Freehand lets you rapidly collaborate and capture feedback in real-time throughout the product design process. You spend less time exporting work into presentable formats, and more time creating meaningful experiences for users in collaboration with your team. Like prototypes and boards, Freehand allows anyone on your team to join, from anywhere, on any device to weigh in on your concepts and designs. 

Accessing Freehand from InVision

Freehand is located in your Projects Dashboard after logging into your InVision account:

Creating a freehand project

You can create a freehand from the InVision dashboard or directly from an existing prototype.

To create a freehand from your dashboard:

1. Near the upper-right corner of your dashboard, click the pink + button.
2. Click Create New Freehand.
   Note: After clicking Create New Freehand, you can view a sample freehand by hovering over the freehand option and clicking Or Try a Sample.
3. Get started! Draw, type, or insert images to bring your freehand to life.

To create a freehand from a prototype:

1. Open the prototype in InVision.
2. On the right side of the toolbar, click the Freehand button.
3. Get started! Draw, type, or insert images to bring your freehand to life.

Note: The ability to create a freehand from a prototype is currently available on the desktop version of InVision but is not yet available on the iOS or Android apps.

Freehand tools

At the top of the browser window, you'll notice the Freehand toolbar. The following is list of those tools and their functions.

	The selector tool lets you choose any amount of shapes or objects to move by dragging and dropping on the Freehand canvas. Any object or group of objects selected can be scaled up or down.
	The pencil tool lets you draw on your canvas. Hovering over the pencil tool will display 3 different opacity options (). Click your desired opacity to begin drawing. Hold down the Option key while you draw to have Freehand assist you in creating neat circles or squares. Holding shift + click (Alt + click in Windows) to start/end of the line creates any-angle diagonal lines. On mobile, create a clean square, circle, and line by holding your finger/stylus for 2 seconds after you’ve finished drawing the rough shape. After 2 seconds, you should see the shape turn into a clean shape.
	The text tool allows you to enter text on your canvas. Once you select the text tool, click anywhere on your canvas and begin typing. Switch to the Selector tool to resize your text or drag it to a different point on the canvas. Use the text tool to leave feedback on individual screens, flows, or specific features. Pressing Shift + Enter creates a line break.
	The image tool lets you upload images directly to the canvas. Once you upload an image, switch to the selector tool to resize your image or drag it to a different point on the canvas.
	The eraser tool lets you hover over drawings you’ve created. Once you hover over a drawing, Freehand will highlight the drawing; clicking the highlighted drawing will delete it.

To navigate through your freehand, place two fingers on your trackpad. Alternatively, hold the Spacebar while you click and drag.

Additional Freehand tools can be found by clicking the ••• (more) icon. You will then see a drop-down menu with the following options:

• Clear my drawings: Clear all sketches you’ve drawn with the pencil tool.
• Clear everything: Clear your entire freehand project.
• Change my default color: Change the color of new objects created with the pencil and text tools. This will not change the color of existing objects that were previously created.
• Create new Freehand: Create a new freehand project.

Freehand keyboard shortcuts

At the bottom right of your freehand project, you'll notice a keyboard icon (). To expand a list of shortcut keys for Freehand, click the icon.

Saving a freehand

If you’d like to refer back to a freehand, you can easily save it to your InVision account.

1. Click Save Draft at the top left of the freehand before exiting.
2. Name your freehand, and click Save. If you are a part of multiple Enterprise accounts associated to the same email address, you can choose to save your freehand session to one of the other associated accounts with your InVision email address by clicking Change.

Note: If you do not save your freehand before returning to the Projects Dashboard, your changes will not be saved and are not retrievable by InVision. Ensure that your freehand is named and no longer shows the Save Draft button before exiting.

Renaming a freehand

To rename a freehand, hover your mouse over the name of the freehand until it changes to a cursor. Click on the name and edit.

Note: You must be viewing the freehand in order to rename it.

Exiting a freehand

To exit, click the in icon at the top left to return to your Project Dashboard.

Note: If you do not save your freehand before returning to the Projects Dashboard, your changes will not be saved and are not retrievable by InVision. Ensure that your freehand is named and no longer shows the Save Draft button before exiting.

Sharing and presenting

Sharing a freehand

Inviting others to join your Freehand is simple. To share your freehand:

1. Navigate to the top-right corner of your project and click the Share button.
2. Click the drop-down arrow and set the permissions to Can edit or Can view only.
3. Click Copy Link. 

The share link will be copied to your clipboard. Anyone who visits the share link will be prompted to sign in to InVision or sign up for an account. They can choose to continue as a guest, but they will still be required to enter an email address.

Note: The first person to save a freehand becomes the owner, even if that person did not originally create the freehand. Therefore, we recommend saving your freehand at least once before sharing with others.

Presenting a freehand

Presenting a freehand allows others to see the project from your perspective. If you are presenting, anyone currently viewing the freehand will follow the actions you take. 

To start presenting, go to the top of the page and click the present icon (). To stop presenting, click the stop icon (). 

You can independently follow a specific collaborator's actions by navigating to the top-right corner of the page and clicking their avatar. To stop following a collaborator, click their avatar again.

Freehand on mobile

Freehand is also available for your mobile device. Check out our help center for information on using Freehand with the InVision app for iOS or Android.

Getting help with Freehand

Located in the bottom-right corner of Freehand is a help icon (). Click the icon to reveal a few different options:

• Become a Pro Tutorial: Test drive Freehand via an interactive tutorial.
• Freehand Guide: Watch an introductory video or read up on using Freehand.
• What's New: Check out the latest release notes for Freehand.
• Send Feedback: Reach out to us directly with any feedback for Freehand.