How to Create and Present Scenes in Apple Freeform on iPad in iPadOS 18

Apple’s Freeform app offers a flexible infinite canvas where teams, designers, and students can brainstorm, sketch with Apple Pencil, insert PDF documents, and organize visual project boards. However, as an infinite canvas grows in scale and complexity, navigating between disparate diagrams, sticky note clusters, and conceptual wireframes can become disorienting. In iPadOS 18, Apple introduced Scenes—a powerful spatial organisation and presentation feature that lets users bookmark, name, and sequence specific sections of their canvas. With Scenes, you can navigate expansive visual workspaces seamlessly or present individual sections slide-by-slide without manual zooming and panning.

What Are Scenes in Freeform?

Scenes function as structured camera bookmarks anchored across your infinite whiteboard:

• Defined Viewports: Each Scene captures an exact zoom level and geographic coordinate range on your canvas, framing only the content you wish to highlight.
• Sequential Presentation: Scenes can be arranged in a chronological playlist, allowing you to click forward and back through your project board as if delivering a presentation slide deck.
• Independent Editing: Adding or modifying objects within a Scene does not break the bookmark framing, preserving your camera coordinates as your ideas evolve.
• Multiplayer Continuity: When collaborating in real-time with others via iCloud or FaceTime SharePlay, participants can follow your active Scene navigation automatically.

How to Create a Scene in Freeform on iPad

To begin creating Scenes, ensure your iPad is updated to iPadOS 18 or later, and open any existing or new Freeform board.

1. Use touch gestures or an Apple Pencil to pan and pinch-zoom your canvas until the specific section, mind map, or diagram you wish to capture is framed perfectly on your screen.
2. Locate the Scenes bar icon situated in the lower left corner of the Freeform window (represented by a presentation board with a playback chevron).
3. Tap the icon to open the Scenes navigator sidebar.
4. Tap the Add Scene button (the plus icon) or tap Capture Current View.
5. Freeform will capture a thumbnail of your active screen viewport and place it into your Scenes list.

How to Name and Reorder Scenes

Organising your Scenes ensures clear storytelling when presenting to colleagues or reviewing complex project phases.

1. In the Scenes navigator sidebar, tap the three-dot menu icon next to any captured Scene thumbnail.
2. Select Rename and enter a descriptive title (such as Q3 Architecture Diagram or User Journey Wireframe).
3. To reorder your sequence, touch and hold a Scene thumbnail until it elevates slightly, then drag it up or down the playlist to establish the desired presentation order.
4. If you adjust the layout of items on your canvas and need to shift the framing, position your screen to the new coordinates, open the Scene menu, and select Update to Current View.

How to Present Using Scenes on iPad

Once your Scenes are structured, Freeform allows you to deliver distraction-free presentations directly from your iPad or connected external monitor.

1. Open the Scenes bar in the bottom left corner.
2. Tap on your starting Scene to smoothly animate the camera to that section.
3. Tap the Present (or full-screen playback) button to conceal application toolbars and interface chrome.
4. Use the on-screen forward and back directional arrows, swipe gestures, or arrow keys on a connected Magic Keyboard to transition smoothly from one Scene to the next. Freeform automatically pans and zooms between coordinates with fluid fluid motion.
5. Tap the red or grey Exit button in the upper corner when your walkthrough is complete.

Exporting and Sharing Freeform Boards with Scenes

In addition to live presentations, Scenes enhance document exports when sharing boards with clients or stakeholders who do not use Apple hardware:

• Export as PDF with Individual Pages: When exporting your Freeform board to PDF, iPadOS 18 provides an option to export each defined Scene as an individual sequential page, creating a printable slide deck from your infinite whiteboard.
• Share via iCloud: Tap the Share icon in the top toolbar to invite collaborators. When collaborators join, they can access your configured Scenes list to navigate your board immediately.