Elements & Tools
Folders (boards in boards)
Folders are how a canvas scales from twenty items to twenty projects: each one opens into its own full canvas, nests as deep as you like — and mirrors to a real folder on disk.
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Creating and opening
Press B, click the canvas, type a name. Double-click the folder to open it — you’re now on that folder’s own canvas. The breadcrumbs up top always show your path; click them to go back (or press Alt+Backspace to go up one level). More on navigating in Folders in folders.
Filling a folder
Drag any element (or a multi-selection) onto a folder and release — the folder highlights, pulses, and the items now live inside it. You can also cut & paste between folders (Cmd/Ctrl+X → open other folder → Cmd/Ctrl+V).
Reading a folder from outside
Folders show their element count and a small preview of what’s inside — images first, then note colors — so you can tell full from empty at a glance.
Two looks
Select a folder and click “Change type” in the floating bar to switch between:
- Icon — the classic folder symbol with the name underneath. Compact, scannable.
- Slim card — a rounded card with a background color and alignable title. Great as section headers or when folders are the main content of a canvas.
Each look remembers its own size, and both take colors from the palette (plus custom colors) in the floating bar.
Folders are real folders
With a connected folder, every folder on the canvas is a real directory on disk — same name, containing that folder’s images, documents and a readable board.json. Rename the folder in the app and the directory renames with it. Full tour in What’s inside your folder.
Deleting a folder deletes what’s inside — visualOS warns you and shows the element count first. And Cmd/Ctrl+Z brings the whole folder back, contents included, for several minutes even the files on disk. See the safety net.