Bloomingo on a tablet

On an iPad or an Android tablet, Bloomingo looks the same as on a computer, sized for your fingers. The pen draws and writes, and your fingers do everything else, so there is no tool to switch between them.

Draw with the pen

The Apple Pencil or the S Pen draws with the drawing tool you chose last: the Pen, the Highlighter or the Eraser (the Pen at first). It draws even while another tool is chosen, over the things on the board too, and never moves or selects them. To change its colour and width, see Drawing.

On a thing’s own controls, such as a checkbox, a button or text you are typing, the pen taps instead. It taps the toolbox and menus too.
Hold the S Pen’s button down to erase. A pen with an eraser end erases with that end.
Your palm can rest on the screen while the pen is down.

Use your fingers

Tap a thing to select it. Tap the open board to clear the selection.
Drag a thing to move it. Drag the open board to move the board.
Double tap does what a double-click does: it opens a thing, types in it, or adds something on the open board.
Hold still, then drag on the open board to draw a selection box.
Hold a thing to open its menu, as a right-click does. Holding a pin or a card opens its options too.
Hold one thing and tap another with a second finger to add it to the selection.
Two fingers move the board, and pinch to zoom.
Tap with two fingers to undo, and with three fingers to redo.

On a section’s empty area, a finger moves the board until the section is selected. Its name always moves it.

Draw with your finger

If you have no pen, open Settings and turn on Draw with finger, under Pencil and touch. One finger then draws as the pen does, and two fingers still move the board. It is off at first, and the choice stays on this tablet.

Around the board

Undo and Redo are the first buttons at the top right of every board. Each is dimmed while there is nothing to undo or redo. On a day, the timeline button sits beside them.
The zoom bar holds the zoom level, which opens 50%, 100%, 200% and Fit, and Help.
The sidebar is open in a wide window and folds to its rail in a narrow one, following the window as you turn the tablet. Opened in a narrow window, it slides over the board: tap beside it or choose a place to close it. On an iPad, swiping in from the left edge opens it.

Type and write

You can write with the pen into any text field, with Scribble on an iPad and handwriting to text on Android.

While you type a note with the on-screen keyboard, a row of buttons sits above the keyboard: Headings, lists and more, Bold, Italic, Strikethrough, Code, Bulleted list, Checklist and Link to a day, a board or a note. See Writing in a note for what each does.

With a hardware keyboard the row goes. The formatting bar shows over selected text, and every keyboard shortcut works: with a Mac’s keys on an iPad, and a Windows PC’s on Android.

Pictures, files and sizes

Add an image or PDF opens the system’s picker: Photo Library, Take Photo and Choose Files on an iPad, and photos and files on Android.
Export everything, Save a copy, Export as PNG and Export as PDF use the system’s picker to ask where to save. Import asks for a folder the same way.
Interface size is in Settings on an iPad. On Android, the system’s own display size and font size do its work.

Clocks and alerts in the background

A tablet pauses apps that leave the screen. So Bloomingo hands each clock’s end and each task’s alert to the tablet, as a notification. The first time, the tablet asks if Bloomingo may send them. If you say no, clocks still run and chime while Bloomingo is on screen.

On Android 14 and later, allow Alarms & reminders for Bloomingo in the system’s settings, or a clock may ring late.

Whatever you are typing is saved as Bloomingo leaves the screen.

Drag things in from other apps

Pictures and PDFs land where you let go.
Text becomes a note: its first line is the title, and the rest is the note’s text.
A web address becomes a web link.
Onto a task list, each line of text becomes a task, where the line shows.
Other files are left out, and a message names them.

Drag things out to other apps

Hold your finger on a note, a picture or a PDF until its menu opens.
Keep your finger down and move it. The menu goes, and the thing lifts under your finger.
Let go over the other app.

A note gives its title and text as plain text. A picture or a PDF gives its file. If you lift your finger without moving it, the menu stays open.

What only a computer has

Tabs, Back and Forward, windows of their own and the Mac’s menu bar. On a tablet, the shortcuts sheet lists the keys for a hardware keyboard.