The team canvas

Draw, think, and present —
together.

Two ways to work in one app: structured sketchbook pages for notes, forms, and documents, or an infinite canvas for brainstorming, mapping, and big-picture thinking. Compare revisions, present with a laser pointer, and pin ideas on sticky notes — with real-time collaboration, full history, and end-to-end encryption.

Free · Built on MindooDB · Available in 8 languages

TeamSketchbook
TeamSketchbook canvas with the pen tool and Tool settings panel on a vivid gradient background
Real-time collaboration
Works fully offline
Complete revision history
End-to-end encrypted
One app, two modes

Structured pages or an infinite canvas

Choose the surface when you create a document — File ▸ New sketchbook or File ▸ New canvas. Both share the same tools, collaboration, history, and encryption.

Sketchbook

Fixed pages you can flip through.

A multi-page book with real paper sizes — A4 and more, portrait or landscape. Perfect when the output matters: notes, worksheets, forms, and imported PDFs.

Multi-page bookFixed paper sizesPDF import & annotatePrint & export at 1:1Collaborate on any page

Infinite canvas

One surface that never runs out of room.

An unbounded space that grows in every direction. Pan, zoom, and fit everything to screen — ideal for brainstorms, mind maps, and thinking big without page breaks.

Unbounded surfacePan, zoom & fitOne shared spaceTiled poster printingPinch-to-zoom presenting
One canvas, every tool

A toolbox that gets out of your way

From a quick freehand note to a precisely edited curve — every tool lives in a tidy rail with a floating, draggable settings panel.

TeamSketchbook toolbar with pen, marker, eraser, select, spline, light, page properties, and insert image; Tool settings panel open

Pen & Marker

Dynamic pressure, adjustable hardness, brush styles, and translucent highlighters. Pen-only mode ignores palm and finger touches.

Spline & Edit spline

Draw smooth, editable curves — then drag, add, or remove knots to reshape them precisely.

Select

Move, resize, restyle, flip, smooth, arrange z-order, group with a name, and change the transparency of strokes and images.

Sticky notes

Drop a pastel sticky, type a title with alignment, then switch to the pen — ink sticks to the note and moves with it. Recolor text and attached strokes together.

Layers

Add, rename, reorder, show, and hide named drawing layers. Draw and select on the active layer so corrections stay where you intend; PDF backgrounds and lights sit under every layer.

Light

Place adjustable gradient lights behind the paper for TeamSketchbook's signature glow.

Page properties

Choose from a long list of paper types — blank, lined, squared, dotted, Cornell, columns, music staves, coordinate grid — set the paper color, and switch between portrait and landscape. The same paper types tile across the infinite canvas.

Insert image

Add images from your photo library, camera, or files (PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP, SVG), then paint over them to move, resize, or rotate.

Attach file

Attach any file — drag it onto the canvas or use the paperclip. Preview, download, or share attachments.

Navigate

Buttery zoom, a page-navigator minimap, undo / redo, and contextual help that explains every control.

One canvas, many jobs

From brainstorm to boardroom

The same book adapts to how your team works — creative, educational, or all-business.

Infinite canvas

Team brainstorming

An infinite canvas for solo thinking or a whole team mapping ideas together in real time. Sketch, drop sticky notes with ink that moves with them, and turn messy thoughts into a clear plan.

Infinite canvas

Mind maps & planning

Diagram a system, chart a project timeline, or map a user journey on a surface that keeps growing. Zoom out for the whole picture, zoom in to sweat the details.

Both modes

Classroom & creative art

A shared canvas mural for the whole class, or a personal page per student inside a shared book. Sticky notes collect feedback; present with a laser pointer instead of scribbling over student work.

Both modes

Notes, whiteboard & lectures

A long list of paper types — lined, squared, dotted, Cornell, columns, music staves, and coordinate grid — plus an endless canvas whiteboard. A natural companion for notes and lectures.

Both modes

Live presentations

Present a page-by-page deck, or pan and pinch-to-zoom across a canvas. Point with a laser (nothing is saved), link strokes to references, and preview embedded video, audio, and documents.

Sketchbook

Design & document review

Put two pages side by side or under a slider — same book or different books, live draft or a past revision. Spot what changed in a plan, mockup, or annotated PDF before you approve.

Sketchbook

Document annotation

Import a PDF — a contract, a plan, a proposal — and mark it up personally or with your team. Sticky notes pin comments to a region; fixed pages keep it faithful.

Sketchbook

Offline field work

For tradespeople and on-site staff: fill company forms and timesheets from a page template while fully offline. Everything syncs the moment you reconnect.

Infinite canvas

Posters & large format

Design something bigger than a page, then print the canvas as tiled sheets with a 1 cm glue overlap. Assembly arrows show which sheet joins where — tape them into a wall-sized whole.

Both modes

Time-travel history

Scrub back to the very first stroke, reopen any past state, copy old elements forward — or compare a historical page against today's draft with the slider.

Built for real work

Who gets the most out of these tools

Compare, present, and sticky notes earn their keep when the job is review, teaching, or facilitating — not just drawing for its own sake.

Teachers & trainers

Present lessons with a laser, collect feedback on stickies, and compare a student's draft against the answer key or an earlier attempt.

Design & product teams

Review mockups side by side, annotate with notes that carry ink, and walk stakeholders through a canvas without leaving marks.

Architects & engineers

Diff plan revisions, mark-up imported PDFs, and keep every signed change in a verifiable history.

Workshop facilitators

Run brainstorms on an infinite canvas, cluster ideas on sticky notes, then present the mural live to the room.

Better together

Two ways to collaborate

Shared canvas

Everyone paints on the same page. Ideal for co-creation, workshops, and a whole class working on one mural. See every change live as it happens.

Shared book, own pages

Each participant gets their own page inside one shared book — great for student worksheets and team status pages. And every change is signed by its author.

Present live

Your sketchbook is the deck

Switch to a distraction-free Presentation mode straight from the Window menu — no export, no second app.

  • Flip through pages like a deck, or pan and pinch-to-zoom around an infinite canvas.
  • Point with a laser pointer — ephemeral highlight with a short trail; nothing is written into the document.
  • Attach hyperlinks to strokes and images for external references.
  • Embed and preview files inline — video, audio, images, and Word documents.
  • Live collaborator edits keep appearing while you present.
Window menu showing Presentation mode
See what changed

Compare any two pages

Assign pages to slots ① and ② — same book or different open books, today’s draft or a historical revision — then open Compare.

Side by side

Two panes at once. Slot ① is the read-only reference; slot ② stays editable when both sides are the live current version — ideal for reconciling a client mark-up against your working page.

Slider overlay

Drag a reveal slider across aligned pages to spot differences at a glance — before/after layouts, plan revisions, or “what did this look like last week?”

Practical for design reviews, architecture mark-ups, teaching (draft vs. answer key), and any workflow where “what changed?” matters more than scrolling history alone.

Never lose an idea

Travel back through every version

TeamSketchbook keeps a complete, verifiable lineage of your work — powered by MindooDB.

  • A relay of every change with date and author, signed and encrypted.
  • Open the book — or a single page — as it was at any point in time.
  • Copy elements from the past into your current page to recover a deleted idea.
  • Compare a historical page against today’s draft in side-by-side or slider mode.
File menu with Version history, templates, PDF import, and export
Works anywhere

Offline-first, template-ready

Perfect for the field: no signal, no problem.

Local-first

Fully usable with no connection. Your changes queue and sync automatically when you reconnect.

Template system

Start “New from template” for repeatable documents — forms, timesheets, lesson plans, storyboards.

PDF import

Bring existing documents in to annotate or use as a base for your sketch.

Plays well with others

Meet your files where they already live

Drag & drop

Drop files and images straight onto the page or canvas from your desktop.

Export & tiled print

Export or print sketchbooks at a true page size — or tile an infinite canvas across A4, A3, or Letter sheets with a 1 cm glue overlap and assembly arrows.

Rich previews

Attached video, audio, images, and documents preview inline — no download needed.

Fun by design

Little touches that make it a joy

From glowing lights to a full set of paper types — pick the surface that fits the moment.

Gradient lights behind the paperDynamic, pressure-sensitive brushesSticky notes with text and attached inkLaser pointer in presentation modeSide-by-side & slider page compareTranslucent markers & adjustable transparency8 paper types — lined, dotted, Cornell, music staves…Custom paper colors, portrait or landscapeSmooth zoom and a page-navigator minimap
Page properties menu listing paper types: Blank, Lined, Squared, Dotted, Cornell, Columns, Music staves, and Coordinate grid
Private by default

Built on MindooDB

TeamSketchbook runs on an end-to-end encrypted, local-first sync database. Clients keep the keys; servers only store and sync ciphertext.

End-to-end encrypted

Your books are encrypted on your device. No one — not even us — can read them without your keys.

Signed per author

Every change is cryptographically signed, so the revision history is tamper-evident.

You choose where it lives

Use our hosting, run your own MindooDB server, or stay fully local-first and offline.

Everywhere you work

One canvas, every device

Web & PWA

Runs in any modern browser. Install it like an app.

Tablet, pen-first

Built for stylus input with pen-only mode.

Desktop

Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Offline everywhere

Local-first — no connection required.

Available in 8 languages: English · Deutsch · Français · Español · Italiano · Nederlands · Norsk · Polski

Up and running in minutes

Get started in four steps

  1. 1

    Open Haven

    Go to haven.mindoodb.com in your browser.

  2. 2

    Create your user ID

    Enter a name and organization to create your personal identity.

  3. 3

    Create your first tenant

    Choose a tenant ID — your private space for books and collaborators.

  4. 4

    Install TeamSketchbook

    Open “Applications” and install TeamSketchbook from the Haven App Store.

Questions

Good to know

What's the difference between a sketchbook and a canvas?

A sketchbook is a book of fixed pages with real paper sizes (A4 and more) — ideal for notes, forms, and PDFs you want to print or export at 1:1. An infinite canvas is one unbounded surface you can pan, zoom, and fit — ideal for brainstorms, mind maps, and big-picture work. Pick the mode when you create a document: File ▸ New sketchbook or File ▸ New canvas.

How do I print an infinite canvas?

The print dialog tiles the canvas across standard sheets (A4, A3, or US Letter) with a 1 cm glue overlap on the right and bottom of each sheet. A live preview shows the layout and sheet count, and small arrows mark which neighbouring sheet to glue on top — so you can assemble a wall-sized result.

Does it really work offline?

Yes. TeamSketchbook is local-first — you can draw, annotate, and fill templates with no connection. Changes queue locally and sync automatically once you're back online.

Is it free?

The app itself is free to use — run your own MindooDB server or work entirely local-first and offline at no cost. If you'd rather not host anything, MindooDB Cloud gives you a private, end-to-end encrypted cloud for TeamSketchbook and every other Haven app at €7.99 per user per month (or €79.99 per year, incl. VAT), with 200 GB of storage per user included (more available on request).

Who can see my sketchbooks?

Your data is end-to-end encrypted by MindooDB — clients keep the keys, and servers only store and sync ciphertext. You control who is invited to a book.

Can I present without extra software?

Yes. Switch to Presentation mode from the Window menu. Use the laser pointer to highlight without marking the page, add hyperlinks to strokes and images, and preview embedded files (video, audio, images, Word documents) live.

How does page compare work?

Assign any two pages to slots ① and ② — from the same book or different open books, current draft or a historical revision — then open Compare. Choose side-by-side or a slider overlay. Slot ① is always the read-only reference; slot ② stays editable when both sides are the live current version.

What can sticky notes do?

Place a sticky, type a title with alignment, pick a fill color, then switch to the pen — new ink attaches to that note and moves with it. Changing the selection color updates the sticky text and attached strokes together.

Can I import PDFs and export my work?

Yes. Import a PDF to annotate or use as a base, and export or print finished sketchbooks.

Does real-time collaboration cost extra?

No. Collaboration is built in. Invite people to a shared canvas, or give each person their own page in a shared book.

Start your first sketchbook — free.

Open Haven, create your space, and install TeamSketchbook from the App Store.