Conversions

A conversion replaces the selected shapes with shapes of another kind:

• The new shapes take the place of the originals. Each conversion below says what they keep.
• The originals are removed.
• The conversions that apply to the selection share one multi-button in the Actions panel.

Convert to path shape

Turns geometry shapes, polylines, freehand shapes, arrows, and text, alone or in groups, into editable paths.

• Operation: click Convert to path shape.
• Result: paths ready for point editing.
  • A geometry shape becomes a closed path. Its label, if any, becomes a separate text shape.
  • A freehand shape becomes a simplified path with fewer points.
  • An arrow becomes paths for its body, each arrowhead, and each offset line, grouped when there are several. Its connections to other shapes are removed, and its label becomes a text shape.
  • A text shape becomes one path per visible letter, grouped when there are several. The paths take the text fill and text outline as their fill and stroke.
• Tip: converting text needs its font outlines, so it takes a moment while they load.

Convert to freehand shape

Turns geometry shapes, polylines, paths, arrows, and text, alone or in groups, into freehand shapes, made of points instead of curves.

• Operation: click Convert to freehand shape.
• Needs: paths with a single subpath, since one freehand shape holds a single line.
• Result: the same as converting to a path, with each result sampled into points. Letters with several contours use a group of freehand shapes and masks to preserve holes and separate parts. When the text has a mask, these letters become paths instead, so they keep the mask.

Convert to arrow

Turns open paths, freehand shapes, and polylines, alone or in groups, into arrows that follow the line exactly.

• Operation: click Convert to arrow.
• Needs: an open line. Closed shapes and dots are left unchanged and a notice says so.
• Result: one custom arrow per line, with the line as its path, no start arrowhead and an arrow end. If an end lands on a shape an arrow can connect to, the arrow connects to it right away.

Convert to Image

Replaces any selection except a single image with images that look the same, to keep a heavy board light or to lock a finished composition.

• Operation: click Convert to Image. When something would be lost, left behind, or look different, a dialog lists it, and you confirm with Convert or stop with Cancel.
• Result: images in place of the selection.
  • Shapes that are far apart become separate images, one per cluster of nearby shapes.
  • A selection made only of vectors and text becomes an SVG image; rich text and code text also keep SVG when their look is preserved. Other images are JPEG when fully opaque and rectangular, and PNG when they need transparency.
  • Images are drawn at twice their size on the board, PDFs at their own resolution, and videos at their frame size. A result that would be too large is drawn smaller, or refused.
  • Animations are included at their starting pose. Position, rotation, scale, resize, and opacity animations move to the image, and other animations are removed.
  • Videos become a still frame, audio shapes become a silent picture of their card, and HTML shapes, web embeds, PDFs, and code text become static pictures.
  • Live content, such as a web page or a streaming video, can only be pictured with a screenshot of the tab. The browser asks for permission, which lasts while the tab stays shared. Declining the permission bakes the shape's cover, or a placeholder when it has none.
  • Locked shapes, cameras, and file cards stay on the board unconverted, together with the groups or frames that contain them. Connections to shapes outside the selection are detached.
  • Masked shapes convert with their masks applied, without selecting the mask shapes. A mask shape that nothing uses anymore is drawn again like a regular shape.
  • Converted on its own, a PDF, table, code text, HTML shape, web embed, or video keeps its border, corners, filters, and masks editable on the new image. Other shapes have them drawn into the picture.
  • When the selection sits inside a frame with a filter, the dialog warns that the frame's effects may look slightly different on the image.
• Tip: live shapes are captured straight from the browser, so each one is isolated on screen for a moment and the screen may flicker. Wait until the board is back.
• Tip: while the images are saved, an empty image marks each one's place, and you can keep working. Changing an original before its image is ready cancels that conversion.
• Tip: baking many vector shapes into one SVG image lightens a heavy board, and the image stays sharp at any zoom. To edit the artwork again, Convert SVG image to shapes rebuilds it as new shapes.

Convert to rich text

Turns a plain text shape into a rich text shape.

• Operation: click Convert to rich text.
• Result: a rich text shape with the same text, read as Markdown, and the same font, color, line height, masks, and filters, in a box slightly larger than the text. The text outline is dropped, since rich text has none.

Convert SVG image to shapes

Turns an SVG image into editable vector shapes.

• Operation: click Convert SVG image to shapes.
• Needs: an image whose file is an SVG. An SVG turned into a picture by Edit asset no longer qualifies.
• Result: the paths, geometry, polylines, text, and embedded images of the file, grouped when there are several, in the image's place and rotation. Gradients become gradient fills, and clip paths and masks become masks.
• Tip: large files are converted in batches, so the board stays responsive while the shapes appear. If the file uses features that cannot be converted, those parts are skipped and the rest is converted.

Convert GIF to video and video to GIF

Switches an animated GIF between an image shape and a video shape, without changing the file.

• Operation: click Convert GIF to video on an animated GIF image, or Convert video to GIF on a video that came from one.
• Needs: a single animated GIF image, or a single video created from one. Other videos cannot become GIFs.
• Result: the same file shown as a video with playback controls, or back as an image. Size, crop, masks, filters, animations, and the styling both kinds share are kept.

Convert file cards to shapes

Turns file cards into the shape types that match their files.

• Operation: select one or more file cards and click the conversion button in the Actions panel. Its name and icon depend on the shape types the selected files can become:
  • Convert to image when every card holds a picture, SVG included.
  • Convert to video when every card holds a video.
  • Convert to audio when every card holds an audio file.
  • Convert to document when every card holds a PDF, a comic or an e-book.
  • Convert to table when every card holds a spreadsheet: CSV, TSV, XLS, XLSX, or ODS.
  • Convert to HTML when every card holds an HTML file.
  • Convert to shapes when the selected cards convert to different shape types.
• Needs: every selected shape must be a file card with a supported file. Archives and 3D models cannot be converted.
• Result: the new shape at the card's center, one per card.
  • An image or video at the file's natural size. Videos take a moment while their poster and duration are read.
  • An audio shape that plays the file.
  • A document 400 units wide and tall enough to show its first page, with the same file.
  • A table with the contents of the sheet you pick in the dialog that opens.
  • An HTML shape at the default size, running the file's source.
• Tip: a card that fails to convert stays as it is; the others in the selection still convert.

Convert shapes to file cards

Turns pictures, videos, audio shapes, and PDFs back into file cards.

• Operation: select the images, videos, audio shapes, or PDFs and click Convert to file card in the Actions panel.
• Needs: a file that matches the shape kind. A video made from a GIF needs Convert video to GIF first.
• Result: a file card per shape at the same center. Crop, filters, and animations are dropped with the shape; the file is unchanged, except that an annotated PDF gives the card a copy with the annotations written in.