This tool uses csv files of collections created using a special bookmarklet developed for use with this auto pinner. A csv file
is a "Comma Separated Values" file, and they are commonly used as a way of getting data from one application to another.
Note that you don't have to use the automated pinning, you can pin manually if you'd prefer.
This tool has been thoroughly tested on the Firefox, Chrome, Vivaldi and Opera browsers.
When you've finished setting things up (the boards and files of collections you'll be using) steps are taken to make sure you don't
accidently pin spammy and poor quality collections, nor collections you've pinned before.
Before auto pinning starts, the collections are first shuffled. This is important to make sure you are pinning
backwards and forwards between boards.
You can use up to 10 csv files (each containing up to 60 collections) and pin to up to 10 Pinterest boards. You can use the same
board for more than one csv file if you like.
To avoid Pinterest rate-limiting your pinning, there is a long delay between each group of 20 pins. The recommended
is 60 mins with a minimum of 40 mins. After each 80 pins there is a super-long recommended delay of 90 mins (minimum 45).
Finally, it's a good idea to shut down your browser completely and then restart it from time to time. This is a recommendation
from the UI Vision RPA team and one that I recommend too.
Why? Browsers aren't really designed for round-the-clock, day in, day out use and are known to suffer from memory leaks and
other stuff that can lead to instability.
Completely closing all instances of your browser and restarting will give it a good clearout. This is especially
important if you've used your browser a lot since its last full shutdown. Clearing your browser's cache at the same time and
switching the UI Vision RPA add-on off and on again is a good idea as well.
FAQ
What text gets used in the description when a collection gets pinned?
▼
The bookmarklet grabs the description from the one that's used on the collection's page on
Zazzle.
If needs be it's cut back to 500 characters because that's the maximum number that
can be used on a pin.
How do I get the csv files of the collections I want to pin?
▼
Use either of the bookmarklets you get below - one is designed for getting collections from
stores and one for getting them from the marketplace. Click the blue "Get" button just above
the table and follow the instructions.
Why is there a separate bookmarklet for marketplace collections?
▼
It's because getting to the page of collections you want in the marketplace is a right old
pain and can take a long time if you need to go more than a handful of pages deep.
The marketplace bookmarklet gets round that by letting you say what page number you want
to start from and how many pages of collections you want to get.
It then does all the laborious clicking for you, getting to the start page and then
gathering the collections there for you. When it's done your start page, it moves to the next
page and gets the collections there.
It keeps doing that until it reaches the last page number you gave it, up to a maximum of 10
pages worth or 600 collections.
Can I use the store bookmarklet on marketplace collections and vice versa?
▼
You can use the store collections bookmarklet on marketplace collections but not the other
way around.
You might find it easier this way to begin with but once you need to go more than a few pages
deep for a given search, then using the dedicated marketplace bookmarklet is the way to go.
Can I mix using the store and marketplace bookmarklets in the setup table below?
▼
Yes. The csv files created by them are identical - use whichever works best for you for each
board.
You might even have three rows in the table for the same board, two where you use the store
bookmarklet and the other where you use the marketplace bookmarklet. You're entirely free to
mix and match them however you like.
Is my referral id used in the links?
▼
If you pay a Nifty subscription then yes, it's used in all links (applies both to normal and
promototer program subscriptions).
If you don't pay a subscription, then at the toss of a computer coin, either yours gets used
or mine does. On average, yours will be used in half the links.
This is known as a 50/50 referral split and helps to pay for the Nifty web server.
Can I get clean links suitable for the Zazzle Promoter Program?
▼
No. It's because sometimes a collection refers to a member and sometimes to a store but
there's just not enough information to tell programtically when it would be right to use
clean links for a given user. Better to get 15% than nothing!
What does csv mean?
▼
It stands for "comma separated values" - csv files are ordinary text files and they are a
common way of moving information around. The csv files used by this auto pinner are a simple list of
collection ids, separated by commas.
See this csv article on Wikipedia for more (opens in a new window)
There's a lot of 'spammy' collections in the marketplace. What can be done so I don't accidentally pin any?
▼
1) The Nifty community contributes to a list of the worst ones. These are automatically removed
as you set things up to start auto pinning.
2) In addition to that exclusions list, potentially poor quality / spammy ones in your csv files
are identified for you to review and remove, if that's what you want.
If you do, you're given a list of them to copy and paste into your own exclusions list for you
to use next time.
How can I make sure I don't pin the same collection more than once?
▼
Once auto pinning completes, you get given a list of the collections that got pinned. It's
automatically downloaded for you and you can use that list next time to make sure none of them get
pinned again.
As time goes on and use keep on using the auto pinner, you'll get more and more of these downloads.
They're all dated in their filenames and you can either upload and apply them one at a time or you
can use your favourite text editor to combine them. It's up to you, whichever works best for you.
How can I contribute to the exclusions list that's maintained by the Nifty community?
▼
Do I need a separate user account on my computer to run this tool?
▼
If you want to have it running during the day while you're using your computer to browse the web for
other things and you want to be absoulutely sure it won't get in your way, then yes.
Or you could use a different browser for the auto pinner, eg: use Chrome for your normal day-to-day
stuff and reserve Firefox for the auto pinner.
Another approach you could use is only to run it overnight (no need to have your monitor on for it)
and stop it the next day when you're ready to start working with your computer for other things.
The recovery option provided will happily let you stop and start like this over as long as it takes
to pin them all.
Where can I find the automatically downloaded file listing the successful pins?
▼
When auto pinning finishes, the file gets downloaded to your browser's downloads directory.
What are all those green question marks about?
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They give help on the topic they're next to. Click once to reveal the help text and again to hide it.
Can I use this tool to pin collections manually?
▼
Yes, if that's what you want. Once you've uploaded a collections csv file and then
loaded it, you're ready to go.
Use the arrow keys to move to the collection you want to pin. Hit the pin button and
choose the board to pin to.
When it's pinned the new tab will close by itself and you're then ready for your next
pin.
Note that this type of use is a bit of a kludge - even though it's not used for manual
pinning, you still have to put something into the load table for the board name.
That's because it won't let you use the LOAD button until you do. It's only when you
come to pin that you choose the actual board name to pin to.
No csv files loaded yet, so no collections to display - load below
Number Skipped:0The most recent was due to a problem on collection number: -n/a-
Set board names and their csv files of collections
Add the following hashtags to all pin descriptions:
Use: #affiliatelinkUse: #adUse:
Show board/csv file
controls - not for use once you've started auto-pinning unless you're prepared to start over.
Why? Collections from your csv files and their board names only get 'locked in' when you hit their "Load" buttons. If you've already
started auto-pinning, loading again will start things from scratch.
Use either of the Nifty Collections Auto Pinner bookmarklets to make the collections csv files needed below
Get your bookmarklet by dragging its underlined word (NiftyStoreCAP or NiftyMarketplaceCAP) to your bookmarks toolbar.
You're then ready to use it on Zazzle. Read more in the respective help section for each, below.
You can use up to 10 csv files as the source for your pins. If you want, you can use the same board name more than once but
the boards have to already exist on your Pinterest.
The Store Collections Bookmarklet
For you to use on a store's collections page (public view, not backend view)
This bookmarklet is designed to be used on a store's collections page - the public view, not the
backend one.
If you pay a Nifty subscription, all links will use your referral id. If not, on a random computer
coin toss basis, half the links on average will use yours and half will use my referral id.
You'll be asked for a tracking code, with a default one supplied as a suggestion to start you off. When
giving your tracking code, there's no need to include a date because one is added automatically
during pinning.
Notes:
Promoter program clean links aren't supported. If you are in that program you'll still get the 15%
affiliate referral commission on sales arising.
You could use this bookmarklet on the marketplace collections page but on pages beyond the
first half dozen or so it's a lot harder to use. Why? It's because there's no quick way to get to
a particular page - you have to keep clicking the next page navigation arrow. Better to use the
specifically designed marketplace bookmarklet - read about it below.
The Marketplace Collections Bookmarklet
For you to use on the marketplace collections page (https://www.zazzle.com/collections)
When you use it (on the marketplace collections page only, not for store collections), you'll be
prompted to give a tracking code, a starting page number and an ending page number (covering no more
than 10 pages in total).
To make it easier for you, a default one will be given for you to edit as desired. The format is:
tracking_code/sp=StartingPage/ep=EndingPage
Here's an example:
pntrst_nifty_collections_easter/sp=9/ep=11
With that, when you click ok it'll:
keep clicking the next page button until it reaches page 9
get the details of the 60 collections on that page
click to move to the next page and get the 60 there
click the next page button again to get to page 11 and get the 60 there
When that's completed, a csv file holding the details for those 180 collections will be downloaded
automatically for you.
Promoter program clean links aren't supported. If you are in that program you'll still get
the 15% affiliate referral commission on sales arising.
If you pay a Nifty subscription, all links will use your referral id. If not, on a random
computer coin toss basis, half the links on average will use yours and half will use my
referral id.
More on the tracking code: If you don't give a tracking code at all, a default one will be
used that picks up the search term you used on the collections page.
There's no need to include a date in your tracking code because one is added automatically
during pinning.
Pinterest board 1:
File 1:
Pinterest board 2:
File 2:
Pinterest board 3:
File 3:
Pinterest board 4:
File 4:
Pinterest board 5:
File 5:
Pinterest board 6:
File 6:
Pinterest board 7:
File 7:
Pinterest board 8:
File 8:
Pinterest board 9:
File 9:
Pinterest board 10:
File 10:
Crash Recovery / Shutdown Continuation Mode
Board names being used:
Delay (minutes): between pins: ,
long delay after each 20 pins:
super long delay after each 80 pins:
:
Long delay: , Super long delay:
Note that times are approximate because of the randomness that's part of each delay (so pinning doesn't happen like clockwork).
( -1) pins X mins X fiddle factor of 1.72 => hours, plus:
(/16) -1 => long delays X mins => hours, plus:
(/64) -1 => super long delays X mins => hours
giving a grand total of hours => or days
(why the -1 each time? It's because the delays occur between pins and groups)
Note that there is a random element involved with each - it's so that the pins won't be made like clockwork. Each delay will
actually lie somewhere between 0.75 and 1.25 of the one set.
You don't have to stick with the recommended timings, you can make them longer or shorter. The minimum delays you can set are:
Between pins: 2 mins (recommended is 3)
Long delay between groups of 16 pins: 30 mins (recommended is 60)
Super long delay between groups of 80 pins: 45 mins (recommended is 90)
- return to boards and files
Manage Removals
This section:
lets you see the system-maintained exclusion list of collections that are automatically removed for you
lets you review and prevent the pinning of any potentially poor quality collections that are automatically identified
allows you to make sure you don't pin collections you've already pinned
gives you a way to prevent pinning the collections in your own exclusions list
This section only appears when you have browsed for and loaded at least one csv file of collections for pinning.
System Exclusions List
Ids of Collections in System Exclusions list
System Exclusions are those maintained as part of Nifty and are automatically applied. Anyone can contribute to them
via private messaging on the NiftyToolz Facebook Group.
It's a list of manually checked collections that have previously been found to be poor quality. They often have:
descriptions that are stuffed with event names that are nothing to do with the theme / design of the collection eg: These make great gifts for Christmas, Mother's Day, Father's Day, July 4th, Valentine's Day, Thanksgiving, Graduation and so on
descriptions that are stuffed with relationship names that are nothing to do with the theme of the collection
and its products, eg: These make perfect gifts for brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, sons, daughters, boyfriends, girlfriends and so on
See also the section on poor quality collections, below.
Remove previously pinned collections / own exclusions list
How does removal work?
Each time the auto pinner completes the pinning of collections, it automatically creates and downloads for you a record
of the collections successfully pinned. Later, you can use the dowloaded file to prevent pinning them again.
Once you've done this more than once, you can use your favourite editor to combine those downloads into one file to
make the whole removal process easier. Do remember when you're combining files to add a comma betweeen the last collection id of
one file and the first collection id of the next.
Or you can upload those files individually and remove the matching collections for each one, one at a time - it's up to you.
You can also use this section to remove collections in your own exclusions list. A good place to start one is from the list of
poor quality ones (see below), once you've reviewd and removed the ones you don't want. The list of collection ids you're given is perfect for
an exclusions list.
IMPORTANT: The final set of collections for pinning only gets "locked in" once you start auto pinning and
the recovery file gets created for the first time (after the first successful pin). This means if you have a crash or need
to start over before it reaches that point, you'll need to go through the removal process again.
Load your list of previously pinned collections or your own list of exclusions:
Ids of Collections in loaded file
Possible poor quality collections
To identify Collections that are potentially of poor quality, the descriptions are checked and scored
according to various criteria.
The criteria used include those descriptions with:
more than 800 characters. By itself this is ok and is only an indicator that other criteria should be checked
many different event names
lots of relationship names
any web site addresses within the first 500 characters that aren't for a Zazzle store
You can review the images, titles and desccriptions of any meeting those criteria and then remove the ones you don't want
pinned. You're given a list of the collection ids of the ones you removed and you can copy and paste them into your own exclusions list,
if that's what you want.
Note that if you do the checking for poor quality collections then any email addresses found will be replaced with the text "[Zazzle messaging]"
Review
Removed
board:
tot num collections:
num pins b4 long delay:
recovery: initial num pins b4 first long delay:
num pins b4 super long delay:
num collections left to pin:
next collection to pin:
referral id:
Remember, Pinterest board names are case sensitive. Also, you can't use boards containing sections.
For Chrome, Vivaldi and Opera browsers on Windows 10, this must be the only window / tab open before auto-pinning starts.
For all browsers, once you start automated pinning you must leave the browser completely alone so you don't mess up the macro that's running.
Pausing things / shutting down
If you need to pause the Auto Pinner for some reason, just click the "Pause" button at top right of the UI Vision RPA window.
Continuing after a pause
After pausing it, get it going again with the "Resume" button that will appear.
Shutting down your browser / computer
You can also use a similar approach if, for whatever reason, you need to shut down your browser or computer. Instead of hitting
the "Pause" button, hit the "Stop" button.
Don't worry, you'll be able to continue where you left off when you're next ready by loading the recovery file. Find the button
for it in the "Continuing after an error / shut down" section below.
Continuing after an error / shut down
Normally, after a hiccup that causes the macro to fail, you just advance to the next collection (in case the last pin was actually successful)
and then click the "Play Macro" button
at the top right of the UI Vison RPA macro window.
Things will then continue where they left off...
Some errors you might experience
These are some of the error messages that you might see in the UI Vision RPA window and what to do if you get them. Most are displayed
in the "Logs" tab at the bottom - scroll down to the end of that tab to see the message
When you try to start auto-pinning, you get a message saying Ui Vision isn't installed - when you know it is! Action: Close your browser down completely (see below). When you restart your browser, all should be well.
You get a message saying that the Context has been invalidated when you try to start auto-pinning. Action: Use your browser's add-ons manager and switch the UI Vision add-on off and on again. Then refresh your browser and you should
be ready to start. If you were already part way through pinning, use the recovery option to continue where you left off.
Not connected to Browser Action: Use your browser's add-ons manager and switch the UI Vision add-on off and on again. Then refresh your browser and you should
be ready to start.
If you were already part way through pinning, use the recovery option to continue where you left off.
Could not establish connection. Receiving end does not exist Action: Close any Pinterest tabs left open and then hit the Play Macro button to continue. If that doesn't fix it and the errors come back,
close your browser down completely (see below). When you restart your browser, all should be well and you can use the recovery option.
ipc promise: onAsk timeout 10000 for cmd "RUN_COMMAND", args "[object Object]" Action: Switch off UI Vision RPA with your browser's add-on manager and switch it on again. Close your browser and wait for a minute. Restart
your browser and use the recovery option to continue.
How to completely close down your browser
To do this on a Mac, right-click it in the Mac Dock and choose quit
In Windows 10, File -> Exit
If you still see your browser icon in the system tray after this, click it and select exit
Give it a minute to tidy up and then you’re ready to restart your browser
Make sure you refresh your browser after going to the auto-pinner page
General tip
Every so often, completely shut down your browsers if you’ve been auto-pinning with them. Why? Browsers aren’t designed for 24/7/365
use and, over time, they leak memory (amongst other things) that can cause problems with UI Vision RPA.
How often will I see failures?
This is a relatively new tool and we're all gaining experience on this. The thing is, browsers weren't really built for this sort of
application, so we can't really complain.
For more serious hiccups
To allow for more serious hiccups, the auto-pinner creates a recovery file
behind the scenes to allow you to continue after browser or computer crashes and the like.
(If one already exists, it's renamed with the date and time appended to the filename so that it's not overwritten
on the next macro run.)
How does recovery work?
The auto-pinner records and places that recovery csv file in local storage.
As well as holding a record of all the products loaded from the feeds, the file contains the total number available to pin and
the number of the next one to pin.
When you click the "load from recovery file" button below, the information is loaded and used by the auto-pinner to work out
where to continue from. After it's loaded, the product displayer is recreated using the same products and order from before. After
that, the product displayer moves to the next product to pin and everything's now ready for you to start from where it left off.
All you do then is click the "Start auto-pinning session" button, above, and things will continue from that point on.
Store here a summary of the csv files and their collections that you're autopinning
Use these notes to summarise what you've been autopinning so you can see at a glance what you've already done. That way
you can quickly plan out what to do next.
For each csv file, I'd note the exact search term the page number and the board name used.
When you click save, the date is added at the front so you always know when you did what. These
notes are specific to the 10-60 Collections Auto Pinner.
If you need to, you can edit an existing note (but not the date it was created). When you've made your edits, click
Update to apply your changes. The edited date is added at the end of the note.
The notes are stored locally in your browser and are 'persistent' so they're always available, even after you
shut down and restart things. They're specific to the browser you're using at the time, so if you use different
browsers, each will have its own notes.
It's a good idea not to put any personal info in them, just in case.
If you want to know more, read about local storage on
this Wikipedia page (opens in a new tab / window).
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