Idea Boards

Turn a list of ideas into an Idea Board laid out in columns, by pasting a JSON document.

A JSON document lists columns and the cards in each, and Magpie places them on a board, ready to drag. Import it as a new board, or add it to a board already in use. The assistant on Dashboard can also find boards, search and count their items, and add to them.

Get started free

What the document describes

The document describes grouping, not positions: a title, columns with the cards in each from top to bottom, and loose notes. Cards are placed in their column and belong to it, so moving the column moves them with it. Loose notes, for thoughts that belong to no column yet, are placed in a row under the columns.

A document needs at least one column or one note, and a column has only a title and its cards.

Note cards
A thought in its own words. A card is a note unless it says otherwise, so a column of plain thoughts needs only their text.
To-do cards
A title and a list of tasks. The tasks arrive unticked.
Link cards
A full web address, with an optional title and description.
The board's title
The new board's name. A document without one makes a board called Untitled board.

A new board, or more on a board already in use

  1. Import a board from JSON

    On the Idea Boards page, the pasted document will become a new board in Personal or the selected team, with its columns and cards laid out.

  2. Import JSON on a board

    In the board's File menu, Add to this board will place the document's columns and cards in a new row under everything already on the canvas, starting at its left edge. Nothing already on the board is moved or removed.

  3. After the import

    A message will say how many columns, cards and notes were added. On an existing board, the view will move to the new cards and select them, so they can be dragged or deleted together.

Checked before anything is saved

The whole document is checked first. If any part of it does not fit the format, nothing will be saved: no board will be created, and nothing will be added to the open board. The message under the box names the exact part that caused it.

An import is saved as one change. If its cards would take a board past the free plan's number of items per board, none of them will be saved.

Copy the prompt, in either import box, copies the format with instructions for writing a document in it. Help describes the same format field by field, with a complete example.

Idea Boards in the assistant

The assistant on Dashboard works with the boards in Personal or the selected team, with the access you have.

Find and search
Finds boards by title, and searches the notes, to-dos, links, images, comments, columns and lines on the boards you choose.
Count
Gives exact item counts, grouped by board or by kind of item. An empty board appears with zero items in a count by board.
Create and change
Creates and deletes boards, and adds, changes and deletes their items. It will ask you to confirm before it moves a board to Trash or deletes an item.
Follow-up questions
A follow-up can reuse the boards from an earlier answer. It reads their current items unless you ask for the earlier saved result, and access is checked again each time.

Import your first board.

Create a Magpie account, open Idea Boards, and paste a document into Import a board from JSON.

Create account