into a sprawling folder on your desktop. Then comes the big, messy bulk drag-and-drop into Figma, followed by the tedious task of organizing everything on the canvas.

Eventually, you get clever. You turn to a Chrome scraper extension, hoping for a shortcut. But the results are always a gamble—it misses a pin or two, pulls in ads, and often saves frustratingly low-quality images.

But the real breakdown happens when you’re working with a team. Your teammate sends a message: “Hey, I added a few more cool pins, can you grab those?” Suddenly you’re scrolling through a shuffled board, trying to spot the new additions. “Can you describe them?” you ask, as the creative momentum grinds to a halt.

In the olden days, if someone in the studio had an interesting exploration, everyone would gather around one person’s screen. Figma utterly destroyed that paradigm with its collaborative canvas, enabling remote work and incredible “divide and conquer” workflows.

That’s where the manual process of importing Pinterest pins becomes more than just a time suck—it’s a buzzkill on the very collaboration that makes Figma great.

A Better Way: An Automated, Sync-Based Workflow

A purpose-built tool can eliminate these tedious steps entirely. The goal is to make your Pinterest boards a live, connected resource inside Figma.

1. Run Pinner: Grab the plugin from the Figma Community.
2. Connect Your Account: Securely, authenticate your Pinterest account.
3. Choose Your Board: Your public and private boards will appear directly in the plugin.
4. Click Import: Pinner fetches all the pins and arranges them neatly on your canvas.

The Real Game-Changer: Keeping Your Team in Sync

This is where the workflow truly transforms, especially for teams. A shared Pinterest board becomes a collaborative hub. While one designer is deep in Figma, other team members can be hunting for inspiration. As new pins are added, a simple click of the “Sync” button in Pinner brings them directly onto the Figma canvas. The moodboard is no longer a static file; it’s a living document that evolves in real-time with your team’s ideas.

Pinner Pro-Tips: The Cheatsheet