Canvas: whiteboards and mind maps

Whiteboards and mind maps

Create → Canvas lists a project's canvases. A whiteboard is a blank space for sticky notes, shapes, text, connectors, drawings, images and frames. A mind map starts from a root node and keeps a grid. A canvas can be linked to more than one project, and the Canvas module shows every canvas you can open.

The tools

The tools run down the board's left edge (along the bottom on a phone), each with a one-key shortcut: V Select, H Hand (holding Space does the same), N Sticky note, S Shape, T Text, L Connector, P Pen, F Frame, I Image, C Comment. The tool you pick shows its options beside the rail. After you place something, the board goes back to Select; Escape does too. More holds templates, tables, task cards, lines, bringing in tasks from the project, and the eraser.

Sticky notes

Press N and click, or double-click an empty spot, to place a note and start typing. The text sizes itself to fit. Tab or Enter starts the next note to the right, ⌘Enter (Ctrl+Enter) starts one below, Shift+Enter adds a line, Escape finishes. New notes take the color you used last; select notes and press 1–7 to recolor. Text position in the notes bar puts the text in any of nine spots.

• Drag across empty board to select several notes.
• Delete or Backspace deletes the selection, with Undo in the message that appears.
• ⌘Z undoes moves, resizes, text and color changes, and things you added.

Make tasks

On a canvas linked to a project, select notes and click Make tasks, then pick a lane. Each note becomes a task in that lane, in the order the notes sit (top to bottom, then left to right): the first line is the title and the rest goes into the notes. The sticky notes stay, each with a small mark that opens its task. Empty notes and notes that are already tasks are skipped.

Shapes, connectors and text

Nine shapes, with a style bar docked at the bottom for shape, colors, font size and text position. Press L, click one thing then another, or drag from the dots on a shape's edge and let go anywhere on another shape. Connectors stay attached as things move, leaving from the side that faces the other end; select one to change its route (rounded elbow, elbow, straight or curved), color, thickness and arrowheads, and double-click it to label it.

Frames, presenting and exporting

Frames mark out parts of the board like slides. Press F and click to add one; double-click its title to rename it. Clicking inside a frame selects it; dragging it by its title carries everything inside. Frames at the top right lists them in reading order. Present shows them one at a time, full screen where the browser allows; arrows or Space move on, Escape stops. From the same panel, download a frame or the board as PNG, or every frame as a PDF, one page each.

Arranging

As you drag, guides appear when edges or centers line up with things nearby, and the item snaps into line. Resizing snaps too, to nearby edges and centers or to a neighbor's width or height; keep dragging to choose your own size, or hold Alt to turn snapping off for that move. Snap to grid sits with the zoom controls. Shift-click adds to a selection; ⌘G groups it, and a selected group has corner handles that resize everything in it (Shift keeps proportions); ⌘⇧G ungroups. With several things selected, the bar at the bottom aligns and spaces them; a group counts as one item there.

Templates and images

Start a canvas from a template (Retrospective, Brainstorm, User journey map, Roadmap, Flowchart) or add one to a board from More → Templates. Add a picture with I, by dropping image files on the board, or by pasting. PNG, JPEG, GIF and WebP up to 10 MB are stored privately with the canvas.

Working together

Everyone on the project can open its canvases; editors change them and viewers look and comment. Others' initials show at the top right, with their pointers, an outline in their color around what they selected, and a dashed outline while they type. Changes show as they happen, including things being dragged. Click someone's initial to jump to their selection.

Comments: press C and click a spot or a shape, write, and press Enter. A comment on a shape moves with it. Click a pin to read the thread, reply, or resolve it, which hides the pin; the Comments panel lists open threads.

Voting: an editor clicks Vote, sets how many dots each person gets, and starts the round. Everyone, viewers too, clicks shapes to place dots; nobody sees others' votes until the round ends, so people do not follow the crowd. End vote shows totals on the board and a ranked list.

Timer: counts down for everyone on the board at once. Editors start, pause, add a minute or stop it.

A timeline on the board

More → Timeline places a Timeline Studio timeline on a whiteboard as a live element. It is a window onto the timeline, not a copy: edit it in Studio and the board shows the change. Double-click it to open Studio.