The palette's tools are grouped into categories, each one press away on the palette strip. This page is a map of where each tool lives.
The categories sit along the strip by name, in groups with a thin line between each: Common, Structure, Decorate and Dynamic, plus the session kit. Rest on one, or click it, to see its elements.
The categories on the strip
The strip holds Popular, then Shapes, My shapes, Write (text, notes, tables and checklists), Draw (the pens and arrows), Layout (lanes, frames, stacks, boundaries, the Timeline, the board key, cards, badges and step numbers), then the session kit, Ask, and Session, which holds Tools, Record, React, Selection Mode and Navigate, then Icons, Stickers, Media (Image and Avatar) and Data. Library (your shape libraries) joins once you have imported a shape library. See Workshop Mode for how a session uses them.
Anything the strip leaves out is still one search away: the search panel (⌘K or Ctrl+K) can add any palette element by name.
Where each tool lives
Layout holds the elements you lay a board out with, the ones that hold other work: Lane (a titled band that carries its steps), Frame (a labelled box that groups a section, F), Stack and Boundary, then the Timeline (milestones along a line), the board key, cards, badges and step numbers. See Build Elements.
Write holds the wordy elements: Text drops a free-standing label (T), Note is a coloured sticky note card (N), Table is an editable grid of cells and Checklist a list to tick off. The Page (a paper-sized sheet you write into) and the Annotation (a small marker that holds a note) are added from Search.
Draw holds the gesture tools: Freehand (P) sketches a stroke and keeps it exactly as drawn, the Highlighter lays one wide translucent marker stroke, Arrow (A) drops a connector with a pointer at its end that you position by hand, and Line drops the same without the pointer. See Drawing and Sketch and Highlighter.
Components (on no palette strip; the strip's Search and the search panel add them) holds the ready-made pieces in three groups: Layout (Hero, Header, Banner and the Stack; Hero needs image uploads, like Image and Avatar), Page Blocks (Card, Badge, Step Number, Callout, Stat Row, Process) and Code and Lists (Code, Checklist). The Card, Badge, Step Number and Stack are on the strip too, in Layout, and the Checklist in Write.
Data holds the charts and meters: Pie, Bar, Line, Legend, Progress, Donut and Rating. See Data and Chart Elements.
Collaborate is the elements that do something when somebody interacts with them, or that ask the room something, in six groups: Ask on the strip (dot vote, poll, quiz, estimate card, temperature check, idea box, Q&A board), and inside Session: Tools (timer, stopwatch, reveal zone, done check, picker), Record (comment panel, action panel, agenda, decision record, roll call), React (the five reaction pads), Selection Mode buttons, and Navigate (portal, bring focus, chair, desk, sofa, fence, link card, and the virtual office: room, meeting table, plant, bookshelf, water cooler, coffee machine, rug). See Collaborate and Collaborate Elements.
Media covers pictures and other people's pages: Image (9) and Avatar; the embeds for YouTube, Vimeo, Loom, Figma, Google Docs and any website are added from the strip's Search or the search panel. Image and Avatar only appear where image uploads are available.
Each behaves like any other element once placed: select it, restyle it, multi-select it with others, and move it freely. Pick a tile and tap the canvas to drop the element at its default size, or drag to draw it at the size you want.
The palette is hidden for people with view-only access, since they can't add anything. See Toolbar Layout for how the strip shows the categories and opens each one.
Guides for these tools
Several tools have their own walkthroughs, listed below and linked here:
- Drawing and Sketch covers the Freehand pen and how strokes are smoothed.
- Highlighter covers the translucent marker and its colours and widths.
- Images covers uploading, searching for and reusing pictures, and avatars.
- Pages covers the paper-sized sheet for prose.
- Tables covers the editable grid: adding one, filling cells, and rows/columns.
- Sticky Notes covers the coloured note card for short annotations.
- Code Blocks covers the monospace card for syntax-highlighted snippets.
- Checklists covers the card of checkable to-do rows you tick on the canvas.
- Portals covers linking two portals and travelling between them, including across tabs.
- Data and Chart Elements covers the Data category: Pie, Column and Line charts (each any of seven chart types), Legend, Progress, Donut and Rating.
- Collaborate covers the Collaborate categories' interactive elements: Selection Mode buttons, Reveal zones, Done checks, Pickers, Bring Focus, the Timer and Stopwatch, and Reaction pads.
Arrows are deep enough to deserve their own guide: see Arrows.
Reach for a Frame when a board grows past one screen: it keeps a section labelled and easy to move as a unit.
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