There is no longer a Tools tab. Every group it held is now a palette category of its own, one press away on the palette strip, so this page is a map of where each tool went.
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 in Facilitate mode. Rest on one, or click it, to see its elements.
Which categories each mode offers
The palette is laid out per editor mode, so not every category appears everywhere:
- Diagram (the default): Shapes, Draw (Write's text, notes, Comment panel and Action card, then Draw's pens and arrows), Build, Concepts (with the Sankey), Icons, Tech and Media (Image and Avatar). Library (your shape libraries) joins Common once you have imported a shape library, and Event Storming joins Structure on an Event Storming board.
- Illustrate: Shapes, Write, Build, Concepts (with the Sankey), Components, Devices, Icons, Stickers, Media (with the embeds), and Data. There is no Draw, Tech or Collaborate, and Write and Build leave out the diagram-only tiles (Page, Annotation, Mind node, Lane and Frame). Logo leads Common while the tab has a logo page, and Library joins once you have imported a shape library.
- Facilitate: Shapes, Draw (text, notes, tables, checklists and frames, then the pens and arrows), Icons, Stickers, Media (Image and Avatar), Data, and the session kit: Ask, and Session, which holds Tools, Record, React, Selection Mode and Navigate. Draw leaves out what a session does not need (Page, Annotation, Shape Pen, Polygon, Mind node, Flowchart, Lane, Timeline and Sankey).
- Plan: its Boards & Cards band (Cards, Boards, Widgets, Metrics, Visualisations), a Spreadsheets band with Sheet, and, under Common, Content (sticky note, text, image, page) and Tools (temperature check, estimate card, idea box, picker, timer and stopwatch). It keeps a category dropdown, opening on Cards.
- Draw mode swaps the palette for the whiteboard's own pens and shapes.
Anything a mode leaves out is still one search away: the search panel (⌘K or Ctrl+K) can add any palette element by name, whatever the mode.
Where each tool lives
Build holds the elements you lay a diagram out with, the ones that hold other work: Mind Node (Tab adds a child, Enter a sibling), Table (an editable grid of cells), Lane (a titled band that carries its steps), Frame (a labelled box that groups a section, F), and Timeline (a track for sequencing events).
Write holds the wordy elements: Page is a paper-sized sheet you write into, Text drops a free-standing label (T), Note is a coloured sticky note card (N), and Annotation is a small marker that holds a note. The coloured Event Storming workshop stickies live in their own category, which appears on an Event Storming board.
Draw holds the gesture tools: Freehand (P) sketches a stroke and keeps it exactly as drawn, the Shape Pen (6) turns a rough sketch into a real shape, the Highlighter lays one wide translucent marker stroke, Polygon places straight-edged outlines point by point, 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 (Illustrate) holds the ready-made pieces: Code, Checklist, and a Web Elements group (Page Blocks in its panel) of themed composites (Banner, Callout, Stat row, Process, Hero, Header; Hero needs image uploads, like Image and Avatar). Entity is a Diagram element. In Diagram mode, Entity is in Build; add a Code block or a Checklist from the search panel.
Data (Illustrate) holds the charts and meters: Pie, Bar, Line, Legend, Progress, Donut and Rating. See Data and Chart Elements.
Collaborate (Facilitate) is the elements that do something when somebody interacts with them, or that ask the room something, as six categories: Ask (dot vote, poll, quiz, estimate card, temperature check, idea box, Q&A board), 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, plus, in Illustrate, an Embed group for YouTube, Vimeo, Loom, Figma, Google Docs and any website (embeds). 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 Freehand, the Shape Pen, and the Polygon tool.
- 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, plus the Timeline rail from Build.
- 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 diagram grows past one screen: it keeps a section labelled and easy to move as a unit.
Was this article helpful?