Balsamiq Cloud documentation

Sharing and reviewing

Balsamiq Cloud is designed for collaboration and offers many ways for you to get feedback on your designs. This document outlines a few different ways so that you can pick the right one to fit each situation.

For sharing with collaborators, just have your Space Owner(s) invite them as staff members. Once they’re set up as staff members on your Balsamiq Cloud Space, you can invite them to projects. To learn how to work on the same wireframes together, see our article on Collaborative Editing.

Note: Looking for more information about collaboration? Check out our tutorial about Making the Most Out of Balsamiq Cloud’s Collaboration Features.

Adding someone as a project member gives them the ability to view a project and comment there, but also edit the wireframes if you give them the permission to do so.

To add someone as a project member, invite them and select the desired permission.

Public reviews

You can also share a project without adding people as project members by using the Allow Public Reviews option from the sharing settings.

Clicking this checkbox will allow anyone to review and comment on the project, including anonymous users that you have shared the project link with.

Note: This setting is only available to the Project Owner and Space Owner.

Reviewing and commenting

The "Review and Comment" mode is a great option for anyone who does not need to edit the wireframes. Some users will only have access to this mode (see managing user permissions) but editors can switch to this mode from the Edit menu, as shown below.

The Comments panel allows you to collaborate on your designs by sharing feedback asynchronously or, if you prefer, making notes for yourself as you work. A new comment will generate a notification in the toolbar.

Callouts

You can add Callout markers to indicate specific elements in the wireframe where the comments apply.

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Linking to an alternate version

You can also add a link to an alternate version by using the "Add Link to Alternate" drop-down at the bottom of the comments panel.

@-mentions

Comments allow you to mention anyone that has access to the project you're working on. They will trigger a Notification or not, depending on the mentioned user’s Notification preferences.

To mention someone, start typing "@" and select someone from the list.

Note: @-mentions also work in your Wireframe notes.

Comment actions

Once a comment is added, each reviewer can reply to it and/or like it. You can also edit and delete your own comments.

Sharing an Image Link is a great way to share your wireframes with folks outside of your Balsamiq Cloud Space, without granting them access to the actual project.

You can embed the Image Link in external webpages, or applications that support direct image links, and keep your clients or company updated on the progress of a project.

creating an image link

To create an Image Link, select the dedicated option available in the navigator panel's context menu for any wireframe and click on "Create Image Link".

Note: You can either right-click or click the small arrow that appears when you hover the wireframe.

An Image Link will be created and copied to your computer's clipboard, allowing you to share it anywhere you want. What's more, the image will automatically update if you make changes to the wireframe and close the editor.

If you need to copy the link again (or manually update the image), you can click on the wireframe's link icon from your navigator.

Once clicked, the link will again be copied to your computer's clipboard.

Deleting an image link

You can delete an Image Link at any time from the dialog available in the navigator panel's context menu. Deleting it will generate an error message for anyone that tries to use/share the Image Link.

Note: Creating Image Links will skip the authentication so this feature is less secure than inviting someone to a project. The created URL is hard to guess but you should know that if someone has the URL, they can have access to the image, the name of the wireframe and the name of the related project.

Embedding in other applications

With Balsamiq Embed, you can embed a viewable version of your wireframes in any app or site which supports the oEmbed standard.

To use Balsamiq Embed, you need to first make sure that your project has Public Reviews enabled in the project's Sharing Settings.

You can use any of the following URLs as a Balsamiq Embed:

The Public Review Project Link
The Full Screen Presentation Mode Link
Any wireframe URL copied from the address bar of your browser

Paste the Balsamiq Embed into your site or app and it will be displayed in an embedded viewer with the Project and wireframe names along with the Zoom controls (Zoom to Actual Size, Zoom to Width, Zoom to Fit, Full Screen).

Full Screen Presentation Mode

The Full Screen Presentation Mode is great for sharing your wireframes with stakeholders, or for usability testing. If you have created links between your wireframes, the links will be clickable.

There are two ways to use the Full Screen Presentation Mode to share your wireframes: locally and via direct link.

To use it locally, click on the Full Screen icon in the bottom of the Right Bar. Alternatively, you can select "Full Screen Presentation" from the View menu, or use the CTRL/⌘+f keyboard shortcut.

To share it via direct link, copy the link that appears in the settings panel.

Note: The Full Screen Presentation Mode Direct Link respects the project's permissions. This means that only people who have access to the project can use it (unless the project is set to be public).

You can learn more about this feature in Full Screen Presentation Mode.

You can export all of your wireframes to static PNG images, and send those to your clients if needed. You can learn more about it here.

PDFs generated in Balsamiq Cloud are completely interactive. That means that they not only display your project as you have designed it, they will also respect any links you have added to the project. This is one of the best ways to share your project with collaborators and clients who don't need to make changes.

The PDF will be created in high resolution and with selectable text (good for the reviewers to copy/paste from). More details about exporting to PDF can be found here.

If you use Slack, you can connect your Balsamiq Cloud account to your Slack Workspace. This will let you share your wireframes directly in your Slack channels, and get notifications in Slack for edits and comments made on your Balsamiq projects.

Connecting your Slack and Balsamiq Cloud accounts

To do this, you first need to connect your Project to your Slack account. Open the Sharing Settings Panel on the Project Card and select Add a Slack Subscription.

This will open a page on the Slack website and ask you to confirm that you want to link your Balsamiq Cloud account to your Slack account (and make sure you are logged into the correct accounts).

You can also install the Balsamiq app for Slack using the button below:

Adding your project to a Slack channel

After they are connected, the Balsamiq Bot will show up in your Slack, and you can subscribe a channel to your project. To do that, open the User Permission Panel, and select the option to subcribe channels to that project. Clicking on that will open the Slack Subscription panel where you can choose the Slack Workspace and channel you want to subscribe the project to.

Once you select a channel for your project and click Subscribe, the Balsamiq Bot will show up in that channel to confirm the subscription.

Removing your project from a Slack channel

Removing a project is very similar to adding one. First, open that User Permission Panel again, and you'll see what channel the project is subscribed to.

Clicking on the X next to the channel will bring up a confirmation panel asking if you're sure you want to unsubscribe the project from the channel.

Click Delete Subscription to unsubscribe the project from the channel. You will get a confirmation in the channel that this has been done.

Monitoring all Slack connections

Space owners can monitor and manage which projects are connected to which Slack channels in the Space Settings.

Revoking Slack's access to your account

In the event that you no longer want to use Slack with your Balsamiq Cloud account, you can revoke its access in the User Settings.

Slack channel commands

Once the Balsamiq integration is installed, you can also change the settings using the following commands.

Note: The Balsamiq integration will already need to be installed on your Slack Workspace for these to work.

/balsamiq subscribe https://balsamiq.cloud/project-url This will invite the Balsamiq Bot to the channel and subscribe the channel to a Balsamiq Cloud project.
/balsamiq create-share-subscribe This will create a new project (named after the Slack channel), invite the members of this Slack channel to it (if they have connected their Slack and Balsamiq Accounts), invite the Balsamiq Bot to the channel, and subscribe the channel to the new Project. All with a single command! Super handy!
/balsamiq list This will display all the project subscriptions for this channel.
/balsamiq login This will link your Balsamiq account to your Slack account.
/balsamiq logout This will unlink your Balsamiq and Slack accounts.
/balsamiq whoami This will display the Balsamiq account currently linked to your Slack account.
/balsamiq help This will display the list of commands available in the Balsamiq app for Slack.

Using the Balsamiq Trello Integration (Power-Up) is an effective way to share a wireframe if your team works in Trello.

You can add it directly from Trello's Menu > Power-ups, or from any Trello Card.

Note: The Power-Up is included with any Balsamiq Wireframes subscription.

Once the Power-up is installed, here are the three steps for adding a wireframe to a Trello card:

Create an Image link in Balsamiq Cloud and copy it to your clipboard.
Click on the Balsamiq Wireframes Power-Up button in the Trello Card.
Paste your Image Link and click on "Add".

The Trello Card now includes an image of your wireframe, used as your Card cover.

Note: The image will automatically update if you make changes to the wireframe and close the Balsamiq editor.

From the Trello Card, people can directly access your Balsamiq Cloud project by clicking on your Space/Project name next to the wireframe image, depending on their user permissions.