Quick Start

If you’ve installed and launched Zenboard, here’s how to get up to speed in under two minutes.

1. Launch Zenboard

Open Zenboard from the Applications folder. An icon will appear in the menu bar or the notch area at the top of your screen.

2. Collect Your First References

Drag and drop the following items into the Zenboard sidebar:

Images (PNG, JPG, GIF, WebP, SVG, HEIC, etc.)
Animated images (Animated GIF, Animated WebP)
Videos (MP4, MOV, etc.)
Text — paste clipboard content Cmd + V
URLs — paste a link Cmd + V

Organizing the Sidebar

Collected references appear instantly in the sidebar.

Reorder: Drag cards to rearrange them in your preferred order.
Delete: Select any unwanted card and press Delete.
Multi-select: Hold Shift or Cmd while clicking to select multiple cards at once for moving or deleting.
Canvas placement: Cards added to the sidebar are also automatically added to the canvas. Note that text-based cards are only displayed in the sidebar.

3. Develop Ideas on the Canvas

Arrange your references freely on the infinite canvas and bring your ideas to life.

Move & resize: Drag to move, and grab the corner handles to resize. Smart guides automatically appear to help align with nearby cards.
Grouping Cmd + G: Select related cards and press Cmd + G to group them. You can then move and manage them as a single unit.
Comments Cmd + M: Add comments to blank canvas areas or on top of cards to capture your ideas.
Crop: To keep only the essential part of an image, use Crop from the right-click menu or press Cmd + P after selecting.
Rotate & flip: Rotate cards or flip them horizontally Cmd + H to explore new compositions.
Focus Zoom: Hold Option and hover over a card to instantly magnify the area under the cursor.

4. Save Your Work

Keep your valuable inspiration safe.

Save board Cmd + S: Saves the entire board as a .zen file.
Load Cmd + O: Open a saved .zen file to resume your work at any time.

5. Using Ghost Mode

Press Cmd + Shift + G to enable Ghost Mode. Zenboard becomes semi-transparent and floats on top of your active app (Photoshop, Figma, etc.), making it perfect for referencing while you work.