Every element on the canvas starts from the palette. The palette organises its contents into categories so it stays compact however much it holds, and adding an element is usually a single tap.
Picking a Category
The palette is the strip across the top of the canvas. Its categories sit along it by name: rest the pointer on one, or click it, and its elements open in a panel underneath, in named groups, with a line on what each one does. The categories are:
- Write: the words, text and sticky notes.
- Frame: the frame, a labelled box that groups a room's notes.
- Navigate: what people walk round and through, such as portals, Bring Focus, chairs, desks, sofas, fences, Avatar Pads, link cards, and the office pieces (rooms, meeting tables, plants and more).
- React: the five Reaction Pads.
- Selection Mode: the buttons that hand whoever presses them a different tool.
- Icons: a searchable set of single-colour icons, its groups down the side, that you can drop on the canvas or onto an element.
- Stickers: colour emoji and word badges.
- Media: an uploaded or searched-for image, and the link card.
The palette opens on Popular, the elements a meeting reaches for most. See Where each tool lives for the full map. A Participant on a shared link gets one category instead, Participate, with sticky notes, text and an image to add to the board.
Dropping or Drawing an Element
Almost every tile arms a combined gesture when you click it.
Click a tile in the palette. It stays pressed to show it is armed, and a banner along the top of the canvas says what comes next ("Click to drop or drag to draw" and the element's name, "Tap" on a phone), with a Cancel button.
Tap an empty spot on the canvas to drop the element at its natural size on that point.
Or, instead of a single tap, drag out a box and release to create the element at that size. Both corners snap to nearby elements as you drag.
While a tile is armed you can even start the drag on top of another element: the new one is drawn over it rather than selecting it. Press Escape (or Cancel on the banner) to disarm a tile without adding anything. Text lands ready for typing; everything else lands selected, ready to move or restyle. An Image lands as an empty placeholder: press its Select Image button when you are ready to add the picture.
If a boxed element is already selected when you tap a tile, the new one inherits its width and height (a drag sets its own size, and a selected frame never passes its size on), so you can chain together similarly sized notes quickly.
You can also drag a tile straight from the palette onto the canvas instead of tapping. As you drag, a translucent preview of the element follows your cursor at its real size, so you can see exactly where, and how big, it will land before you let go.
Adding from the Keyboard
Single keys arm the most common elements without opening the palette: T for text, N for a sticky note, F for a frame and 9 for an image. See Keyboard Shortcuts for the full list. With one labelled element selected, a letter key types into its label instead. The keys add nothing for a Participant or a Viewer. You can also double-click empty canvas to drop a text element and start typing straight away.
Icons can be added to an element rather than standing alone: drag an icon tile onto a sticky note, or click an icon while one is selected, and it attaches beside that note's label.
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