Toolbar Sections: Detailed Button Guide

This comprehensive guide explains every button in the Canvas Toolbar with detailed usage instructions and practical examples. Master these tools to create professional, effective journey maps efficiently.

Creation Tools Section

Add Touchpoint Button

Location: Far left of toolbar
Function: Creates new customer interaction points
Usage: Click once to add a standard touchpoint at cursor location. Hold down to access touchpoint type menu with options for digital interactions, service touchpoints, decision points, and emotional moments.

Best Practices: Position touchpoints logically in customer flow sequence. Use descriptive names immediately after creation to maintain clarity during rapid journey mapping sessions.

Region Creation Tool

Location: Second from left in creation section
Function: Creates organizational containers for grouping touchpoints
Usage: Click and drag to define region boundaries around related touchpoints. Double-click to add region title and description for clear journey phase identification.

Best Practices: Create regions for major journey phases like “Awareness,” “Consideration,” “Purchase,” and “Support.” Use consistent region naming across team projects for better collaboration.

Connection Tool

Location: Center of creation section
Function: Establishes flow relationships between touchpoints
Usage: Click first touchpoint, then click destination touchpoint to create connection. Hold Shift while clicking to create branching connections for alternative customer paths.

Best Practices: Use straight connections for linear flows and curved connections for complex pathway visualization. Add connection labels for decision points and conditional flows.

Text Annotation Tool

Location: Right side of creation section
Function: Adds explanatory text and labels to journey maps
Usage: Click anywhere on canvas to place text box. Start typing immediately for quick labeling. Use formatting toolbar for styled text, bullet points, and emphasis.

Best Practices: Keep text concise and focused on essential insights. Use consistent font sizes and styles that remain readable at different zoom levels.

Navigation and View Controls

Zoom In Button

Location: Left side of center toolbar section
Function: Increases canvas magnification for detailed work
Usage: Click to zoom in by 25% increments. Maximum zoom level reaches 500% for precise touchpoint positioning and detailed editing work.

Best Practices: Use high zoom levels for touchpoint detail editing and connection refinement. Return to lower zoom levels regularly to maintain overall journey perspective.

Zoom Out Button

Location: Next to zoom in button
Function: Decreases canvas magnification for overview perspective
Usage: Click to zoom out by 25% increments. Minimum zoom level reaches 10% for complete journey overview regardless of map complexity.

Best Practices: Use low zoom levels for journey flow validation and overall structure review. Zoom out before sharing to ensure complete journey visibility.

Fit to Screen Button

Location: Center of navigation section
Function: Automatically adjusts zoom to show entire journey map
Usage: Single click centers and scales journey map to fit current screen size. Useful for quick overview after detailed editing sessions.

Best Practices: Use after adding new touchpoints or regions to verify overall journey structure. Essential before taking screenshots or beginning presentation mode.

Pan Tool

Location: Right side of navigation section
Function: Moves canvas view without affecting journey elements
Usage: Click and drag to move canvas view. Space bar activates temporary pan mode while pressed. Mouse wheel provides vertical scrolling for large journey maps.

Best Practices: Use pan tool for navigating large journeys without accidentally selecting touchpoints. Combine with zoom controls for efficient canvas navigation.

View and Display Options

Grid Toggle Button

Location: Left side of view options
Function: Shows/hides alignment grid on canvas background
Usage: Click to toggle dot grid display. Grid helps align touchpoints and maintain visual consistency across journey map elements.

Best Practices: Enable grid during journey creation for consistent alignment. Disable grid for cleaner presentation views and screenshot capture.

Snap to Grid Toggle

Location: Next to grid toggle
Function: Enables automatic element alignment to grid points
Usage: Click to activate magnetic alignment behavior. Touchpoints and regions automatically align to nearest grid intersections when moved.

Best Practices: Use snap-to-grid for professional-looking alignment without manual precision. Disable for free-form creative journey mapping sessions.

Layer Visibility Controls

Location: Center of view options
Function: Controls which journey elements are visible
Usage: Toggle visibility for touchpoints, connections, regions, or annotations. Useful for focusing on specific journey aspects during analysis or presentation.

Best Practices: Hide elements temporarily to reduce visual complexity during detailed work. Use layer controls to create simplified views for different stakeholder audiences.

Management and Action Tools

Save Button

Location: Right side of toolbar
Function: Manually saves current journey state
Usage: Click to create immediate save point. Auto-save runs continuously, but manual saves create named versions for important milestones.

Best Practices: Save manually before major changes or experiments. Use save button before sharing journey maps to ensure latest changes are included.

Undo/Redo Buttons

Location: Next to save button
Function: Reverses or restores recent actions
Usage: Click undo to reverse last action. Click redo to restore undone action. Supports unlimited undo history for complete session recovery.

Best Practices: Use undo freely for experimentation without fear of permanent changes. Redo button restores accidentally undone work quickly.

Share Button

Location: Far right of toolbar
Function: Opens sharing and collaboration options
Usage: Click to access link sharing, email distribution, presentation mode, and export options. Provides all journey sharing capabilities in single interface.

Best Practices: Configure sharing permissions before distributing journey maps. Use presentation mode for live stakeholder demonstrations.

Settings Menu

Location: Rightmost toolbar position
Function: Accesses journey and account configuration
Usage: Click to open settings panel with journey permissions, team management, integration options, and personal preferences.

Best Practices: Review settings after initial journey creation to ensure proper team access and collaboration preferences.

Advanced Tool Combinations

Multi-Select Operations

Usage: Hold Ctrl/Cmd while clicking to select multiple elements for bulk operations. Use with move, delete, or formatting tools for efficient journey map management.

Quick Creation Workflows

Usage: Combine touchpoint tool with connection tool for rapid journey building. Create touchpoint, immediately connect to previous touchpoint, repeat for efficient flow creation.

Precision Alignment

Usage: Use grid toggle with zoom controls for precise element positioning. Enable grid and high zoom for professional-quality journey map alignment.

Next Steps

With mastery of individual toolbar buttons, you’re ready to explore how the Journey Summary panel provides comprehensive overview and analysis capabilities for your completed journey maps.

Learn about Journey Summary features →