Whiteboards

Overview

A whiteboard is an open drawing surface inside a project. Use it for the work that comes before or beside formal modeling: workshop brainstorms, OV-1 operational concept graphics, context sketches, causal loop diagrams, mission timelines and review slides. Unlike a diagram, a whiteboard does not draw the model; you draw freely, then link elements to model entities, convert them into entities, harvest sticky notes into requirements, or generate an Action Diagram, FFBD or Asset Diagram from what you drew.

Open whiteboards from the Whiteboards group in the navigation rail (page Whiteboards), from the Diagrams page (whiteboards are listed there with thumbnails), or with ⌘K → New Whiteboard.

Concepts

• Whiteboard: an Artifact entity with the label Whiteboard. It has a name, number and description like any entity, appears in the Database, and can be related to other entities (for example related to a risk or a document).
• Board: one canvas inside a whiteboard. A whiteboard holds one or more boards, shown as tabs in the Boards strip under the canvas. Each board has its own background color, grid and elements. A board is unbounded: pan and zoom as far as you need.
• Element: anything on a board: a shape, text, sticky note, image (including clipart and military symbols), line, freehand drawing, frame, table, chart or group.
• Frame: a named rectangle that owns the elements whose center lies inside it. Frames move their contents with them, can be presented one after another, and can be exported or placed in documents and slides on their own.
• Model link: a reference from an element to an entity. A round badge on the element shows the entity's class; click it to open the entity. Links never change the drawing, and deleting the element never deletes the entity.
• Undo: every action (a move, a style change, a paste, a conversion) is one undo step. ⌘Z and ⇧⌘Z work across the whole project, including entities created from the board.
• Storage: the board content is saved with the project, like diagram layout. Zoom and scroll position per board are kept for you and are not undo steps.

How to use it

When and why

Whiteboards fit at three points in the systems engineering process:

• Early concept and needs elicitation (before requirements): run a stakeholder workshop with sticky notes, cluster them, then harvest them into draft requirements. The question it answers: what do the stakeholders need, in their own words?
• Concept of operations and architecture communication: draw the OV-1 operational concept, a context diagram or a CV-1 vision with clipart and military symbols, and link each picture to the model element it stands for. The question: how does the system work in its environment, at a glance?
• Systems thinking and analysis support: sketch causal loop diagrams and stock-and-flow structures to reason about feedback (for example why performance degrades over time) before you commit to a requirement or a simulation. The question: which feedback loops drive this behavior?

A whiteboard is not a substitute for an Action Diagram, Asset Diagram or SysML diagram. When a sketch settles, turn it into model entities and generate a diagram, then maintain the diagram.

Create a whiteboard and draw

1. Open Whiteboards in the rail.
2. Click + New Whiteboard, enter a name (default Whiteboard 1, Whiteboard 2, …) and confirm. The editor opens on an empty board with the Shapes panel on the left.
   • To start from a layout instead, click New from Template…, pick a template tile, edit the name and click Create.
3. Pick a tool in the toolbar or press its key: R rectangle, O ellipse, T text, S sticky note, L line, A arrow.
4. Drag on the board to draw the element at a size you choose, or click for the default size. The tool returns to Select after one element.
5. Type to give a selected shape or sticky note text (typing starts editing; Enter or a double-click also edits). Click outside or press Esc to finish.
6. Select an element to style it in the inspector on the right: Fill, Border or Line, Text, Effects, Arrange.

Result: the element is on the board, the change is saved, and the board's thumbnail on the Whiteboards page and Diagrams page updates.

Connect elements with lines

1. Press A (arrow) or L (line).
2. Point at the first element: its connection points appear. Press on the element and drag to the second element; release on a connection point, near the outline, or on the body.
   • Released on a connection point, the end stays at that point. Released on the body, the end floats to whichever side is nearest, and follows when you move the elements.
3. In the inspector's Line section choose Type (Straight, Elbow or Curved), Start and End arrowheads, Dash and Weight.
4. Double-click the line (or click + Label) to type a label; drag the label along the line.

Result: a line attached at both ends. Moving either element reroutes it; an Elbow line routes around both elements at right angles.

Run a sticky-note workshop and harvest requirements

1. Create a board and add a heading shape with the workshop question.
2. Press S with the pointer where the first note should go. Type the note. Press Tab for the next note to the right, or ⇧↩ for a note below. Each new note opens for typing.
3. Color notes by theme with the swatches in the Sticky note section (Yellow, Orange, Pink, Red, Purple, Blue, Light blue, Teal, Green, Gray). Turn on Show author to stamp your name on a note.
4. Arrange: select notes and use Tidy (grid with equal spacing), Distribute or the align buttons in Arrange. Draw a Frame (F) around each cluster and name it after the theme.
5. Select the notes to turn into requirements (or none, to use all notes on the board) and click ✦ Harvest Requirements in the toolbar.
6. In Harvest Requirements (N notes): choose Add the requirements to (a requirements document, or New document: Requirements from [board]). Each note gets a proposed Name and a Statement in the pattern "The system shall …".
7. Optional: tick Draft "shall" statements with AI, type guidance (for example The subject is the ground station.) and click Draft Statements. Review every row.
8. Untick notes you do not want, edit names and statements, then click Create Requirements.

Result: one Requirement per ticked note in the chosen document, and each note is linked to its requirement (its badge opens it). One ⌘Z removes them all.

Draw an OV-1 operational concept linked to the model

1. Click New from Template… → OV-1 operational concept → Create, or start blank.
2. Open the Clipart panel (left strip). Search in plain words (ground station, satellite, UAV); click a tile to insert it at the center of the view, or drag it to a spot. Use the color well to recolor single-color items.
3. For military units, search for hostile submarine or click Symbol Builder… to compose a MIL-STD-2525 or APP-6 symbol.
4. Connect the pictures with lines and label them with the data they carry.
5. Select each picture and click Link to… in the Model section of the inspector; choose the entity it stands for (an Asset, a Resource, an Input/Output, …). A class badge appears on the picture.
6. Add a legend (a shape with text, or a frame named Legend).
7. Use the board in the DoDAF OV-1 product (see DoDAF), in a document or on a slide.

Turn a sketch into model elements and a diagram

1. Sketch the functions or components as shapes, sticky notes or text, and draw arrows between them in flow order.
2. Select them and right-click → Convert to Model Element… (or Convert to Model… in the Model section).
3. In Convert to Model Elements choose Class of the new entities (Action for functions, Asset for components), check the names (each comes from the element's first text line), and for each line between elements choose a Relationship (or Relationship for every line). Optionally tick Color converted shapes and sticky notes with the class color. Click Convert.
4. Select the converted elements and choose Generate Diagram from Selection… (or Generate Diagram… in the Model section).
5. Choose Diagram (Action Diagram, FFBD or Asset Diagram), edit Name of the new parent, read the preview line (it lists the order of the functions, taken from the arrows on the board, else left to right), and click Generate.

Result: a new parent Action (or Asset) decomposed by the linked entities, and the new diagram opens. For Assets, Create a Conduit for each line between assets adds Conduits; the Asset Diagram is laid out as on the board.

Present frames

1. Draw frames (F, or a size in the Frames panel: 16:9, 4:3, A4, Letter, Square) around the content of each "slide".
2. Order them in the Frames panel with ↑ and ↓.
3. Click ▶ Present. Each frame fills the screen. → or Space goes forward, ← back, Esc ends. The bar at the bottom has ‹, the frame count, › and Exit.

Worked example: the CubeSat EO-1 demo

Create the demo project (Manage Projects → Project Files ▾ → Create Demo Project) and open Whiteboards. It contains three boards:

• EO-1 Operational Concept (WB-1): an OV-1 scene. The spacecraft, partner ground station, Mission Operations Center, mission operator and imagery customer are Holarch clipart, each linked to its model element; click a badge to open the entity in the side panel, which also lists Appears on whiteboards. Lines carry labels such as UHF commands 9.6 kbps · S-band data 10 Mbps. The DoDAF OV-1 product EO-1 High-Level Operational Concept shows this board live.
• Battery Degradation Loops (WB-2): a causal loop diagram. Imaging duty cycle → Battery depth of discharge (+) → Battery capacity fade (+, with a delay mark) → Usable battery capacity (−) → back to duty cycle (+) forms the balancing loop B Battery limits imaging; duty cycle → Images delivered → Customer tasking demand → duty cycle forms the reinforcing loop R Demand growth. Select a link to see Polarity and Delay mark in the Line section.
• Customer Needs Brainstorm (WB-3): eight sticky notes from a customer workshop, ready to harvest.

Try the harvest:

1. Open Customer Needs Brainstorm and press ⌘A to select all elements.
2. Click ✦ Harvest Requirements. The dialog lists 8 notes. Alert me to crop stress within one day of an overpass. becomes the name Alert me to crop stress within one day and the statement The system shall alert me to crop stress within one day of an overpass.
3. With AI set up, type The subject is the EO-1 ground segment. and click Draft Statements. The status line reads, for example, Drafted 8 of 8 statements with the AI model. Review them, then create the requirements. Edit any statement that is not singular and testable.
4. Choose EO-1 System Requirements Specification in Add the requirements to and click Create Requirements. The toast reads Created 8 requirements in EO-1 System Requirements Specification. Each note now carries a Requirement badge.
5. Continue in the document: trace the new requirements to functions (see Functional Analysis).

Tips and good practice

• Sketch first, model second. Keep the whiteboard loose; convert to entities only what survives the discussion.
• One idea per sticky note. Harvest makes one requirement per note; a note with two ideas becomes a compound requirement.
• Link, do not duplicate. Link a picture to an existing entity rather than converting it again; the Database keeps one entity, and Label mirrors the entity name keeps the label in step with renames in both directions.
• Use frames for structure. Frames give you named regions that move together, export one file each, present as slides and can be embedded on their own.
• Lock the background. Lock large background shapes (Lock or ⇧⌘L) so marquee selection and clicks reach the elements on top. Lock Position keeps text and style editable.
• Set a default line style once. Style one line, click Set as Default; new lines use it.
• Use the / palette. Press / and type decision, frame or align instead of hunting through panels.

Common mistakes

How it connects to other features

• Feeds requirements: harvested sticky notes become Requirements in a document (Documents).
• Feeds behavior and architecture: converted elements are real entities; Generate Diagram… creates an Action Diagram, FFBD or Asset Diagram (Diagrams).
• Feeds frameworks: a board or frame can represent the DoDAF OV-1 or CV-1 product; linked elements become clickable hotspots on the product page (DoDAF).
• Feeds documents and slides: a board or frame can be inserted in a document or a presentation as a live picture (updates when the board changes) or a snapshot (Presentations).
• Traceability: every linked entity shows Appears on whiteboards in its side panel, and the whiteboard itself is an Artifact you can relate to other entities.

The Whiteboards page

The list page shows one tile per whiteboard, newest change first. Each tile has a thumbnail (or Preparing preview… while it renders, Empty board when there is nothing on it), the name, and N boards · N elements · date.

Empty states: No whiteboards yet (Create one with + New Whiteboard.) and No matches (Nothing matches the search.).

The editor

The editor has the toolbar on top, the left strip with panel toggles, the open panel, the canvas, the Boards strip under the canvas, and the inspector on the right.

Toolbar

The toolbar follows the shared diagram toolbar order; when the window is narrow, items move into ⋯.

⚙ menu: Grid with No Grid, Dot Grid, Line Grid (the current one has a ✓), Snap to Grid, and Keyboard Shortcuts.

⋯ menu: Keyboard Shortcuts, Rename…, Open Entity View, All Whiteboards, Help for Whiteboards, Delete Whiteboard….

Left strip and panels

The left strip holds one toggle per panel; click a toggle to open its panel, click again (or ×) to close it. The last open panel is remembered.

Canvas

• Pan: scroll, drag with the Hand tool, hold Space and drag, or press the arrow keys with nothing selected (60 px; ⇧ for 240 px). ⇧+scroll pans sideways.
• Zoom: ⌘+scroll or pinch zooms at the pointer; ⌘= / ⌘− step; ⌘0 is 100%; ⇧1 fits everything; ⇧2 zooms to the selection. Zoom ranges from 10% to 400%.
• ▣ Map (lower right) opens an overview of the whole board; click or drag in it to move the view.
• Right-click opens the context menu (see Context menu).
• Drop image files from your computer to insert them; drop shapes and clipart from the panels.

Boards strip

The tabs under the canvas are the boards of this whiteboard.

• Click a tab to switch boards. Double-click the current tab to rename it inline.
• + adds a board (⌘↩).
• ⋯ on a tab (or right-click): Rename, Duplicate, Move Left, Move Right, Delete… (disabled when only one board is left).
• Drag tabs to reorder.

Inspector

The inspector shows the properties of the selection, titled with the element type or name (Shape, Text, Sticky Note, Image, Line, Group, or N elements). With nothing selected it shows Board. Sections appear only when they apply:

Selecting, moving and transforming

• Select: click; ⇧+click adds or removes. Drag on empty board to draw a selection box: elements fully inside are selected; hold ⌥ to select anything the box touches. Locked elements are not box-selected. ⌘A selects all elements except locked ones. Esc deselects.
• Move: drag, or nudge with the arrow keys (1 px; ⇧ for 10 px). ⌥+drag duplicates and drags the copy.
• Resize: drag a handle. ⇧ keeps proportions; ⌥ resizes from the center. Images, sticky notes and groups keep their aspect ratio.
• Rotate: drag the round handle above the element; ⇧ snaps to 15° steps. Or type Rotation°.
• Smart guides: while you drag, red guides show alignment to other elements' edges and centers and equal gaps (with the gap size). Hold ⌘ to suspend snapping. Turn guides off with Smart guides in the Board section.
• Snap to grid: when on, moves and resizes snap to the grid spacing.
• Quick add: a selected shape or sticky note shows + handles on its four sides. Click one to add a copy in that direction; shapes are joined to the copy by a line. Drag a shape's + handle to a spot to choose the new shape from a menu (Rectangle, Rounded rectangle, Ellipse, Diamond, Terminator, Data (I/O), Document, Hexagon, Triangle, Cloud). The copy opens for typing.
• Duplicate: ⌘D. Move the copy and press ⌘D again to repeat the same offset (step and repeat).
• Copy and paste: ⌘C, ⌘X, ⌘V work within a board, across boards and across whiteboards. Pasting plain text creates a text element (up to 20,000 characters); pasting an image inserts it.
• Groups: ⌘G groups, ⇧⌘G ungroups. Double-click a group to enter it and select its members; Esc leaves it.
• Lock: ⇧⌘L or Lock locks elements fully; Lock Position (Lock Position Only in the context menu) keeps text and style editable. Locked elements cannot be moved, flipped or deleted.

Shapes

The Shapes panel groups shapes by category; search matches names and keywords (for example decision, database, causal loop). Every shape takes text unless noted.

New shapes are light blue with a dark blue border. In the Shape section, the shape type button (with ▾) changes the type of the selected shapes and keeps their size, style, text and connections. Shapes with corners have a Corners radius (also a drag handle at the top left). Stars have Points (3–24).

Text overflow (shapes only, in the Text section): Grow (the shape grows to fit the text), Shrink (the text shrinks to fit) or None (the text may overflow).

Text

• Text tool (T): click to place a text that grows with what you type; drag to set a fixed width that wraps.
• Editing: double-click, press Enter, or start typing on a selected element. Select characters to style only them; otherwise styles apply to the whole element.
• Text section: font, A− / size / A+ (6–800 px), text color, B, I, U, S (strikethrough), AA (uppercase), •≡ bulleted list, 1≡ numbered list, Align (left, center, right, justify), Vertical (Top, Middle, Bottom; not for plain text), Line height (0.5–2.5), Letter spacing (−200 to 800 thousandths of an em). For text elements: Style presets Heading (48, bold), Subheading (28, bold), Body (16), and a Background box color.
• Fonts: System Sans, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Trebuchet MS, Avenir Next, Futura, Gill Sans, Optima, Georgia, Times, Palatino, Baskerville, Didot, Charter, Rockwell, Menlo, Courier, American Typewriter, Marker Felt, Chalkboard, Noteworthy, Bradley Hand, Copperplate. A font that is not installed on the viewer's device falls back to a similar one.
• Links in text: while typing, select text and press ⌘K to link it to a web address, a board, a frame or a model element. ⌘+click follows a link.

Sticky notes

• S places a 200 × 200 note at the pointer (or the center) and opens it for typing; pressing S again without moving the pointer places the next note to its right. With the Sticky note tool active, click to place a note.
• While typing in a note: Tab adds the next note to the right, ⇧↩ adds one below.
• Text shrinks to fit the note (Fit text automatically). Setting a font size turns automatic fitting off for that note.
• Sticky note section: ten color swatches (Yellow, Orange, Pink, Red, Purple, Blue, Light blue, Teal, Green, Gray) and a custom color; the last color you pick is used for the next note. Size: S (120), M (200), L (300), Wide (300 × 200). Show author prints your name in the corner.
• + handles add a note beside the selected one (without a line).

Lines and connectors

Drawing lines

• L draws a line, A an arrow (filled triangle at the end). Drag from start to end; ⇧ constrains to 0°, 45° and 90°. A click without dragging draws a 200 px line.
• Attach: start or end on an element to attach. While the Line or Arrow tool is active, connection points appear on the element under the pointer. Release on a point to fix the end there, near the outline to fix it at that spot (corners and edges glide with resizing), or on the body to let the end float to the nearest side. Hold ⌘ to draw without attaching.
• Reattach: drag an end handle of a selected line to another element or to empty board.

Shaping lines

• Straight: drag a + handle on a segment to add a bend point. Double-click a bend point to remove it.
• Elbow: right angles, routed around the attached elements automatically. Drag a segment handle to move that segment.
• Curved: a smooth curve. Drag the yellow diamond to change the curvature, or set Bend (−2 to 2; negative bends the other way). Drag + handles to add points the curve passes through.
• Reset Route removes manual bends and segment moves.

Line properties

The Line section (lines only):

Labels: double-click a line to type a label; Enter or Esc finishes, ⇧↩ adds a line break. Drag a label along the line.

Freehand drawing

• Draw (D) opens a bar over the canvas: Pen (D), Marker, Highlighter, Lasso select and Eraser (E).
• For pens: color, Weight (Pen 1–20, Marker 4–40, Highlighter 8–64 px), Opacity % and Smoothing % (0–100; higher values smooth shaky lines more). Each pen remembers its own settings. The highlighter blends with what is under it.
• Shape assist: turns rough lines, arrows, rectangles, ellipses, triangles and diamonds into clean shapes. Without it, hold still for about one second before lifting the pointer to get the same result for one stroke.
• Lasso select: draw a loop around strokes to select them.
• Eraser (E): Whole strokes or Partial (erases only the parts you touch), Size 8–64 px.
• A selected stroke shows the Drawing section: Color, Weight (1–64), Pen (Pen, Marker, Highlighter).

Images

• Insert: Insert image in the toolbar, Upload Image… in the Clipart panel, drop files on the board, or paste an image. PNG, JPG, GIF, WebP and SVG are accepted. SVG files are cleaned: scripts, external references and unsupported content are removed.
• Crop: double-click an image or click Crop…. Drag the frame and its handles; ↩ applies, Esc cancels. Cropping is non-destructive; Reset Crop shows the whole image again.
• Recolor: for SVG images (icons, clipart), Recolor paints the graphic one color; Original Colors removes it.
• Original Size restores the image's natural size. Corners rounds the corners; Border adds an outline.

Colors

Every color button opens the same color panel:

• None (where a color can be empty) and ⌖ Eyedropper (picks from the screen, or from the board when the browser has no screen eyedropper; Click the board to pick a color. Esc cancels.).
• Document colors: every color used in this whiteboard. Right-click a swatch, or click Replace… and then a swatch, to replace that color everywhere in the whiteboard.
• Recent: the last 10 colors you applied.
• Palette: 40 preset colors.
• Custom: a saturation/brightness area, Hue and Alpha sliders, Hex (with Apply), RGB and HSL fields. Hex accepts 6 or 8 digits (the last two are alpha).

Frames

• Draw a frame with F (drag, or click for a 960 × 540 frame), or click a preset in the Frames panel: 16:9 (960 × 540), 4:3 (800 × 600), A4 (794 × 1123), Letter (816 × 1056), Square (800 × 800). New frames are named Frame 1, Frame 2, …
• Membership: elements whose center lies inside a frame belong to it and move with it. Frames are drawn behind their contents.
• Rename: double-click the frame title, edit Name in the inspector, or double-click its row in the Frames panel.
• Clip contents at the frame edge hides the parts of members outside the frame.
• Present, Export… (the selected frames) and Zoom are in the Frame section; Present from This Frame is in the context menu.
• Frames can be link targets, export scopes, and regions inserted into documents, slides and DoDAF products.

Tables

• Insert from the Tables and Charts panel (hover the grid to choose rows × columns, click to insert), the Table tool (drag to size; it uses the last size you chose, 3 × 3 at first), or / → Insert Table… (Rows × columns (for example 3 × 4)).
• Typing: double-click a cell. Tab / ⇧Tab moves to the next / previous cell; Tab in the last cell adds a row.
• Selecting cells: click a cell; ⇧+click extends the range. The section header shows N rows × N columns and the selected range (for example Cells A1–B2 selected.).
• Table section: Row ↑, Row ↓, Delete Row, Col ←, Col →, Delete Col, Merge, Unmerge, Equal Widths, Equal Heights, Fit, Header row, Fill, Header fill, Border color, border dash (Solid, Dashed, Dotted), Weight (0–8 px), Padding (0–40 px). For selected cells: Fill, Border, Align, Vertical, Edit Text, Clear. Make Chart inserts a chart from the table.
• Drag the diamond handles under the columns and beside the rows to resize them.

Charts

• Insert from the Tables and Charts panel or / → Insert Column Chart (and Bar, Line, Pie, Donut, Scatter). Each starts with sample data.
• Edit data: double-click the chart or click Edit Data…. The Chart Data dialog has a grid (first column = labels, first row = series names), buttons to add and remove rows and series, and a box to paste rows from a spreadsheet (tab- or comma-separated; first row = names). Done applies; Cancel restores the previous data.
• Make Chart (or Make Chart from Table in the context menu) builds a chart from a table: first row = series names, first column = labels.
• Chart section: chart type, Edit Data…, title, Legend, Value labels, Background, Series colors or Slice colors (up to 8), Default Colors.

Arrange: align, distribute and order

The Arrange section and the shortcuts work on the selection. A single element inside a frame aligns to the frame.

Systems thinking shapes

The Systems Thinking category is for drawing causal loop and stock-and-flow diagrams; it does not simulate. Search causal loop, stock or flow.

• Variable: a borderless rounded label (default text Variable).
• Causal link: a curved arrow with a + polarity badge. Drop its ends on variables to attach.
• Loop marker: a circular arrow with R or B in the middle. Direction (↻ Clockwise or ↺ Counter), Type (R Reinforcing or B Balancing) and an optional Loop name are in the Shape section.
• Stock, Source / sink cloud, Auxiliary (converter) (a small circle with its label below), Flow (pipe with valve) (a double-line pipe with a valve), Information link (a thin curved arrow).
• Polarity for any line: None, + (same), − (opposite), S (same), O (opposite). Delay mark draws ‖ across the line. Flow pipe with valve turns any line into a flow pipe.

To draw a causal loop diagram: add Variable elements (or plain text), connect them with Causal link, set Polarity on each link, add Delay mark where the effect lags, then place a Loop marker inside each loop and set R or B. A loop with an even number of − links is reinforcing; an odd number makes it balancing.

Clipart library

The Clipart panel searches one library across several sources.

Sources

All searches every source. Point at a tile for a preview with its name, source, category, license, keywords and (for military symbols) its SIDC.

Search and browse

• Type in Search clipart, icons and symbols. Search ignores case and accents, matches partial words, plurals and small typos, and knows synonyms (UAV, drone, RPA and UAS find the same items; hostile finds enemy). Esc clears the box.
• Narrow with the source chips and the category list (All categories or one category with its count).
• With no query, items are grouped by source.
• When results are weak, the panel says These results match only loosely. and offers ✦ Generate with AI…. When nothing matches it shows No results, Did you mean: suggestions, Related categories:, Search all sources and ✦ Generate with AI….
• Solid / Line switches between filled and outline versions where an item has both.
• The color well recolors single-color clipart and icons in the results and on insert; Original Colors shows each item in its own colors.

Insert

Click a tile (or focus it and press Enter) to insert it at the center of the view, or drag it to a spot. Clipart stays vector: it scales without blur, and you can recolor it later in the Image section.

Uploads

1. Click Upload… in the Clipart panel and choose PNG, JPG or SVG files.
2. In Add Image to My Uploads (or Add N Images to My Uploads) check Name, Category (default Uploads), Keywords and Synonyms; they are proposed from the file name. SVG content removed for safety is listed (Removed for safety: …).
3. Click Add to Library. The toast reads Added to My uploads.

Your uploads and AI-generated clipart belong to your account and appear in every project you open. They count toward your storage limit.

⋯ on an upload or AI-generated tile opens Clipart Details: edit Name, Category, Keywords, Synonyms; see Source and, for AI items, Generated with and Prompt; Delete (Delete "[name]" from your library? Boards that already use it keep their copy.) and Save.

Sharing clipart with a project

In Clipart Details for one of your own items, tick Share with members of this project (needs Editor or Owner role in the project) and click Save. Members then see the item in their library. Items shared by others show Shared by and Only its owner can change or delete it.

Military symbols

• Search in plain words (hostile submarine, friendly fighter, UAV) or by symbol code (SIDC). Results draw the symbol with the matching affiliation.
• ⋯ on a military tile (Customize symbol) or Symbol Builder… opens Military Symbol:
  • Standard: MIL-STD-2525 or APP-6 (NATO).
  • Affiliation: Friendly, Hostile, Neutral, Unknown, Assumed friend, Suspect, and further codes.
  • Dimension: Air, Space, Sea surface, Subsurface, Land unit, Land equipment, Land installation, Special operations.
  • Function: a searchable list for the dimension (Search functions, e.g. fighter, submarine, radar), with the full path shown below.
  • Status: Present or Planned / anticipated. Echelon: None, Team / crew, Squad, Section, Platoon / detachment, Company / battery / troop, Battalion / squadron, Regiment / group, Brigade, Division, Corps, Army, Army group / front, Region / theater (land units and special operations).
  • Modifiers: Headquarters, Task force.
  • Text amplifiers: Unique designation, Higher formation, Quantity, Additional info.
  • SIDC: the code, kept in step with the fields both ways. Type a letter-based SIDC to set the fields; numeric SIDCs (MIL-STD-2525D/E, 20–30 digits) are drawn as typed.
  • Preview with Size (20–200), Fill, Frame, One color and a symbol color.
• Insert places the symbol on the board.

AI-generated clipart

1. Click ✦ Generate with AI… (or / → ✦ Generate Clipart with AI…). Text already in the search box is used as the description.
2. In ✦ Generate Clipart with AI fill in Description (What to draw, e.g. tanker aircraft refueling a fighter), Style (Flat color, Outline line-art, Military-style silhouette), Color scheme (Library default palette, Monochrome, Custom colors with 1–4 colors), View (Side, Top, Isometric) and Variants (1–8). The dialog names the model in use (Generating with [provider] · [model]).
3. Click Generate. Variants appear as they arrive (Generating… N of M done.). Each reply is checked; only a single clean SVG picture is shown. A failed variant shows the reason with Regenerate and Change model in AI Settings.
4. Click the variants to keep; edit Name, Category (default Generated), Keywords and Synonyms.
5. Click Add to Library, or Add and Insert (one variant) to also place it on the board. Regenerate draws a new set; Refine… returns to the form; Stop ends generation (variants already drawn can still be added).

Nothing is saved or inserted until you choose Add to Library or Add and Insert. Only your description is sent to the AI provider; no project data. AI clipart needs an AI key (Add an AI Key); without one the dialog offers Open AI Settings…. Clipart search works without AI.

Linking to the model

• Link: select elements and click Link to… in the Model section (or right-click → Link to Model Entity…, or / → Link to Model Entity…). Choose an entity in Link to Model Entity, or create one there. A class badge appears on each element. An element can link to several entities (Add Link…).
• Open: click the badge, the entity name in the Model section, or right-click → Open Linked Entity. The entity opens in a side panel on the board with its attributes, relationships and Appears on whiteboards (every board that links it). Unlink in that panel removes the link.
• Label mirrors the entity name: for converted elements this is on: renaming the entity renames the element's first text line on every board, and editing that line renames the entity. Turn it on or off per element.
• Broken links: when the entity is deleted, the badge turns red with "!" and the Model section shows Linked entity was deleted with Relink… and ×.
• Remove Model Links (context menu) removes all links from the selected elements.
• Convert to Model Element…: see Turn a sketch into model elements and a diagram. Shapes, sticky notes, text and pictures that are not linked yet can be converted. Each becomes one entity named after its first text line; further lines of sticky notes and text become the description. Lines between converted or linked elements can become relationships of any type the schema allows between the two classes (shown with (reverse) when they run the other way). A converted line shows its relationship in the Model section.
• Generate Diagram from Selection…: uses the linked Actions (for an Action Diagram or FFBD) or Assets (for an Asset Diagram) in the selection, or on the whole board when nothing is selected.

Harvest requirements

✦ Harvest Requirements (toolbar), Harvest Requirements… (Model section), Harvest as Requirements… (context menu) and / → Harvest Requirements from Sticky Notes… open the same dialog for the selected sticky notes, or all sticky notes on the board when none is selected. Notes without text are skipped.

AI drafts are previews: drafts that contain a web address are flagged and left unticked. Create Requirements creates one Requirement per ticked row (name and statement as description), links each note to its requirement, and is one undo step.

Templates

New from Template… (Whiteboards page) creates a whiteboard from a layout; / → Insert Template… places a layout at the center of the open board.

Links on elements

Any element can carry one link (Link section, Add Link…, or ⌘K with elements selected). The Link to list offers Web address (must start with https://, http:// or mailto:; https:// is added when missing), Board in this whiteboard, Frame (any frame on any board) and Model element. Follow or ⌘+click opens the target; while presenting, a plain click follows it. Remove Link clears it.

Using boards elsewhere

• Documents: insert a board or frame as a figure; choose Live: updates when the board changes or Snapshot: keeps the current picture. If the board or frame is deleted, the figure keeps its last picture.
• Presentations: insert a whiteboard on a slide (Insert Whiteboard on Slide). The slide's properties show the region, Snapshot (stop updating from the board), Open Whiteboard and Change Whiteboard.
• DoDAF OV-1 and CV-1: a product can be represented by a whiteboard, a board or a frame (Choose the OV-1 Whiteboard → Use This Board), by a new whiteboard from the OV-1 or CV-1 template, or by a new blank one. The product page shows the board live with a title block; linked elements become clickable hotspots.
• Diagrams page: whiteboards are listed with thumbnails; opening one opens the editor.

Export

Export… opens Export Whiteboard. The format and options you choose are remembered.

SVG keeps shapes and text editable in vector tools. Files are named [whiteboard] - [board], - selection, - view or - [frame]. Several files download one after another.

Copy Image (toolbar), Copy as Image (context menu and /) put a 2× PNG of the selection, or of the board, on the clipboard. Export Selection… in the context menu opens the dialog with Selected elements.

Context menu

Right-click empty board (nothing selected): Paste, Select All, Zoom to Fit, Zoom to 100%.

Right-click an element or selection:

• Cut, Copy, Paste, Duplicate, Delete
• Copy Style, Paste Style
• Bring to Front, Bring Forward, Send Backward, Send to Back
• Group (2 or more), Ungroup (groups), Align Left, Align Top (2 or more), Distribute Horizontally (3 or more), Flip Horizontal, Flip Vertical, Lock / Unlock, Lock Position Only
• Lines: Add Label, Swap Ends, Reset Route, Straight Line, Elbow Line, Curved Line
• Add Link… (⌘K) / Edit Link… (⌘K); images: Crop…; tables: Make Chart from Table; frames: Present from This Frame
• Model: Open Linked Entity, Link to Model Entity…, Convert to Model Element…, Harvest as Requirements…, Generate Diagram from Selection…, Remove Model Links
• Copy as Image, Export Selection…

Command palette (/)

Press / on the board and type to filter (Type a shape, tool or command…):

• Insert: Insert [shape] for every shape, Insert Sticky Note, Insert Text, Insert Image…, ✦ Generate Clipart with AI…, Military Symbol…, Insert Frame (16:9), Insert Table…, Insert Column Chart, Insert Bar Chart, Insert Line Chart, Insert Pie Chart, Insert Donut Chart, Insert Scatter Chart, Present Frames, Add Link… (⌘K), Link to Model Entity…, Convert to Model Element…, Harvest Requirements from Sticky Notes…, Generate Diagram from Selection…, Insert Template…
• Tools: Tool: Select, Tool: Hand (pan), Tool: Text, Tool: Sticky note, Tool: Rectangle, Tool: Ellipse, Tool: Line, Tool: Arrow, Tool: Draw, Tool: Eraser, Tool: Frame, Tool: Table
• Commands: Select All, Group, Ungroup, Duplicate, Delete, Lock or Unlock, Bring to Front, Send to Back, Align Left, Align Center, Align Top, Distribute Horizontally, Distribute Vertically, Tidy Up, Flip Horizontal, Flip Vertical, Zoom to Fit, Zoom to 100%, New Board, Export…, Copy as Image, Keyboard Shortcuts

The insert and model commands are also in ⌘K (the app's command palette) while a whiteboard is open.

Keyboard shortcuts

Press ? in a whiteboard for this list. Letter keys pick tools only when you are not typing. On Windows or Linux use Ctrl for ⌘ and Alt for ⌥.

Options and settings

• Per board: background color, grid (Off, Dots, Lines), grid spacing, Snap to grid (in the Board section and the ⚙ menu).
• Per whiteboard: Smart guides on or off.
• Per user (kept in this browser): the open panel, recent colors, the default line style, the sticky note color, pen settings and eraser size, the table size for the Table tool, export format and options, the overview map open or closed, clipart filters and recolor, and the zoom position of each board.

Viewers (read-only access)

People with the Viewer role open whiteboards in view-only mode: only Select and Hand are in the toolbar, the Insert and Edit tools and ⚙ are hidden, and nothing can be changed. Viewers can pan, zoom, select to read properties, follow links, open linked entities, present frames, and use Export… and Copy Image.

Messages

Limits

Whiteboards are drawing tools: Systems Thinking shapes do not simulate, and lines between elements are not relationships until you convert them.

Related

• Whiteboards (Help) and Whiteboard Clipart (Help)
• Make an OV-1 for DoDAF
• Diagrams
• Action Diagrams
• Functional Analysis
• Ask AI and AI Tools
• Sharing and Roles