Get the most out of Cardflow.

Sort and search

Scroll up to see the sort and search controls. Type part of a name to show matching boards.

Create a new board

Tap the + icon in the top left to create a new board. New boards are always created locally on your iPad first.

Copy boards to the cloud Cardflow+

Tap a board's name, then tap Copy to Cloud. Choose where to store it: in iCloud Drive, or on a third-party service. More about iCloud sync.

Open from the cloud Cardflow+

Tap the cloud icon in the toolbar to open a board stored in the cloud. Your changes are saved back to that location automatically.

Icon sizes

Tap the icon size button to switch between small and large board icons.

Rename and delete boards

Tap a board's name, or long-press a board, to show more options.

Color-coded categories

Tag each board with a category: tap the color tab to the left of its name. Then tap All Files in the toolbar to filter your boards by category.

Custom category names

Prefer something more evocative than “Category A”? Tap the gear icon to rename categories and reach the rest of the App Settings.

Add cards

Double-tap the board to add a card, or tap the board once and choose Add Card.

Edit cards

Tap an unselected card to open it in the Card Editor.

Select cards

Lasso cards with one finger to select them, or long-press a single card.

Move cards

Drag selected cards to move them.

Flip cards

Tap with two fingers to flip the selected cards. If any of them are showing their backs, they all flip to the front; otherwise they all flip to the back. That makes it easy to get a whole set on the same side.

Delete cards

Tap a selected card, then tap Delete to delete all the selected cards.

Magic Arrange

Select two or more cards, then swipe with three fingers in different directions to arrange them into stacks, rows, columns or grids. Swipe toward the top left to shuffle them randomly. Or tap the buttons in the lower left of the screen:

• Vertical stack
• Diagonal stack
• Column
• Row
• Grid
• Shuffle
• Sort by text

Three-finger swipes only work when the Accessibility Zoom feature is turned off. See Magic Arrange in action.

Text search Cardflow+

Tap the Search button to select the cards that contain certain words, on either side of the card. It's also a quick way to gather cards tagged with a word so you can move or arrange them.

Change many cards at once

Tap the selected cards to show options that apply to all of them, like changing their template or color.

Copy and paste cards

Copy selected cards from one board and paste them into another.

Copy and paste styles

Select a single card to copy its style (color, template and text settings), then paste it onto other cards.

Board color

Change the board color from the Board Settings menu (the gear icon).

Snap to grid

Turn snap-to-grid on from the gear menu, for when your cards really need to line up exactly. (We understand.)

Export to PDF Cardflow+

From Board Settings, export the whole board on a single PDF page, or each card on its own page. Card and web links keep working in the PDF.

Select some cards before choosing Export from the action menu to export just those cards.

Print a board

Export the board as a PDF first, then choose Print from the Share sheet.

Export and import CSV Cardflow+

Export just the cards' text to a comma-separated (CSV) file with four columns:

Edit the file in an app like Numbers, then import it back into Cardflow. It's a handy way to create lots of cards at once, such as a deck of flash cards.

From Cardflow+ to Numbers (with both apps on your iPad):

1. Open the board in Cardflow+.
2. Tap the settings button.
3. Choose Export…
4. Choose Cards' Text as CSV.
5. Pick Numbers from the list of apps.

From Numbers back to Cardflow+:

1. Open the spreadsheet in Numbers.
2. Tap the options (…) button.
3. Choose Export, then CSV.
4. Pick Cardflow+ from the list of apps. A new board appears in your gallery.

Draw in front or behind Cardflow+

There are two drawing modes, Front (the default) and Behind, shown by the two icons at the left of the palette. Choose Behind to draw underneath existing ink. It's great for background splashes that call out an element, or for shadows.

Shape recognizer Cardflow+

Tap the Shape button, and as you draw Cardflow straightens lines, circles, triangles, squares and rectangles for you. Here's a video of the shape recognizer in action.

Use it to draw grid lines on the board, together with the grid card template, for layout projects.

Pen opacity

Tap the opacity button (“100%”) to show the opacity slider, and slide it to make your ink more transparent.

Custom colors Cardflow+

Tap the selected color to customize it. You can reset the palette from App Settings in the Gallery.

Erase ink

Tap the eraser icon () to enter Eraser Mode. Tap it again while it's selected to erase all the ink.

Select ink

Tap the selection icon () to enter Selection Mode, then lasso the strokes you want. Drag the selection to move it, drag the round grip at the top to rotate it, and drag the grip in the bottom right to resize it. You can also move, resize and rotate the selection with two fingers.

With snap-to-grid on, selected ink on the board moves in grid steps, handy for lining things up.

Color-Select Cardflow+

When your selection holds more than one color, the colors are listed at the bottom left. All of them are selected at first; tap one or more to select just those colors. Use it to move or delete ink in the background without disturbing the foreground, or to change highlights and shadows.

Copy, cut and paste ink

Tap inside the blue selection area to show the ink options. Copy copies every selected stroke, even the parts outside the selection area. Cut breaks strokes at the edge of the selection and copies only the ink inside it.

To paste, tap outside the selection once to clear it, then tap again and choose Paste.

You can copy ink from Inkflow and paste it into Cardflow. Only the ink comes across, not text or photos.

Recolor ink Cardflow+

Choose Recolor to change the color of the selected ink.

Page between cards

At 100% zoom, tap the arrows on either side of the screen to go to the next or previous card.

Select several cards in the Board Editor, tap them and choose Edit to page through just that set.

Quick zoom

Tap the quick zoom button in the lower left to zoom all the way out and back again. It's handy for adding detail to notes or sketches.

Wrist guard

Drag up the rounded gray tab to the right of the quick zoom button to pull up the wrist guard. Rest your palm on it without making stray marks. Tap the tab to show or hide it.

Flip the card

Tap with two fingers, or tap the flip-card icon at the bottom left, to turn the card over. A blue page indicator in the lower right of a card means it has something on the back.

Pencil-only drawing

When an Apple Pencil is connected, a pencil icon appears at the bottom left, next to the flip-card icon. Tap it to turn on Pencil-only mode: only the Pencil draws, so your palm and fingers never leave stray marks. You can still use your fingers to zoom and erase.

Bluetooth must be on, in Control Center or Settings, for Cardflow to detect your Pencil.

Auto advance

When you zoom in, an auto-advance toggle appears in the bottom right. Tap it to show an auto-advance zone on the right. Whenever you write into that zone, the screen scrolls along after a brief pause. Tap the arrow and return buttons at the bottom of the zone to move the screen yourself.

Zoom all the way in and use auto advance to write out detailed notes.

Insert a picture

Tap the Picture button in the toolbar. Each side of a card holds one picture, clipped to the frame of the card's template. With the storyboard template, for example, it fills the screen frame.

Picture toolbar

The picture toolbar appears when you insert or resize a picture. Drag and pinch to position the picture in its frame, use the buttons to fit or fill it, and tap Done in the top right when you're finished.

Drag and drop photos

Use Split View to put Photos beside Cardflow+, then drag images onto the board. While dragging one image, tap others to bring them along. Each image lands on a new card.

Insert a web page

Tap the Picture button and choose Insert Web Page, then browse or search for the page you want. The card's picture becomes a thumbnail of the page, with a link in the top right. Tap the link in Selection Mode to visit the page.

Organize files and projects

Link to any web page: videos, photos, articles, even your own documents stored online. Services like Dropbox let you link to your files, so just paste those links into Cardflow's browser to make a card for each one. It's a great way to build a board for every project or client.

Add links

The easiest way is in the Board Editor: touch and hold an unselected card until the blue selection glow appears, then drag your finger off the card, onto another card or an empty part of the board.

In the Card Editor, choose the option from the settings menu, or tap the card in Selection Mode and choose Add Link.

Follow links

Tap a link in Selection Mode to open the linked card. Card and web links keep working in exported PDFs, on any platform.

Resize and position links

Choose Position Links from the action menu or the Selection Mode menu. Drag a link's bottom right corner to resize it, or drag anywhere else to move it.

Place links over parts of a wireframe to build a “tap-through” prototype you can share as a PDF.

Remove links

In the Card Editor, choose Position Links, tap a link in Selection Mode, then tap Remove Link. In the Board Editor:

1. In Selection Mode, select one or more cards.
2. Tap a selected card, or touch and hold a single card.
3. Choose Remove Links.

Text color

Tap the T-in-a-circle icon to change the text color.

Default style

Tap the star icon to save the current text settings as your default style, or to go back to it.

Templates

Change the card's template (its background), such as lined, grid, checklist or storyboard. The template also sets where text sits on the card.

Card colors

Pick the card's background color and text color.

On your iPad

In Cardflow+, tap a board's name, then tap Copy to Cloud. Choose iCloud and a folder, such as Documents.

Edit boards in iCloud

Tap the cloud icon in the toolbar to open a board stored in the cloud. Your changes are saved back there automatically.

On your Mac

After a few moments the board appears in the iCloud folder you chose. Double-click it to open it in Cardflow for Mac.

Cardflow doesn't support editing the same board on two devices at once, which can lose data. Close a board on one device before editing it on another, and keep backing up important boards. We've tested sync extensively with iCloud, but we can't guarantee data integrity with any cloud provider, especially third-party services.