Create a board and add items to it

What a board is

A board is a container on the room canvas. It has a name and a color, and it holds items such as images, videos, audio files, PDFs, links, Pactto Docs, tables, sticky notes and other boards. Moving a board moves everything inside it. A board is also what you present: each item inside it becomes a slide (see Present in a room).

Who can do it: the room owner and people with Can edit access. People with Can review or Can view access can see boards but cannot create, rearrange or collapse them.

Create a board

Option 1: draw an empty board

1. In the toolbar, click Board (keyboard shortcut B). On a narrow window, the Board button is inside the Insert menu of the toolbar.
2. Click and drag on the canvas to draw the board.
3. When you release the mouse, the toolbar returns to Select. The new board is called Board.

Option 2: turn existing items into a board

1. Select two or more items on the canvas (drag a selection box around them, or Shift+click each one).
2. Click Convert to Board in the toolbar that appears above the selection, or right-click the selection and choose Convert to Board.
3. Pactto creates a board and moves all the selected items into it. You can undo this with Cmd+Z (Ctrl+Z on Windows).

Convert to Board is not offered when the selected items are already inside a board.

Rename a board or change its color

1. Click the board's name, shown above its top left corner, to select the board.
2. Double-click the name, type the new name and press Enter.
3. To change the color, click Board color in the bar next to the name and pick a color.

Add items to a board

• Drag items in: drag any item from the canvas and drop it over the board.
• Drop files onto it: drag image, video or PDF files from your computer and drop them directly over the board. They upload straight into the board.
• Paste onto it: paste with the pointer over the board and the pasted content lands inside it.
• Convert a selection: use Convert to Board as described above.
• Move between boards: select two or more items inside a board, then use Move to board to send them to another board.

When an item enters a board, Pactto fits it to the board: in a Freeform board a large item is scaled down so it fits, and in a Vertical, Horizontal or Grid board the item takes the size of the other items. To add files to the room in other ways, see Add assets to a room.

Organize what is inside

Select the board and use the layout menu in the bar next to its name:

• Freeform, Vertical, Horizontal, Grid: see Arrange items inside a board.
• Group by Status: sorts items into review status columns. See Group a board by status.

Other tools:

• Collapse board: shrink a board to a single bar to save space. See Collapse or expand a board.
• Tidy up: line up a Freeform board's items in a grid in one click. See Tidy up items.

Good to know

• Board changes (name, color, layout, collapsed state) are shared with everyone in the room in real time.
• When a board is very small on screen, its name is hidden. Zoom in to see it and select the board.
• The board's bar also has Enter focus mode (view only this board) and, for editors, Enter presentation mode (the play button). See Focus on one item or board and Present in a room.
• Freehand drawings, shapes, arrows and lines inside a board are treated as annotations: they are not moved by the board's layout and they are not slides.
• On a phone you cannot draw a new board. See Use boards on a phone.