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Editor Overview


The Balsamiq Wireframes editor interface is made up of five primary areas: the toolbar, the UI Library, the canvas, the navigator panel and the property inspector. Each is described below.


The Toolbar

The toolbar contains a series of icons for performing actions on other areas of the user interface.

The first set of icons is described below.

  1. Show/Hide the left panel
  2. Create a new wireframe
  3. Wireframe actions (rename, etc.) and navigate between wireframes (shown when left panel is hidden)
  4. Go to next or previous wireframe (shown when left panel is hidden)

The group of icons in the center of the toolbar is for commonly-performed adjustments. These buttons allow you to undo, redo, and adjust zoom levels. If you're hiding markup (more information about markup here), you will see a "show markup" button here as well.

The final section of the toolbar on the far right contains the Quick Add tool, toggle icons for the UI Library, Comments Panel, Property Inspector, and an icon to enter Full Screen Presentation Mode.

The top of the toolbar shows the name of the project, which you can double-click to rename (or use the application menu option).


The Quick Add Tool

The Quick Add tool is the fastest way to add UI controls to your wireframes. To use quick add, click inside the quick add input box (or press / or + to enter it).

Type a few letters from the name of a UI control or icon and Quick Add will show you a list of suggestions. Use your mouse or arrow keys to scroll down the list and click or press ENTER to add the control or icon on the canvas. You can also use SHIFT+ENTER to place the control where your mouse cursor is on the canvas.

For example, typing "bu" shows a list containing "Button", "Button Bar", "Help Button", "Radio Button" and "Round Button". Typing "hel", on the other hand, only returns "Help Button". Pressing the ESC key makes the list disappear.


The UI Library

The UI Library, or User Interface controls Library, is the long strip of user interface controls just below the toolbar. It lists all of the UI control types that are included as well as Assets, Icons, and Symbols. The main goal of the UI Library is to let you add UI controls to the canvas, but you can also use it to get inspiration for your wireframes.

To add a new UI control to the canvas, select the control type you wish to add then either drag it to the canvas below or double-click and it will be placed on the canvas for you.

The UI Library can be toggled on and off in several ways: clicking the icon to the right of the Quick Add box, using the keyboard shortcut CTRL/+L, or by selecting View > UI Library from the application menu.


The Canvas

This is the main working area of the editor, where your UI wireframe comes to life. Once you add UI controls to it, you can move them, resize them and tweak them until your UI wireframe is ready. Check out Adding and Arranging UI Controls to learn more.

The canvas grows and shrinks with your application window, so you can make room for bigger wireframes if you need to. The maximum size of the canvas is 10000x10000 pixels.


The Navigator Panel

The navigator panel on the left shows the list of wireframes, assets or Symbols in your project. The currently selected object is highlighted.

You can select multiple objects in the navigator panel by holding down CTRL or SHIFT and clicking on them. Wireframes and assets can be displayed as a text-only list or as thumbnail previews.

You can hide the navigator panel by clicking the navigator toggle icon above the panel (keyboard shortcut: CTRL/+J). Hiding it will show additional icons in the toolbar (shown above) for navigating between wireframes or assets (depending on which one is selected). The panel can be resized by placing your mouse cursor over the line separating the navigator panel from the canvas and dragging left or right. You can double-click on the separator line to reset it to the default width.

You can jump between wireframes or assets using your keyboard via CTRL+TAB or by clicking on one in the navigator and using and .

Wireframes can be reordered by dragging them up and down in the navigator panel. This can be useful when exporting to PDF, for example. The order of your wireframes will be remembered when you close and reopen your project, even if opened on a different computer.

Using a Hierarchy

The navigator panel also offers a hierarchical structure to better organize your wireframes.

To use it, select the wireframe you wish to be the child and press TAB. The child wireframe will be placed in a tree hierarchy below the wireframe above it.

You can then use the arrows to the left of the parent wireframe to show and hide the wireframes under it.

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To restore it to the top level, use SHIFT+TAB. The animation below shows nesting wireframes in action.

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Context Menu Actions

A context menu is also available for the objects that are open in the navigator panel. You can either right-click on the selected object or click the small arrow that appears when you hover over it to open the menu.

The contents of this menu vary depending on which type of object is selected (wireframe, asset, symbol, or trash) but it generally contains options such as rename, cut, copy, move to trash, and duplicate. In the Wireframes view it also contains actions for working with alternates.

Renaming Wireframes

Renaming wireframes can be done via the context menu or by double-clicking on the name of the wireframe in the navigator panel. Wireframes with links will automatically be updated when a linked wireframe name changes.


The Property Inspector

The Property Inspector allows you to set some common properties for controls, such as alignment, position and size as well as specific settings for certain controls (selection state, text properties, color, etc.). It is available when selecting wireframes, assets, and Symbols.

You can show and hide the Property Inspector by clicking the toggle icon above it (keyboard shortcut CTRL/+; or ALT/OPTION+ENTER). When hidden you can also show it by right-clicking a control and selecting "Properties...".

If you have multiple controls selected it will show properties that are common to all selected controls as well as options for aligning and distributing.

When no controls are selected the Property Inspector shows notes for the selected wireframe, asset, or Symbol. In the wireframes view the panel also shows wireframe alternates.

For assets and Symbols it also shows the count and name of wireframes where the selected object is used.


The Comments Panel

The Comments Panel allows you to collaborate on your designs by sharing feedback asynchronously or, if you prefer, making notes for yourself as you work.

A blue dot indicates that a Comment is unread. Comments can be marked as read and unread by clicking the blue/grey dot. You can add Callout markers to indicate specific places in the wireframe where the comments applies or add a link to an alternate version.

You can learn more about comments in Sharing and Reviewing.


Project Properties

Every Balsamiq Wireframes project has a set of properties that you can define on a project level, including:

All three properties live in the File menu of the Desktop App.

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Project Style

Project Style is the first option in the properties section of the File Menu, and gives you two options.

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  • The Sketch Style will more closely resemble as pen and paper sketch - something like you would design on the back of a napkin. Great for giving the feeling of fast ideation.
  • The Clean Style is a much more straight-lined, clean corners style that is great for presenting your project.

The screenshots below show a comparison of a sample design in the default "sketch" and "clean" styles, respectively. Click to display larger images.

Sketch Style Wireframe Style

Font and Colors

Font and Colors is the second option in the properties section of the File Menu, allowing you to adjust the font the project uses, the color used for links, and the color used for selections in controls (like menus).

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The default font is Balsamiq Sans, just as in previous versions (not Comic Sans as you might think). To maximize compatibility across all of our products, we have hand picked fonts from the Google Fonts catalog.

Project Description

Finally, the last option in the properties section of the File Menu is the Project Description.

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The Project Description Panel is a blank canvas where you can type whatever you'd like. We think it's best used for summarizing your project for prospective stakeholders and collaborators, but you can really use it for whatever you want.


The Trash

The Trash is available for wireframes, assets, and Symbols you have deleted. This allows to keep your project tidy as you make progress and browse or recover earlier concepts when needed.

To recover a trashed item, click on the Trash icon in the Toolbar, select the desired item and click "Restore". The other options allow to delete the selected item permanently or empty the entire Trash.


Working on Small Screens

When working on a small laptop screen, you might want to maximize the amount of canvas available.

For this reason the UI Library, Navigator, and Properties panels can all be toggled on and off using the mouse or keyboard.

The keyboard shortcuts for toggling them are listed here:

  • UI Library: CTRL+L
  • Navigator: CTRL+J
  • Properties Panel: CTRL+;

Note that you can still add controls to the canvas when the UI Library is hidden using Quick Add. And you can navigate between your wireframes using the additional toolbar icons that appear when the Navigator Panel is hidden.