Get started with Padlet
Updated 1 month ago
by
Rana Wilds
Congratulations! You've signed up for Padlet, the easiest way to create and collaborate in the world.
This post will serve as a brief guide to help you understand how to use Padlet.
Prefer a video? Watch this.
If you'd rather have something quick and to the point, navigate to the Learn dashboard to view our Micro-lessons. Our Micro-lessons are quick, 'how-to' videos for the different features of Padlet.
Start from the dashboard
The dashboard is the first screen you see after sign in. From here you can access everything Padlet has to offer:
- Folders (1): Here you can access your Recents folder to find the padlets you've visited in the past 30 days, your Bookmarks - where you can manage and organize the padlets you want to keep track of, your External folder where you can see the padlets you've been added to as a collaborator, and your Trashed folder where your deleted padlets will live for up to 30 days.
- Header (2): Go to our Gallery where you can see 200+ templates created for you, view helpful videos on our Learn page that teach you how to use Padlet, use the Join button to search for a padlet with the URL, or click + Make to start your own Padlet creation!
- User menu (3): Update your username, email, password, and subscription Settings by clicking the name of your account in the upper-right corner of your dashboard, switch accounts and view announcements about new releases.
- Padlets (4): The icons in the center of the screen are your padlets. Click on one to begin editing! The bold font displays the padlet's title and the grey font below shows the owner. As you create, like, and contribute to padlets, they will appear here, organized by the folders on the left.
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Make a padlet
If you're comfortable with the dashboard, or you're just impatient and ready to get going, you can begin making padlets by clicking the pink, + Make button on the top-left side of your screen.
When you select this option, you will need to click on the Blank board option to start a padlet board from scratch, use Blank sandbox to make collaborative whiteboards, choose one of our AI recipes to compose a board with a bit of ✨ Magic ✨ or choose to work from a Template.
Once you click Blank board, it will take you to all of your formatting options.
The format you choose will determine the structure of your board. The easiest way to learn about the formats is to play around with them! And don't stress, you can always change the format of your board at any time.
Design the padlet
From your padlet you can use the Settings cog icon (⚙️) to edit the title, wallpaper and other appearance settings.
When creating a board, you can also use the (+) button to add posts. Posts on padlet boards and sandboxes can accommodate almost any kind of file or link, including text, images, video, Spotify links, YouTube links, PDFs, other padlets and many more.
Posts themselves can also be edited, deleted, or rearranged once submitted. The possibilities are endless for the stories you tell and the beauty you create.
Control the privacy of your padlet
You can control the privacy of a padlet in the Share menu, accessed by selecting the Share arrow on the top-right side of your padlet > Link privacy.
There are 4 standard options: Secret [the default setting], Secret - Password, Secret - Log in, and Public. Learn more about those here.
If you click on the drop-down menu next to 'Visitor permissions,' you can choose whether people can be a Reader, Commenter, Writer [the default setting], Moderator or have No access to your padlet at all! You can also choose whether visitors need to be logged in to access your padlet.
Collaborators can be added to your padlet by searching for username or email in the 'Add a collaborator' field. Learn more about how to add collaborators here.
Finally, you can turn on Moderation so that you can approve posts before they appear.
Share your padlet
When you're ready to share your padlet outside of your inner circle, click the Share arrow on the top-right or your padlet screen. This will open up the Share menu, shown below, which gives you a wide variety of options.
The simplest way is to select Copy link to board and send that link directly, however you choose. If your Privacy and Permissions are set to Secret and Writer [the default setting], anyone with the link will be able to view and post to your padlet. You can also email the padlet, share a QR code, or send the padlet out on social media. On mobile, you can also find the link/QR code in the Export menu. Learn more here about how to share your padlet.
That's it. Now go make something magnificent!
