How to Automate Pinterest with Make.com and Google Sheets (Free, No Code)

Pinterest rewards accounts that post every day. Not once a week, not in bursts — every day. For a solo seller running a business by themselves, that's simply not sustainable without a system.

This guide shows you exactly how to build a Pinterest automation setup using Make.com (free tier) and Google Sheets (free). You write the content once a month. The system posts it daily at 10 AM, automatically. No code required. No monthly subscription.

This is the exact system PinWorks runs on to promote itself on Pinterest. The fact that you found this post is the proof of concept.

What "Pinterest automation" actually means

There's a lot of confusion around this term. Let me be specific.

Scheduling means you upload a pin manually and set a time for it to post. You still create everything — the image, the title, the description. The tool just delays the posting. Tailwind, Buffer, and Later are scheduling tools.

Automation means the system reads from a data source (like a spreadsheet), creates and posts the pin, and updates the record — without you doing anything per pin. You batch-create content once, then the system handles daily execution for weeks.

The setup we're building is automation, not scheduling. You fill in a Google Sheet with your pin content. Make.com checks it every morning, posts the next ready pin to Pinterest, and marks it as published. You check in once a month to refill the sheet.

What you need

Three tools. All free at the volume we're working with.

Tool	What it does	Cost
Make.com	The automation engine. Reads your sheet, posts to Pinterest, updates the record.	Free tier: 1,000 ops/month. At 1 pin/day you use ~93.
Google Sheets	Your content calendar. Stores all pin data and tracks what's been posted.	Free
Google Drive	Image hosting. Pinterest needs a public direct URL for images. Drive provides this for free.	Free (15 GB)

The automation flow

Here's what happens every day:

1. Make.com wakes up at 10 AM on a schedule
2. It searches your Google Sheet for the oldest row where Column G = "Ready"
3. It reads the pin title, description, board name, image URL, and link URL from that row
4. It creates that pin on Pinterest in the correct board
5. It updates Column G to "Published" and fills Column H with today's date
6. Done. One pin posted.

The next morning it runs again and posts the next Ready row. Your sheet depletes by one row per day. When you have fewer than 7 Ready rows, you refill.

Setting up your Google Sheet

Create a new Google Sheet with exactly these 8 column headers in row 1:

Col	Header	What goes here
A	Date	YYYY-MM-DD format
B	Pin Title	Under 100 chars. Keyword first.
C	Pin Description	Under 500 chars including hashtags
D	Board Name	Must match your Pinterest board name exactly
E	Image URL	Google Drive direct URL (see below)
F	Link URL	Your shop or product page
G	Status	"Ready" = post this. "Published" = already posted.
H	Published Date	Leave empty — Make.com fills this.

The Google Drive image URL problem (and the fix)

When you share a file from Google Drive, the link looks like this:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ABC123XYZ/view?usp=sharing

That URL opens a preview page, not the raw image. Pinterest can't use it. The format that works:

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1ABC123XYZ

To convert: take the file ID (the long string between /d/ and /view) and paste it after id=. If you're using PinWorks, the included Google Apps Script adds a menu item that converts all your Drive links automatically.

Setting up Make.com

1. Create a free account at make.com
2. Go to Scenarios → Create a new scenario
3. Add the Scheduler module. Set it to run daily at 10 AM.
4. Add Google Sheets: Search Rows. Connect your account. Set filter: Column G = "Ready". Maximum returned rows: 1. Sort by Column A ascending (oldest first).
5. Add Pinterest: Create a Pin. Connect your Pinterest Business account. Map Title → Col B, Description → Col C, Board → Col D, Image URL → Col E, Link → Col F.
6. Add Google Sheets: Update a Row. Update Column G to "Published". Update Column H to {{now}}.
7. Turn on the scenario.

Total setup time: 20–30 minutes the first time. On the free tier (1,000 ops/month), one pin per day uses 4 ops × 31 days = 124 ops. You have 876 left over.

Creating content to fill your sheet

The automation handles posting. You still need to create the content. Here's a monthly routine that takes under 40 minutes total:

The 80/20 rule matters here. Only 20% of your pins should directly promote your product. 80% should be genuinely useful — tips, how-tos, education, and lifestyle content in your niche. Accounts that pin only their own products see much lower engagement than accounts that provide value first.

Testing before you go live

Before activating the daily schedule, run one manual test:

1. Fill in a single row. Set Column G to "Ready."
2. In Make.com, click Run once (don't enable the schedule yet).
3. Check Pinterest within 60 seconds. The pin should appear.
4. Check your Sheet. Column G should say "Published" and Column H should have today's date.

If it works, enable the schedule. The three most common failure points:

• Image URL is still a share link (fix: use uc?export=view&id= format)
• Board name doesn't match Pinterest exactly (check capitalisation)
• Pinterest account isn't authorised in Make.com (reconnect in the module settings)

Limitations worth knowing

It doesn't write your content. You still generate the copy and create images. The automation handles posting only.

It doesn't handle analytics. Check Pinterest Analytics manually, or add UTM parameters to your link URLs to track in Google Analytics.

Static pins only. Idea Pins and video pins require different API endpoints not available in this free-tier setup.

Google Drive URLs can occasionally fail. If you have your own website, hosting images there is more reliable long-term.

Frequently asked questions

Does automation hurt Pinterest reach? No. Pinterest has officially confirmed that using scheduling and automation tools has no negative impact on pin distribution. Content quality determines reach, not posting method.

How many pins per day? One fresh pin per day is enough. Consistency beats volume. Seven pins on Monday then silence for a week performs worse than one pin every day.

Can I post to multiple boards? Yes. Each row specifies a Board Name, so you can post to different boards on different days. Use a day-of-week rotation: Monday rows → primary board, Tuesday → education board, and so on.

Do I need a Pinterest Business account? Yes — a Business account (free) is required to access the API and connect Make.com. Convert in Pinterest Settings → Account Management → Convert to Business.

What if Make.com changes pricing? At current pricing, the free tier handles 1,000 ops/month. One pin/day uses 124. You'd need to scale to 8+ pins/day before hitting the limit. Most sellers running one pin/day stay on the free tier permanently.