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iPad User Guide

Create a Freeform board on iPad

You can use the Freeform app to create boards for brainstorming and collaborating. For example, propose a trip with friends and let everyone take part in the planning. You can add text, sticky notes, photos, videos, and other types of files. The canvas expands as you add content, so you’re never constrained by space limits or page formatting.

👁 An iPad with the Freeform app open. The board includes handwriting, text, drawings, shapes, sticky notes, links, and other files.

Create a new board

  1. Go to the Freeform app 👁 Image
    on your iPad.

  2. Tap 👁 the New Board button
    .

  3. Tap one of the options at the top of the screen, such as 👁 the Add Text Box button
    or 👁 the Insert button
    ,     to start building your board.

    👁 A Freeform board with text rendered in a drawing, text box, shape, sticky note, and image, corresponding to the buttons at the top of the screen.

  4. Move around your board by dragging your finger, and zoom in or out by pinching open or closed.

    Tip: To magnify more precisely, tap the current percentage in the bottom-left corner, then tap a percent.

  5. Your board is saved automatically as you work. To name it, tap Untitled in the top left, then tap Rename.

    If you’re working in a window that isn’t full-screen, you may have to tap 👁 the More button
    ,     then tap Rename.

Create a board from another app

You can start a new Freeform board using content from another supported app, such as Notes, Maps, Safari, Files, Photos, and more.

  1. On your iPad, go to the app whose content you want to use on a new Freeform board.

  2. Open the item you want to place on the Freeform board (for example, a note, map, webpage, PDF, or screenshot).

    To share just one part of a file to a board (rather than the entire webpage or note), select what you want to share. If your selection includes text, only the text is shared.

  3. Tap Share or 👁 the Share button
    ,     then tap the Freeform app icon 👁 Image
    .

  4. Tap New Board or the name of an existing board.

    Either a link or the item appears in the board.

Open a board

  1. Go to the Freeform app 👁 Image
    on your iPad.

  2. Tap a category in the sidebar, or do one of the following:

    • If you don’t see the sidebar: Tap 👁 the Show Sidebar button
      .

    • If you’re in a board: Tap 👁 the Back button
      in the top-left corner.

      Note: Any collaborations you get invited to in the Messages app appear in an Invitations section on the Shared Boards screen until you accept them.

  3. Tap the board you want to open.

Duplicate a board

  1. Go to the Freeform app 👁 Image
    on your iPad.

  2. While browsing All Boards, tap 👁 the More button
    at the top, then tap Select.

    If you’re in a board, tap 👁 the Back button
    to browse All Boards.

  3. Tap the boards you want to copy, then tap Duplicate.

Or touch and hold the thumbnail or name of the board, then tap Duplicate.

Note: If you duplicate a shared board, the copy isn’t shared. See Send a copy of a board to send someone a snapshot of the board, or Invite others to collaborate on a board to reshare the board.

Add a board to Favorites

  1. Go to the Freeform app 👁 Image
    on your iPad.

  2. Do one of the following:

    • While browsing All Boards: Touch and hold the thumbnail or name of the board, then tap Favorite.

    • If you’re in a board: Tap 👁 the Actions Menu button
      ,       then tap Favorite.

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