Zen Mode

Zen Mode shows a single column on its own, as a sheet of paper on a calm backdrop. The board, the board list and the header are out of sight. It’s meant for writing: drafting scenes one card at a time, revising a chapter, or working through a list without being pulled back into the rest of the board. Global Zen goes further: it moves through columns you choose from every board, such as all the chapters of a book, without leaving Zen Mode.

Open a column in Zen Mode

• Focus a card or the column header and press Cmd+Shift+E.
• Select the Zen button in the column’s header.
• In the command palette, choose Open a column in Zen Mode… and pick any column of the current board.

On Mac, with Window mode set to Separate windows, Zen Mode opens in its own window. On iPad and iPhone, and on Mac with Inside the app, it opens inside the main window.

Write across boards in global Zen

1. Choose Open global Zen… in the options of the header’s Column width button, or Open boards and columns in global Zen… in the command palette.
2. The first time, FlowBoard asks which columns to include, starting with the columns of the current board. Turn boards and columns on or off. All, None and Invert change every column that matches the search field at once.
3. Select Done.

The Zen toolbar then names the current board and column. Select ‹ and ›, or press ← and →, to move to the previous or next included column, across boards. ↑ and ↓ select cards. While you’re editing text, the arrow keys work as usual. Select the board and column name to jump straight to an included column, or choose Choose boards and columns… there to change the selection.

FlowBoard remembers the chosen columns, and where you were, for each document on this device.

Write in Zen Mode

The column’s cards work as they do on the board. Double-click a card to edit it, add new cards, and drag cards to reorder them. Every change goes straight into your document.

The Zen column tools button in the column’s header holds what you’d otherwise reach on the board:

Option	What it does
Show toolbar	Shows the column’s own toolbar
Read mode	Shows the column as continuous text, as in Read View
Collapse cards	Shows each card by its first line
Display settings…	Chooses what cards show in Zen, with Board and Read tabs. It applies to every column of this board in Zen
Word-count display…, AI draft…, Export column…, Sort cards	The column’s word counts, an AI Assist draft, export and sorting

The Zen toolbar

The toolbar at the top hides itself while you write. Move the pointer to the top edge to bring it back, or choose Zen: Show controls in the command palette. Escape hides it again. To keep it on screen, turn on Keep controls visible under More Zen options (⋯).

Appearance adjusts the writing surface:

Control	What it changes
Paper width, Text scale	The width of the writing column and the size of its text
Card dimming	Fades the cards you’re not working on. Drag left to turn it off, right to make it stronger
Typewriter scrolling	Keeps the line you’re writing at a steady height on the screen
Typography	The font and line height for Zen Mode
Paper Options	A preset, Standard or Page view, then the space above and below the paper, its opacity, how opaque plain and colored cards are, the gap between cards, and the column and card borders. Reset restores the preset’s values
Backdrop	Theme, a Color, or an Image of your choice with its fit and blur, and how much the backdrop is dimmed

More Zen options (⋯) also has Dark Mode, Save Workspace and Exit Zen. Save Workspace saves a session that also reopens your open windows and previews, such as this Zen window. In a separate Zen window on Mac, it can pin the window on top of others. Inside the app, × closes Zen Mode as well.

In global Zen, the command palette (Cmd+Shift+P) lists only the Zen commands, such as Zen: Next column or Zen: Page view appearance.

Next

• Read View is for reading a whole board as continuous text.
• Cards covers adding, editing and formatting cards.