Idea Boards
Arrange notes, to-dos and comments on a canvas with no edges, and draw lines between them.
An Idea Board is a freeform canvas in Personal or a team. Each item stays at the point it was dropped, columns stack items in order, and lines connect one item to another. Changes to positions and content are saved to the board as they are made.
Get started freeNotes, to-dos, comments, columns and lines
The tool rail down the left of the canvas adds each kind of item: in the part of the canvas in view, without covering other items, or at the point a tool is dragged to. With a mouse, double-clicking empty canvas starts a note. Images and links go on the board the same way.
- Note
- Text in its own card. A new note that is left without any writing in it is removed.
- To-do
- A checklist with a title. Typing in the empty last row adds a task, and each task has its own tick box.
- Comment
- A card that holds a thread. Reply adds a comment under the last one, and Edit changes one already written.
- Column
- Items dragged onto a column stack in order, and moving the column moves them with it. Remove from column, in an item's menu, places it beside the column.
- Line
- An arrow from one item to another. An end can also be fixed to a point on empty canvas, and either end can be dragged to a different item.
- Added by
- An item's menu names the person who added it.
Moving around and zooming
The canvas has no edges. Drag empty canvas, scroll with a trackpad or mouse wheel, hold Space and drag from anywhere, or press the arrow keys. On a touch screen, two fingers move the canvas, over items too.
- Zoom
- The minus and plus controls step between 10% and 200% and always stop at 100% on the way. Pinching, or holding Ctrl while scrolling, zooms around a point.
- Fit
- Shows every item at up to 100%. A board opens the way Fit shows it, at 50% or more; a board too big for that opens on its top-left items.
- Top left
- Keeps the zoom and moves the items to the top left of the window, bringing back any that have drifted off the edge.
- Each person's own view
- Zoom and position are not saved to the board, so they do not change it for anyone else.
Selecting and lining up items
Shift-click adds an item to the selection, Shift and a drag across empty canvas selects every item the box touches, and Cmd+A or Ctrl+A selects everything. Dragging an item in the selection moves the whole selection.
- Snapping
- A dragged item snaps into line with the edges and middles of the items in the window, and a red line shows what it lines up with. Holding Alt (Option on a Mac) places it freely.
- Width
- The handle on an item's right edge changes its width. Its height follows what is in it.
- Tidy up
- Gives items whose left or top edges nearly match the same edge, and moves an item down until it no longer overlaps another. With items selected, only those move.
- Lock
- A locked item shows a lock and cannot be dragged, resized or moved by Tidy up. It can still be edited and deleted.
- Undo
- Reverses the last move, tidy, resize or deletion made since the board was opened. It does not reverse typing.
Keyboard, mouse and touch
- Letter keys
- N adds a note, T a to-do list, K a link, I an image, C a comment, O a column, and L starts a line. Pressing ? on the board lists every shortcut.
- Right-click
- On empty canvas, the menu adds any kind of item at that point. On an item, it has Cut, Copy, Duplicate, Lock position, Bring to front, Send to back and Move to trash.
- Phones and tablets
- On a phone the tools are in a strip along the bottom of the screen. Pressing and holding an item opens its menu.
Start an Idea Board.
Create a Magpie account, open Idea Boards in Personal or a team, and choose New board.