Notes, arrows, frames and drawing

The cards on a canvas are your entries. Everything else on the board is yours to add around them: sticky notes, text, arrows, frames, shapes and drawings. They save with the board and show on your other devices.

The tool dock

The dock at the bottom of the board holds the tools, in this order. Press a tool’s key, or its number, to pick it.

The last slot holds the rest. It shows the one you used last, and the small arrow beside it opens them all:

Undo and redo sit at the start of the dock. Keep tool selected (the pin, or Q) sits at the end: with it on, the tool stays picked after you place a note, text, shape, arrow or frame, so you can place several in a row. Esc goes back to Select.

Selecting

• Click a shape to select it. Shift-click adds it to the selection, or takes it out.
• Drag across empty board to select everything the box touches. Hold Ctrl while you drag to select only what is fully inside. A frame is only selected when the box takes it in whole.
• Ctrl+A selects everything.
• Tab and Shift+Tab move to the next or previous shape, in rows from top to bottom. Ctrl and an arrow key selects the nearest shape that way.

A bar appears above what you select, with the actions for it. It hides while you drag, resize or type.

Sticky notes

1. Press N, or pick Note in the dock.
2. Click the board. A note appears where you click, ready to type in.
3. Press Esc, or click away, when you are done.

While you type in a note:

A new note snaps into the space beside another note when you put it close by. Notes grow to fit their text.

When a card or note is selected, small + dots show round its edges. Click one for a new note joined to it by an arrow, or drag from one to draw an arrow.

Make a note into an entry

A sticky can become a real entry in the view:

1. Select one or more notes with words on them.
2. In the selection bar, click Make task or Make note.
3. Each note becomes a live card in its place: a task, or a note entry filed as knowledge. The note’s first line is the title and the rest goes into the entry’s notes.

The new entries join the view. A note stamped done becomes a task that is already done. Undo puts the note back and deletes the entry. You cannot make cards past the board’s card cap.

Text

Press T and click, or double-click empty board with Select. Type, then press Esc or click away. Text you leave empty disappears.

Paste text copied from another app onto the board and it becomes a text shape in the middle of the screen.

Arrows

1. Press A, or pick Arrow.
2. Press on a card, note or shape and drag to another one.
3. Let go. The arrow joins the two, and follows them when they move.

To draw an arrow with the keyboard, select two shapes and choose Connect with an arrow in the selection bar or the right-click menu. It goes from the first one you picked to the second.

To label an arrow, double-click it, press Enter, or click Add a label in the selection bar. To bend it, select it and drag the handle in its middle. Drag the handle back near the straight line and the arrow straightens again.

Frames

A frame is a named section, such as “This week” or “Blocked”. It holds what is inside it: move the frame and everything in it moves too.

1. Press F, or pick Frame.
2. Drag out the area you want, or click for a frame of the default size. It takes in anything that sits wholly inside it.
3. Type its name and press Enter.

• To frame what you have selected, press Ctrl+Alt+G, or choose Frame selection from the right-click menu.
• Drag a shape into a frame to add it, and out again to take it out.
• A frame hides whatever pokes out of its edges.
• To rename a frame, double-click its name or click the name in the selection bar.
• Fit to content shrinks or grows the frame round what it holds.
• Remove frame takes the frame away and leaves what was in it.
• Deleting a frame deletes everything in it. Cards inside are only taken off the board.

Frames are also your slides when you present. See Presenting and exporting.

Shapes and lines

Pick Rectangle (R), Ellipse (O), Diamond, Triangle or Arrow shape from the last slot of the dock.

• Drag to draw one, or click for one of the default size.
• Hold Shift to keep it square or round. Hold Alt to draw it out from the centre.
• To write in a shape, double-click it or press Enter.

Line (L) draws a straight line. Hold Shift to turn it in 15 degree steps. A line does not attach to anything; use an arrow for that.

Drawing

Each stroke, and each rub of the eraser, is one undo step.

Style

While the pen, highlighter, a shape or the line tool is picked, a style panel shows above the dock. What you set there is what the next one looks like, and it is kept on this device.

To change shapes, lines or strokes already on the board, select them and click Style in the selection bar. For cards, notes and arrows, use Colour in the selection bar.

Stamps

Stamps are small marks you put on cards, notes, shapes, text and frames: Thumbs up, Star, Question, Priority, Done, Love it, Hot, Looking, Celebrate and Idea.

1. Select one or more of them.
2. Click Stamp in the selection bar.
3. Pick a stamp. Pick it again to take it off.

A shape holds up to six stamps. Stamping Done on a task’s card marks the task done. Taking the stamp off, or undoing it, puts back the status it had.

When a task on the board is marked done, by a stamp, its status or from anywhere else, a little confetti goes up from its card.

Arrange

Select two or more things and click Arrange in the selection bar, or right-click and choose Arrange.

Layer order

Resizing

Select something and drag a handle on its edge or corner.

• Hold Shift on a corner to keep its proportions.
• Hold Alt to resize from the centre.
• Either one turns snapping off while you hold it.

Snapping

As you drag or resize, shapes snap to the edges and centres of the shapes around them, and to equal gaps. Guide lines show what they line up with.

• Hold Ctrl while you drag to move without snapping, just for that drag.
• Hold Shift while you drag to move in a straight line.
• Right-click the empty board and turn off Always snap to work the other way round: no snapping, unless you hold Ctrl. This switch is saved with the board, so it is the same on your other devices.

Groups

• Ctrl+G groups what you have selected, so it moves as one.
• Ctrl+Shift+G ungroups it.
• Click a group to select it, and click again to select a shape inside it. Enter on a selected group selects what is in it. Esc steps back out to the group.

Lock

Shift+L locks what you have selected, so it cannot be moved, changed or deleted by accident.

A locked shape cannot be clicked, boxed or picked by Ctrl+A. To unlock it, right-click it and choose Lock or unlock, or move to it with Tab and press Shift+L.

Copy, cut and paste

Ctrl+C, Ctrl+X and Ctrl+V work as you would expect, and go through your computer’s clipboard. So you can copy from one board and paste into another, or into another tab.

• Cards pasted into a board from another view join that view.
• A card whose entry is already on the board is selected rather than pasted twice.
• The card cap still applies. If some cards are left out, a message says why.
• Paste into another app, such as an email, and you get the words: card titles, note and text, frame names and arrow labels.
• Paste in the right-click menu pastes where you clicked.

Clone (Ctrl+D) copies notes, text and shapes into the space beside them. For a card it copies the entry: see Canvas views.

Undo and delete

• Ctrl+Z undoes and Ctrl+Shift+Z or Ctrl+Y redoes, up to 200 steps. On a Mac, Cmd+Shift+Z redoes; Ctrl+Y also works there, but Cmd+Y does not.
• A drag, a resize or a placing from the tray is one step.
• Changes to an entry made on its card, such as its title or status, are saved to the entry straight away and are not part of the canvas undo.
• Delete or Backspace deletes what is selected. It always asks first, and undo brings it back. Cards are only taken off the board; their entries stay in Ultrathink.

Related pages

• Canvas views
• Presenting and exporting
• Canvas shortcuts