Opening the App

Follow these simple steps to open Creately to connect and centralize items from multiple apps, docs, and people in a single space. So you can brainstorm an idea, map out a process and then go on to add the in-depth details of that process and build the system to execute the process right inside Creately.

1. Open your preferred web browser
2. Go to Creately website
3. Log in with your account credentials and you'll be directed to the app

Opening the App

App Workspace

This is your visual workspace where you can create and organize your data, projects, and processes. 

Left Sidebar

1. Dashboard

The dashboard will be your welcome screen, from where you could create new workspaces, access recently edited workspaces, open templates or even create your own toolkit with the help of our pre-built starter toolkits!

Creately Dashboard

Creately features an array of templates covering from marketing to designing software or organizing people that you may use to get a head start on your project. 

Once you scroll down the dashboard, you will see a section labelled Featured Templates. This section is where you will find our most popular and commonly used templates. 

You can also view more templates by clicking the More Templates button, as illustrated in the GIF above.

2. Navigation Panel

You can use the navigation panel to move about your workspace.  This is especially useful during meetings or while updating your workspace since it allows you to move swiftly around the workspace.

The navigation panel

3. Folder Panel

The folder panel is the centralized location to manage your folders and workspaces. Here's what you can manage in Folders.

• Creating a folder
• Renaming a folder
• Searching for workspaces within folders
• Filter folders
• Sharing a folder
• Deleting a folder
• Sorting and locating folders
• Changing collaborator roles in a folder

The folder panel

You can manage your Workspaces within and across folders.

• Create a workspace and name it
• Delete a workspace
• Access recent workspaces
• Move workspaces between folders
• Search for a specific workspace
• Sort and filter a workspace
• Duplicate a workspace
• Add templates to a workspace
• Import workspaces and folders from Creately Classic

Scroll down to the Share section of this article to learn more about the different sharing options available on the app.

4. Tasks

Creately’s built-in code-free workflow designing capabilities allow you to allocate tasks to you as well as your teammates. These tasks are accessible through the tasks panel.

The tasks panel

5. The Data Panel

Data can be integrated into Creately as custom properties of items that can take any shape or form given the context — on the workspace rather than rows and columns in a spreadsheet.

An employee shape on an org chart, for example, can contain all of their data, from roles and responsibilities to performance evaluation notes. Any sort of data you provide to the Creately workspace can thus be morphed into any shape you like.

Currently, data can be imported into Creately as a CSV file.

The data panel

6. The History Panel

The History Panel keeps track of all the recent changes you made to your workspace. You could:

• Check the version history
• Make a copy of any of the versions
• Rename a version
• Restore a version

Read more about our History Panel from here.

The history panel

7. The Notifications Panel

The Notification panel allows you to instantly access updates from your teammates and collaborators to your workspaces and shared workspaces.

The notification panel

8. Settings

You can click Settings and access:

• Teams
• Import from Classic
• Account
• Sign out

Settings

The Header

1. Rename your workspace

To rename your workspace, you can either click on Untitled Workspace from the top toolbar or open the folder panel and select Rename from the kebab option on the workspace thumbnail and type in a relevant title that defines your workspace. 

Renaming the workspace

2. Export

By clicking on the Export button, you can select your preferred workspace export option. 

Free Plan Users have the opportunity to export their diagram to PNG or JPEG while Premium Plan Users can export to PNG, JPEG, SVG, PDF or CSV.

Export options

3. Share

The Share option allows you to share your document with anyone you prefer. You can also select from different permission levels to share your workspace.

Here’s a list of sharing options available on the app.

• Share a workspace and add collaborators
• Share a workspace and collaborate with non-creately users
• Share a workspace with different collaborator settings
• Change a workspace privacy

Share settings

4. Video Conferencing

By clicking on the call button you can start a conference call with your collaborators while working on a workspace. 

You can learn more about this by referring to our help article on Seamless Teamwork with Video Conferencing.

Video Conferencing

Note: The number of users you can add to your call depends on the limitations of your plan.

5. Move to

You can move a workspace from the current folder to any other folder in your account using the Move to option.

Move a workspace

6. Duplicate

You can create a copy of your workspace by using the Duplicate option as shown below.

Duplicate a workspace

7. Delete

You can delete the currently open workspace by selecting the Delete option.

Delete a workspace

8. View Mode

Preview or present the final outcome of your work by switching to the View Mode. 

• You can work with Comments
• You can see the basic information of the workspace using Workspace Preferences
• You can click on active links
• You can Zoom in and Zoom out of your workspace

View mode

9. Workspace Preferences

You change the basic settings of the workspace using the Workspace Preferences panel.

• Add description and tags to your workspace
• Update the status of your workspace
• Enable/disable the snap to grid option
• Enable/disable the guides

The workspace preferences panel

The + Button

1. Shapes

Creately provides you with a myriad of shapes and shape libraries from which to create your workspace. You can easily drag and drop any shape from here, search for suitable shapes using the search bar, or access other shape libraries by clicking on the + icon at the top of the shape category.

• Accessing Shape Library
• Adding text to shapes
• Aligning shapes
• Grouping shapes together
• Editing text in shapes

Shapes and Shape libraries

2. Assets

You can import icons, images, logos, illustrations, and design elements from your computer to your workspace. Creately supports images in SVG, PNG, JPEG, BMP, GIF and ICO formats.

Importing an image

Our in-built Google image search lets you browse Google to find more images, shapes, icons, etc. for your work without having to leave the app. 

Note: If you are a Free Plan User, your search limit will be 2 Google searches per day. However, if you have a Premium Plan, you may do an unlimited number of Google searches every day.

Search for images on Google through the app

3. Frames

Frames include grids and boards for creating your toolkit, paper and device frames for determining the boundaries within which to create and swimlanes.

Frames

4. Icons

The icons panel provides you with a wide range of icons you can use on your workspace. Use the Find more items option to help you find what you need.

Icons

5. Templates

You can browse and add any number of templates you wish to your workspace to create the perfect work management tool you need.

Templates

Comments

You can use Creately comments to start a conversation anywhere on the editor and easily share change requests and feedback with collaborators. You can resolve the comment to mark it as completed once the changes are made. 

Here’s how you can use Comments.

• Add comments
• Remove comments
• Start a thread in a comment
• Resolve a comment thread
• View resolved comment threads and comment history
• Identify a comment that's added to a particular shape
• Enable/Disable comment indicator

Adding a comment, editing a comment and deleting a comment

Workspace Toolbar

1. Save status

The green cloud with a checkmark icon will indicate that your workspace has been saved, while an orange cloud with a cross mark icon will indicate that the workspace is not synced with the server. This is more likely to occur if the internet drops.

2. Select and Pan

Click on Pan to move around the workspace and click on Select to select any element on the workspace.

2. Undo and Redo

You can Undo and Redo changes made on your workspace.

3. Zoom In and Zoom Out 

Zoom In on a specific area of your workspace to review it more closely or Zoom Out of it to view it as a whole. 

4. View all Shortcuts

This icon shows all the keyboard shortcuts that can be used to accelerate drawing on the editor.

Workspace Toolbar

Help

Whenever you encounter a problem while working on the app, click on the Help widget to find a solution instantly. The Help widget provides you with the following options:

• Search Help Documents: you could search for help articles that include written and visual directions on how to tackle a variety of common problems.
• Contact Support enables you to contact a Live Chat Agent or create a ticket
• See the tour enables you to rewatch the onboarding video

• Go to Help Center will take you to the Help Center where you can browse through all our help articles as well as contact the Creately Support Team

The Help Widget