Getting started

Tabula is a collaborative whiteboard. You place sticky notes, shapes, text and drawings on an unlimited canvas, and everyone who has the board open sees changes as they happen. This page covers the basics: opening a board, finding your way around, and the keyboard shortcuts.

Open the app

Open the address of your Tabula server in a browser. You land on the Boards page, which lists your boards.

If your workspace uses sign-in, you first see Sign in to Tabula. Enter your work email, choose Email me a link, and open the link in the email. The link works once and expires after 15 minutes. After you sign in, you land on Boards. Without sign-in (open mode), nobody asks who you are: the page opens straight to your boards.

Create your first board

1. On the Boards page, choose New board.
2. The empty board shows a hint. Press N for a sticky note, R for a rectangle, or double-click the canvas to write text.
3. Click the board name at the top left and type a name. Press Enter to save it.

To start with a ready-made layout instead, choose Start from a template. See Templates.

<!-- screenshot: an empty new board with the first-run hint, left toolbar and top bars visible -->

The screen

• Top left. The All boards button (house icon) returns to the Boards page. Next to it are the board name and the sync status. A View only or Can comment badge appears here when you cannot edit the board.
• Top right. The people on the board (round avatars), the comments button, Share, and the Menu button (three dots).
• Left toolbar. The tools, listed below.
• Bottom right. Zoom out, the zoom level, zoom in, Fit board, and a minimap toggle.
• Bottom. The session bar for facilitated sessions. See Sessions and focus requests.

Left toolbar

From top to bottom:

• Select (V) and Hand (H).
• Sticky note (N), Text (T), Shapes, Connector (L), Pen (P), Frame (F) and Comment (C). Shapes opens a panel with a search field. Click a shape to draw it, or drag it onto the board.
• Drawers for UML, Icons, Stickers, and Templates and team exercises.
• A dot vote button and a quick poll button.
• Undo and Redo.

Hover over a button for half a second, or move keyboard focus onto it, to see a tooltip with its name and, where it has one, its shortcut as a key chip; Esc closes it. Tooltips do not appear on touch screens. On a board you can only view, only Select and Hand stay active (and Comment, if you are allowed to comment).

Quick-action bar

Select an item and a small bar appears next to it. Depending on what you selected, it offers colour, shape, fill, line, connector route, text options, alignment (with two or more items), a sticker reaction, lock, duplicate and delete. More properties (three dots) opens the full properties panel. See Shapes, text and sticky notes.

Board menu

The Menu button at the top right holds board-level actions: Board settings, Version history, Your name and colour, Show comments, imports, the Appearance themes, exports, and Keyboard shortcuts. If your workspace uses sign-in, an Account section comes first, and it includes Your AI key when your administrator allows personal keys. See Boards and the home screen.

Move around

• Pan. Hold Space and drag, use the Hand tool, drag with the middle or right mouse button, or scroll. On a trackpad, two fingers pan.
• Zoom. Hold Ctrl (Cmd on Mac) and scroll, or pinch on a trackpad or touch screen. The buttons at the bottom right zoom in steps. Click the percentage to return to 100%.
• Fit. Fit board (Shift+1) shows everything on the board. Shift+2 fits your selection.
• Minimap. The map button at the bottom right shows a small overview. Click or drag in it to jump.
• Go to a person. Click someone's avatar at the top right to jump to where they are working.

Select, move, resize

• Click an item to select it. Shift+click adds or removes items from the selection.
• Drag on empty canvas to draw a selection box. Hold Shift to add to the current selection.
• Ctrl+A (Cmd+A on Mac) selects everything that is not locked.
• Drag a selected item to move it. Arrow keys nudge by one pixel. Shift+arrow moves by one grid step.
• Drag a handle to resize. Hold Shift to keep the proportions. Drag the rotate handle to turn an item. Shift snaps the turn to 15 degree steps.
• Hold Alt while dragging to ignore snapping to the grid.
• Press Enter on a single selected item, or double-click it, to edit its text. Double-click empty canvas to add a text box.
• Press Esc to deselect and return to the Select tool.

Undo and redo

Press Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on Mac) to undo and Shift+Ctrl+Z or Ctrl+Y to redo, or use the buttons at the bottom of the left toolbar.

Saving and sync

Tabula saves every change on your device as you work. You do not press save, and a board keeps working without a network connection.

When a sync server is reachable, changes reach the other people on the board live. The status next to the board name tells you the state:

Click the status, or Share, to see and copy the board link. In open mode, anyone with the link can edit with you and does not need an account. If your workspace uses sign-in, only people with access to the board can open the link. See Sharing, roles and teams.

Clearing your browser data removes boards that were never synced. Export important boards from the board menu. See Export and import.

Your name and colour

Your name and colour appear next to your cursor and on the notes you write. Click your own avatar, or choose Your name and colour in the board menu, then pick a name and a colour and choose Save. If your workspace uses sign-in, the name is your account name and is saved to the server. The colour stays on this device.

Keyboard shortcuts

On Mac, use Cmd where the table says Ctrl. The board menu lists every shortcut under Keyboard shortcuts.

Tools

Selection and editing

View

While dragging

Shortcuts do not fire while you type in a text field. On a view-only board, only V, H and C (if you may comment) switch tools.

Related

• Boards and the home screen
• Shapes, text and sticky notes
• Templates
• Themes