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Miro

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Miro - more than a mind map

Miro is a virtual board that allows you to work individually or in a team.

After registering for the free version, each user has three free whiteboards and a very large number of interesting and well-designed templates (Image 1), as well as tutorials.

Image 1. Screenshot from the Miro app, a preview of several templates

Image 1. A few of the many templates available when creating a whiteboard in Miro.

Each of the boards outside the work area has five windows (Image 2).

Image 2. Screenshot from the Miro app, five arrows mark the main areas

Image 2. The five main areas in a new Miro board

Working areas in Miro

1. Board menu

The first of these, marked with the number 1 in Image 2 is located in the upper left-hand corner of the board (Image 3) - it is the menu of a given board. There are three buttons there. 

Image 3. Screenshot from the Miro app with Menu: My first board

Image 3. Menu of a given board.

The first button takes the user back to the list of boards, while the second to the board information window, where you can, for instance, change the board name (Image 4).

Image 4. Screenshot from the Miro app, visible area one, board information

Image 4. The first area, information about the board.

The third button allows you to export the board (Image 5) to different formats.

Image 5. Screenshot from the Miro app, visible area one - export

Image 5. The first area - export.

2. Object menu

The second area is the object menu. This is the main menu used when working in Miro. It gives you access to all the tools needed to create different types of objects on the board and to the templates.

Image 6. Screenshot from the Miro app, visible icons in Object Menu

Image 6. The object menu

Image 7. Screenshot from the Miro app with a search engine window and various functionalities

Image 7. Screenshot from the Miro app with a search engine window and various functionalities.

3. Collaboration toolbar

The third area is the collaboration toolbar. It is a collection of buttons, commands related to collaborating on a board with others. Here we have, among other things, the possibility to insert comments, chat, make presentations or modify frames.

Image 8. Screenshot from the Miro app, visible cooperation toolbar with various icons

Image 8. Collaboration toolbar.

4. Zoom window

The fourth area is hidden in the bottom right corner. It includes a collection of intuitive buttons for zooming in and out of a particular whiteboard.

Image 9. Screenshot from the Miro app, zoom window visible

Image 9. Zoom window.

5. Settings menu

The last area is the settings menu, located in the top right corner of the whiteboard.
It consists of three main areas (Image 10).

Image 10. Screenshot from the Miro app, visible Settings Menu, grouped into three groups of buttons, numbered 1, 2 and 3

Image 10. Settings menu.

The first of these consists of three buttons. The first button from this area of the menu gives you the ability to hide or show the cursors of other users using the whiteboard.  

Image 11. Screenshot from the Miro app, visible icons with the reactions of the board’s co-users.

Image 11. Reactions of fellow whiteboard users.

The second button (from the first area of the Settings menu) allows you to express emotions in the form of emoticons, and the third button, among other things, to move the cursors of the other users to the presenter.

Image 12. Screenshot from the Miro app - visible: Whiteboard settings

Image 12. Whiteboard settings.

The second area in Image 10 (Settings menu) is the settings associated with the board. There are functions here for, for instance, sharing the whiteboard with the other users, editing whiteboard settings (Image 12) and an extensive guide to Miro functions (Image 13).

Image 13 showing the Miro application guide, with Learn and Inspire written in English in the header

Image 13. Miro guide.

The final third area of the Settings menu allows the user to add notes to a given whiteboard.

Working in Miro

Working in this programme is very simple and intuitive. There is the option of using ready-made templates or creating one’s own structures and layouts.
To do this, use the Objects menu (Image 6). To select a ready-made template, which you will then modify according to your own requirements, select the icon shown in Image 14.

 

template button icon: square made up of 3 rectanglesThe templates button takes you to the extensive template library, where you can choose from over 150 templates and adapt them to your own needs, which speeds up your work considerably. 
T text button icon The text button allows you to enter and edit text anywhere on the board.
post-on note button icon Post-It Note. This tool allows the user to add sticky notes anywhere on the whiteboard, which can be edited by adding text or tags to them. 
shape button icon - squareShape is a tool that allows the user to create a variety of shapes, including circles, rectangles, squares, also those with rounded corners, arrows, stubs and so on. This tool is helpful for creating diagrams and flowcharts, among other things.
arrow/line iconArrow/Line is a tool for creating lines. It allows you to connect objects on the board. In this way, you can create several types of lines (continuous, dashed/dotted) with different thicknesses and different endings.
button icon with crayonCrayon allows you to draw lines of any length, thickness and colour anywhere on the whiteboard.
frame button iconFrames is a tool that allows the user to group content and organise the areas covered by the presentation. 
button icon - Add files Adding files – thank to this tool, you can add files to the whiteboard. These can be such files as pdf, images or MS Office files.

Depending on the size of your monitor, some of the functions mentioned above are hidden under the three dots. If the window is large enough, you will find applications that can be pinned to the whiteboard under the three dots.

Below are some ready-made templates using the aforementioned functions.

 

 Image 14. Screenshot of a sample mind map template

Image 14. Mind map template.

Image 15. Visualisation of a Kanban template

Image 15. Kanban

Image 16 showing a Flow Diagram

Image 16. Flow diagram

Image 17. Concept map template

Image 17. Concept map

Image 18. visualisation of the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. layout

Image 18. S.C.A.M.P.E.R.

Image 19. visualisation of the four smartphone-shaped frames, the so-called application framework

Image 19. Application framework