Grid and snapping on the freeform canvas
Turn on the background dot grid, snap items while you drag, and use the Cmd/Ctrl modifier to snap on demand or break free.
Freeform boards give you total placement freedom, and sometimes you want a little order back. Two toggles in the board settings menu — Background grid and Snap to grid — plus the Cmd/Ctrl modifier give you tidy, aligned layouts without giving up the freeform feel.
Where the settings live
Open a board in freeform view and click the gear button in the bottom-right corner of the canvas. Both toggles sit at the bottom of the menu:
- Background grid paints a faint dot grid behind the canvas.
- Snap to grid makes items snap into alignment while you drag or resize.
Both are personal settings. They apply to every freeform board you open, and they never change what teammates see on a shared board.
Background grid
Turn on Background grid for a subtle dot pattern behind everything on the canvas. The dots space themselves to your zoom level, so the grid stays airy whether you are zoomed out over a whole project or in close on a single card.
The dots sit exactly on the positions snapping uses, so with both toggles on, items land where the dots are.
Snap to grid
With Snap to grid on, everything you drag or resize snaps as you move it:
- Item edges come first. Cards, notes, shapes, and section frames snap to the edges and centers of nearby items, with alignment guide lines showing what you are lining up with.
- The grid catches the rest. When nothing is nearby on an axis, the item snaps to the world grid instead — the same lattice the background dots sit on.
Need to place something freely for a moment? Hold Cmd (Mac) or Ctrl (Windows) while dragging to temporarily turn snapping off. Release the key and snapping is back.
Snapping on demand
If you leave Snap to grid off, the same modifier works in reverse: freeform placement is the default, and holding Cmd or Ctrl while dragging or resizing snaps for just that movement. This is the classic freeform behavior — nothing snaps unless you ask.
Where to go next
- New to freeform boards? Start with creating your first board.
- To group areas of a canvas into named regions, read using sections.
Creating your first board
Create a board, add your first sources, then choose grid view for a swipe file or freeform canvas for a spatial creative project.
Using sections to organize a board
Sections are filters inside one board that show you one slice at a time. Here is how to use them, and when they beat splitting into separate boards.
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