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The TEL support team have variety of board and sandbox based resources ready for you to use with your learners. We are always happy to demo board tools, offer advice and answer questions about their uses.

Contact us on our Digital Learning Help desk

The Posts below contain:

Links to our general resources for whiteboards

Links to resources to share with learners for Padlet Boards and Sandboxes

Links to slide resources for your presentations

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graphic avatars representing the TEL support team waving under the words TEL support team

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(A pinned post example) How to post in Padlet

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(A pinned post example) How to post in Padlet

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Select the image to make it larger. Use the cross to return to the board.

Image transcript:

Open the link provided in your browser or on a mobile device. If the link doesn’t work try different browsers using link provided.

The plus sign adds a post.

Reactions, voting or comments on posts may be turned on or off.

Write your post. All contributions are anonymous.

Choose the background colour. Add images, gifs, links, files, videos, audio, emojis and much more. Search or drag and drop onto tile area.

Select publish to upload to the board. Posts can be edited using ellipsis (three dots).

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Padlet comes in two formats. There are Padlet boards where interactions are added in posts onto the board. And Sandboxes where cards are a freeform collaborative workspace for people to add their content.

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Laptop screen covered with paper notes and post-its

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Marcia Cook

NES Technology enhanced learning (TEL) team

Analyst business partner: TEL user-centred practice

(Photo by geralt on Pixabay)

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Open laptop on a table. The screen is covered with paper notes

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Screenshot of TEL intranet page for Polls and whiteboards

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Polls and whiteboards pages on the NES intranet contain information about engagement tools, links to guides and resources to download and add to presentations.

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TEL have a Get Set Go TEL guide to Padlet which helps you get set up and going using the tool. It gives a short orientation, looks at the types of Pads, highlights features, gives and examples of using boards and sandboxes for learning activities.

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TEL Comparison guide for boards (free accounts)

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TEL Comparison guide for boards (free accounts)

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The TEL guide to Collaboration Boards looks at the features of four popular board tools and is available in two versions. Collaboration Boards comparison table (visual format)

Collaboration boards comparison guide (text format)

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The TEL video 'How to post on Padlet' can be shared with your learners. The transcript is available in Sway and is open for sharing. How to post on Padlet video transcript.

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An alternative text transcript of this resource is available from NES' TEL team. For full or summary form, alternative formats and community languages please contact us on 0131 656 3200 or altformats@nes.scot.nhs.uk to discuss how we can best meet your requirements. © NHS Education for Scotland 2024.

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Instruction slide in ppt for adding posts to Padlet

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Board Posting instructions PowerPoint slide resource 

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Board Posting instructions PowerPoint slide resource 

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The TEL slide set for participant instructions contains a How to post on a Padlet Board slide to add into presentations.

We also recommend adding an image of the slide and the instructions transcript as a post on Boards. Users can familiarise themselves with posting techniques as soon as they open the Board.

The next post shows an example of an image and wording post on a board.

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Make it your own!

Choose Icons from a wide selection or upload your own file, draw, take a picture or add a giff. Images from any post on your pad can be made into Padlet covers.

Wallpapers: lots more to choose from but also can customise and upload too.

Dark or light mode selection

(Photo from Theodor Vasile on Unsplash)

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Set a time for posts to release.

Potentially useful feature for workshops or scenario training.

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Make your posts appear on a padlet at a specific time.

Sir Isaac Newton theorized time as an absolute and universal entity that flows at a constant rate. Albert Einstein proposed that time is not absolute, but flexible and relative. Today, Kristie Miller sees time as a four-dimensional block, within which all events occur simultaneously.

With Padlet, you don't need to worry about what time is. You just need to know when you want your post to publish. You are now able to schedule posts to publish at a specific time in the future.

How to schedule a post

To schedule a post, create it as you normally would. Instead of publishing immediately, pick a date. You can choose any time in the next year. You've conquered time.

When the time comes, your post will publish and your followers and collaborators will receive a notification and everyone will be amazed at your forethought and brilliance.

How you can use scheduling

If you're a teacher, you can schedule a year's worth of discussion questions on your class padlet and be done with summer prep. If you use Padlet as a community board in the office, you can schedule happy birthday messages so that you never forget. If you use Padlet to meal prep, you can schedule out your meals for the foreseeable future.

The future of scheduling in the past

We do not yet offer the ability to schedule posts in the past. We are hoping to release this feature in the future and to that end we are hiring for internationally renowned theoretical physicists. If that's you, get in touch!

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Make your posts appear on a padlet at a specific time.

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You can dock posts and have multiple drafts open at same time. Bulk publishing and deleting options now too.

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Post drafts work across multiple devices

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Access auto-saved post drafts across devices and sessions.

In an early draft of Star Wars, Han Solo was a green reptilian creature with a hefty set of gills. In the original draft of the Sherlock Holmes series, Sherlock Holmes' name was Sherrinford Hope. The Great Gatsby was originally titled 'The High-Bouncing Lover'.

Revision cycles are essential to high-quality finished products. This is why we're introducing post drafts. When you begin writing a post, it will auto-save on the padlet, visible only to you. You can leave the padlet and when you return, your post will be waiting for you. You can even access your post draft from a different device.

If you begin a post on your laptop and want to include a photo from your camera roll, you don't need to transfer the photo. You can just open the padlet on your phone and attach it there. Post drafts will make life easier when your files are spread across multiple devices.

You should also remember that you don't need to use post drafts. They're completely optional. If you come up with a title as good as the 'The High-Bouncing Lover' you can always just click publish immediately.

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Access auto-saved post drafts across devices and sessions.

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Start a post by Double tap/ click anywhere, use plus button, can post to sections. You can also pin posts too.

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Updated 2 months ago by Rana Wilds

You can use the Pin post feature to ensure your post stays put - just like an ad on a bulletin board!

Pin a post

So how do you do it?

Simply go to the post you want to pin

Click the vertical three dot ellipsis button (...) in the upper right corner of the post

Click Pin post

Unpin a post

Go to the pinned post

Click the vertical three dot ellipsis button (...) in the upper right corner of the post

Click Unpin post

FAQs

Can I pin more than one post?

Yep! Pin as many posts as you'd like.

Can I pin a post anywhere?

Not exactly. If a post is pinned it will stay at the top of the page - no matter where it was before it was pinned. If unpinned, it will return to the previous location.

Do I have to have sections enabled to pin a post?

You can pin a post whether sections are turned on or off!

Why can't I pin a post?

It sounds like the privacy settings of the padlet need adjusted. The padlet will need to be set to Writer or higher. You can read more about the visitor permissions here!

How did we do?

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You want to pin a post to the top of your padlet. Here's how!

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Over 250 templates available in a gallery from the left menu. Hover for descriptions, see examples before creating and search by category.

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Browse over 250 templates in an organized, searchable gallery.

An illustrated image of frames on a yellow background

We originally designed templates to help you decide what to build, and show you how to build it.

If every padlet is a sandbox, you can think of each template as a blueprint for a specific sandcastle. Instead of starting from scratch and inventing something from nothing, each template offers a specific possibility with detailed design instructions.

We started with 100 templates, but we've now built over 250. As the number of templates grew, we created a new problem: With so many available templates, how could anyone decide which to use?

Our answer is the Template gallery.

Find the template that will best serve you

The Gallery's 254 templates are organized by category and usage.

If you're a teacher, you can select education, and look for templates that were built for teachers. If you're in business, you can select business. If you're open to anything, you can stay in general.

If you want to use Padlet for a specific task or activity, like note-taking, presentations, or research, you can filter by one or more categories from the sidebar on the left.

Template previews

Once you decide on a template that might be right for you, you can hover over the template image to read a description that describes how the template will be useful.

If that isn't enough to convince you, selecting a template will open a live preview that displays a real example of a padlet made from that template.

If you select "See example" you'll get to open the example padlet and take a look for yourself.

Start building

If the padlet is a sandbox, and the template is a blueprint, you can think of the gallery as a neatly ordered and aesthetically pleasing warehouse full of blueprints.

Use the Gallery to decide what you want to create today.

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Browse over 250 templates in an organized, searchable gallery.

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Padlet board owners control and enable the commenting on posts. If comments are switched on then you can make a text comment and add images. You can also upload a file, add a gif, take a photo, or generate an AI image with I can’t draw.

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Comment with an image to facilitate collaboration, communicate ideas, or share funny memes.

Comment with an image

On a brisk autumn day in September of 1940, 18-year-old Marcel Ravidat took his dog, Robot, on a walk through the lush forests of Montignac, France. When Robot began sniffing around a hole left by an uprooted tree, Marcel discovered a 50-foot shaft that led down into the dark earth. Marcel believed he'd located the legendary secret passage to Lascaux Manor, but what he found inside was far more significant.

Marcel discovered the Lascaux cave, which contains over 600 wall paintings made by human beings who lived almost 20,000 years ago. The images vary in content, often depicting humans, animals, or abstract shapes, but they all convey the same truth: for as long as we have roamed the earth, we have sought to make sense of our existence through visual imagery. It is in our nature to comment on life with images.

As of today, you can meet this fundamental human desire in Padlet's comment sections. You can now comment with images on Padlet.

When you open the attachment picker on a comment, you will find the option to draw a picture, as they did in the Lascaux cave. You can also upload a file, add a GIF, take a photo, or generate an AI image with I can't draw.

This update should make Padlet's comment sections more collaborative and more fun. You can comment updated graphics on a design padlet, or you can comment funny GIFs on your friend's birthday padlet.

We can't promise your Padlet comment sections will be as profound and insightful as the Lascaux cave, but they will definitely have more GIFs.

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Comment with an image to facilitate collaboration, communicate ideas, or share funny memes.

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Select the image to make it larger. Use the cross to return to the board.

Image transcript:

Open the link provided in your browser or on a mobile device. If the link doesn’t work try different browsers using link provided.

The plus sign adds a post.

Reactions, voting or comments on posts may be turned on or off.

Write your post. All contributions are anonymous.

Choose the background colour. Add images, gifs, links, files, videos, audio, emojis and much more. Search or drag and drop onto tile area.

Select publish to upload to the board. Posts can be edited using ellipsis (three dots).

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Padlet now have an option to add polls onto a board. Poll format is multiple choice. The results display well in slideshow view and can be revealed while presenting. Check out Padlet's community polls from the image link.

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AI has been introduced in Padlet creation. Available for accounts profiled set up with education settings, like teacher category. (Suspect this will change to include business categories in future).

Enter prompts and AI will generate boards with information posts based on these instructions. Or co-create a discussion board with questions and AI will write the first post to kick discussions off.

As with all generative AI please check content return rigorously for accuracy and critically evaluate the material and sources. For more information check out the TEL introduction to generative AI

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Use Magic Padlet to generate classroom content curated to your subject, grade level, and specifications.

In 1962, acclaimed science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke wrote, "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Our passion and our pursuit have always been to create tools that prove this rule right.

When you upload a large attachment, we want the speed to feel miraculous. When you automatically generate a slideshow, we want it to feel like pulling a rabbit out of a hat. When you type a prompt into I can't draw, we want you to feel like a wizard, casting a powerful spell.

For our next trick, we plan to make teachers' time spent creating lessons disappear. The technology behind the curtain is called Magic Padlet, and it can generate completed padlets full of classroom content in seven different formats.

How to start

To use Magic Padlet, select Make a padlet from your dashboard, then select the green button in the top right corner of your screen.

You'll be prompted to select one of seven formats, all of which are explained below.

Lesson plan

All teachers know the value of a good lesson plan, and all good teachers know how much work it takes to make one. Delegate that work by entering your class information, and watch the magic happen.

Use the additional details field to add any specific instructions. Include standards to align with or a specific class duration.

The lesson plan that is generated should serves as a perfect starting point for a teacher to complete a final version. Magic Padlet is a teacher's ideal creative collaborator.

Map of historical events

For visual learners and history buffs, the map of historical events is the perfect way to depict the layout of history. Simply enter your subject, the event you want you outline, and the grade level you instruct.

The historical events will be placed in their corresponding physical location on a map padlet. For additional information about each event, click the marker to read the post.

Use the additional details field to instruct Magic Padlet on the information or events it should choose. Ask for battles or treaties. Ask for quotes or summaries. Magic Padlet will do its best to accommodate your wishes.

Timeline of events

To outline a specific sequence of events, choose Timeline of events. This option will generate posts in a straightforward timeline format, making it the perfect tool for history lessons or biographies.

Once again, provide Magic Padlet with your class and subject information, and select "Create."

Use the additional details field to request major discoveries or collapses. Request births or deaths. Triumphs or defeats, it's all up to you.

Reading list

Historians and English teachers will understand the value of the reading list immediately. They should be thrilled to learn that with Magic Padlet you can generate reading lists curated for one or multiple grade levels.

You can ask for children's books, classic historical novels, textbooks, or published papers.

Think of Magic Padlet as the ultimate librarian's assistant. With complete access to every text on the internet, you need only to suggest a subject, and Magic Padlet will point you in the right direction.

Classroom activities list

Activities are valuable in the classroom because they capture and retain student attention while making learning fun and interactive. Now you can generate classroom activities on Magic Padlet.

You can request games or competitions within the classroom, or scavenger hunts outside it. You can even generate an online show and tell.

You can also tell Magic Padlet what resources you have in the classroom so that they can be incorporated into activities. Let Magic Padlet know if you have a whiteboard, iPads, or good old-fashioned pencil and paper.

Assessment polls

No class would be complete without assessments, and Magic Padlet is here to provide them for you.

Assessment padlets use Padlet's poll attachment to generate 2-4 answer multiple-choice questions that your students can answer.

You select your subject, difficulty, standards, and you forget about how long it used to take you to write quizzes.

Custom board

The final option is freeform. There is no imposed structure. Just state your role and describe the padlet you want to see. Magic Padlet will write in the voice of the role you provide, and attempt to actualize whatever vision you lay out.

You can ask Magic Padlet to use the wall, map, or timeline format, and you can ask it to use or omit sections. You can also ignore specifics and outline your vision. Magic Padlet will do its best to decide which format to use and whether to use sections.

Think of the custom board as a means to manifest your imagination on the screen. Let your ideas flow, and let Magic Padlet do all the heavy lifting.

Get started

Find further instructions, additional details, and information about security and privacy here.

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Use Magic Padlet to generate classroom content curated to your subject, grade level, and specifications.

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Help is available. Visit the help pages or view a video tutorial from Padlet's Youtube channel.

Alternatively contact the TEL team for advice and support on our Digital Learning Help desk.

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Learn how to improve your Padlet skills. Get support if something's not right.

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PDFs downloads as handouts or slides, including page format and orientation

Export all data to Excel spreadsheets

Save it as an image, csv file or print your pad.

Note that when exporting to excel comments and reactions are not recorded.

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Export your padlet as a handout or slides.

The value of a good PDF export is obvious for Padlet: If you ever want to print a padlet or save its content for use without internet, a quality PDF export is essential.

But what does a quality PDF export look like?

For visual padlets designed to be seen as a complete board, you might as well take a screenshot. For text-heavy padlets with lots of information, you may want something closer to a traditional document. For padlets designed as presentations, you probably want the slideshow view.

Padlets vary in form and function, but they're all good-looking and useful. The same is now true for our PDF exports.

We will now allow you to customize your PDF exports as handouts or slides.

To demonstrate the difference between formats, we'll show you how the following padlet looks in both styles:

Handout

The purpose of the handout format is to convert padlets into traditional documents while preserving information, conserving space, and maximizing readability on screens and paper copies.

As one final layer of customization, the handout format also gives you the option to determine page size and orientation.

On the handout, posts are laid out vertically in rows, the way paragraphs are laid out on a traditional document. We lay out posts in single file to ensure that the order of posts is preserved.

If posts have text, they will be left-aligned with attachments on the right. If all posts contain attachments without text, the attachments will be left-aligned.

Padlets are usually colorful, with slight variations in font color, but we know that printer quality varies and ink is expensive, so many printers fail to produce quality documents with color variation. To ensure readability on printed copies, we limit our use of color and make all text uniformly black.

Alternatively, to make sure exports are useful digitally, posts and attachments contain clickable links that lead back to the original padlet.

Slides

The slides format will dedicate a page to each post and section on your padlet. Posts will be presented as they appear in a padlet slideshow.

On exported slides, you can decide the orientation of the page, and you can decide whether each page is stylized by its background image. Here is the same export in portrait mode with background styling turned on.

You should export padlets as slides whenever you want a detailed, visual, post-by-post summary of your padlet. Slides is also the best export option for when the padlet was built to be presented as a slideshow.

Export your padlet as a PDF

To export your own padlet as a PDF, navigate to the Share panel → Export as PDF. From there you can play around with the different options and decide which you like best.

Check out our full Autumn feature release

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Export your padlet as a handout or slides.

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View from a breakout link displays as single Pad format

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Create focused, smaller team groups for specific tasks or discussions, enhancing collaboration and productivity in workshops or meetings.

View a breakout board section. This view is what participants will see when a breakout link is shared.

View the whole breakout board that was used during the presentation. In this view you can see the answers and sources for the riddles and polls.

Once the board is archived these links above will no longer work so you can visit a pdf document of the breakout board instead.

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The slideshow feature means you can present using Padlet. Start presentations from whichever post you want.

You can share your pad in slideshow format and it can also be embedded in other sites. Slideshows can be shared in emails and there are a choice of export options from: the whole show as images or individual images of slides or create a pdf document of your slideshow.

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Export your slideshows as images and PDFs. Embed slideshows on your websites and blogs.

Everything is more useful when you can take it anywhere. Cell phones are more useful than landlines. Laptops are more useful than desktops. The same applies to slideshows. You can now export your slideshows as images and PDFs. You can also embed slideshows on your websites and blogs.

How to export your slideshow

From your Slideshow, select the share arrow. This will open the Share menu. From here, select how to want to share or export your slideshow.

Take slideshows anywhere and everywhere

We originally built Slideshow to make padlets more useful. We wanted to give you a better way to present your content. In doing so, we created an easier way to generate beautiful presentations. We realized that slideshows aren't just a different way to see padlets, they are a valuable entity on their own. This is why we've added new exporting and embedding options, and this is why we will continue to expand slideshows in the future.

To see an embedded slideshow in action, check out our 2023 summer feature release padlet.

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Export your slideshows as images and PDFs. Embed slideshows on your websites and blogs.

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Sharing your pad through a submission link means that the recipient has to make a post contribution to the pad. Posts can be moderated before they appear published.

Actions that follow the submission can be set from options including; let them view the pad content, make another submission or thank them for their post and link to elsewhere.

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Breakout links and submission request links

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Send links that provide access to only one section of your padlet, and send links that allow users to submit posts without seeing the rest of the padlet.

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Fun feature which allows you to 'create' images from a description prompt using AI.

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Add AI-generated images to your padlets.

All day every day we are burdened with reality. We worry about real problems. We struggle with real relationships. We are conditioned to consider only real solutions. For most of us, it is hard to switch gears and activate our imagination. It is hard to consider unthinkable possibilities and picture fantastical worlds. And of course, most of us find it hard to draw.

"I can't draw" is a feature designed to to help augment the imagination and provide effortless access to inspiring visual art. "I can't draw" makes it easy to add AI-generated art to your padlets.

How to use I can't draw

Start a post. Open the content picker. Select I can't draw. Write a prompt and click enter. The magic takes about 15 seconds.

When you write a prompt, we send it through an additional AI to augment it with even more creativity. You don't even have to worry about writing an interesting sentence. It will also automatically provide multiple stylistic options for every prompt. You don't need to know if you want an expressive oil painting or a playful cartoon. You can just choose what looks best.

You also don't have to worry about inappropriate content. I can't draw moderates itself automatically and won't be inappropriate even if you request it.

I can't draw democratizes beauty

Creative people who know how to draw have held a monopoly on beautiful images for long enough. Beauty belongs to the people. With I can't draw, beautiful images belong on your padlet.

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Add AI-generated images to your padlets.

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A dog at a window. The image was made with AI

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The prompt used for this post was " a dog at a window using a pop-art style of painting". Always a good idea to attribute your use of AI when 'creating' images. This is transparent behaviour.

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Sepia photograph of Marcia wearing headphones and looking confused 

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You can now capture live images and add these into posts. Select the camera icon in posting tiles area and snap a picture with the PhotoBooth function. You will have to give permission to Padlet to access the laptop's camera to use this function.

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There is a helpful list of Padlet terms, if you are unsure what a word might mean.

Padlet do have a funky and friendly approach to word use and an informal tone. This could be confusing for English as a second language users (ESOL). Share the link with learners and board collaborators.

Account holders can change their language settings to one of Padlet's 40 supported languages.

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Updated 1 month ago by Carla Sese

Attribution: Post attribution shows the name of the post author. A post author will be marked as 'anonymous' if they are not logged into their account.

Avatar: Your avatar is your profile image found on the top-right corner of a padlet or next to the title.

Awaiting approval: When this message appears over your post it means your post will be reviewed by the padlet Owner or Moderator. Once approved, it will show up on the padlet for everyone to see!

Backpack (Now known as Padlet for Schools): It is a premium plan designed specifically for schools. It offers an exclusive environment for teachers and students to collaborate.

Bookmark: You are able to bookmark any padlet to save it on your account in the Bookmarks tab.

Collaborator: A user you directly invite to participate on your padlet.

Connector: Use connectors to form an association between posts. It is an option available in the Canvas format.

Contributor: -It refers to anyone on the internet who gets access to a padlet. Contributors may or may not have a padlet account. Within a Team Gold account - A free member role in a Team Gold account that cannot create their own padlets but can post on others' padlets.

Cover image: Cover image is a tool used to assign a preview image for a padlet.

Creator: The padlet Owner. The one who 'created' the padlet.

Format: Refers to the padlet layout. Options include Canvas, Timeline, Map, Stream, Wall, Shelf, and Grid. The format may or may not include Sections.

Gold: An upgraded version of the free, Neon Plan. It allows users to create up to 20 padlets and bigger file uploads.

Icon: The icon is an image that displays next to the padlet title. You can choose from dozens of emojis or add your own icon for a better representation of the padlet topic.

Maker: A paying member role in a Team Gold account that can create padlets.

Member: A member is a contributor explicitly invited to add to a padlet.

Modify: It is represented by the Settings cog icon (⚙️). It is a tool used to change the title, description, wallpaper, post features, etc.

Neon: Neon is the free version of Padlet. Some users sometimes call it 'Basic' or 'Vanilla.'

p adlet: A padlet is a digital board that allows you to post content online to hold discussions, collaborate, and share with others.

Padlet for Schools (previously known as Backpack): It is a premium plan designed specifically for schools. It offers an exclusive environment for teachers and students to collaborate.

Post: It can be a text, photo, video, drawing, or gif. Any content added to a padlet is referred to as a post.

Platinum: The premium version for individual plans. It allows unlimited padlets, bigger file uploads, etc.

Profile page: The profile page displays a user's avatar, bio, and public padlets.

Public: To make a padlet available for search engines, choose Public for privacy settings.

Reactions: Tool to enable quantitative post feedback. Options include grades, star, heart, and upvotes.

Remake: To copy a padlet.

Secret: This privacy option allows contributors to access a padlet as long as you have the link. No registration is required.

Sections: A way to group the posts on your padlet. You can enable them when you create a padlet or later on from the Settings panel.

Slideshow: The easiest way to make presentations! Just create a padlet and click the play button in the action bar.

Team: Group plan for businesses or organizations that allow multiple users to share one dashboard. A 30-day free trial is available to try before purchasing.

User: A user can also be known as a contributor or guest collaborating on a padlet.

How did we do?

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Get acquainted with padlet terms for better understanding of its features and functionalities.

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Freeze your pad to stop further contributions. This feature can be switched on and off by admins whenever they like, with out affecting content.

(photo from Sydney Rae on Unsplash)

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Deleted that pad and now you need it again? You now have 30 days to retrieve pads from the bin before they are lost for good. The 'trashed' folder is accessed from your dashboard.

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You can add @mentions into posts. Mentions work when you have invited collaborators to your board or participants are logged into their own Padlet account during a group session using the board.

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Notify individual collaborators by mentioning them in posts.

In a noisy tropical jungle, animals develop distinctive calls to capture the attention of potential mates. In a busy concrete jungle, pedestrians whistle and stick out their arms to flag down taxi drivers. In a crowded environment, it is essential to create a system that allows individuals to capture the attention of others. We've built such a system on Padlet.

You are now able to mention other users in posts to get their attention.

How to use mentions

Create a mention the way you would on a social media site. Type '@' and then type the user's name.

You can create a mention in the body of a post.

Who can create mentions and who can be mentioned on a padlet?

As a basic rule, if you can post on a padlet, you can add a mention. For personal padlets outside of teams or organizations, you will only be able to mention users who have contributed to the padlet or collaborators who have accepted their invitations. Admins in an organization will be able to mention anyone else in the organization. Non-admin users will be able to mention any organization member with access to the padlet.

How we built mentions

Mentions will feel like a simple feature when you use them, but they were actually quite fun to implement. Padlet is an international tool that is available in over 40 different languages and on all different browsers. In order to provide a drop-down menu that auto-completes your mention, we need to know when you're beginning a mention. The varied languages and browsers used by padleteers make this difficult.

Languages like Japanese and Chinese are written in composition mode, in which individual letters are replaced by full characters. For languages written in composition mode, we had to perform additional checks to understand when a user is creating a mention. This was further complicated by the fact that different browsers implement the input APIs differently. This forced us to individualize the way we interpret the user's typing.

In the end, we did the work required for all users, in all languages, on all browsers, to mention their friends.

How you can use mentions

If you use Padlet in your classroom to collect assignments, you can mention students who haven't turned in their work. If you're building a Slideshow for work, you can mention a coworker for advice on a slide. If you're using Padlet to plan a family vacation, you can mention the sibling that hasn't added his available dates. You can use mentions whenever you need someone's attention on a padlet.

A Haiku about mentions

Padlet has mentions

Which help focus attention

And give direction

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Notify individual collaborators by mentioning them in posts.

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Standard post and Wide post layouts are now available. You can use wide format to display more text or fill up the padlet board space.

(Photo by Martin Vorel on Libraprint)

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Sections can be added to most Padlet formats, apart from the Freeform style.

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Children wearing capes riding on scooters in a forest

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What's so powerful about Padlet?

Whiteboards and Sandbox format

Collaboration access without logins

Sharing and Data extraction

Always improving and adding versatility

All in a free account!

(Photo by Elias Morr on Unslplash)

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Choose from several sorting and auto-placement options for posts as they appear on the board, including random.

Reactions: Star ratings, Likes, up/down votes and comments. New option to add a numerical value or score (max out of 100) onto posts. Could be useful for assessment situations?

(Image by the Digital artist on Pixabay)

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Switch post attachment fields on or off to customise participant posting content.

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Control the structure of posts on your padlet. Customize your post composer with editable placeholders, text fields, and attachment options.

Padlets are most powerful when many users are working together on a shared project. In order to work together on a padlet, collaborators need to know what they're supposed to post. We want it to be easy to make powerful padlets, so we're introducing a suite of features designed to help creators communicate what collaborators should post.

You will now be able to edit the structure of posts with custom placeholders, text fields, and attachment options.

Custom placeholders

When you create a new post on a blank padlet, you'll find grey text in the subject and body of the post. This is placeholder text.

It disappears when you start typing and it serves only as a broad guide. We will now allow you to customize this text to guide collaborators.

If you want collaborators to add their favorite season in the subject, and their favorite month in the body, you can now edit the placeholders to communicate that information.

If you don't want collaborators to use the subject or body, you can choose to hide the text fields altogether. You can edit placeholders by navigating to Settings → Post fields → Subject/Body.

Custom text fields

Custom text fields are additional text boxes with instructions that will appear in the post composer and on published posts.

Custom text fields let visitors know what to write, and provide context for viewers when the post is published. Here's what custom text fields look like in the post composer of a directory padlet.

Within the post composer, custom text fields make it obvious what the poster should write in each text box.

As you can see below, custom text fields persist on published posts to provide useful context to viewers.

You can add custom text fields by navigating to Settings → Post fields → New custom field.

Select attachment options

You can also curate the attachment options that appear on the post composer.

When you create a new post on a blank padlet, you see five attachment options in the post composer. The final option opens the full content picker, which has dozens of options.

If you only want visitors to add certain attachment types, you can now customize the options they see.

You can show 'camera' and 'Image search' if you want collaborators to add photos. You can show 'Audio recorder', 'Spotify', and 'YouTube' if you want to make a music playlist. You can even hide certain attachment types to prevent collaborators from seeing those options.

If you want to make a padlet full of GIFs, you might only allow collaborators the option to attach a GIF. Edit available attachment types by navigating to Settings → Post fields → Attachment.

Check out our full Autumn feature release

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Control the structure of posts on your padlet. Customize your post composer with editable placeholders, text fields, and attachment options.

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Within post fields settings you can also create custom fields that can be used to collect and organize posted content.

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Number, date, single-select, and button fields

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New ways to collect and organize posted content on Padlet.

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Padlets can be set to auto-moderate or manual moderation for contributor's posts before release to the board. Auto moderation includes Post text and comments on posts, plus text in audio and video file attachments.

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Safety Net: AI-powered content moderation

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Safety Net automatically reads new posts, blocks inappropriate content, and notifies the padlet owner.

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Padlet comes in two formats. There are Padlet boards where interactions are added in posts onto the board. And Sandboxes where cards are a freeform collaborative workspace for people to add their content.

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Screenshot of TEL intranet page for Polls and whiteboards

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Polls and whiteboards pages on the NES intranet contain information about engagement tools, links to guides and resources to download and add to presentations.

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TEL Comparison guide for boards (free accounts)

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TEL Comparison guide for boards (free accounts)

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The TEL guide to Collaboration Boards looks at the features of four popular board tools and is available in two versions. Collaboration Boards comparison table (visual format)

Collaboration boards comparison guide (text format)

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TEL have a Get Set Go TEL guide to Padlet which helps you get set up and going using the tool. It gives a short orientation, looks at the types of Pads, highlights features and discusses accessibility.

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Padlet board with a section column highlighted in red

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Presenting functionality for Padlets

(Photo by Daryll Gough on Pexels)

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 7 Leaves in autumn colours hanging from a string

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Presenting ✔

Making Pads with Templates and AI

Settings new customisation options

Post composing features

Sharing, Exporting and Links overhaul

(Photo by Chris Lawton on Unsplash)

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View from a breakout link displays as single Pad format

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Create focused, smaller team groups for specific tasks or discussions, enhancing collaboration and productivity in workshops or meetings.

View a breakout board section. This view is what participants will see when a breakout link is shared.

View the whole breakout board that was used during the presentation. In this view you can see the answers and sources for the riddles and polls.

Once the board is archived these links above will no longer work so you can visit a pdf document of the breakout board instead.

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A mug beside a laptop with images of multiple people on the screen

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Please post a message in the Teams chat for your breakout room.

(Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash)

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(Photo 'Questions' by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 on Pix4free)

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Padlet dashboards and creating posts are compatible with keyboards and screen reader software. You can add alt text and captions to images.

The company has been working on improvements to navigation in settings for Padlet, where it doesn't quite meet WCAG 2.2 AA. Read Padlet's legal statement about accessibility.

Padlet might not suit everyone. Where you can, find out about your users in advance and select resources to suit them or offer alternative options.

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Focusable disabled buttons, optional keyboard shortcuts, "Skip to content" link, and much more.

An illustration representing accessibility on Padlet

We've implemented a series of accessibility improvements that should make Padlet smoother and easier for anyone who needs them.

Here's what we did.

All disabled buttons on Padlet are now focusable

We understand the frustration caused by invisible disabled buttons, so we have eliminated them from Padlet. All disabled buttons will now be focusable. This means that you can use the tab key to cycle through all buttons, even those that are disabled.

This change will make it easier to navigate Padlet with complete context using the keyboard. This should be particularly valuable for those who use screen readers.

Disable the keyboard shortcuts setting

There are two types of users: those who use keyboard shortcuts to 10x their speed, and those who rage every time they accidentally activate a keyboard shortcut. We respect both groups, so we have added the option to disable single-key shortcuts in user settings.

If you didn't know that Padlet has keyboard shortcuts, here's a list of all the shortcuts on Padlet.

We added a "Skip to content" link on all pages

We know that navigating through irrelevant content can be tedious. We love our crane logo, but it probably doesn't need to be a stop on your way to your beautiful padlet. To bypass unnecessary buttons, we've added a "Skip to content" link on all pages.

The link will be present at the beginning of each page and selecting it will take you directly to the page's main content. No navigation menus, no headers, and as much as we love them, no cranes.

Better landmarks

Descriptive and complete landmarks are critical to the Padlet experience for those who use screen readers. For this reason, we have spent the past few months improving landmarks on our homepage, dashboard, and login pages.

We will keep you updated about landmark improvements in the upcoming releases.

Add alternative text to images

To support users who rely on alt text for context and descriptions, we have added the ability to add alt text to posted images.

To add alt text to your image, click the black button titled "ALT" on any uploaded image.

Other improvements

We are constantly improving labels and descriptions throughout Padlet. Some of these improvements include:

Avoiding sensory characteristics to convey information to prevent confusion.

Defining alternative text for images to enhance understanding.

Announcing changes of context to avoid surprises.

We continued to improve the announcement of errors and updates for screen reader users.

We have enhanced navigation and improved announcements in our Map and Canvas formats.

We have improved our pointer device handling by adding the ability to abort actions mid-click.

Our knowledge base and in-app announcements are now available in Arabic.

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Focusable disabled buttons, optional keyboard shortcuts, "Skip to content" link, and much more.

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New features touched on:

Templates and AI generation

Presenting and sharing slideshows

Branding boards using Icons

Layout and sections

Post fields and customisation

Sorting options

Pinning posts

Scheduling posts

Draft posts and bulk actions

Submission and breakout links

(Image by Mike Lawrence CreditDebitPro on Flicker)

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A key labelled as summary on a keyboard  

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The word Draft appears above a line of hands holding the thumbs up position

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Draft post example 1 (used during presentation to show bulk posting)

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Draft post example 1 (used during presentation to show bulk posting)

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(Photo by Credit Score Geek Mike Cohen on Flicker)

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The word Draft written in chalk on a blackboard

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Draft post example 2 (used during presentation to show bulk posting)

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Draft post example 2 (used during presentation to show bulk posting)

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(Photo by Credit Score Geek Mike Cohen on Flicker)

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Instruction slide in PowerPoint for adding content to Sandboxes

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Sandbox collaboration PowerPoint slide resource

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Sandbox collaboration PowerPoint slide resource

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The TEL slide set for participant instructions contains a How to collaborate on Sandbox slide to add into presentations.

We also recommend adding the image of the Sandbox slide and words from the instructions transcript onto a card in your Sandbox. Learners can then familiarise themselves with the techniques for adding content as soon as they are in the Sandbox.

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Bulletin Board with stickies and Post-Its

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Wondering what Padlet is?

Padlet is a collaboration software used to make and share content with others. It can work well as a whiteboard tool for resource sharing and hosting discussions.

(Photo by geralt on Pixabay)

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Bulletin Board Stickies Post-It - Free photo on Pixabay

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Download this free photo of Bulletin Board Stickies Post-It from Pixabay’s vast library of royalty-free stock images, videos and music.

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Sandbox is Padlet's replacement for Jamboard. You can import existing Jamboards into the Padlet sandbox format.

Sandbox is different from a Padlet board. Cards act as individual workspaces. Contributing permissions can be assigned (or not) to individual cards and you can freeze individual elements on cards. Many of Padlet's posting and sharing features from boards are available in Sandbox too. Padlet have a collection of Sandbox examples to inspire you.

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A sandbox is a collaborative digital canvas.