The estimated reading time for this post is 4 minutes
Shh…Pinterest has a secret. Well, lots of secrets actually. We don’t know how many secrets because, well, they are secret.
Pinterest is designed for sharing images with others but there is a secret side to Pinterest that many people don’t know about: Secret Pinterest Boards. Secret Pinterest boards are for your eyes only, they aren’t viewable by the public.
[note]See, 18 Inspirational Ideas for Secret Pinterest Boards for ideas on how to use secret Pinterest boards.[/note]
How to Create a Secret Pinterest Board
Creating a secret Pinterest board is easy, it only takes one extra step beyond creating a public Pinterest board.
1. Go to Pinterest and click on the plus sign + next to your name. Choose Create a Board from the drop-down menu.
2. In the pop up window, add the title of your new board plus a description of what the board is about. Next, choose a category for the board from the drop-down menu.
You can choose to add a map (see, Pinterest Place Pins – Your Inspiration for Your Next Destination! for more information on adding maps to Pinterest boards).
3. Select Yes for Secret. Then click Create Board.
You have now created your new secret Pinterest board.
You can also create a secret Pinterest board by going to your Profile and Pins page, scrolling to the bottom and clicking on the + sign to Create a Secret Board.
Creating a Secret Pinterest Board on Your Mobile Device
You can create a secret Pinterest board when you’re on the go using the Pinterest app in just three easy steps.
1. Open the app and press the profile icon.
2. Then click the plus sign icon.
3. On the next screen, fill out the form to create your new board and select Secret.
Using Your Secret Pinterest Board
You can pin to secret boards exactly how you pin to public Pinterest boards. When you want to pin to your secret board, you can choose the board from your list of Pinterest boards. Secret boards have a lock next to their names so you can know which of your boards are secret.
To view your secret Pinterest boards, click on your name in the upper right corner of Pinterest and from the drop-down menu choose Your Profile and Pins. Scroll to the bottom of the page to see your secret boards.
Collaboration
Invite others to join your secret boards. Secret boards don’t have to be exclusively available to you, you can include others and grant them access to your secret board. People you invite will be able to see your secret board and add pins to the board.
To invite others to your secret board, create the secret board, then edit the board. When the edit window opens, you will see a section where you can add others to the board. Type in the name or email address of the person you want to invite to the board.
Increased Limits on Secret Pinterest Boards
As of March 2014, Pinterest now lets you have an unlimited number of secret boards, up from the limit of 3 when secret boards were first made available.
Making a Secret Pinterest Board Public
There may come a time when you wish to reveal your secret Pinterest board to the public. You can do this easily by editing the setting of the board from secret to public.
Be careful, once you have made a secret board public you cannot make it secret again. Similarly, a board you originally created as a public board can not be turned into a secret board.
If you join a secret Pinterest board, be aware that the creator of the board can make it public at any time, without your permission. So if you join and pin to a secret board such as “My Boss is a Bozo” created by a colleague, know that your colleague can make that board public as she walks out of your office and into a new job.
You can leave a group board at any time, including secret boards that go public. Go to the board and click Edit. Go to Who Can Pin and find your name. Click the Leave button next to your name. Your pins will be removed from the board and you will no longer be following the board on your home page.
Ideas for Using Secret Pinterest Boards
Ideas for using secret Pinterest boards abound. See, 18 Inspirational Ideas for Secret Pinterest Boards for ideas on how to use secret Pinterest boards, including a SlideShare presentation to inspire you!
More About Secret Pinterest Boards
Find out more about secret Pinterest boards from the Pinterest help page.
Your Thoughts
Have you ever created a secret Pinterest board? Did you know that you could create secret Pinterest boards? What would you use a secret Pinterest board for? Let us know in the Comments section below!
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Become a Bletchley Park Star!
If you:
- are a history buff
- are a tech fan
- want to be a movie star
and/or
- are in the London area this week
you may want to head to Bletchley Park this weekend. To complement the renovations of Britain’s treasured site of codebreakers during World War II, Bletchley Park will be recording video and audio segments about what life was like at the site during the War.
Bletchley Park will be holding casting workshops on Friday and Saturday, January 17 and 18 for actors and narrators who want to appear in the video and audio segments. Filming is scheduled to take place over a weekend in February and actors who are chosen will appear in full costume, hair and makeup from the 1940’s, provided by Bletchley Park.
For more information and to apply for the casting workshop, check out the Bletchley Park website.
To learn more about Bletchley Park, check out Bletchley Park: Your Tech Travel Destination!
* Laurel & Hardy image by Raquel Camargo (edited)
Hi Carolyn,
Good to know about the secret Pinterest boards from before 🙂
Yes, I did try creating one but just wasn’t finding enough time with it so deleted it. But it is fun and almost like an empty circle on G+ where you just keep your stuff. I didn’t know though that you could invite or add other people too that you chose to share your secret board, and perhaps there’s no limit to the number of people you can add to it too. I wonder though they why keep it as a secret then. I guess to share certain things within the group of friend’s – interesting!
It’s good that they’ve now increased the limit to 6 boards from the earlier 3, and the option to change a secret board to a public one gives a wider choice too. So, no one else seeing your profile can make out that you also have a secret board? They have no way of seeing a title, without the content I guess?
Thanks for sharing. Have a nice week ahead 🙂
Hi Harleena, Yes, there are many reasons that you may want a secret Pinterest board. I included those reasons in this article initially but there were so many great ideas that I decided to separate it out to a different article.
Yes, for example, if you’re planning an event you may want to include others in the planning phase without revealing the plans to the world.
No, others who look at your profile can’t see that you have secret Pinterest boards. You can check out my profile http://www.pinterest.com/wonderoftech/ and you won’t be able to see my secret boards. :-$
Nice Tutorial But I wanna a know from you something different, Can you tell me there is any application or site which give us automatically Pinterest sharing Service Free… Please reply i need must like that tool.
Hi Mahendra, I would like to help you but I want to be sure I understand your question. Pinterest is free to use, there is no charge for pinning, creating an account or having public/secret boards. Are you looking for something else?
Hi Carolyn
Your site has gone all…wide! Did you change something?
Pinterest boards area great and secret ones I can certainly see the need for. I just have not used them as yet.
If you are collecting information for whatever purpose, of course not everyone else needs to see them!
But as you showed, if it some point you want to make them public you can. Awesome.
Pinterest is certainly chock full of cool features most people don’t know about
great post
ashley
Hi Ashley, Sorry you’re having issues seeing The Wonder of Tech on your screen. I am using the same browser as you are and the same operating system. Would you mind clearing your cookies to see if that helps?
Yes, Pinterest is a very useful organizational tool and with each new feature Pinterest offers if becomes more valuable. I hope secret boards allow you to use Pinterest effectively, Ashley!
Using a secret Pinterest board for collaboration is an excellent idea Carolyn. I had created a secret board before (to keep track of ideas for a niche business) but I had totally forgotten to keep pinning to it. So, thanks for the reminder.
You did a nice job on this (as always). I’m sure a lot of people will find this a valuable resource.
Hi Sherryl, I’m so glad that this article has reminded you of your secret Pinterest board. I guess your board was too secret!
I will have a follow up article next week on ideas for using secret Pinterest boards so stay tuned for other ideas on how you can use these boards. 🙂
:(( Hi Carolyn,
Good to be here again,
Yet another wonderful tuto.
I am new to Pinterest though
I have an account and i post
regularly much to learn from
here to deal there 🙂 LOL
I am bookmarking this for
my further study.
Thanks a lot for sharing this
informative piece for your
readers.
Keep informed.
Best
Phil
Hi Phil, Yes, setting up a secret Pinterest board is easy, but you may wonder what you’ll be using it for. Stay tuned to The Wonder of Tech for some creative suggestions!
Hi Carolyn! Great article. This is exactly the secret I need! I use Pinterest a lot, according to somebody I almost live there, so I could use some secret boards. 😉
Hi Tatiana, I’m glad you enjoyed this article. You’re right, this is a very exciting way to use Pinterest, especially for Pinterest fans like us! I’m so glad that they increased the number of secret boards from three to six because I’m using mine quite a bit.
I am not too sure why anyone wants create secret board when it is meant for sharing. Anyways looking for your next post so I get to learn more about it.
Hi Prince, Yes, there are plenty of reasons why you would want a secret board on Pinterest. Find out soon in my upcoming article! 🙂
Hey Carolyn,
I am certainly starting to spend more time on Pinterest, so this is a very timely post!
I had already created 3 different boards a few months ago (blogging, personal development and technology). I just created a new one today (called it Interesting finds). I did see the secret option, but didn’t really get what it was (and I didn’t want to spend too much time experimenting with it…still had lots of commenting to catch up on!).
So, yes, this is a very very timely post 🙂 Thanks for that!
I do get your example on ‘boss is bozo’ – we never want let that happen 😉 But, in any case, we shouldn’t do that sort of thing in social media (or in internet…because once it’s out there, it’s out there..you can’t delete it permanently..and businesses are starting to become more strict about social media. I’ve heard of companies asking for social media account logins..not sure if it is true!)
Anyways, thank you again for sharing this, Carolyn 🙂 Hope you have a great weekend!
Hi Jeevan, You’re absolutely right. Never put anything on the Internet you wouldn’t want to see on the front page of the newspaper.
I wanted to illustrate that private group boards can become public at any time without the permission of the members so it’s important to be mindful of the changeable nature of the setting.
I’m wondering if this would be a good place to “store” pins, to be released at strategic times? If you move a pin from a secret board to a public one, does it become visible?
Hi Lomboz, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! Great idea. Yes, you could pin images to secret boards and then repin them to public boards when the time is right. You could keep these pins on your secret boards or delete them from your secret boards if you don’t need them to be there any more.
As a guy, this comes in very handy when I’m pinning images of mens hairstyles I like lol.
Hi Jay, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech. Excellent example of an idea for using secret Pinterest boards. Thanks for sharing that with us!
I ended up on this post because I was looking to learn how to use Pinterest to promote my travel blog, but I can see having a secret board as being useful. Great post, thanks.
Hello Ly, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech. You’re right, Pinterest is an excellent way to promote a blog. You can also use secret boards for article ideas and research for your blog.
Hello Carolyn Nicander,
This is the good way to make a board private. I am a Pinterest user and I have many things that I want to make private. This information will definitely helps me. Thanks for the share.
Hi Abell, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! I’m glad you found this helpful. I think once you start using secret boards you will find them very useful.
Hi Carolyn,
This is the first time I heard about a secret board on Pinterets, although I often use it.
Maybe this can be used to restrict someone in viewing our pins. You know, like a privacy 🙂
Thanks for sharing this information, Carolyn.
Very useful one!
Regards,
Nanda