Have you played with Pinterest at all yet? It’s a graphical bookmarking site. You bookmark images by “pinning” them, and you can organise those images into “boards”. And of course it has a social element, so you can see whatever your friends have “pinned” as well. All great fun. I quite enjoy it, but I’ve not been using it as much as I could do because most of my web browsing is done via my iPad or iPhone, and there is no easy way to “pin” items from those devices. Or so I thought…
A little bit of Googling today, and I found an entry on the Pinterest blog (which seems to now have been deleted) which details how to create your own “Pin it” button in Safari on the iPad or iPhone. It’s written in a not very detailed kind of way, so having got it working for myself today I thought I would create a more “step by step” guide to help others wanting to do the same thing.
First of all, before you start following the steps below, you need to do one thing. On your iPhone or iPad highlight the code snippet below and choose the “Copy” option. Make sure you highlight accurately – you need all the text, but no extra bits!
javascript:void((function(){var%20e=document.createElement('script');
e.setAttribute('type','text/javascript');
e.setAttribute('charset','UTF-8');
e.setAttribute('src','http://assets.pinterest.com/js/pinmarklet.js?
r='+Math.random()*99999999);document.body.appendChild(e)})());
OK, now you’re ready. Follow these step by step instructions:
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In the “Settings” app of your device, go into the Safari section, and ensure that “Javascript” is set to “on” (near the bottom of the page) |
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In Safari on your iPhone or iPad, head over to pinterest.com and ensure you are looking at the full version of the site, not the mobile version.You can tell if you are on the mobile version because the address showing in the address bar of your browser will be m.pinterest.com as shown here.To revert to the full version of the site, press the little arrow next to your picture in the top right corner of the site, and choose the “full site” option. |
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In Safari on your iPhone or iPad, press the “Add bookmark” button. You can do this on any page, it doesn’t matter at all. |
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In the “Add bookmark” dialogue that opens change the text to read something meaningful (like “Pin It”) rather than the name of the page you’ve bookmarked, and then press the “save” button. |
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Now go into your bookmarks menu (by pressing the little “open book” icon), and press the “Edit” button at the top of the list that opens |
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Find your “Pin it” bookmark in the list, and click on it to edit it (note click on the text that says “Pin It”, not the little red “delete” icon or the three lines on the right hand side!) |
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Delete all the text that’s in the “address” section, and then past in the code that you copied previously.Then press the “Bookmarks” button to return to the bookmarks list, and then “Done” at the top of the list to save your changes. |
And that’s it. Now as you browse the web from your iPhone or iPad if you come across something you want to pin you just need to go into your bookmarks menu and choose your “Pin It” bookmark.
To make life even easier on your iPad you can add the “Pin It” bookmark to your bookmark bar, and then it’s visible on your browser at all times, removing the need to open a menu to “pin” something. Note that if you haven’t done so already you’ll probably want to go into the “Settings” app on your iPad and select “Always show bookmarks bar” in the Safari settings. (Note this option is not available on the iPhone).
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Wow, great tip! I’m definitely going to do this on my iPad!
I feel so dumb I don’t even know how to select it as I can only select a word or the whole page
When you select a single word you should see little blue circles appear at the start and end of the word. Drag these to expand the region selected.
Thank you!!!
Thank you for the easy step by step instructions with pictorials. It worked!!!
Glad to hear that it worked 🙂
Thank you for the information. Unfortunately I am still having problems. When I paste the java script it changes it. I even tried inputting it directly by hand and it still altered the java script. Do you have any suggestions?
Thank you soooo much geek mummy ! It works! I did it and can now pin on my ipad2!
OMG!!!! Finally a great step by step!!! Love it thank you thank you!!! I pinned it to my pinterest!!!
For some reason I do not have the extra ‘address’ field when I edit my bookmark. Any guess as to why?
You’re like the best everrrrrrr!!! Only info on the web that was clear easy and actually worked for iPad, not just safari!!
Worked like a charm! Thanks!!!
Here is a much easier way to this without the javascript voodoo cutting and pasting http://goo.gl/7QTr2
Easier yes, but only works if (a) you are a Mac user and (b) you sync your bookmarks over iCloud. This way works for everyone (and despite what the author of that article says, there are a lot of non-Mac users around still!)
Geekmummy, I believe that was just a hint of humor from the author but this can be done without a mac as well by downloading the iCloud control panel for windows and installing Safari for windows. Chances are, if you own an iPad you have an iCloud account… This way Mac and PC users can benefit
I see your point, but speaking as a PC user I personally found it easier to do this all directly on the iPad than to mess around installing a new web browser on my PC and then setting it up. It’s always nice to know the options though 🙂
Love it!
Very easy to set up and works like a charm.
Thank you so much for the clear, easy to follow instructions! It works! Yay!
Your in depth knowledge is scary – but shall come back another day when I have actually looked at pinterest. See you at Britmums!?
Wow, now I just need to upgrade my netbook to an i pad and my blackberry to an i-phone – dreams on! I hope you do more of these great tecky tip posts
Thanks! It worked for me too.
I’m having problems editing my bookmarks.. They don’t appear in the bookmarks menu. Do you know why that is?
Never mind, i figured it out! Thank you for these great instructions!
Excellent post thank you, step by step instructions were super helpful and easy to follow 🙂 I didn’t know how to get a bookmark onto the bookmark bar, so perhaps you could add that into your post (had to google it separately). Other than that – love your work!
Hello. Thank ou so much for your step instructions. Ive had pinterest for 6 months now and could only use via camera. After trying different instructions you were my last try and it worked! Thank you so much. C x
Thank you for the info. It worked for me! One question, how do I put the pin it button on the bookmark bar?
I figured it out. Thanks!
Thanks for the great instructions!! I’ve been wishing I had this for the last 6 months!!
Thank you so much for this!!! I got an iPad yesterday and I don’t think it could live without my pin it button!
I had no problem creating the bookmark, but when I try to pin something, it opens up the Pinterest app, and then gives an error.
Thanks so much, adding the pin it button worked like a dream, thanks to your straightforward instructions! Sarah
Thank you thank you thank you!!! I’ve read tutorials on three other blogs and NONE have worked. You rock!
So pleased it worked for you – thanks for letting me know 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
Geek Mummy, you are the wind beneath my wings – thank you so much!
Thank you!! I just did this successfully. I am no longer a loser who can only repin, thanks to you!
Thank you so much!!!
It worked perfectly on my iPad! Thank you so much!
Thank you very much for posting this helpful information. I’ve been trying to figure out how to save the bookmark for the last week and it was very frustrating. With your blog advice, I had the pin it up and running in minutes. Thanks again. Rishona
Like everyone else above, great tip, so simple to follow, a big thank you. When copying the code on iphone4 though, it may not allow you to select the code when holding the phone in portrait. Turn the phone to landscape and then you can select the whole of the code!
I don’t usually leave comments on any post, but yours was just so helpful – and clearly described – that I had to say thank you 🙂
Thanks so much for this…I spent a lot of time just trying to drag the pin it icon on the bookmark bar of safari :p and it never happened.. Can we drag things on an iPad???
Sadly not, would be nice if we could, wouldn’t it?
Yes it would..
thank you very much! this tip saved me from throwing my ipad out the window and my boyfriend from getting premature grey hair from me bitching about this new gadget i have recently purchased and have so many troubles with!!!!
Help! I don’t understand what code we are supposed to copy and paste into address bar when it’s time to edit. Thanks!
Hi Denise. The code is the text in the grey box up near the top of this article. It starts with “javascript”.
Thank you! After staring at countless other “instructions” your version got me there. Appreciate your time
You’re good. Tried using other instructions and they didn’t make sense to this layman. I am now pinning on my iPad. Keep up the good work
Problem: I don’t think I can highlight the entire code on my iPhone. I used the blue dot things to drag it but it didn’t work, then I turned my iPhone sideways & it worked better, but I think some of the code is cut off from the page. 🙁
I have an ipod and how do I ‘copy’ the javascript? Do I take a picture of it?
You need to use your iPods Copy/Paste functionality. Use your finger to press the screen somewhere in the text – hold it to the screen until you see little grab handles appear. then drag the handles to the start and end of the text block so that the whole area is covered in blue. You’ll get a “copy” option appear on the screen – press that, and then you have copied the text.
I love you sooooooooo much. Have been trying to figure this out for weeks!!! Happy pinning.
Thanks for the tutorial. It worked perfectly thank you!
Worked like a charm. Now how do you upload pics from your gallery onto pinterest.?
Thank you! Thank you! You are perfect! All is clear, finally i’ve got my PIN button!
I can only get it to open back up to pinterest like the lady a few entries before?? So frustrating!
Have you got the Pinterest app installed on your iPad? My experience with that was when I pressed my “pin in” button it would switch to the Pinterest app, but if I went back to Safari I could continue pinning from there. Make sure you’re logged in to Pinterest through Safari before you start.
To be honest after a short time I removed the Pinterest app from my iPad because it was frustrating me when it kept switching whenever I pinned anything, and because I think Pinterest is perfectly useable through Safari on the iPad
Thanks for the great tip….followed the directions and it worked like charm!
Great post. It worked like a charm! Thank you for the “step by step” instructions!
Thank you soo much!,,
Thank you so much….has made things so much easier!
Thank you. Brilliant instructions. All done on iPad and iPhone in 5 mins.
Thanks so very much! Was very easy to follow these instructions and it worked great.
Thank you! I am thrilled to be able to pin from my iPad. And you also helped me understand what bookmark bar is. Feel silly now, but glad you mentioned it.
Wow, exactly what I needed! Thanks for the helpful step by step with pictures, this was great!!
Finalmente! Grazie, grazie, grazie!
Hello! I can’t do it. My problem is that I don’t have the “Edit” button on my Bookmarks. What can I do?
Thank you so much for this guide!!!!
HUGE thank you for this!!!
So easy…with your help. Thanks!
Thank you SO much for this! Your directions were awesome!
Thank you sooooooo much! I’ve been trying to do this forever! And none of the ways they said to do it worked at all! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! 🙂
Thank you SO much! Only directions I understood with regards to getting Pin It for myself!!
Thank you, you made it so easy.
Lee
x
Thanks for the tips..Really helps…was about to give up on Pinning on ipad then stumbled across your website..so let’s start pinning shall we…THanks again 🙂
I read directions from 2 other sites, but yours was the only one I could make sense of. Success! Thank you!
Thank you for the amazing article – I managed to get it working first time on my iPad, but I wondered if you were aware of a way of installing the button for Chrome for iPad – I tried a bit but don’t think that it will work through the bookmarks, as it doesn’t pop up as a menu over the page you’re browsing, but instead leads you to a completely different page where the bookmarks are displayed. If you know of any way to Do this that would be great 🙂
Wow, thank you so much, it worked perfectly!
Woohoo! Fantastic!! Worked perfectly and I have already pinned some things to verify it’s functionality. Plus, I learned some great tips for the finer techy points of my new iPad! You totally rock MummyGeek! Thank you!
Thank you for this help. I want to add a similar bookmark in Safari for MyRegistry but can’t locate the javascript. Does anyone know if there’s a way to find it?
Thanks that is brilliant. Took a few times but got there…perhaps helpful if you explain about saving the pasted code into the pin it tab in a bit more detail as first time did not understand how to save it in there. Really appreciate your post and will pin it to my pinterest 🙂
Thank you so much for this insightful post! I’d never have worked out that HTML! This pin it button is really useful for my blog!
I too would like to know if there is a way to install the button in Chrome on the iPad? Any ideas?
Best Tutorial EVER !!!!! THANK YOU !!!!!!!!!!!! Do you do any other super cool tutorials for iPad. iPhone ?????
Thanks for this very easy and useful tip. This will make pinning much easier.
Superb!!!!!! Thanks!!!!!
You Rock!
This worked on my iPad and iPhone. Thanks very much!
This is great! Was having a nightmare with a third party app trying to pin stuff. Only problem I am finding is that it only seems to work when I’m connected to wireless. The pinning page does nothing if I’m connected via to net via 3G. Any thoughts? Or am I going completely bonkers?!
Worked perfectly and it was so easy! Thank you!
Grazieeee! your post has been so helpfull!! I ❤ it!!!
Thankyou SO much for sharing! :)) I’ve been wanting to do this for ages!
Thank you so much! I’ve been hoping to do this forever! I love Pinterest!
I have tried and tried to get the pin it on my ipad and only your post worked!!!!! i am soooo grateful and tried to go to that voting site, but I am not a techy mom and cannot find a thumbs up or voting button. Help ? 🙂
Awww, thanks for trying. Voting closed a couple of days ago, which is why you couldn’t find the thumbs up button any more. I just hadn’t got around to removing the button from this post yet.
Awesome!!! Thanks for showing how to do this!
Thanks so much for the help. I was thinking something was wrong with me since I couldn’t figure this out!
Wowereit, it worked. Thanx so much
& greetings from Berlin.
I appreciate this guide. Thank you!
Worked a treat first time. Thanks for sharing your guide.
Thank you very much!!
Brilliant. Clear step by step instructions that worked! Thank you so much!
IT WORKED!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH : )
Thanks so much for the tip!
Geek Monkey, you’re a peach!
It works!!!!
Thanks for such clear and
complete direction.
Thx this works
Thanks this works
PERFECT DIRECTIONS!!! Thank u!
Great instructions! I did it!
Awesome! Great instructions – it worked the first time. Thank you so much! I have been wanting to do this forever!
This worked great. Thank u!!!
That was easy!! It works! Thanks for the super easy instructions.
I love you! Thanks for this geekmummy. So much easier than other instructions I tried.
This is amazing! Thank you so much! I was hesitant at first, but the really works!
Thanks, it works!!!
I followed the directions and was able to create “pin it” button but not pinning. I clicked it bright up pics to use for pin so I thought it was working but once I select pic, it just goes to another screens the website I’m on and never pins anything. Any idea why?? Thanks. Ps. I am logged in on safari and on my app
If you’ve already checked that you’re logged in to Pinterest, my next thought would be that maybe the code didn’t copy and paste properly. Be really careful when you copy the code that you’ve highlighted it all, without including any space at the beginning or end.
I decided to copy and paste into my NOTE PAD to see what pasted. Looks like there is extra space when I highlighted text. Did it each time I tried. So I backspaces and recopied. Well it worked perfect on my iPhone. Hope I can get it to work on my mil iPad. Now if iPhone could let us see the actual bookmark bar in safari on iPhone. Instead of hitting bookmark “book”. Thanks for help!!
Glad you got it working, thanks for letting me know 🙂
Brilliant. Thanks.
OMG, you are brilliant! I have been desperately wanting a pin it button on my iPhone for ages. Thank you soooo much for taking the time to put this on the web for me to find.
Thank you! Best instructions I found.
Yay managed to do it, amazing. Thank you.xxx
That is JUST GREAT !!!!! My frustration is at an end !!!! Thanks a lit !!!! <3
Awesome!
Thanks a lot!
Wow! Thank you! I have wanted this function for a while. I appreciate the step by step instructions. Thanks again!
Thanks so much for the awesome info….I now can pin, from my IPAD! You’re the best!
Merry
Thank you so much! I was beginning to think it couldn’t be done. The YouTube video I watched showed an ‘add bookmarklet’ button in the account settings on the actual Pinterest app, which wasn’t on my app at all.
Thank you! It worked!
You are my rock star hero. This is the only place I found a solution to my problem. Thank you!!!
HUGE THANKS!!! Very clear, easy to follow instructions. Worked beautifully!
This is perfect! I’ve just done it and it works great. Thank you!
Thanks for taking the time to do this! Sooooo helpful : )
Worked like a dream on my iPhone – awesome thanks so much. Phil x
Yay, it worked….. Thank you so much!!!
I followed the instructions exactly as posted and its working great! I was intimidated by all the steps, but everything was there and worked as promised. Thank you so much!
This was very very helpful! Thank you so much (o:
It worked…but, when I pin something, it will not allow me to use the dropdown menu to change the board. Any suggestions? Thanks!
Hi, I have done everything as you said and it appears to be working but at the last minute a message comes up that says “Safari cannot open the page because it is a local file”. It happens on all of the pages I try to pin. Not sure what I did wrong..
At first guess it sounds like you didn’t quite copy all the text in the text box. I would say try again and make sure you get all the text but no space at the start or end. Let me know if that works.
Hello again. I had copied all of the text but had left the http: in front of it. I corrected this however when I try to pin something now, it brings up a pic to choose from, a text box to choose the folder to pin it and the discription text box but it won’t actually let me choose a folder or write a description. Not sure if I explained that correctly. sorry.
OK, it now sounds like the code for the button is right, so start by going to pinterest.com and logging in, and then navigate to the page you want to pin from and try.
Still having the same problem,when I try to pin something, it brings up a pic to choose from, a text box to choose the folder to pin it and the discription text box but it won’t actually let me choose a folder or write a description or press the pin it button.
Thanks for sharing this info, so very helpful and I used it right away!
thankyou, thankyou, thankyou!
Love it! Thank you!
It worked! Thank you so much!!
Thank you so much!!!
Thank you so much! I have been dying to know how to do this, and you spelled it out so easily, step by step. It is soooooo appreciated!
thank you so much! i just switched to a mac and couldn’t figure out how to add the pin it button to my browser. this worked perfectly!
Yay! Super quick and easy, thank you!
You are the best. I did not know how to do this! Thank you.
Tank you so much – easy when knowing! Tanks for sharing.
Wow, am I every happy I found your post on adding Pin It to an ipad (mini) – it worked. Whew. I added your blog to my blogroll so I can come back and learn something else new.
You are great!
First time it worked!
Thankyou
Didn’t work . Uug what am I doing wrong??
Most problems are either as a result of not copying the code above correctly (you really need to make sure you have all the code highlighted with no blank space either at the beginning or the end), or due to not being logged in to Pinterest before trying to pin something. Try again, being really careful with the code, and see if it works.
Thanks a ton for sharing the stuff guys… I was having issues with bookmarks too!
Thank you – it worked!!!!!! Been wanting to do that for ages!
Thank you so much for doing this!!! So helpful and “to the point” 🙂 just what I needed and “Pin it” is now working flawlessly on my iPhone! Thanks again! -amber
I’m feeling not too smart here, as I’ve tried to copy the code snippet above, but can’t seem to get it to copy?? Do you know what I’m doing wrong?
Thanks
I got it!! Just trying to get it without spaces. Thanks for the great information & such detailed instructions!!
☺
Glad you got it working in the end 🙂
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I have been wondering how to do this for ages!
That’s great I was also searching for this information about to add the pin it button. Thanks
I am trying to do this on my iPhone and am having no luck. I’m pretty techni-savvy and in stumped. Please help? When I am on a website I want to pin, I go into my bookmarks and hit my “pin it” and absolutely nothing happens.
Usually the cause of this is that you aren’t logged in to your Pinterest account. In Safari on your iPhone go to Pinterest.com, and log in. Then go to the page you want to pin and see if it will work.
Also check other pages – some web sites have pinning disabled.
Thank you so much for sharing this. It was easy to fallow along even for me I am new to the whole apple family! Thanks again
Thank you. Worked like a charm.
I followed instructions similar to these a while back and have been pinning happily away until it just stopped working. Now whenever I try to log in from my iPhone, I get a forbidden 403 message. Any way to install a pin it button through chrome?
Thank you for the step by step instructions – the instructions on Pinterest were horrible.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this great tip on pinning. You have made my life so much easier and saved me countless hours!!!!!
Thanks so much. It worked! Now how do I pin items from my camera roll? Hummm
Your instructions were 1000% clearer than Pinterest. I even in encouraged them to visit your site to see how their instructions should be written. Thank you.
THank you, glad my instructions were useful 🙂
Okay I am feeling the mom brain right now… When I make the initial bookmark, what website am I supposed to be making it of?? I keep trying this but it is not clicking so to speak.
Trying to create pinit button for pinterest on iPad. Not working…do not get option to paste address….any ideas
Disregard my comment….got it to work!! Thanks for the instructions…
Glad you got it working 🙂
Was just about to give up on Pinterest when I found your web site
So easy when you know how !
So easy to understand
Thanks so much
Thank you!!!
Tried with the new ios7 and could not figure it out…
It does work with the new iOS 7, but some of the menus and options have moved around a bit. I will write an updated guide as soon as I can. I’ve been meaning to record a video as well, perhaps this could be my motivation 🙂
I am trying to figure out how to PIN things to PINTERST from FACEBOOK. I did get the pin button put on my mini ipad( it is a bit different from a regular i pad) but now I cannot figure out how to use it on Facebook. Can you help me?
Hi Cathy, Facebook is set up to deliberately prevent images being pinned from there I’m afraid. Whilst a quick Google will show a few ways to work around this on a PC or Mac, I haven’t seen any information on how to work around it on the iPad. I must confess it’s something I haven’t looked into in any detail because I’ve never felt the need.
I just did this and it worked like a charm…and believe me I am NO PC geek!
I feel if I can do it any one can. I’ve pinned 3 test pins all with perfection!
Thanks for the detailed instructions!
It worked!!! Thanks so much, your the best.
This still works and is exactly what I was working for. Thank you so much for sharing. I have even pinned this in case I need again one day.
Very clear and concise article. Great
Best advice…it works!!! Thanks!!
Yay, it worked! Many thanks!
Brilliant!
After 6 attempts finally got there….trouble was that after an upgrade my iPad is nothing like yours. Some things have moved, most now look different and some things just aren’t there anymore.
Anyway I can now Pin happily from my iPad so many thanks.
Janey
Yes, I want to write an updated version of this to match the iOS changes – it’s on the “to do” list! Glad you still managed to get it working anyway 🙂
Thanks very much! Your instructions worked like a charm, and gave me just what I was looking for. 🙂
That is great:) Thank you very much for your detailed instructions. I’ve done it easliy:) This is the thng that I looking for for the months:)
Thanks you so much!! Followed the directions successfully and I can now pin on my iPad 2 running iOS 7. x x
You are a genius! Thank you so much.
Brilliant!! 😀
Interesting article but am I missing something? The iPhone Pinterest app for iOS has been around for a number of years and I see comments about this method dated as recent as late 2015. I’m working on my 4th iPhone and there’s always been a Pinterest app that I’ve used. If you have the Pinterest app installed, then the Pin It option appears automatically in the row of options for any article or image you view. It appears if you are working from within the Pinterest app and it also appears if you are using Safari to browse the internet and see something you want to pin. It also works just fine, if not better, if you are using the Pinterest web site and want to repin. I even use it from within the New York Times app to pin articles I read. Do the steps outlined above do any of this better? Thanks.