# Create a board and add items to it > A board is a named container on the room canvas that groups items; draw one with the Board tool (B) or select items and choose Convert to Board, then drag or drop items into it. Category: Boards and presenting Web page: https://www.pactto.com/help/boards All guides: https://www.pactto.com/help.md ## 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](https://www.pactto.com/help/present.md)). 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](https://www.pactto.com/help/add-assets.md). ## 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](https://www.pactto.com/help/board-layout.md). - **Group by Status**: sorts items into review status columns. See [Group a board by status](https://www.pactto.com/help/group-by-status.md). Other tools: - **Collapse board**: shrink a board to a single bar to save space. See [Collapse or expand a board](https://www.pactto.com/help/collapse-board.md). - **Tidy up**: line up a Freeform board's items in a grid in one click. See [Tidy up items](https://www.pactto.com/help/tidy-up.md). ## 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](https://www.pactto.com/help/focus-mode.md) and [Present in a room](https://www.pactto.com/help/present.md). - 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](https://www.pactto.com/help/boards-on-phone.md). ## Related guides - [Present in a room](https://www.pactto.com/help/present.md): Add your assets, put them in a board, select the board and click the play button (Enter presentation mode); turn on Spotlight so everyone in the room follows your slides. - [Arrange items inside a board](https://www.pactto.com/help/board-layout.md): Select a board and open its layout menu to choose Freeform, Vertical, Horizontal or Grid; managed layouts line items up, resize the board to fit, and let you drag to reorder and adjust spacing. - [Group a board by review status](https://www.pactto.com/help/group-by-status.md): In a board's layout menu choose Group by Status, then Horizontal or Vertical; items are sorted into Draft, In progress, Needs review, Needs changes and Approved, and dragging an item to another column changes its status. - [Collapse or expand a board](https://www.pactto.com/help/collapse-board.md): Click the chevron to the left of a board's name (Collapse board) to shrink it to a single bar with its name and item count; click it again (Expand board) to restore it. - [Tidy up items into a neat grid](https://www.pactto.com/help/tidy-up.md): Select three or more items on the canvas (or right-click a Freeform board) and choose Tidy up to line them up in an evenly spaced grid; then drag the spacing handles or dots to adjust. - [Add images, videos, PDFs, and other content to a room](https://www.pactto.com/help/add-assets.md): Click Add asset in the toolbar (or press 1) to upload from your computer, Google Drive, or Adobe Frame.io; you can also drag files onto the canvas, paste them, paste links, or create a Pactto doc or a table. - [Focus on one item or board](https://www.pactto.com/help/focus-mode.md): Select an item or board and click Enter focus mode to show only that item, full size; press Escape or click Exit focus mode to go back to the canvas. - [Use boards and presentations on a phone](https://www.pactto.com/help/boards-on-phone.md): On a phone the canvas is view-first: you can pan, select, use the laser, comment, open items in focus mode, play videos and follow a presenter, but you cannot draw boards, add assets, share your screen or start Spotlight.