DrawBoard docs ← Back to the app

Canvas Basics

Panning

  • Hold Space and drag, or
  • Select the Hand tool (H) and drag, or
  • Scroll/two-finger-swipe on a trackpad or mouse wheel.

Zooming

  • Ctrl/Cmd + scroll (or pinch on a trackpad) zooms in and out, centered on your cursor.
  • The zoom controls in the bottom-left corner show the current percentage — click / + to step, or click the percentage itself to reset to 100%.

Selecting elements

  • Click an element with the Selection tool to select it.
  • Shift-click to add or remove elements from the current selection.
  • Click-and-drag on empty canvas to draw a selection box — anything fully inside it gets selected.

Moving, resizing, rotating

  • Drag a selected element to move it. Arrow keys nudge it by 1px (Shift + arrow key nudges by 10px).
  • Drag one of the small square handles around a selection's edges to resize it.
  • Drag the small circular handle above a selection to rotate it.

Grouping

Select two or more elements and use Group in the left panel (or Ctrl/Cmd + G) to combine them into one unit you can move, resize, or style together. Ungroup (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + G) splits them back apart.

Layering (z-order)

When shapes overlap, use the Layers controls in the left panel to change which one draws on top:

  • Back — send behind everything
  • — send one step backward
  • — bring one step forward
  • Front — bring in front of everything

Locking

Lock (in the left panel, or the right-click menu) freezes a selected element in place — it can't be moved, resized, or deleted until you unlock it. Handy for a background element you don't want to bump while working on top of it.

Undo / redo

  • Ctrl/Cmd + Z to undo, Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + Z (or Ctrl/Cmd + Y) to redo.
  • Or use the undo/redo arrows next to the zoom controls in the bottom-left.

Duplicating

Select an element and press Ctrl/Cmd + D, or right-click → Duplicate. The copy is placed slightly offset from the original.

Right-click menu

Right-click anywhere for a context menu with duplicate, copy/paste styles (copy one element's look and apply it to another), layering shortcuts, undo/redo, and delete.

Grid & background

Open the menu (☰ icon, top-left) to toggle a snapping grid on/off and to change the canvas background color.

(Screenshot suggestion: a multi-element selection showing resize + rotate handles, and the right-click context menu open.)