Live collaboration on boards

Live collaboration lets two or more people edit the same board at once. When it’s on, anything an editor does — moving a node, adding one, drawing an edge, editing text, even undo and redo — shows up on everyone else’s canvas within a moment. It’s off by default, and you turn it on per board.

Note

Turning on live collaboration is a Collector feature. Once a board owner or editor on Collector enables it, anyone who can see the board — on any plan — joins the live session. This is separate from running a board inside a live game room; it works on any standalone board with no VTT session.

Turning it on

1. Open a board you own or can edit (on Collector).
2. Open the board’s appearance settings (the settings panel with background and edge options).
3. Switch on Live collaboration. (On other plans the switch is disabled with an “Available on the Collector plan” note.)

That’s it — the setting sticks to the board. Anyone who can edit the board and has it open will now share edits live. People who only have view access still see the changes happen; they just can’t make edits.

Seeing who’s here

When live collaboration is on, a small Live panel appears in the bottom-right of the board (just above the minimap) listing everyone currently on it, each with their own colour. You’ll also see everyone else’s cursor move around the canvas in real time, labelled with their name in the same colour — so it’s easy to tell who’s working where. Viewers show up too, so you can see who’s watching even if they can’t edit.

When someone starts typing in a node, that node is outlined in their colour with their name on it — so you can see at a glance who’s editing what and avoid working on the same node at the same time.

What syncs, and what doesn’t

Syncs live: moving, adding, and deleting nodes; drawing and removing edges; editing text and node content; grouping; undo and redo.

Doesn’t need it: comments already update live on every board, whether or not live collaboration is on.

Caution

Live collaboration is designed for a few people building together, not for many people hammering the same node at the exact same instant. If two editors change the same thing at once, the last save wins — so divvy up areas of a big board rather than fighting over one node.

If someone’s connection drops

If your network blips, the board reconnects on its own and pulls in anything you missed while you were away, so you catch back up without reloading.

Turning it off

Flip Live collaboration off in the same settings panel. Edits stop broadcasting immediately; everyone still keeps what’s already on the board, and normal save-on-edit continues as usual.

Related

• Comments on boards — discuss the canvas without changing it
• Undo and redo — step back through your own changes
• Sharing — who can view versus edit a board