Help, from the first picture to the last embed

Getting started

1. Sign in. GuidedVisual uses your Google account; there is no password to create. During early access sign-in is by invitation.
2. Create a project from your projects page, and give it a name.
3. Add a picture: upload an image, or choose Start from a map for the world, a continent or a country. The drawing tools unlock once there is a picture to draw on.
4. Mark the regions with the tools on the left, or use Make regions on an SVG to turn its shapes into regions in one step.
5. Say what each one reveals in the inspector on the right: a name and a line of text, a gallery, more details, a link, or another artboard.
6. Publish from the button at the top right, and copy the share link or the embed code.

Your work saves itself as you go. Undo and redo are at the top of the editor.

Pictures you can use

• JPEG, PNG, WebP or SVG, up to 10 MB and 8192 × 8192 pixels. Very large photographs are reduced in your browser before they upload.
• SVG is special. Every shape in it can become a region with its own outline, so a seating chart or a parts diagram needs no tracing. SVGs with scripts, external content or links are refused for your readers’ safety.
• Floor plans drawn as clean lines can be drafted by Smart Trace, which proposes rooms for you to review. It does not work on photographs, furnished renders or open exhibition layouts, and it never adds anything without your say.
• One picture per artboard. A project can hold up to 50 artboards - floors of a building, steps of a process, or before and after.

Drawing and shortcuts

Every tool has a letter, printed on the tool. The ones you will use most:

• V Select
• L Lasso
• H Pan
• P Point
• F Facility marker
• R Rectangle
• E Ellipse
• G Polygon
• A Edit shape
• T Text
• M Measure
• N Route

Press ? in the editor for the full list, including undo, duplicate, grouping and the keys for drawing a polygon. Hold Space to pan while another tool is active, and hold Alt while dragging to ignore the smart guides.

What a region reveals

• Summary - a name and a line or two of text.
• Summary and more details - the summary first, with paragraphs, a list, or a table of facts behind “More details”. Write Label: value on two or more lines for a table.
• Summary and a link - sends the reader to another page, in the same tab or a new one.
• Go to another artboard - moves the reader to another floor or step.
• A gallery on any of these: up to 12 captioned pictures and videos. YouTube and Vimeo links play in the page.
• Where it appears: a callout beside the region, a side panel, a bottom sheet, or a spotlight over the picture. Choose one, then apply it to a whole artboard in one step.

Give regions a value and write {value} in their text to show each one’s own figure.

Publishing and embedding

Publishing freezes a copy of the project. Keep editing as much as you like; readers see the change only when you publish again. Every version is listed, and any of the last 20 can be restored.

The embed code the editor copies looks like this:

<iframe src="https://guidedvisual.com/embed/YOUR-LINK" title="Your project" style="width:100%;aspect-ratio:1600/1000;border:0" loading="lazy" allow="fullscreen"></iframe>

An embed only shows on sites you allow. Add each site’s address under Who may embed this in the publishing panel - up to 20 - or it will be refused there. A change takes a few seconds to apply everywhere.

Unpublishing stops the share link, every embed and the images behind them at once. Publishing again brings them back at the same address.

Your account and data

• Change your name, see your usage and your plan on the account page.
• Download a backup of your projects at any time from the same page.
• Sign out of every other device in one step if you think somebody else has access.
• Delete your account yourself. It is immediate and cannot be undone, and published pages and embeds stop working.

When something is not working

The drawing tools are greyed out

The artboard has no picture yet. Upload one or start from a map; the tools unlock straight away.

My change is not on the published page

Published pages are frozen copies. Open Publish and publish a new version.

My embed says it refused to connect

The site it is on is not on the project’s list. Add it under Who may embed this, using the address exactly as the browser shows it.

I cannot sign in

During early access sign-in is by invitation: your address has to be on the list first. If it is and sign-in still fails, check you chose that Google account in the account chooser - most browsers hold more than one.

Publishing is not allowed

The pre-publish check lists what is missing - usually a region with no name, a target too small to press, or a link without an address. Fix those and the button unlocks.

Still stuck?

Use Feedback in the editor - it can carry a screenshot - or write to support@guidedvisual.com. For everything else, see contact.