The team canvas

Draw, think, and present —
together.

Sketchbook pages or an infinite canvas — then compare revisions, present with a laser, and pin sticky notes with ink that moves with them.

Free · Real-time · Offline-first · End-to-end encrypted · 8 languages

TeamSketchbook
TeamSketchbook canvas with the pen tool and Tool settings panel on a vivid gradient background
Real-time collaboration
Works fully offline
Full history — nothing ever lost
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
Built for real work

Who gets the most out of these tools

Made for people who review, teach, facilitate, and work on site — not only for those who draw.

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.

Field & on-site teams

Work from page templates offline — forms, sketches, checklists — then sync with the office when you reconnect.

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

Infinite canvas for solo thinking or a live team mural. Sticky notes with attached ink turn messy thoughts into clusters you can move.

Sketchbook

Design & document review

Put two pages side by side or under a slider — live draft or a past revision. Spot what changed before you approve.

Both modes

Live presentations

Present a page deck or pan a canvas. Point with a laser instead of scribbling, link strokes to references, preview embedded files.

Both modes

Classroom & training

Shared mural or a personal page per learner. Stickies collect feedback; laser present without scribbling over student work.

Sketchbook

PDF mark-up

Import a plan, contract, or proposal and annotate with the team. Stickies pin comments to a region; history keeps every signed change.

Sketchbook

Offline field work

Fill templates and sketch on site with no signal. Everything syncs when you reconnect.

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 — a glowing highlight with a short trail, so the work you present stays untouched.
  • 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

Every page remembers everything

Each page keeps its complete edit history from the very first stroke. Storage is append-only: changes are added, never overwritten — so nothing anyone draws, erases, or deletes is ever truly lost.

  • Nothing is ever overwritten. Every change is appended with date and author, signed and encrypted.
  • Open the book — or a single page — exactly as it was at any point in time, back to the day it was created.
  • Copy elements from the past into your current page — recover an erased sketch or a deleted idea.
  • Compare a historical page against today’s draft in side-by-side or slider mode.

And because the whole timeline is explorable, it works for play too: build a scavenger-hunt quiz book where clues hide in the past — “find the next hint yesterday at 12:00 on page 40!”

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.

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.

Under the hood

A toolbox that gets out of your way

Pressure-sensitive pens, editable splines, layers, sticky notes, gradient lights — 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 and font style, then switch to the pen — ink sticks to the note and moves with it.

Layers

Add, rename, reorder, show, and hide named drawing layers. Draw and select on the active layer so corrections stay where you intend.

Light

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

Page properties

Paper types — blank, lined, squared, dotted, Cornell, columns, music staves, coordinate grid — plus paper color and portrait or landscape.

Insert image

Add images from your photo library, camera, or files, 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.

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 minimapTime-travel scavenger hunts — hide clues in a page's past
Page properties menu listing paper types: Blank, Lined, Squared, Dotted, Cornell, Columns, Music staves, and Coordinate grid
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).

Can I go back to an earlier version of a page?

Always. Every page keeps its complete edit history from the very first stroke — storage is append-only, so changes are added rather than overwritten. Open any past state of a page or the whole book, copy elements from it into your current draft, or compare it against today's version. Even erased or deleted content can be recovered.

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.