Your tutorials on Freeform are fantastic. Thanks for putting them together. I have begun using Freeform for brainstorming, planning and client presentations.
In the notes there is an option to change the font by design. On the Mac in the layout menu you can choose Show Fonts and on iPad and iPhone when you type text the font option is on the left above the keys.
I was very excited about Freeform and found your videos extremely helpful. Unfortunately, and to let the community know, I experienced a sync problem, followed by hours on the phone with Apple. Subsequently, I lost all my data. Apple were unable to retrieve any data, nor were they able to offer any explanation of why the issue occurred. Needless to say it has left me very frustrated and disappointed, as Freeform looked to be exactly what I need.
I am really sorry to hear that. I haven‘t had a sync problem with iCloud for quite some time myself. Was it during the beta test time or after the release? Any way not a good experience. Sorry.
@@patrickstoeckmann It was after the launch, two days ago actually. Eventually I spoke to the Creative Services Dept at Apple, and the guy called Steve who is Head of Freeform, who told me "we've received the same amount of training as you guys"? I'm a visual thinking and love the idea of an open canvass, and have tried others. For years I've been using TheBrain, and never had issues whatsoever. I guess I became interest in the open canvass idea and assumed it would be a good addition to the Apple ecosystem for which I cannot afford to leave. I'm not sure what to do? I want to use it, but Apple seem unable to diagnose the problem?
Nope, Time Machine does not save anything from Freeform. What a bummer. I hope they fix it soon. Another reason to go to Numbers, which has nearly all the features you want from Freeform and does perfect versioning. I just tested it, by deleting something from a board, closing it, and was able to go back to a version 1 minute before. I really think for a lot of collaboration and brainstorm scenarios Numbers is actually the better program. If you haven't watched my video "The App from Apple Which WILL Destroy Freeform in 2023" ruclips.net/video/uGCTp6-Qv6I/видео.html you should definitely check it out. There I show you, how you can use Numbers as a more than potent alternative to Freeform. Something most users have never thought of.
Question Referring to copy Text from a photo, (3: 50) there does not appear an icon in the bottom low corner on my iPad after clicking the eye symbol. Do I need to activate this somewhere? Thanks for a hint!
It could be that your device is too old. This feature is called Live Text and according to Apple: To use Live Text, you need an iPhone XS, iPhone XR, or later with iOS 15 or later. Live Text is also available on iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation) or later, iPad Pro 11-inch (all models), iPad Air (3rd generation) or later, iPad (8th generation) or later, and iPad mini (5th generation) or later with iPadOS 15.1 or later. To use Live Text for video, you need iOS 16 or later or iPadOS 16 or later.
When I attempt to add a different font to a few words from the text the Aa option does not show up. I only get the keyboard option next the other text options. Have they changed this in an update? I am up to date on everything with a current iPad Pro. Thank you for such thorough videos.
It still works for me on the latest updates with an 2018 iPad Pro. Did you select the words? You need to select them. Then the onscreen keyboard (if you have no external one attached) should show up and there should be an Aa option. If you have no keyboard attached it is in the top row of the on-screen keyboard itself. Or if you have an external keyboard attached it is a floating palette that shows in my case the language option, the Aa option, BIU (for Bold, Italics, Underline), Alignment and List options as well as the dictation option. You did use a text object or a shape object though right? Only those support Fonts with the Aa option.
After a lot of investigation, it turns out that somehow the shortcut option in my keyboard settings was turned off. I am now up and running. Odd that it was off. Thank you for your help.
Hi Patrick, thank you for the very informative video series here. I have a question and I can't seem to get a straight enough answer anywhere. The way I would be using this app ideally is on the iPad with the stylus. I go to site locations, take measurements and basically draw out floorpans. Currently I do this with Grid paper, pencil, and scale ruler. My question is, is there a way in Freeform to draw with lines snapped to the grid? If I could draw my floorpans with nice straight lines, and then annotate by writing to the side, that would be awesome. Thanks!
Unfortunately you can’t draw straight lines with Freeform. You can select lines from the shape menu and they will be straight, but there is no ruler which you can place, where you then can draw a straight line with the pencil. I’m really sad about this, because Apple solved this problem in Apple Notes, where you have a ruler in the pencil drawer that allows it. Also lines are not snapping to a grid in freeform. I wish Apple would remedy this, but currently you can’t. You could build your floor plan using line shapes, but that would be a bit more of a hassle.
@@patrickstoeckmann Thank you so much! I never knew about the ruler tool on Notes. I already use Notes for most of my work related things, so that's perfect for me.
You can install them as a profile package. The process is described here: While you can create these by yourself, there are apps for that too, like iFont. You find the description here: www.howtogeek.com/350438/how-to-install-fonts-on-an-ipad-or-iphone/
Wouldn't it be ideal to have combined apple notes and freeform into one app? With that being said, which should I use? I would prefer not to use both. I like everything in one place. Not having a file system in freeform is ridiculous.
Well then you should go with Notes, because for now, since there are no folders or other organizational structures with Freeform. I guess it will take some iterations until Freeform will be enough for you. That being said, I myself moved away from a paradigm of wanting it all in one app. See my newest video from today for more.
Since you seem to have a lot of experience with this new app… have you discovered the lag? For me it has turn into a real problem….. it is soooo slow when I write with it…..
I heard this from some people. I don't have it most of the time. I had it once in the beginning. But I guess there was something with the board, because other than being slow, Freeform crashed regularly with it. What I did was copy the content to a new board. Interesting enough some content didn't went over (probably what created the problem). After I recreated it, the board has been smooth ever since. Don't know, whether that could be a solution for you. Unfortunately I don't know how to see the storage size in MB of a board. Question is, whether your board is maybe too big / with too many media so that you run into memory problems. But that being said, I have a board with around 80 photos probably 50 shapes and lots of handwritten notes and it is running smoothly on my M1 Mac and my 2018 iPad Pro.
One thing comes to my mind though. With the big board (80 photos etc.) I get lag, when I am zoomed in, because it is constantly loading the image details. What I do is, I zoom out to smoothly move to another area of the board and zoom in. In a zoomed out state the board is way smoother than zoomed in at 200-400% and then navigating with the photos updating the details while I pan around. Maybe that is what you experience. But paning in a more zoomed out level (50-100% is way smoother than 200-400%) - so, I suppose navigating more with zoom out and zoom in is better than paning while zoomed in.
Further testing my hypothesis. It has something to do with Zoom level. Working in the big board up to a zoom factor of 190 is snappy. Going over 200% the lag becomes increasingly noticeable. At 400% it is really painful. Even if I am zoomed in on a simple shape. Looks like it is rendering the complete board (and not only the visible portion). So, yeah, there is a problem here for board with lots of media at bigger zoom levels. With this board I am working mostly at 100%, so I didn't notice before. Hope this helps.
@@patrickstoeckmann Thanks a lot.... one more thing.... when i open the same board on my ipad mini version 6... some of the letters doesn't show up..... On my iPad 12.9 where I work mostly ,there is no problem with this
Your tutorials on Freeform are fantastic. Thanks for putting them together. I have begun using Freeform for brainstorming, planning and client presentations.
Thank you and have lots of fun with it.
Another great video in the Freeform series. Thanks Patrick for generously sharing this knowledge!
Glad you enjoyed it
Patrick, these are wonderful tutorials. Thank you so much for taking the time to help us all.
Thank you for watching and enjoying them.
Many, MANY thanks! Thanks for round 3
Any time! Thank you for watching.
In the notes there is an option to change the font by design. On the Mac in the layout menu you can choose Show Fonts and on iPad and iPhone when you type text the font option is on the left above the keys.
I can see it on the Mac. However on the iPad I only have the size option there. No choice of changing the font.
I was very excited about Freeform and found your videos extremely helpful. Unfortunately, and to let the community know, I experienced a sync problem, followed by hours on the phone with Apple. Subsequently, I lost all my data. Apple were unable to retrieve any data, nor were they able to offer any explanation of why the issue occurred. Needless to say it has left me very frustrated and disappointed, as Freeform looked to be exactly what I need.
I am really sorry to hear that. I haven‘t had a sync problem with iCloud for quite some time myself. Was it during the beta test time or after the release? Any way not a good experience. Sorry.
@@patrickstoeckmann It was after the launch, two days ago actually. Eventually I spoke to the Creative Services Dept at Apple, and the guy called Steve who is Head of Freeform, who told me "we've received the same amount of training as you guys"? I'm a visual thinking and love the idea of an open canvass, and have tried others. For years I've been using TheBrain, and never had issues whatsoever. I guess I became interest in the open canvass idea and assumed it would be a good addition to the Apple ecosystem for which I cannot afford to leave. I'm not sure what to do? I want to use it, but Apple seem unable to diagnose the problem?
Mh, curious. Haven’t tried TimeMachine with Freeform so far. I hoped that would be able to restore an old version. Need to check that out.
Nope, Time Machine does not save anything from Freeform. What a bummer. I hope they fix it soon. Another reason to go to Numbers, which has nearly all the features you want from Freeform and does perfect versioning. I just tested it, by deleting something from a board, closing it, and was able to go back to a version 1 minute before. I really think for a lot of collaboration and brainstorm scenarios Numbers is actually the better program. If you haven't watched my video "The App from Apple Which WILL Destroy Freeform in 2023" ruclips.net/video/uGCTp6-Qv6I/видео.html you should definitely check it out. There I show you, how you can use Numbers as a more than potent alternative to Freeform. Something most users have never thought of.
I like this app cause I need write ideas for my journal books and stories especially add photos and other stuff for my journal stories
Freeform is great for that because of its endless canvas. You can place photos, text, handwriting and layer it wherever you want it.
Another tip, note color on Mac can be changed with the colors tool
Ah good find. Thank you. One more limit you can cross off (at least for the Mac).
Very useful tips. Many thanks!
Glad it was helpful!
It’s fantastic tutorial. thanks from for Lys lesson. Hello from Ukraine.
Glad you liked it! Hope you enjoy some more videos here.
Question Referring to copy Text from a photo, (3: 50) there does not appear an icon in the bottom low corner on my iPad after clicking the eye symbol. Do I need to activate this somewhere? Thanks for a hint!
It could be that your device is too old. This feature is called Live Text and according to Apple:
To use Live Text, you need an iPhone XS, iPhone XR, or later with iOS 15 or later.
Live Text is also available on iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation) or later, iPad Pro 11-inch (all models), iPad Air (3rd generation) or later, iPad (8th generation) or later, and iPad mini (5th generation) or later with iPadOS 15.1 or later.
To use Live Text for video, you need iOS 16 or later or iPadOS 16 or later.
When I attempt to add a different font to a few words from the text the Aa option does not show up. I only get the keyboard option next the other text options. Have they changed this in an update? I am up to date on everything with a current iPad Pro. Thank you for such thorough videos.
It still works for me on the latest updates with an 2018 iPad Pro. Did you select the words? You need to select them. Then the onscreen keyboard (if you have no external one attached) should show up and there should be an Aa option. If you have no keyboard attached it is in the top row of the on-screen keyboard itself. Or if you have an external keyboard attached it is a floating palette that shows in my case the language option, the Aa option, BIU (for Bold, Italics, Underline), Alignment and List options as well as the dictation option. You did use a text object or a shape object though right? Only those support Fonts with the Aa option.
After a lot of investigation, it turns out that somehow the shortcut option in my keyboard settings was turned off. I am now up and running. Odd that it was off. Thank you for your help.
That is interesting. Tried it out and indeed removing that option turns off the floating palette. Thanks for reporting back.
Hi Patrick, thank you for the very informative video series here. I have a question and I can't seem to get a straight enough answer anywhere. The way I would be using this app ideally is on the iPad with the stylus. I go to site locations, take measurements and basically draw out floorpans. Currently I do this with Grid paper, pencil, and scale ruler. My question is, is there a way in Freeform to draw with lines snapped to the grid? If I could draw my floorpans with nice straight lines, and then annotate by writing to the side, that would be awesome. Thanks!
Unfortunately you can’t draw straight lines with Freeform. You can select lines from the shape menu and they will be straight, but there is no ruler which you can place, where you then can draw a straight line with the pencil. I’m really sad about this, because Apple solved this problem in Apple Notes, where you have a ruler in the pencil drawer that allows it. Also lines are not snapping to a grid in freeform. I wish Apple would remedy this, but currently you can’t. You could build your floor plan using line shapes, but that would be a bit more of a hassle.
@@patrickstoeckmann Thank you so much! I never knew about the ruler tool on Notes. I already use Notes for most of my work related things, so that's perfect for me.
Hi Patrick, great video and it’s so very informative, thank you. My question is … How can I install the fonts that I have on my laptop to my iPad?
You can install them as a profile package. The process is described here: While you can create these by yourself, there are apps for that too, like iFont. You find the description here: www.howtogeek.com/350438/how-to-install-fonts-on-an-ipad-or-iphone/
@@patrickstoeckmann Thank you very much Patrick, that’s much appreciated. I’ll try this method 😊
Wouldn't it be ideal to have combined apple notes and freeform into one app? With that being said, which should I use? I would prefer not to use both. I like everything in one place. Not having a file system in freeform is ridiculous.
Well then you should go with Notes, because for now, since there are no folders or other organizational structures with Freeform. I guess it will take some iterations until Freeform will be enough for you. That being said, I myself moved away from a paradigm of wanting it all in one app. See my newest video from today for more.
Is there a way to make a fast checklist on freeform?
Not really.
: / Thank you for the fast reply.
Since you seem to have a lot of experience with this new app… have you discovered the lag? For me it has turn into a real problem….. it is soooo slow when I write with it…..
I heard this from some people. I don't have it most of the time. I had it once in the beginning. But I guess there was something with the board, because other than being slow, Freeform crashed regularly with it. What I did was copy the content to a new board. Interesting enough some content didn't went over (probably what created the problem). After I recreated it, the board has been smooth ever since. Don't know, whether that could be a solution for you. Unfortunately I don't know how to see the storage size in MB of a board. Question is, whether your board is maybe too big / with too many media so that you run into memory problems. But that being said, I have a board with around 80 photos probably 50 shapes and lots of handwritten notes and it is running smoothly on my M1 Mac and my 2018 iPad Pro.
One thing comes to my mind though. With the big board (80 photos etc.) I get lag, when I am zoomed in, because it is constantly loading the image details. What I do is, I zoom out to smoothly move to another area of the board and zoom in. In a zoomed out state the board is way smoother than zoomed in at 200-400% and then navigating with the photos updating the details while I pan around. Maybe that is what you experience. But paning in a more zoomed out level (50-100% is way smoother than 200-400%) - so, I suppose navigating more with zoom out and zoom in is better than paning while zoomed in.
Further testing my hypothesis. It has something to do with Zoom level. Working in the big board up to a zoom factor of 190 is snappy. Going over 200% the lag becomes increasingly noticeable. At 400% it is really painful. Even if I am zoomed in on a simple shape. Looks like it is rendering the complete board (and not only the visible portion). So, yeah, there is a problem here for board with lots of media at bigger zoom levels. With this board I am working mostly at 100%, so I didn't notice before. Hope this helps.
BTW - this problem is only on the iPad. The Mac version is fluid with 400% with the same board.
@@patrickstoeckmann Thanks a lot....
one more thing.... when i open the same board on my ipad mini version 6... some of the letters doesn't show up.....
On my iPad 12.9 where I work mostly ,there is no problem with this
Why is no one gonna talk about flipping photos or groups?
What do you mean? Rotating? That is done with the usual 2 finger gesture. Or do you mean flipping through. What would you like it to do?