How to copy from tldraw to WhimsicalCopied!Link to this section

1. Open your tldraw drawing and select what you want to bring over.
2. Copy it with Cmd + C (Mac) or Ctrl + C (PC).
3. Open a Whimsical board and paste with Cmd + V (Mac) or Ctrl + V (PC).

This also works with older versions of tldraw and with apps built with tldraw. Everything arrives as a single step, so one undo removes the whole paste.

What comes acrossCopied!Link to this section

ObjectsCopied!Link to this section

• Shapes, including rectangles, ellipses, diamonds, triangles, clouds, stars, hexagons and trapezoids, with their labels
• Text
• Sticky notes, in the closest Whimsical sticky color
• Arrows, which become connectors that stay attached where tldraw anchored them and keep their labels, arrowheads, curves and elbows
• Lines. Two-point lines become connectors, and lines with more points become drawings.
• Pen and highlighter drawings
• Frames, which become sections holding everything inside them
• Groups, including nested groups
• Images, with their crops and flips
• Embeds and bookmarks, which become Whimsical link cards
• Diagrams tldraw.com creates from Mermaid code

FormattingCopied!Link to this section

• Fills and dashed lines
• Headings, bullet and numbered lists
• Bold, italic, strikethrough, inline code, highlight and links
• Text alignment and text size
• tldraw's colors, mapped to their closest match in your board's palette

LimitationsCopied!Link to this section

• Images from signed-in tldraw.com files don't come across. They paste as a gray "Image" box. To bring an image over, copy it in tldraw as a PNG and paste it separately.
• Some shapes become rectangles. Block arrows, x-box, check-box and heart shapes become rectangles. Pentagons and octagons become hexagons.
• Fonts aren't carried over. All tldraw fonts are shown in our Dinsical font.
• Underline and label colors are dropped.
• Colors are matched, not copied exactly. tldraw's two reds both become the same red, and pattern fills become a light tint. Transparency is dropped too. You can update your color theme to match your brand.
• Dotted lines become dashed, since Whimsical has one dashed style. Line thickness isn't kept for shapes and connectors.
• Shapes snap to the nearest right angle. Text, sticky notes, links and frames paste upright.
• Drawings lose pressure and fill. Long drawings are simplified to keep the board fast.

Tips for a smooth migrationCopied!Link to this section

• Paste into a fresh Whimsical board first while you get a feel for it.
• If you see Couldn't paste selection, try copying fewer objects at a time.

Frequently asked questionsCopied!Link to this section

Do I need to export my tldraw drawing first?Copied!Link to this section

No. Copy objects in tldraw and paste them into a Whimsical board. There's no file to export.

Does this work with apps built with tldraw?Copied!Link to this section

Yes. It also works with older versions of tldraw.

Do images come across from tldraw?Copied!Link to this section

Yes, with their crops and flips. Images from signed-in tldraw.com files paste as a gray "Image" box, so copy those as a PNG and paste them separately.

Do arrows stay attached to their shapes?Copied!Link to this section

Yes. They become connectors that stay attached where tldraw anchored them, with their labels, arrowheads, curves and elbows.