Pick 1 to 50 votes per person and what can be voted on: stickies, anything, or only the layers you selected.
BOARDS,
POPCORN!
Stickies, tape, stamps, a timer everyone can see and votes nobody can trace. PopCorn is the whiteboard that lives in your design file, so the workshop and the work never have to meet in a screenshot.
A brainstorm board in PopCorn. S picks the sticky tool; a click drops a sticky note, and “Launch in spring” is typed on it. A second sticky goes beside it.
STICK!
THE PROBLEM
Your whiteboard is in the wrong app
A team workshop usually goes like this. Somebody opens a whiteboard tool, thirty people throw stickies at it, and for an hour it feels like progress. Then the designer opens a different app, squints at a screenshot of the board, and retypes the winning ideas into frames. The board goes stale in a tab nobody reopens.
PopCorn skips the retyping. It is a mode of PopCraft, not a separate product: the same canvas, the same file format, the same live cursors. The sticky that won the vote is a layer in the file where you design the screen. Copy it onto a frame and keep going.
15
board templates to start from
10
stamps, from Love to Look
1–50
votes per person, your call
0
exports between board and design
PRESS S
Stickies first, questions later
Press S, click, type. Esc finishes, the next S drops another. There are seven sticky colours (yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue, green and grey) in the sticky tray, and the one you pick sticks for the next note too.
The toolbar swaps to the board set when you are in PopCorn: marker, highlighter, washi tape, stickies, shapes, connectors, text, sections, tables and stamps. Fewer buttons, bigger targets, and nothing a first-time participant has to hover over to understand.
A brainstorm board in PopCorn. S picks the sticky tool; a click drops a sticky note, and “Launch in spring” is typed on it. A second sticky goes beside it.
PRESS W
Washi tape, because labels can be pretty
Washi tape is a strip you drag across the board to group or label things. It comes in papery solids (rose, mint, sky, lemon, lilac, kraft) and a run of patterns, with six edges: spiky tear, zigzag, soft tear, straight, fishtail and angled.
Select some tape and click another style, and the tape you selected changes. It is a real layer, so it moves, rotates and exports like anything else. Is it necessary? No. Does a retro feel less like a tax audit with tape on it? Yes.
A brainstorm board in PopCorn. W picks washi tape and its tray opens with the tapes and edge styles; Mint is chosen and a strip is dragged across the board above the topic, with torn ends.
THE SESSION KIT
Everything a facilitator reaches for
Running a room is a different job from drawing on a board. These tools are built in, on the toolbar, in every board.
A retro board in PopCorn. Timer on the toolbar opens the countdown, +1 min twice sets seven minutes, and Start runs it. In a live file everyone sees the same countdown and hears one chime at zero.
A retro board in PopCorn, with stickies in three columns. Voting opens its panel and Start voting gives three votes. Three stickies are clicked, each gaining a vote badge, and End voting shows the results.
A brainstorm board in PopCorn. Stamp opens the stamp tray; Fire is picked and a sticky is stamped, then Love on another and Approve on a third. Stamps are ordinary layers, so they move with the board and export.
A landing page in Design. C picks the comment tool and a click on the hero places a comment: “Can we try a shorter headline?” is posted. The Comments panel opens on the right and Reply opens under it, “Trying three words now” is sent, and the thread is resolved with the tick.
TICK, TICK
A timer that keeps everyone honest
Click Timer and a countdown sits at the top of the board. Nudge it a minute at a time, or tap 1, 3, 5 or 10 minutes. It runs from one minute to three hours, if your brainstorm is that kind of brainstorm.
In a live file the timer is shared. Everyone's countdown is set from the same end time, so it hits zero at the same moment for the whole room and plays one soft chime. Want background music while people write? Turn it on and choose ambient, lo-fi or piano. The sounds are synthesised in the browser, so there is no audio file to load.
NO PEEKING
Voting without the politics
ANONYMOUS
SHH!Votes are stored against a random id the browser makes up, never your account. Nobody can read who voted for what.
BLIND UNTIL THE END
TA-DA!While voting is open you see only your own dots. End voting and the whole room sees the combined tally.
TAKE IT BACK
OOPS!Changed your mind? Click your vote badge and the dot comes home.
ONE REFEREE
TWEET!Only the person who started the vote can end it or clear the results. No accidental mid-vote resets.
COPY THE RESULTS
CLIP!Copy results puts the tally on your clipboard, ready for the follow-up message nobody wants to write.
PRIVATE MODE
Write alone, reveal together
Group brainstorms have a known bug: the first loud idea anchors everyone else. Turn on private mode and the new things you add are hidden from collaborators until you say so. When the round ends, click Reveal and your private items appear for everyone at once.
Then Spotlight yourself from the avatars and everyone follows your view, which is how you herd thirty people to the right corner of a big board. Click an avatar instead to follow one person. In a live file you also get reactions: an emote that pops over your cursor, for the feelings that don't deserve a sticky. Raise a hand next to someone else who does, and you get a high five.
A REAL AGENDA
A retro in thirty minutes, flat
Here is a full retro, tool by tool, using only what is on the PopCorn toolbar. Open the Retro template and follow along.
0:003 min
Warm upEmotes + Timer
Start a three-minute timer. Everyone says hi with a reaction over their cursor. Somebody will high-five.
3:007 min
Write it downPrivate mode + Stickies
Private mode on. Press S, write what went well and what didn’t. Nobody sees anybody else’s notes yet, so nobody copies the loudest person.
10:005 min
RevealReveal + Spotlight
Everyone hits Reveal. Spotlight yourself and walk the room through each lane. Stamp the ones that land.
15:005 min
GroupTidy up + Washi tape
Drag duplicates together, tape a label across each cluster, then Tidy up so the lanes stop looking like a crime scene.
20:005 min
VoteVoting
Start voting: three dots each. Votes are anonymous while they’re open. End voting and the tally appears.
25:005 min
CommitStickies + Export
Write the top three as action items. Export the text as Markdown and paste it into wherever your team pretends to read notes.
30:00. Done. Everyone gets 30 minutes back.
START HERE
Fifteen boards, ready to fill
Every one is a real template in the gallery, with sections, connectors and stickies laid out. Search for it under New file, or open Templates on the PopCorn toolbar.
BrainstormRetroKanbanFlowchartUser journeyMind mapDot votingEmpathy mapEstimation pokerFishboneIcebreakerOrg chartRoadmapSprint planningSWOT
Built a layout you will reuse, like your team's standup lanes? Select it and choose Save selection as template. It shows up under Your templates, next to the built-in ones.
MAKE IT DO THINGS
Boards love plugins
Boards run plugins like every other file. A widget is a plugin object that lives on the canvas with its own state: here the Pow Poll example drops a three-way poll onto a retro, and the bars fill as people click.
The state is saved in the file, so everyone sees the same poll, even people who don't have the plugin. A checklist and a vote counter are in the open examples too. Read more on plugins and the marketplace.
A retro board with the Pow Poll example widget installed. Insert poll puts the widget in the middle of the view, and clicking its options casts votes: the bars fill in. The state is saved in the file, so everyone in it sees the same poll.
SWEEP UP
From scatter to grid in one shortcut
Select a pile of stickies and press Mod+Alt+T (or Tidy up above the selection). They snap into an even grid. Sections work as columns, so a brainstorm turns into a kanban by dragging stickies into framed lanes. If you would rather a plugin did the sweeping, the Arrange in Grid example lines them up in a row, a column or a grid with the gap you ask for.
A brainstorm board with its sticky notes selected and the Arrange in Grid example installed. Its Single row command is clicked, the permissions are allowed on the first run, its small panel opens prefilled with one row, and Arrange lines the stickies up in one evenly spaced row.
Home, signed in. Brightside Studio is picked in the sidebar and its files show: the Spring launch post, the Q3 pitch deck and the Product trailer. Personal shows the files in the personal space instead.
GET IT OUT
One picture, or the words
A board has no frames, so exporting it the usual way would hand you one file per sticky. PopCorn exports differently. Export board as PNG renders the board (or just the selection) as one picture, scaled down if it is enormous. Export text as Markdown and as CSV pull the words out: each section or group becomes a heading, a kanban column or a retro lane, with its stickies under it, in reading order.
Which means the retro's action items can be in your tracker before the meeting ends. Revolutionary? No. Rarer than it should be? Absolutely.
FROM ZERO
Your first board in six moves
- 1
Make a Board file
New, then Board. It opens in PopCorn. Or hit PopCorn in the top bar of any file you already have. - 2
Pick a template
Brainstorm, retro, kanban, SWOT and eleven more. Or start empty and press S. - 3
Invite the room
Share the file. Everyone lands on the same canvas with their own cursor and name. - 4
Run the session
Timer, private mode, voting and Spotlight live on the toolbar. No plugin to install first. - 5
Tidy and export
Tidy up the mess, then export the board as one PNG, or its stickies as Markdown or CSV. - 6
Keep designing
Switch to Design. The board stays where it is, and the full toolset is back.
THE OLD WAY
Whiteboard app + design app = a screenshot
| THE OLD WAY | IN POPCRAFT |
|---|---|
| Run the workshop in one tool, design in another | One file. The board and the screens share a canvas. |
| Retype the winning stickies into frames | Copy the stickies onto a frame. They are already layers. |
| A timer on someone’s phone | A shared countdown on the board, with one chime at zero |
| Voting with names attached | Anonymous dots, blind until the vote ends |
| Screenshot the board for the notes | Export the stickies as Markdown or CSV, grouped by lane |
OPEN A BOARD
Run your next retro in here
In PopCraft, click New file, search for retro, and open it. Share the link, start the timer, and watch nobody argue about who voted for the pizza budget. The boards docs cover every tool.
ASKED & ANSWERED
Questions, answered
Is PopCorn a separate app?
No. It is a mode of the PopCraft editor. A Board file opens in it, and any file can switch into it from the top bar. It is the same canvas, file format and multiplayer as the rest of PopCraft.
Can people see who voted for what?
No. Votes are stored against a random id each browser makes up, never the account. While voting is open you see only your own votes; when it ends everyone sees the combined tally.
Does everyone see the same timer?
In a live, shared file, yes. The countdown is shared, so it reaches zero at the same moment for everyone and chimes once. On a file you are alone in, it is just your timer.
How many votes does each person get?
You choose, from 1 to 50, when you start the vote. You can vote on stickies, on any layer, or only on the layers you had selected. Only the person who started the vote can end or clear it.
Can I get the board out as text?
Yes. Export the board as one PNG, or export its text as Markdown or as CSV. Sections and groups become headings (a kanban column, a retro lane) with their stickies under them, in reading order.
Do I need to convert a board before designing on it?
No. Switch the mode to Design and every tool is there, on the same canvas, with the board still in place.
KEEP EXPLORING
Goes great with
STICK! YOUR TURN.
Stickies, stamps, voting and a timer, on the same canvas. Free to start, in your browser or on your Mac.