Balsamiq for Google Drive documentation

Full Screen Presentation Mode

The Full Screen Presentation Mode is great for presenting your wireframes to stakeholders, or for usability testing. To enter it, click on the Full Screen icon at the bottom of the Right Bar (or use the CTRL/⌘+F keyboard shortcut).

The application will expand to take up your whole screen.

Overview

When Full Screen Presentation Mode first opens, you will be presented with a screen similar to the one above. These are the different sections of the screen.

Navigator

On the left side of the screen, you'll find the Navigator. It is functionally identical to the Navigator in the main editor. You can use it to navigate your project (if you aren't using linking), or you can use it to rename/duplicate/delete wireframes.

Notes and comments

On the other (right) side of the Full Screen Presentation Mode is the Notes and Comments section. The top portion of this panel displays any Wireframe Notes you have added to your wireframe. The bottom portion will display any comments that have been added to your wireframe. Users can also add notes and comments if this panel is enabled.

Settings panel

The settings panel allows you to adjust the look and feel of your Full Screen Presentation mode. It will open by default and allow you to get everything ready for your presentation. More details below.

Your wireframes

Last (but absolutely not least) is your wireframe, the centerpiece of Full Screen Presentation mode.

Settings panel

The Settings Panel will appear whenever you launch Full Screen Presentation Mode. By default, everything will be turned on in what we call Review Mode. You can close the Settings Panel by either clicking the Close Settings button, or by pressing Enter on your keyboard.

Note: Custom Mode will trigger as soon as you uncheck any of the options in the Settings Panel. If you would like a quick way to turn off everything, select the User Test mode.

Let's jump into the individual checkboxes on the Settings Panel.

Navigator checkbox

This checkbox controls the Navigator Panel. Unchecking it will hide the Navigator Panel while in Full Screen Presentation Mode.

Notes checkbox

This checkbox controls the Notes portion of the right panel. Unchecking this checkbox will hide the Notes section and turn the entire right panel into a Comments panel.

Comments checkbox

This checkbox controls the Comments portion of the right panel. Unchecking this checkbox will hide the Comments section and turn the entire right panel into a Notes panel.

Note: Unchecking both the Notes and Comments checkboxes will hide the right panel.

Link Hints checkbox

This checkbox controls whether or not you would like Full Screen Presentation Mode to display Link Hints. When Link Hints are on, areas that contain links will be displayed with a blue overlay to make them more visible.

Big arrow cursor checkbox

This checkbox controls whether or not you want a larger arrow pointer while using Full Screen Presentation Mode. The larger arrow can be useful in situations where the folks you're presenting to aren't close to the presentation screen. Unchecking this box will turn the arrow pointer into the standard pointer for your OS.

Markup checkbox

The Markup checkbox is for showing and hiding markup elements, such as Comments, Arrows and Callouts (any control under the "Markup" tab in the UI Library). This is useful if you want to just look at your UI without the annotations that surround it. Uncheck it to hide any markup controls.

Zoom settings

The Advanced link in the Zoom section will open the Project Centering Rules of your project. You can use those to better center your wireframes.

Direct link

The direct link box allows you to share a link to the project that opens it in Full Screen Presentation Mode, with the settings that you have selected. This is especially useful if you are user testing your wireframes. The direct link respects the project's permissions. This means that only people who have access to the project can use it (unless the project is set to be public).

Note: When using the keyboard shortcuts, no modifier key is required in full screen mode (e.g., just hit L for link hints, not CTRL/⌘+L).

To exit Full Screen Presentation mode, hit ESC or click the icon in the upper right corner.

Adjusting your project's centering

Full Screen Presentation Mode centers your entire project based on the wireframe that is the tallest, and the wireframe that is the widest. While this normally results in a presentation that is centered (and whose focus doesn't jump around), if you have a wireframe that is a great deal larger than your other wireframes, it may result in your project being off center, or pushed to the top of the screen.

In the Settings Panel, click on the Advanced link next to the word Zoom.

Clicking that link will open a window that gives you an overview of the size of all the wireframes in your project. It will display the longest and widest wireframes in project, and the effective size they are making your project as a whole. The widest wireframe will have its width in red, while the tallest wireframe will have it's height in blue. This should give you a hint as to which wireframe is causing your project to center incorrectly.

Clicking the checkbox next to the trouble wireframe (or wireframes) will take it out of the centering calculation and will recalculate the new longest/widest wireframes, adjusting the overall project size.

This should solve any centering issues you may have.