Frames are essential to structure your content on the board and manage the big picture. They are also helpful for creating presentations or exporting a board. You can move frames, arrange content on frames in a grid-like mode, and hide content on frames from your collaborators' view.
In this article:
- Getting started
- Grid in frames
- Navigating between frames
- Hiding frames
4.1. How it works for board owner
4.2. How it works for board participants - Presentation mode
- Export
- Frequently asked questions
Getting Started
There are simple ways to add a Frame to the board:
- Select Frame on the toolbar or press F on your keyboard and click anywhere on the board or drag the cursor.
- Drag and drop a Frame widget right on the board.
Frame on the toolbar
Frames act like pages that group objects together. All the content inside the frame moves and is copied together with the frame. You can change the frame color, ratio, and name.
✏️ If objects on your board unexpectedly change their positions or disappear, please check whether you have the Grid mode enabled on your frames.
Changing a frame
Easily create frames around existing objects: select the objects and choose Create frame on the context menu.
Creating a frame around board objects
To rename a frame, double-click its heading or choose the option on the frame context menu.
Renaming a frame
To resize an existing frame, simply select it (by clicking its border or title) and drag its borders adjusting the frame to the needed size. You can also change the frame's ratio on the context menu.
Resizing frames
If you want to put frames inside frames and move the outer frame together with the nested ones, feel free to group them. You can select several frames either while holding down Shift and picking them one by one or by using the selection field and filter (please see below).
Moving multiple frames together
You can lock a frame to prevent it from moving accidentally.
Locking a frame
If you want to restrict board editors from accidentally moving the content inside the frame, select all the needed objects and lock them.
✏️ The option to unlock objects is not available for guest editors.
✏️ Board owners can prevent users from unlocking objects with protected lock.
Locking objects inside a frame
To delete a frame, select the option on the frame context menu or simply press Backspace. Accidentally deleted a frame? No worries - the content will stay on the board! You can restore the frame on Activity list.
The option to delete a frame
💡 You can get a direct link to any frame on the board. Share this link with your collaborators to draw their attention to the exact frame. Open the context menu and choose Copy link. Note that users will still have access to the whole board.
Copying the link to a particular frame on the board
Duplicate a frame with a help of shortcut Ctrl/Cmd + D. If your frame's name contains a date, the date on the copy will be changed to the next day (for example, Feb 5 will change to Feb 6).
Grid in Frames
Working on a user story map, service blueprint, customer journey map etc., you want a quick way to organize objects and keep them organized after adding new ones. In cases like this grid in frames comes in extremely helpful.
To automatically snap content in the frame to a grid, enable the Grid option in the context menu. To switch back to the free-form layout, choose the Freeform option.
When you drop a new object into a frame, it is arranged along with the other objects in the grid. This is a real time-saver for those who often add new content to their boards and need to keep them in order. Resize the frame to change the position of objects in the grid.
Please note that links, comments and other frames cannot be snapped to a grid.
Activating Grid mode on a frame
Navigating between Frames
Quickly jump from one frame to another, reorder and modify your frames on the Frames panel. Click Frames in the left-hand lower corner to access it:
Using the Frame panel
⚠️ The option to re-order frames in the sidebar is not available on mobile and other touch devices (in the tablet app and in browser).
Hiding Frames
Set up by: board owners
Available for: Education, Team, Consultant, Business, and Enterprise plan
The option to hide frames will allow you to control what content is revealed to your collaborators and audience during workshops and meetings - once a frame is hidden, no one on the board can see its content. Hiding frames is extremely helpful when it comes to designing meetings and organizing workshops step-by-step.
How it works for board owner
To hide a frame, click the eye icon on the frame's menu.
Hiding a frame
You can also hide a frame from the Frames toolbar:
Hiding a frame from the Frames toolbar
⚠️ Board owner can’t copy or duplicate a hidden frame until the frame is revealed.
⚠️ Please note that hiding a frame does not conceal comments on it.
To reveal a hidden frame, click the eye icon on the context menu.
Revealing a hidden frame
💡 Splitting up content into multiple frames and revealing them one by one will allow doing a step-by-step sequence of reveals matching your meeting or workshop agenda. Feel free to create the agenda using Visual Notes and to add hidden frames to Notes.
⚠️ When hidden frames are revealed on the board they won’t be revealed automatically in Notes. Please refresh Notes to reveal the frames.
How it works for board participants
As soon as a frame is hidden, your board participants will not be able to view its content. Instead, they will see a blanc frame with a closed eye icon. If users place an object on top of the hidden frame - it will go under the placeholder but will still be available for editing and dragging those objects out of the hidden frame.
✏️ Content within hidden frames can't be viewed by anyone but the board owner.
Placing an object on top of a hidden frame
Presentation Mode
Frames are of great help for showcasing your board. Add frames to structure the board content and switch on the presentation mode.
Click Presentation Mode to navigate smoothly between your frames on the board.
Activating the Presentation mode
💡 To change the order of frames in the presentation mode, change it in the Frames panel.
Click Present to enter the Full-screen presentation mode. The frames will be shown like slides without board tools and frame titles. Use arrows to navigate between the slides.
Full-screen presentation mode
Export
💡 Be sure to check the main article on board export and browser restrictions.
If you select Save as PDF on the board export menu, all your frames will be exported as a PDF file - each frame will be saved as a separate page.
Export menu
The order of the frames in the exported document will be the same as in the Frames panel. You can change the order of the frames by dragging them.
Changing the order of the frames
If you'd like to export only some of the frames as PDF, remove extra-ones and undo this action after the export. You can also export several particular frames by selecting them while holding down Shift and clicking on the corresponding option in the context menu (PDF or CSV).
If you need to export a single frame, select it, open the context menu and choose to export.
Export options on a frame
💡 In order to export a single frame in PDF format, select Export as image and choose Vector on the next pop-up. Note that Vector export is available on paid plans only. Free plan users can export a frame as PDF via the board export menu. To exclude other frames from the export, delete them and undo this action after the export.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Objects are not sticking to my frame. Why?
- It looks like you put a frame on top of the objects and the widgets didn't get attached to the frame. Select the objects and slightly move them - this should attach them to the frame. - How do I copy my frame to another board?
- You can copy and paste it like any other content! Ctrl/Cmd+C/Ctrl/Cmd+V will work as well. Please make sure that the board owner allows copying the board content. - I cannot see the option to hide frames. Why?
- If the eye icon doesn't appear on the frame's menu, please make sure that you're the board owner - you can check this in the board Sharing settings. Please note that this feature is only supported on paid plans.