You can invite people to collaborate in Freeform boards and folders in iCloud, and everyone sees the latest changes when they’re online and signed in to their Apple Account. To make sure the board is accessible to all, you can add descriptions for visual items.

Boards are stored only in the owner’s iCloud, so participants’ iCloud storage isn’t affected. You can also see others in a board as they edit.

Invite others to collaborate on a board

When you’re working on a shared Freeform board, you see edits as others make them. Because changes are saved in iCloud, anyone with access to the board sees the latest version each time they open it.

Note: Items in a board don’t affect participants’ iCloud storage, since boards are stored only in the owner’s iCloud.

1. Go to the Freeform app on your iPad.
2. Do one of the following:
   • While browsing All Boards: Touch and hold the board you want to share and tap Share.
   • From inside a board: Open the board you want to share (or tap the New Board button to start a new one). Tap the Share Board button.
3. The current sharing setting is described below the name of the board, such as People you choose can edit. Tap the setting to change it. See Change access and permissions for boards and folders.
4. Choose how you want to share the board—such as in Messages or Mail—or tap the icon of anyone you communicated with recently to share with them.

You can add people after you start sharing a board. Tap the Collaborate button, tap Manage Shared Board, then tap Share With More People. When you share with others in Messages, the Collaborate button tap may change to reflect who shares the board with you.

Note: Everyone you share the board with has to be signed in to their Apple Account on iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2, macOS 13.1, or later before they can edit or view it. For collaborating in Messages, you and anyone you invite must also turn on iMessage.

Share a folder

Share a folder of Freeform boards so you can work with others on them.

Note: You can only share a top-level folder.

1. Open the Freeform app on your iPad.
2. Create a folder.
3. Touch and hold the folder, then tap Share.
4. In the share sheet, choose how to send the invitation, set permissions and then send. Anyone you invite gets access to all the boards and subfolders in the folder, including ones added later.
5. To set permissions, do any of the following:
   • Let others add and edit boards in the folder: Choose Can Make Changes.
   • Let others open boards without editing or adding new ones: Choose View Only.
6. To add participants, touch and hold the shared folder, tap Manage Shared Folder, and then tap Add People.

If you’re not the owner of the folder, you won’t see Manage Shared Folder.

View others in a board

You can see in real time where others are working on your board, or follow a participant as they move around it. If someone is presenting a design proposal on a Freeform board, for example, following them shows you where they are on the board and what they see.

1. Open the Freeform app on your iPad.
2. Open the shared board where you want to see others at work. Tap the Collaborate button.
3. Turn on Participant Cursors if the setting is off.
4. Do any of the following:
   • Jump to where they’re working: Tap the name of a participant.

     The color next to the participant’s name matches the color marking their place on the board.

   • Follow their board view as they work or present: Tap the More button next to the name of a participant. Tap Follow Along. Or you can just tap the person’s avatar wherever they are on the board. Tap Follow.

     Anything you’d selected before entering the mode is deselected. A border (with a color matching the cursor of the person you’re following) frames what they see on the board.

     Both you and the presenter you’re following need to be online.

As you follow along, the zoom level is based on the other person’s view, and you can’t select anything on the board.

To stop following along, tap Stop in the top-right corner—or just scroll, zoom, or edit.

Note: While the board is open, others working with you on it can only undo and redo their own changes. The Undo button moves through the changes you made on your own iPad, and to redo a change you’ve undone, touch and hold the Undo button and tap Redo.

Add accessibility descriptions

You can add a description of your visual content to any item on your board. That way, people who use assistive technology such as VoiceOver can hear the visual content described aloud. (Descriptions aren’t visible on the board itself.)

1. Open the Freeform app on your iPad.
2. Open the board where you want to add accessibility descriptions.
3. Tap to select the item you want to describe and tap the More button in the formatting tools. Then tap Description.
4. Enter a description of the visual content. Tap the Done button.
5. To hear the description, turn on VoiceOver and then tap the item.

Stop sharing or collaborating

1. Open the Freeform app on your iPad.
2. Touch and hold the shared board or folder. Then tap Manage Shared Folder.

   If you’re already in a board, tap the Collaborate button, then tap Manage Shared Board.

3. Do any of the following:
   • Remove individuals: Tap the name of the participant you want to remove. Then tap Remove Access.
   • Remove yourself from someone else’s board or folder: Tap your name, then tap Remove Me.
   • Stop sharing with everyone: Tap Stop Sharing and then tap Stop Sharing.

     When you choose this option, the board no longer appears on the devices of the other participants, even though you still have access to it.

     When you stop sharing a folder, the people you shared with lose access to all the boards and subfolders inside it.

You can change access and permissions for individuals or for everyone after you start sharing a board.

To use the collaboration features fully, all participants must be online, signed in to their Apple Account, have Freeform turned on in iCloud, and have set up two-factor authentication.

See also

• Print from iPad
• Delete and recover your Freeform boards and folders on iPad
• Collaborate on projects with Messages on iPad

You can move, rotate, or resize items on your Freeform board. You can align, distribute, or group them, and move them to the background or foreground. You can also lock items when you want to prevent any further changes.

You can move an item in a straight line, resize it, and even match its size to another item on your board.

Here’s how to position items on a Freeform board on iPad.

Move, rotate, or resize an item

1. Go to the Freeform app on your iPad.
2. Open a board, select an item you want to position by tapping it, and then do any of the following:
   • Reposition it: Drag from the center of the item.
   • Move it in a straight line: To constrain an item’s movement horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, drag the item with one finger while you use another finger to touch and hold anywhere on the board.

     

   • Rotate it: Place two fingers on the item and turn your hand in the direction you want to rotate it.

     

   • Put it in the background or foreground: Tap the More button in the formatting tools and tap Back or Front.
   • Resize it: Drag a blue dot.

     In text boxes, drag a green dot to resize both the box and the text within it.

   • Match its size to another item: Start resizing and then use a second finger to touch and hold the item whose size you want to match. When the words Match Size appear, lift both your fingers at the same time.

     

Select, align, and group multiple items on a board

With items on a Freeform board, you can select multiple items and line them up relative to one another. Group several items, and you can move, rotate, or resize them together as a single unit.

1. Open the Freeform app on your iPad.
2. Open a board. Select multiple items by doing one of the following:
   • Touch and hold an item on your board, then, with another finger, tap other items.

     

   • Touch and hold the canvas, then drag the box that appears around the items you want to select.

     

   • Tap an empty space on the canvas, then tap Select Objects. Tap each item you want to select. To deselect an item, tap it again.
3. Move, rotate, or resize the selected items, or tap the Arrange button. Tap an alignment option or Group.

   Some items—such as 3D objects—can’t be grouped.

Arranging items gets easier when you turn on the background dot grid and automatically align items to it.

Select items and scroll with Apple Pencil

In Freeform, Apple Pencil works as a drawing and writing tool by default. If you’d also like to use Apple Pencil to select items and scroll, you can change this setting.

1. Open the Settings app on your iPad.
2. Tap Apps, then tap Freeform.
3. Below Apple Pencil, turn on Select and Scroll (green is on).

After you change this setting, tap the Drawing and Handwriting Tools button in the toolbar to draw. Tap the button again to use Pencil to select and scroll.

Lock an item on a board

After you add an item to a Freeform board, you can lock it so you don’t inadvertently move, modify, or delete it. For example, you might lock one or more text boxes to serve as headings. (This could help set off areas on a board where participants can share items.)

1. Open the Freeform app on your iPad.
2. Open a board. Tap a drawing, shape, text box, or other item on your board to select it.
3. Tap the More button in the formatting tools and tap Lock.

Quick tip: To define a workspace for your participants instead of a wide open canvas, try adding a large rectangle shape. Then select the shape and tap the More button in the formatting tools before you tap Back and lock it.

See also

• Change your Freeform settings on iPad
• Create a Freeform board on iPad
• Apply consistent styles and formatting in Freeform on iPad

When you want the text in your sticky notes, shapes, or text boxes to have a consistent look in Freeform, like the font, size, and color, you can copy the style from one item and paste it in another.

Depending on the item you paste into, fonts, line weight, or color are matched. If you like an item’s style, you can also save it, and every new item like that on your board uses the saved style.

1. Go to the Freeform app on your iPad.
2. Tap an item on a board and make any adjustments to the formatting—so it has the style you want to copy.
3. When you have an item that’s formatted in a style you like, tap it to show its formatting tools.
4. Tap the More button and tap Style. Tap Copy Style.
5. Tap to select and show the formatting tools for an item whose style you want to change.
6. Tap the More button, tap Style, and then tap Paste Style.

   Depending on the item you’re pasting a style into, fonts, line weight, or color are matched.

   For linked or placed files, pasted styles update corners and shadows.

Quick tip: When you like an item’s style, you can save it, and every similar item you add to your board afterward uses the saved style. To save it, tap to select the text box, tap the More button, and tap Style, then choose Save as Insert Style.

See also

• Position items on a Freeform board on iPad