Filling out forms on your phone is incredibly dangerous. When you need to enter a zip code and a regular keyboard appears instead of a numeric keypad, it makes you incredibly angry. Whether you sympathize with my outrage or just like things to work, you'll love our latest update: four new custom field types that automatically validate and clean your data. 4 Field Types for Perfect Data Email field Automatically validates email addresses. Perfect for contact forms and directories. No more mistakes like "john.doe@gmailcom" getting through. Phone number field If it consists only of numbers, we recognize various formats. For example, if you enter (555) 123-4567 or 555-123-4567, we'll display it in the same format. URL field You can include a URL in your post. This is useful for collecting digital portfolios, profiles, and personal websites. Only URLs are allowed. User fields You can tag Padlet users or board collaborators from your school or team account. This is useful for assigning tasks or tracking project owners. Getting started Let me show you how to add these new custom fields. Board Settings → Post Fields → New Custom Field Choose from email, phone number, URL, or user Custom fields are now available on web and mobile. Building a Structured Data Foundation Since 2023, we've continuously expanded Padlet's structured data capabilities. Starting with custom text fields, we've added numbers, dates, single-select, and button fields. With these four additions, we now support nine custom fields, covering the most common data collection needs. Combining the recently released table format with submission links creates a lightweight alternative to the Google Forms + Sheets workflow, complete with multimedia support and real-time collaboration features.

Our enhanced browser extension makes it easy to collect text, images, and links. Internet users worldwide fall into two categories: those who keep their tabs neatly organized, and those who simply keep tabs piling up. I'm one of the latter, the type who keeps tabs piling up endlessly. Back in the day, Safari said, "You can't open any more new tabs," so I just installed Chrome and opened that link separately, without organizing my tabs. And my Safari still hangs there. I've tried various apps over the years to find ways to save and organize interesting content on the web. I've tried bookmarks, note-taking apps, and even paper notebooks, but I've never been able to consistently use them. Now I only use one: Padlet. I create separate boards for everything: articles worth reading, recommendations, and ideas I don't want to forget. The Padlet Mini extension has been completely redesigned to allow you to save internet content in seconds, without copying, pasting, or switching tabs. Whether you're a tab organizer or someone who, like me, lets tabs pile up, you'll never miss a valuable link again. Two ways to save content Padlet Mini provides two ways to capture web content. Method 1: Capture the entire page Clicking the Padlet Mini extension icon anywhere on a webpage will add a link to that page as a post to your board. This is ideal for saving entire webpages, such as articles or blog posts. Method 2: Capturing Specific Content Right-click text, links, or images on a webpage and select "Padlet Mini > Add to Board" to save just the portion you want to your board. This is very useful for saving individual pieces of content, such as quotes, photos, or links. Right-click text, links, or images on a webpage and select "Padlet Mini > Add to Board" to save just the portion you want. This is ideal for capturing individual pieces of content, such as quotes, photos, or links. Both methods involve two simple steps. First, select the padlet (board) you want to post to. You can choose from recent boards, favorites, search, or create a new board right away. Second, finalize the content you want to post. You can either post the content as is or customize the text and post colors. Why Use Padlet Mini? Save design ideas If you find an interesting blog post or a pretty gradient, save it to Padlet.

The connection line is back on the timeline Check out the new and improved timeline format along with other updated formats. When we first released the Timeline format in December 2019, everything seemed perfect. But in March 2023, when we added sections to all formats in response to long-standing user requests, we ran into a problem. In order to support multiple timelines in a single padlet, we had to completely overhaul the existing Timeline, and in the process, we had to remove the iconic connecting lines. The reaction from users was immediate: “Bring back the connectors!” It was a natural request. A timeline without connectors would be nothing more than a series of boxes lined up in a row. We heard you. But we didn’t just restore the old one. We completely rebuilt it. The current timeline is a perfect blend of the lines you’ve been missing and all the latest features we’ve added to Padlet over the years: sections, alignment, wide posts, and a sleek design that looks great on any background. Features of the new timeline The timeline format has a visual line again that connects posts chronologically. You can add posts as usual with the plus button, or you can click the plus icon that appears between existing posts to insert events at a precise location in chronological order. You can navigate the timeline using the arrow controls to move left and right, or jump directly to the beginning or end. On desktop, you can also use keyboard shortcuts: Cmd/Ctrl + arrow keys to jump to the beginning or end, and Shift + arrow keys to move between sections if a section is active. In addition to the connection lines, you can also take advantage of all the latest Padlet features. Turn on Wide Post if you want to see attachments in a larger size, or turn on Sections if you want to divide your timeline into multiple periods. Best of all, you no longer need to sort manually. Add a date field and your posts will be automatically sorted in chronological order. Other formats have also been improved We've also added a completely new table format along with the revamp of the timeline. To go along with this change, we've also reorganized the format names to be more intuitive: Shelf → Columns: More accurately expresses vertical layout Canvas → Freeform: Emphasizes a free and flexible layout Timeline → Rows: Clearly explains the horizontal line structure The real timeline with connecting lines has been renamed "Timeline" because that's what people think of when they think of a timeline. If you want to have multiple timelines in one padlet, use the Rows format and turn on Sections. Why Visual Connections Matter Connectors turn a simple collection of posts into a story of progress. They are especially useful for creating historical content, like the dinosaur or space exploration timelines above, but there are many other uses for them. Personal Storytelling Record important moments in your life, your family history, your autobiographical projects. Track your career progression, your learning journey, and how your creative work changes over time. Project Progress Management Organize your school assignments, research papers, and creative writing into a step-by-step structure. Perfect for event planning, team assignment management, and even tracking semester-long research projects.

Convert your Padlet into an interactive spreadsheet with multimedia, comments, and smart column types. In 2023, we introduced custom post fields to help collect structured data, but we were working towards a bigger goal. Today, we're introducing the Table Layout , a way to view and interact with your padlet as an interactive table, where every post becomes a row and every field becomes a column. Table layouts give you the organizational power of a spreadsheet and features you won’t find in Google Sheets. You can upload images, insert videos, record audio, and add pictures while maintaining the structure of rows and columns. See it in action See how the table layout changes the existing padlet. Parent Contact List Previous : Individual posts scattered throughout Padlet and inconsistently formatted. Difficult to keep track of. Afterwards : A neat and organized table that you can instantly filter by your "Text" or "Email" preferences, sort by name, or quickly scan. Managing a reading group Previous : Discussion post ratings were buried in the text. It was hard to see what was being read and what was coming up next. Afterwards : Each book is on its own row, with clear ratings, sortable by genre or discussion date, and filterable by status to distinguish between "scheduled" and "read." Want to use it for more than just a reading list? Try using the table layout for class grading, student progress tracking, team work boards, and feedback forms. It’s flexible enough to fit any workflow. More than just spreadsheets Multimedia Anywhere Unlike traditional spreadsheets, tables can contain rich media: you can add profile pictures to your roster, insert reference videos for grading, and include audio recordings for language practice. Smart fields, filtering, sorting All columns provide a powerful way to understand the data type and organize information. Date columns can be sorted chronologically, numeric columns can be sorted numerically, and single-select columns can be sorted by a custom order. Filter instantly with single-select options. Each field type automatically applies formats to keep your data clean. Comments and reactions right at your fingertips You can click on any row to add a comment and start a discussion about that particular item. We also added a dedicated panel on the left to show comments and reactions for easy access, since in a wide table, those columns can end up on the right end. A powerful combination

It’s the first week of school. Your middle school gym teacher has suddenly resigned, a family of raccoons has taken up residence in the science lab, and someone has accidentally unshared the entire district’s student roster file. 847 students are now locked out of their assignments. Parents are calling, teachers are panicking, and IT is telling them it will take two days to manually restore the file. You wake up with your heart racing, already mentally writing an email to your IT support team. Then you look at your phone and it’s 2:47 a.m. on July 15. It was just a nightmare. But the student roster outage feels so real. In fact, somewhere out there, a school administrator might be experiencing this right now. We’ve been working on improvements to make this nightmare a thing of the past. Introducing new features in Padlet for Schools. Student roster errors now have a restore button It happens more often than you might think that a school accidentally unshares a student roster, and this can result in the entire school district losing access to Padlet immediately. Previously, we had to collect user data from the school and run a custom recovery program to recover it. The recovery process was complex and time-consuming. Padlet Support can now restore access to all users who were removed during a student roster operation with a single command. We’ve also added the ability to download a CSV file of all users before enabling the student roster feature, so customer operations can see exactly which users will be affected before running a sync. Automatic LMS class integration eliminates the need for manual group setup User groups in the LMS (Learning Management System) allow teachers to share Padlets with entire groups of students with one click. Previously, creating user groups required the customer operations team to work individually with each group of teachers. This involved individual conversations, manual setup, and potential for miscommunication for each user group, which was then repeated for every class in the school. Now when a school administrator sets up an LMS, groups are automatically created, students are added, and updated. Users are automatically invited, added to the library, added to user groups when enrolled in LMS classes, and removed from user groups when no longer enrolled. One of the technical challenges was that LMS platforms generally follow the LTI standard, but each implements certain features differently. For example, Canvas uses dynamic identifiers for users. This required special handling for grade transfer when a student drops and re-enrolls. Some LMSs required custom settings for automatic permission requests. We built platform-specific handling while maintaining a unified user experience for schools. Performance improvements for teachers with a lot of material Teachers with hundreds of padlets were having trouble using the LMS integration feature. When trying to load the entire collection of materials, the screen would become unresponsive. We’ve reworked the deep link wall selection feature to support large users, and now it intelligently sorts and displays the 100 most recently updated walls that the user is a creator or administrator of. We’ve also improved handling when the LMS doesn’t provide proper camera or microphone permissions. Instead of showing a generic error message, we now prompt users to open Padlet in a new tab to continue their assignment. Other convenience improvements Grade transfer fix : Addresses special cases for LMSs that use dynamic identifiers and improves automatic permission request Auto-update name : Usernames are automatically updated when added to your school library via the LMS or student roster. Enhanced security : LMS settings URLs are now securely handled through our security infrastructure Assignment naming improvements : LMS assignment names no longer automatically overwrite Padlet names Notification improvements : Less noisy notifications and better exception handling for LMS class integrations Simplify user management : School administrators can now search for multiple users at once by separating emails and usernames with a space or comma Coming soon features