Modes & Tools
The three canvas modes
Section titled “The three canvas modes”Switch modes via the toolbar or keyboard shortcut:
| Mode | Shortcut | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Select | V | Select, move, and scale elements |
| Draw | D | Draw freehand lines and shapes |
| Connect | A | Draw connection lines between elements |
The active mode is highlighted in the toolbar.
Select mode (V)
Section titled “Select mode (V)”Default mode. Click on elements to select and edit them.
Multi-select:
- ⇧+Click: add another element to the selection
- Lasso: hold ⇧ and drag on empty space (in selection mode V also without ⇧). Without ⇧, dragging on empty space pans the view.
Selected elements:
- Move: drag
- Scale: drag corners/edges
- Duplicate: ⌘D
- Delete: Delete / Backspace
Draw mode (D)
Section titled “Draw mode (D)”Draw freehand lines and shapes. A pen cursor appears.
Configuration in the toolbar:
- Stroke color
- Stroke width (thin / medium / thick)
After drawing, the mode automatically returns to Select.
Connect mode (A)
Section titled “Connect mode (A)”Connect two elements with a line. → Details on connection lines
Grid (Snap to Grid)
Section titled “Grid (Snap to Grid)”Enable the grid in the toolbar (grid icon). Elements will snap to a 20px grid, useful for clean, aligned layouts.
Alignment guides
Section titled “Alignment guides”With the grid off, guides help you arrange freely. They appear as soon as you come close enough to another element, and snap there.
This works when moving and when resizing, so you can size an element to exactly the height or width of another one.
Two kinds to tell apart:
| Display | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Continuous line | edges or centres are flush |
| Short marker on the edge | same width or height as another element, without the edges being flush |
Images keep their aspect ratio; there only the width snaps.
The Inbox (icon at the top right) is your board’s holding tray, like a tray next to the desk:
- From this board: cards you don’t need on the canvas right now. Select a card → Move to inbox (in the card’s ”…” menu, or in the bar for several cards). They belong to the board, everyone with edit rights sees them, and they don’t expire.
- From the web: what you collected from websites with the “Clip to Pachurros” bookmarklet (your own clips, kept for 7 days).
Tap an entry to put it in the middle of the board, or drag it to a spot.
Undo & Redo
Section titled “Undo & Redo”- ⌘Z: undo last action
- ⌘⇧Z: redo last action
The history is kept for the current session.
Auto-Arrange
Section titled “Auto-Arrange”Click Auto-Arrange in the toolbar (magic wand icon). The algorithm arranges all elements in a spatially logical way, useful when a canvas has become cluttered.
Export (PNG & PDF)
Section titled “Export (PNG & PDF)”Click ··· (Canvas actions) at the top right → Export as PNG or Export as PDF. The whole board is always exported.
The export is a 1:1 copy of what you see: Pachurros draws the board on the server in a real browser and captures it as an image. Photos, shadows, rounded corners, maps and a 3D light diagram (as a still) therefore come out exactly as they appear on the board. The PDF is the same capture on a single page the size of the board.
Clear canvas
Section titled “Clear canvas”Click ··· → Clear canvas. A confirmation prompt follows. All elements are permanently deleted.
Minimap
Section titled “Minimap”A small overview of the entire canvas is located in the bottom-right corner. Click on an area in the minimap to jump there quickly.
Zoom level
Section titled “Zoom level”- ⌘0 / Ctrl+0 or ⇧1: fit everything
- ⇧0: 100 %
- ⇧2: zoom to the selection
- + / −: zoom in and out (⌘+ and ⌘− stay with the browser so page zoom keeps working)
- ⌘+Scroll: zoom with the scroll wheel
- ⌘⇧0: reset the view if the canvas got lost
The zoom level is shown in the toolbar and can also be entered there directly.
Search the board
Section titled “Search the board”Press ⌘F (Ctrl+F) to search the board across content, titles, notes, and file and location names. Enter jumps to the first match and zooms to it; use the arrows to move through further matches.
Reactions
Section titled “Reactions”Every board element can be given emoji reactions (👍 ❤️ 🔥 👀 ✅). Reactions appear on the element with a counter, handy for voting and team feedback.
Lock element
Section titled “Lock element”From an element’s context menu you can lock it. A locked element stays selectable but can no longer be moved or edited. A lock badge indicates the state. Unlock again via the context menu.