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Product updates

Our latest features and improvements to help you work faster with greater focus.

  1. Some things have moved!

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    You may have noticed some changes in the UI lately. We’ve been cleaning things up to make it feel simpler and lighter. Don’t worry—we haven’t removed anything! Here’s a quick recap of where things have moved:

    Spellcheck, text size, and version history

    These features, once located in the bottom-right action bar, have moved to the file menu, which is beside the file name. You knew we had version history, didn’t you? ​⁠😉⁠

    Search & recent files

    Search is now located in the sidebar, but the shortcut remains the same — CMD-J (Mac) or OPT-J (PC).

    Recents was removed from the sidebar, but the feature still remains. When you open Search, your recently accessed files show by default.

    Find in page

    Formerly known as “Search Here,” Find in page is now a separate interface element. The shortcut remains the same – Command-F (Mac) and Ctrl-F (PC). You can also open it from the file menu using “Find...’

    Export

    Export options are now part of the Share menu. Whether you want to share a link, export an image, or invite a teammate, you’ll find everything you need in this menu.

    Voting

    Voting has moved to the toolbar below the Timer. It’s there when you need it and stays out of the way when you don’t.

    One last thing…

    We’re mindful about changing familiar things because we know it can be disruptive. These changes are designed to make room for new things to come. If something feels off after the dust settles, please let us know! ​⁠💜⁠​

    Made by
    • Daniel Compton
    • Rob Fisher
    • Todd Moy
  2. Users now receive a warning when they edit a color theme, alerting them that their changes will affect other boards using that theme. This helps prevent users from unintentionally changing color themes used by other team members.

    For org plan customers, a new setting allows restricting default color theme editing to admins only. You can enable this at whimsical.com/workspace/settings.

    Learn more about editing color themes and restricting theme edit permissions.

    Made by
    • Amy Brumet
    • Todd Moy
    • Daniel Compton
  3. Board tables—rebuilt from the ground up

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    We’ve released a significant update to board tables. Now, you can adjust table columns and rows more intuitively, apply different color combinations, format text, and much more. This update also ensures better support for writing Chinese, Japanese, and other languages with special characters, making tables more accessible for everyone.

    Made by
    • Dāvis Mednis
    • Roman Liutikov
    • Miķelis Vindavs
    • Toby Moore
    • Amy Brumet
  4. New Slack notifications

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    You can now receive notifications in Slack about comments on files you’re watching, @-mentions in comments, reactions to your comments, and file invitations. If you’re a workspace admin, you can also receive notifications about new members in your workspace and requests from viewers to become editors.

    To get started, connect the Slack app to your Whimsical account by going to https://whimsical.com/install/slack, or learn more about the Whimsical Slack app.

    Made by
    • Todd Moy
    • Daniel Compton
  5. Granular notification preferences

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    Do you get too much email? Whimsical now lets you choose how you want to receive notifications. For each notification type, you can choose if you want to be notified by email, Slack, or just in the notification inbox.

    Configure your notifications at https://whimsical.com/account.

    Made by
    • Todd Moy
    • Rob Fisher
    • Daniel Compton
  6. Notification inbox

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    We’ve released the notification inbox, a centralized space for all your Whimsical workspace activity. You’ll receive alerts for comments, mentions, reactions, file invites, and access requests. You can also customize your email settings to stay focused and minimize distractions. We hope this feature helps you manage your work both efficiently and calmly in Whimsical.

    Made by
    • Klāvs Taube
    • Roman Liutikov
    • Inge Solvoll
    • Amy Brumet
  7. SAML session expiration notices

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    Users logging in with SAML will now see a notice before their session expires. This lets them re-authenticate at a convenient time, instead of being interrupted in the middle of their work.

    The warning will show 2 hours, 1 hour, and 10 minutes before your session expires.

    This feature is available for all workspaces with a timed SAML session expiration policy. Learn more about SAML session expiration.

    Made by
    • Rob Fisher
    • Todd Moy
    • Daniel Compton
  8. AVIF Image Support in Boards and Docs

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    We now support AVIF image files in Whimsical boards and docs. AVIF, a next-generation image format, offers better compression and quality, wide color gamut, and high dynamic range (HDR), meaning your pictures will look sharper while taking up less space. This ensures that your images load faster without sacrificing quality.

    AVIF support is available for all users. You can add an AVIF image by selecting “Upload image” from the toolbar, or by dragging it from your computer onto a board or doc.

    Made by
    • Daniel Compton
  9. Dark sidebar

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    This visual refresh of the sidebar enhances focus on the file you’re working on while allowing the sidebar to visually recede. This update also hints at upcoming UI changes planned for the near future.

    Made by
    • Todd Moy
    • Rob Fisher
  10. ERD endpoints for connectors

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    We added four new endpoints to make your next database model even nicer in boards. To customize an endpoint, select the connector and click on the three dots next to it.

    Made by
    • Osvalds Neiders
    • Todd Moy
  11. Desktop app for macOS

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    We’ve released a desktop app for macOS. Enjoy everything you love about Whimsical in the browser plus a more permanent home for your Whimsical work, tabs for better organization, keyboard shortcuts for moving between tabs, and a beautiful icon for your dock.

    Download it here

    Made by
    • Daniel Compton
    • Todd Moy
    • Rob Fisher
  12. Code blocks in text objects

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    Now you can add code blocks in boards, similar to docs. Simply highlight your code snippet in a text object, choose the code block type and you’re good to go.

    Made by
    • Amy Brumet
    • Inge Solvoll
  13. Request File Access

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    If you open a Whimsical link you don’t have permission to view, you can now easily request access from within Whimsical. To request access, simply click on the file link, and you’ll see the option to “Request Access” on the access denied page. You can also include an optional note to accompany your access request. The owner will receive an email notification and can grant access with just a click.

    If you have the Whimsical integration for Slack installed, you can also approve the access request from within Slack.

    Note that you must be a member of the same workspace as the file’s owner to request access to the file. This ensures that sensitive information remains secure within your team’s environment. Learn more about requesting access to files.

    Made by
    • Daniel Compton
    • Todd Moy
    • Osvalds Neiders
  14. User offboarding

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    Managing the departure of users from your workspace just got easier with our new user offboarding feature. Now, you can automatically set a departing user’s “My files” to be transferred to a designated folder after a default waiting period of 72 hours. This allows for a grace period before file relocation, ensuring that files aren’t accidentally moved. Additionally, when manually offboarding a user, you have the flexibility to move their files immediately, after the 72-hour window, or opt to leave the files in their current location.

    You can set a user offboarding folder at https://whimsical.com/workspace/settings or read the documentation on user offboarding.

    Made by
    • Todd Moy
    • Rob Fisher
    • Daniel Compton
  15. More detailed workspace information

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    It’s easy to get lost if you're a member of multiple workspaces, so you can now see more details about each one—including the subscription plan and the total number of members.

    Made by
    • Dāvis Mednis
    • Amy Brumet
  16. Custom editor upgrade instructions

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    Sometimes workspace viewers need more access so they can edit or create files in Whimsical. Now workspace admins can provide custom instructions to their users on how to request an upgrade to the editor role in Whimsical. This is often helpful in larger organizations that have an existing process or ticketing system for requesting software licenses.

    This feature is available for paid workspaces. Workspace admins can configure custom editor upgrade instructions at https://whimsical.com/workspace/settings or read the documentation on requesting workspace editor access.

    Made by
    • Todd Moy
    • Daniel Compton
  17. See comment recipients

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    You’ll now see the names of all teammates who will be notified when you leave a comment. If your comment notifies more than three people, a simple hover will reveal all their names.

    Here’s when teammates will get notified:

    • They created the file you’re commenting on
    • They added the sticky note you’re commenting on
    • They added the annotation you’re commenting on
    • They’ve already commented on the thread
    • They chose to be notified of all comments in the file
    • You mention them in a comment
    Made by
    • Brandon Dorn
    • Nate Hunzaker
  18. Configure SAML session timeouts

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    Workspace admins can now set how long SAML authenticated sessions last for. Organizations have different policies around how frequently users should be asked to re-authenticate. Now you can apply those policies to your Whimsical workspace.

    This is available to Org plan customers who have enabled SAML.

    You can get set up at https://whimsical.com/workspace/settings, or learn more here.

    Made by
    • Jade Shearstone
    • Todd Moy
    • Daniel Compton
  19. Place comments anywhere on boards

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    Right-click anywhere on a board and select Add comment to place a comment wherever you like. You can also move comments around freely by dragging and dropping them.

    Made by
    • Maria Geller
    • Dāvis Mednis
    • Elisabet Ragnarsdottir
  20. Create files from Google

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    You can now create Whimsical files right from within your Google Docs. If you haven’t added our Google add-on yet, you can install it from Google’s Marketplace right here.

    Made by
    • Daniel Compton
  21. Tooltips now support color options

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    Tooltips no longer have to be grey—you now have the option to change their color.

    Made by
    • Daniel Compton
  22. Linear integration

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    When a Whimsical file is mentioned in your Linear issues, comments, or projects, we’ll add a backlink to them in Whimsical. Also, you’ll now see the status and title of Linear issues referenced in Whimsical.

    Learn more here.

    Made by
    • Kaspars Dancis
  23. Annotations supercharged

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    We’ve rolled out a handful of annoteworthy updates to annotations:

    • Annotation connectors will now attach to the objects they’re pointing at, and will keep their position even if you move things around.
    • You can show or hide author names in annotations.
    • Newly created annotations will inherit the color of the previous annotation.
    • For easier access, we’ve added the annotation element to the diagram shapes menu.
    • Or, you can just use the keyboard shortcut A to quickly create a new annotation.
    Made by
    • Klāvs Taube
  24. HashiCorp icons

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    You'll find HashiCorp stack icons in the Design/Development category of our Icon library.

    Made by
    • Daniel Compton
  25. Table improvements in Whimsical Docs

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    We’re bringing three new features to the table. Tables in docs now support:

    • Uniform styling with new rows or columns matching the style of previously added rows and columns
    • Horizontal text aligment
    • Icons
    Made by
    • Roman Liutikov
  26. Keep the same color when adding new shapes

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    Diagram shapes now preserve your last saved color. Any shape added from the toolbar or with a shortcut will match the look of the last one you added to the board.

    Made by
    • Richard Bata
  27. RSS feed for Product updates

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    Product updates now has an RSS feed. This lets you read product updates in your RSS reader, and stay up to date on all of the latest Whimsical feature releases.

    You can subscribe with your RSS reader of choice at https://whimsical.com/product-updates/feeds/main.

    Made by
    • Brandon Dorn
    • Daniel Compton
  28. Image captions

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    Turn captions on if you want to add more context to your visuals, or hide them if your image is worth a thousand words.

    Made by
    • Elisabet Ragnarsdottir
  29. Present your wireframes

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    You can now turn your wireframes into a presentation. Click the present icon at the top-right corner, select and arrange the frames you want to present and hit Present to start a full-screen slideshow you can easily click through.

    Made by
    • Miķelis Vindavs
  30. View embedded boards as presentations

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    You can now display embedded boards in a presentation format! Paste a board link into a doc and select presentation to view its content in a click-through deck.

    Made by
    • Miķelis Vindavs
    • Todd Moy
    • Roman Liutikov
  31. A new home for product updates

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    We’ve given product updates...an update! You can now explore our latest releases without leaving the Whimsical web app. Find something you like? Celebrate it with the Whimsicians who made it happen.

    Made by
    • Doug Avery
    • Osvalds Neiders
    • Brandon Dorn
    • Daniel Compton
  32. View your AI prompt history

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    Now you can find your 10 most recent prompts in the AI modal to edit and reuse.

    Made by
    • Rob Fisher
    • Todd Moy
  33. Our Grammarly integration is here!

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    Grammarly’s browser extensions are now compatible with Whimsical to help you identify typos, write clearly, and convey the right tone, whatever you’re writing. For those using the Grammarly desktop app with Whimsical, we fixed the bug that put accepted suggestions in the wrong place.

    Made by
    • Maria Geller
    • Nate Hunzaker
  34. Our built-in emoji keyboard is here

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    Brighten any doc or board by typing : to search and add emojis.

    Made by
    • Lauri Pesonen
    • Nate Hunzaker
    • Steve Schoeffel
    • Brandon Dorn
  35. Rotate images in boards

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    You can now rotate images on Whimsical boards. If an image gets accidentally uploaded upside down, give this feature a spin.

    Made by
    • Toby Moore
  36. Whimsical Diagrams GPT

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    If you're a ChatGPT Plus user, you can now generate flowcharts, mind maps and sequence diagrams in ChatGPT with the Whimsical Diagrams GPT.

    Made by
    • Kaspars Dancis
  37. Sequence diagram actors

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    Whimsical now has a native tool for creating sequence diagrams. To get started, click the diagram shapes menu, then select sequence diagram actor. Combine sequence diagram actors with connectors to build and scale any sequence diagram.

    Made by
    • Todd Moy
    • Rob Fisher
  38. Whimsical AI for sequence diagrams

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    Need to create a technical or process diagram? Consider it done. You can now create sequence diagrams instantly with Whimsical AI. To get started, select generate with AI from the toolbar, enter a text prompt, select sequence diagram, then create. Checkout this demo video for more info.

    Made by
    • Todd Moy
    • Rob Fisher
  39. Paste as options that format content for you

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    Decide how pasted content comes to life with new pasting options for docs and boards. Just copy content, then right-click and paste as a mind map, sticky note(s), card(s), table or bulleted list.

    Made by
    • Dāvis Mednis
  40. Filter selection

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    You can now filter a selection of items down to just the ones you want. Select items on a board, click the filter menu, and choose a shape or color. Presto: the matching items are selected! Try it out the next time you need to move or style items in bulk.

    Made by
    • Todd Moy
    • Daniel Compton
  41. Paste mermaid text as a flowchart

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    You can paste mermaid flowcharts as Whimsical flowcharts.

    Mermaid is a diagram format written in plain text. It is often stored alongside source code or other technical documentation.Once pasted, you can immediately start editing and customizing your flowchart. Add new steps, change texts, or adjust the design to make it fit your needs. This feature makes it simple to bring in diagrams from other tools or documents and continue working on them in Whimsical.

    Get started by pasting this example flowchart into a board:

    graph LR
    A[User requests password reset]
    B{Is the user registered?}
    A --> B
    B -- Yes --> C[Send password reset link to user's email]
    C --> D[User receives password reset link]
    B -- No --> E[Inform user that they are not registered]
    
    Made by
    • Kaspars Dancis
    • Daniel Compton
    • Rob Fisher
  42. File mentions and previews

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    Mentions for files have been improved. When you paste a Whimsical link into another Whimsical file, the link will now automatically convert to a mention, removing the bloat of raw URLs. You can also preview the file in a thumbnail on hover.

    Made by
    • Todd Moy
    • Nate Hunzaker
  43. SCIM is now generally available for JumpCloud

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    Customers that use JumpCloud for identity management can now add and remove workspace members with SCIM. Using SCIM lets your organisation centralize user management, and streamline onboarding and offboarding of users to Whimsical. This feature is available to customers on our Org plan.

    Learn more about enabling SCIM for JumpCloud, or contact sales to upgrade to an Org plan.

    Made by
    • Daniel Compton
  44. More text formatting options for board objects

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    Now you can add headers, assign paragraph styles and create lists in flowcharts, mind maps, and sticky notes right from the toolbar—or using the same keyboard shortcuts available in docs.

    Made by
    • Inge Solvoll
    • Richard Bata
  45. Mention teammates anywhere

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    Type @ followed by a teammate's name to easily reference them in-line in docs and boards. Only mentions used inside comment threads will send notifications.

    Made by
    • Dāvis Mednis
  46. Text editor performance improvements

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    Text editing is now twice as fast and load times have been cut in half. Most notable for longer documents like recurring 1:1 agendas, blog posts, and project plans.

    Made by
    • Nate Hunzaker
  47. When typing accented characters:

    • Characters are now inserted correctly using the Apple accent menu. Previously, two characters were inserted instead of one.

    When typing in Korean:

    • Hitting enter now ends the composition and inserts a new line. Before, users had to hit enter twice to enter a new line.
    • Extra characters are no longer inserted at the beginning of an entry.

    When composing characters: (e.g., Japanese)

    • The first character no longer disappears.
    • The cursor no longer jumps to the beginning of a line entry.
    • Text no longer duplicates or submits accidentally before confirming the selection.
    Made by
    • Maria Geller
    • Nate Hunzaker
  48. Whimsical AI for sticky notes

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    Discover solutions faster with AI-generated sticky notes. Enter a topic or problem and Whimsical AI will instantly generate a series of ideas or solutions on sticky notes.

  49. Remove your account photo

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    If you're not fond of your current profile photo and don't want to upload a new one, you can now just remove it.

  50. Support for HCL syntax

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    Text formatted as code now supports HashiCorp Config Language (HCL) for syntax highlighting.

  51. Summarize URLs with Whimsical AI

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    Create concise summaries of public web pages and Whimsical workspace files with Whimsical AI. Just paste a URL to visualize its content in a flowchart, mind map, or series of sticky notes.

    Made by
    • Kaspars Dancis
    • Doug Avery
  52. Latest bug fixes and improvements

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    Here's a quick round-up of our latest bug fixes, focusing mainly on improvements in object layering:

    • Right-clicking in a selected frame and section now opens the context menu instead of selecting an inner object.
    • Clicking outside a comment on a view-only board now closes the comment.
    • You can now resize a shape all the way down to its minimum height in one go.
    • Shapes with multiple lines of text sized to the minimum height no longer get resized the next time you select them.
    • Objects inside sections can now be consistently moved to the front or to the back.
    • Once placed inside a section, objects now maintain their previous layer order.
    • When duplicating connected objects, the connectors now keep the same position as in the original, rather than moving to the front.
    • We've fixed a bug where the first character typed in some languages was not always displayed.

  53. Enhanced data security for org plans

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    Org plan admins can secure and consolidate company data by preventing new workspace creation on their domain. Learn more here.

  54. More consistent flowchart shape expansion

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    Flowchart shapes, when resized or expanded, will now expand vertically, in a downward direction.

  55. Easy comment navigation

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    Navigating comments is now so much better. Clicking a link to a comment will scroll you to threads, discussions and other inline comments. Searching comments within a board, doc, or even across files will bring you to the correct position in the discussion. Plus, we changed the comment highlight arrow from white to purple to make it more visible.

  56. New icon added

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    We've added Notion's logo to our icon library.

  57. Export a list of your members

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    Download a .csv file of all your workspace members.

  58. Embed to object

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    We now support object embedding so you can select an object on your board and ensure it's the sole focus in the embedded window.

  59. Cloud architecture icons

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    We've added a collection of cloud architecture icons from AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure.

    For more information on how to use cloud architecture icons, please see the documentation.

  60. Toolbar changes

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    Wireframes, cards, and stacks of cards can now all be found under the file type Board.

  61. Improved status indicator details

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    Keep track of when a file was created and who last modified it by hovering over the file status indicator.

  62. New comment reactions

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    We’ve added two new comment reactions:

    • 🙏
  63. Resizing images snaps to width of the doc

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    When resizing images in docs, you may notice that the images will now snap to the width of the doc.

  64. Rename files with right click

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    You can now right-click on file or folder names to rename them.

  65. Whimsical AI

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    Blank canvas anxiety? No more! ✨ Whimsical AI ✨ allows you to create flowcharts and mind maps in seconds.

  66. Google Docs smart chip integration

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    You can now embed and preview your Whimsical files in Google Docs as smart chips.

    Learn more about previewing Whimsical files in Google Docs.

  67. Customize text connector colors

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    You can now change and customize the colors of connector text.

  68. Add and remove multiple columns in tables

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    You can now easily add and remove multiple rows and columns at once in Whimsical Docs tables.

  69. Tables in Whimsical Docs have got some TLC. You now have the ability to comment on individual cells and we've also improved search functionality for cell content.

  70. Mobile support for Whimsical Docs

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    You can now edit your Whimsical Docs on mobile phones and tablets.

  71. Jira integration

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    We've just released our Jira integration so you can easily add your Whimsical boards to Jira issues.

  72. Template browsing

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    We’ve made it easier for your to browse through our templates so you can view, discover and choose templates that work for you and your needs!

    Made by
    • Doug Avery
  73. Teams

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    Say hi to your new sidebar and better workspace organization with teams.

  74. Copy objects as images

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    Right-click on any object on the board to copy it as an image. Magic!

  75. Set board thumbnail

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    You can now set any object as the board thumbnail by right-clicking on it and selecting "Set as Board Thumbnail".

  76. Slack integration

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    Preview your Whimsical files in Slack by just pasting their URLs.

  77. New connector modes

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    We've added three different connector modes so you can have more consistency over their appearance and style across the board.

  78. AI mind mapping

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    Get ready to have your mAInd blown - try out AI-assisted mind mapping.

  79. Deleting sections retains contents

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    Deleting a section will no longer delete its contents and the contents will remain in your board.

  80. Request editor access

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    Workspace viewers can now request editor access to create and edit files.

  81. Report suspicious content

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    If you believe somebody is using Whimsical to spread malicious, fraudulent, harmful, or suspicious content, please report it to us. You can report it using the help menu.

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