Your new favourite meeting space

Metro Retro boards are your playground for collaboration, start with a template, build your own custom board layout or combine both to build something uniquely suited to your needs. "The board is your oyster", or something like that. I don't know, I'm just a help guide.

We've built Metro Retro to be easy-to-use and fun so your team look forward to meetings and focus on what needs to be done, not how to do it. But if you do need help, browse some of our detailed guides below.

Overview of the board UI

Board Guides

You've setup your board and it's time to get started! Follow these tips to effortlessly invite your team mates or guests and run your fist session with Metro Retro.

Switch to Meeting Mode

At the top of the board, click on 'Start Meeting' to enter Meeting Mode this switches the UI to display the collaboration tools (you will see the left toolbar update) and enables Private Writing.

You become the Meeting Host and get access to the Host toolset including a Timer, Polls, Anonymous Mode, and Ready Check. Everyone else is designated as a participant.

Start Meeting now changes to 'Meeting in Progress', if you click on this again you will see a list of available Facilitator controls.

Changing tools for meeting participants

In the Meeting Tools menu you can adjust what your participants are able to access, these options are grouped in 3 categories, Collaboration, Design, and Gestures.

If you do make any changes to our defaults, be sure to click the 'Update' button when you're done.

Share your board

Now that your board is prepped and you've customized your participant experience it's time to invite your participants.

Click the 'Share' button in the top right of your board. From here you can copy the board link and set access restrictions if needed.

Once a participant joins your board, you will see their avatar moving around the board in real-time!

Switching back to Design Mode

The Meeting Host can switch back to Design mode at any time to edit the board layout. Participants will stay in Meeting mode. This allows you (the host) to make on-the-fly changes to your board and meeting structure. Add Templates, Zones, Gadgets, Shapes and more.

Ending your Meeting

Once the last of the confetti has popped and you've completed the best meeting you've ever had, click on the 'Meeting in Progress' indicator at the top of your screen and select 'End Meeting'.

Ending a meeting puts you back in to Design Mode. Your boards are stored in your dashboard indefinitely, they do not expire or auto-delete.

We read all of our meeting reviews, so please do leave a rating and if there's anything we can improve, let us know.

Exporting meeting insights

We've made some major updates to Metro Retro over the last few months, which we call "V3".

If you've been migrated to the new version, or are about to be migrated, this page explains the updates as well as differences to the old version.

Updates Overview

• New Dashboard Look and Feel

• Workspaces are now Teams

• Template Library Updates

• Changes to Inviting Guests

• New Feature: Action items

• New Feature: Mentions

• New Feature: Automated Templates (Planning Poker, Tshirt Estimation, and Sprint Planning)

• Updated Admin screens

Dashboard Updates

The new dashboard doesn't just look prettier, it also provides:

• Dedicated Team spaces

• Improved template library

• Action tracking

• Notifications

• Better Team Member management

Teams & How They Function

• Admins and Owners can create Teams.

• Create a Team to store boards and invite your team members.

• Boards must be created in a Team

• Teams are private, you must be invited to join a team.

• All members of a Team can create, edit and delete boards.

• All members should be allocated to (at least) one team.

• You can invite anyone in your Organization to an individual board in your team space, without them having to join your Team.

Changes to board management

As of the latest version, all boards must be in a team. This means that you can no longer create a board without a team. Any existing boards that were not created in a team will be highlighted in the UI (see screenshot below). We recommend moving these to an appropriate team to keep them safe.

Template Library Updates

• The Template browsing experience has been improved.

• It is easier to create custom templates that are available to all Organization members.

• You can "star" your favourite templates.

Changes to Inviting Guests

• There is now a different link for inviting external guests to your board.

• This link can be found in the Share Menu of each board. Anyone who is not an Organization member will need to use this Guest link, not the board link in the URL.

• An external guest is anyone who is not a member of your organization in Metro Retro.

• Guests must now sign up to Metro Retro to join a board. There is no anonymous guest access.

• You can still easily invite your organization members to your board by sharing the board link.

New Feature: Action Items

• You can now create Action Items directly from your sticky notes, and track them in your team space.

See the Actions feature pages for how to create and track them:

New Feature: Mentions

You can now Mention your colleagues by typing "@" into any sticky or card. They will get a notification in the App (and soon by email).

See more details on the Mentions feature page:

New Feature: Automated Templates

We have built new automated templates for Poker Planning, T-Shirt Estimation, and Sprint Planning. These use custom-built components to improve how you run these team sessions.

Preview the Automated Templates:

Updated Admin Screens

Changes to Plans & Billing

You will remain on your current plan and feature set. Your billing will not be affected.

We want to help teams enjoy their time together when collaborating, whether it's a retrospective, estimation session, planning, or idea generation meeting, Metro Retro has the tools your team needs to communicate openly and effectively.

Get to know Metro Retro

Start with the basics, or explore our more detailed guides

Metro Retro boards have two modes, Design Mode and Meeting Mode.

Design Mode is for editing the board layout, and Meeting Mode is for collaborating with others. Each mode has a unique set of controls available, and the left toolbar changes to give you the appropriate tools for each.

Design Mode controls

Click on the 'You're in Design Mode!' indicator at the bottom of your board viewport

Meeting Mode controls

Quick Start Basics

Dashboard Basics

The Dashboard is where your boards are stored. From here you can:

• Create a new board

• Open, clone, delete previous boards

• Manage boards with folders

• Invite team members

• Manage admin settings

• Change your personal preferences

• Access help and tutorials

Board Basics

Creating your first board

Everything on your board is editable and can be locked or unlocked.

Basic Controls and UI

• Zoom in and out with your mouse wheel or trackpad. If this is not working as you expect, change your Mouse settings in the Preferences.

• Move around the board by clicking and holding the left mouse button down, to pan around the screen. Or you can hold the spacebar and click and drag to pan around.

• Double-click anywhere to create a sticky note and write inside it.

• Use the "Gestures" (Lightning bolt icon) tools at the bottom of the left toolbar to present, orient and guide people around the board.

Share You Board

Click on 'Share' in top right of the board UI to get your board URL and set access rules. Once they join the board you will see their avatar moving around the board in real-time!

And that's it! You're all set to run your first meeting. We've design Metro Retro to be extremely intuitive

Protected boards

External Guests can access boards when the Guest Link is shared with them.

Boards can be viewed or joined by guests immediately when the share settings have been set to allow 'anyone with the link'.

Sharing permissions explained

Guests

External collaborators can be invited as a "Guest" - this allows you to work securely with people outside your team, such as clients, partners, and external contractors.

Guest limits apply, depending on your plan:

• Business: 2 guests per board

• Enterprise: Unlimited guests

How to share with Guests

1. Copy and share the Guest Link with the intended guest. Depending on your sharing settings (see the top of this page 👆) the board will be visible or protected.

2. They can then choose to sign in or use a temporary profile.

3. If the board is protected you will get a notification on the board that someone is waiting to join.

4. They will join the board and can participate.

What can Guests do?

Guests use all tools enabled for them by the Host, such as sticky notes, pen, images etc.

Guests cannot:

• Create boards

• Start, edit, or run a meeting

• Switch to Design Mode if a meeting is running

• Use Host controls

• Change the Sharing settings

• Manage the access of other Guests

• See the organization dashboard or teams

Guests only have access to the board that is shared with them - they cannot access your dashboard.

A temporary guest profile is saved as a cookie on the user's device, meaning they can use the same guest profile across multiple boards and sessions within an organization while the cookie is saved on that device. They can later claim the account by signing up with an email and password.

Managing Guests

You can see your available guest slots and manage access in the share settings menu.

If you want to add more guests to a board but the Guest slots are all taken, then you will need to remove existing Guests from the board, or talk to us about extending your Guest limit.

You can remove Guests from a board at any time through the 'Manage Access' option in the Share settings:

Changing a Guest's name

Assign an action to a team member from a sticky, and the Action will be added to your team dashboard.

Actions Demo Video

Creating Actions

Actions are created from sticky notes - one action per sticky.

There are two way you can assigns actions on stickies - either by typing @ inside a sticky, or with the “Assign Action” option in a sticky’s toolbar.

Start typing @ and you’ll see a menu appear with various options. Select ‘assign action’ and then follow the prompts:

• Select who to assign the action to

• Select a due date (optional)

And that’s it, your action has now been created. To view, edit or delete your new action item, click on the action status on your sticky note.

From this view you can:

• Change who the action is assigned to

• Update the action status

• Set or edit a due date

• Delete the action

• Navigate to the Action Items dashboard

You can also assign actions to one or multiple sticky notes by using the sticky note toolbar which appears above a sticky when it is selected.

This will lead you through the same steps as if you had created the action via the @ menu. If applying to a selection of sticky notes, the same inputs will be applied to all.

Importing Actions

To bring existing Action Items directly into a board for your next meeting, use the import options in the sidebar.

Tool Categories

There are two main categories for tools:

• Board editing tools like shapes, text tools, and zones

• Collaboration tools like sticky notes, topics and voting

Only available to the Host and allows you to switch between Design Mode and Meeting mode. Also available during an active meeting, where only the host will change mode.

Sticky notes are the main object you'll use in Metro Retro. Double-click anywhere on the board to create a sticky note, or use the toolbar to pick the color first. Note - on some templates, the color of a sticky note can be overridden by a zone's color settings.

Sticky note facts:

• There are two sizes of sticky note: regular and large. To change the size of a sticky note, drag from the right-hand edge.

• Each sticky is associated with its creator - hover over a sticky note to see who made it. (Use Anonymous mode to not track who wrote each sticky note).

• Each person has a different handwriting style when writing sticky notes. Change your handwriting style in your Preferences.

• When in Meeting mode, each person can hide and reveal their sticky notes as they wish.

• You can write, vote, add reactions, draw on, and group sticky notes.

Sticky note options:

With a sticky note selected you are able to:

• Set the sticky note colour (if not defined by zone)

• Add a connector

• Add a comment

• Tag the sticky note

• Access additional options via the 3-dot menu

These are just like real-life Index cards. Use these to write more text than you can fit on a sticky note. You can also stamp reactions, draw, and vote on Index cards.

• Private writing works with Index cards - you can hide and reveal anything you're writing while the board is in Meeting mode.

• Index cards can be expanded - drag from the bottom of the card to make it longer.

Task Cards are cards that you can write in, with separate title and body fields.

• Task cards do not have private writing and can't be grouped with the Topic tool.

Select a roadmap card to access additional options:

• Name

• External link (for linking to related documents)

• Tags (used for labelling with things like team name, initiative names, cost, linked OKR, estimate.)

• Dates (including delayed / earlier dates)

• Colour

Add images directly on to your boards with drag/drop or copy/paste, or use the image tool to search through a free image library, or add images by their URL.

Once an image has been added to the board, it can be resized and moved.

Tokens look similar to poker chips and can be used in a variety of ways - icebreakers, estimation, team health checks, planning poker, and workshops.

There are pre-made tokens with emojis or your team pictures, as well as blank tokens that can be edited.

Double click a token on the board to edit it. You can also add an emoji to a token on the board, using the reaction tool.

Connectors are arrows that link objects in your board, allowing you to visualise relationships or create simple diagrams.

Connectors can be linked to most objects, including shapes, sticky notes, task cards, index cards, roadmap cards, Jira cards, and tokens.

You can also draw connectors which are not connected to objects anywhere in your board.

Arrow styles

You can pick straight, bendy or angled arrows:

You can add a label to an arrow path, change the connector color, width, line style, start and end points:

Reaction emojis can be stamped on almost any object. Pick your reaction and click where you want to place it!

To remove a reaction, right-click on the stamped reaction when you have the reaction tool equipped.

Draw on zones, shapes, sticky notes, and index cards with the marker pen. It draws directly on the object. To erase pen markings, hold right-click and wipe over the markings.

You can add shapes to your board, with a range of styles.

With a shape selected you will have access to editing options:

• Switch the shape type

• Border & fill style

• Colour

• Corner radius (roundness)

• Line thickness

• Container setting

• Lock

• 3-dot menu for additional options

Click the canvas to add a text object or click-and-drag to draw out a text area.

The Text box behaviour can also be set with the “Toggle Auto Height” option:

Gadgets make your team sessions more interactive, and dare we say... fun.

Gadgets are added to the board as an object and can be moved around, locked in place, or deleted as needed.

In the gadgets you will find:

• A music player (Jukebox) - Pick your track and play music to everyone on the board.

• A Timer - set the time for an exercise.

• A Spinner - add your choices and hit spin!

• A Counter - the counter counts up and down.

• A Buzzer - pick a sound effect, then hit the buzzer to play it!

Gadgets are only available while in Design Mode, or the Meeting Host can enable the Gadgets tool during Meeting mode.

When the Gadgets tool is enabled, anyone can use it, including Guests.

Gadgets can be locked in place to prevent editing or deletion, but are still interactive while locked.

Zones are the primary object for laying out your board sections.

• Zones can be any size.

• Zones have a title, emoji field and border style. Zones can also override the color of sticky notes inside them.

• Click on the title of a zone to select it.

Frames surround and organize an entire exercise.

They are different to Zones, which are a single section within an exercise.

There are multiple Frame types available, all with unique function and purpose.

Activity Frames

Activity frames are a way to organize different areas of your board.

For example, if you run a workshop with different activities, you can surround each activity with an Activity Frame, and hide the later sections until it is time.

Activity Frames have a sheep icon in their menu bar which you can use to pull ("herd") everyone to the Frame immediately.

Timeline Frame

The Timeline Frame allows you to create a pre-formatted timeline with dates that you can use to plan projects or events.

The Timeline Frame is configurable in the following ways:

• Header & background colour

• Choose Start Month and how many months to span

• Add or remove additional rows - useful for different streams of work

• Set auto-arrange options for content inside the rows and columns. ! Note - this feature is in Beta and dynamically moves your content around. Use Undo if you want to reset after trying this.

Grid Frame

Grid Frames are layout objects with configurable rows and columns to contain content.

You can use Grid Frames to arrange content in tabular form

Grid Frames can be configured with any number of rows and columns, and have content-arranging options:

Gestures are visual functions that appear above the board but do not affect the content. They are for presenting ideas and interacting with your colleagues. There are four functions in the Gestures menu:

A ping is an arrow you drop on the board to point at something. Click once to drop a single arrow or click-and-drag to highlight over an area.

Off-screen pings are shown at the side of your screen. Click an on active ping to be taken to where it is pointing.

Tip - you can drop a ping on the board at any time by pressing the Tab key. An arrow will appear at your cursor's position.

The vanishing pen lets you draw a temporary annotation on the board. It is useful for drawing attention to items on the board without permanently drawing on them.

There may be imitations, but this is the original. Click and drag to aim, then release to fire confetti. We won't lie, it's kind of addictive.

Pick this option to throw your hat across the board, of course. Similar to the confetti, click and drag to aim, then release to throw the hat.

Add data from various sources to your board

• Template: Insert a Metro Retro template to your board.

• CSV: Import CSV data and convert to stickies or cards.

• Image file: Import an image to your board.

• Jira: Pull tickets from Jira directly into your board.

You can attach comments to sticky notes, task cards, index cards and roadmap cards. Simply select the object and use the comment tool.

A comment indicator will appear on the object once a comment has been added.

Use the Topic tool to group similar stickies into organized themes.

To create a topic: Open the Topic tool, choose a color, and click to add to the board. Write the name of the topic inside, and then drag sticky notes toward it. The Topic will automatically group the sticky notes. To ungroup sticky notes, just drag them out of the group.

You can pick up a topic and it will bring any associated stickies with it.

Alternative: Group selected stickies under a topic

For a quick grouping of stickies, you can also select two or more sticky notes and use the 'Group Under Topic' option:

Topic options

When you have a topic group, select the topic label to access additional controls:

• quick-set the colour of all stickies to the topic colour

• set the topic label as a Tag on the stickies (we have big plans for Tags in the works)

• tidy up the stickies grouped in the topic

The Voting tool allows you to hold a group vote. You can vote on stickies, topics, index cards, and task cards.

Design Mode

Building a layout

You can build completely custom board layouts with Metro Retro, whether it's for unique retros or complex workshops. The Shape tool, Zone tool, Text tool, and Image tool give you all the basic components needed.

Zones are the basic 'container' for sticky notes. Most of the retro templates use zones. Zones have the option to override the color of sticky notes inside them. If you set the Zone Colour to 'none' then your sticky notes can be a mix of colours.

Setting different colours for zones allows you to quickly visualize different work/idea areas. You can further customize zones by setting different layout styles.

Use the zone layout options to set structural behaviour for sticky notes.

You can use shapes to build custom layouts, graphics or for general whiteboarding.

Our text tool has pretty robust editing tools, easily set size, alignment, justification, wrapping behaviour and choose from a variety of Google Fonts for your board design.

You can upload images directly from your computer, or copy & paste from anywhere. You can also link to GIFs, and search through our integrated image library (Pixabay).

Gadgets are a great way to bring more fun and interactivity to your meetings.

In the gadgets you will find:

• A music player (Jukebox) - Pick your track and play music to everyone on the board.

• A Timer - set the time for an exercise.

• A Spinner - add your options and hit spin!

• A Counter - the counter counts up and down.

• A Buzzer - pick a sound effect, then hit the buzzer to play it!

Have some fun and keep things loose with the marker pen tool. Draw some custom visuals for your board or get your participants to have a go, it's a great ice-breaker

Activity frames are a way to organize different areas of your board. You can use the 'sheep' icon to bring all participants to you or the visible/hidden icon to keep upcoming activities hidden from participants - a great way to lead your team through a custom experience.

Layout design tips

Object Snapping

Object snapping and guidelines are now available when you drag or move layout objects around. Perfect for obsessive board builders.

If for some reason you don't like it, you can disable Snapping from the Grid Settings in the bottom left.

Object Nesting

Objects can be nested inside each other, so that when you move the parent object, everything inside it moves too. Great for more complicated layouts.

Objects have a 'Container' property that controls this - if turned off a shape will not contain any of the objects inside it.

Layer Order

Bring objects to front or back of each other. Right-click an object to access the context menu.

You can also use the keyboard shortcuts: Shift + [ or ], or move one layer up/down with just [ and ].

Rotate objects

Rotate objects by moving your cursor just outside any corner until you see the cursor change to rotation arrows, then click and drag to rotate the object around its central axis. You can also rotate multiple selected objects in the same way. You cannot rotate sticky notes, index cards, groups or tokens.

Undo / Redo

Use Undo & Redo if you make mistakes.

Note - you cannot undo other people's actions because each person's actions are captured separately.

Cloning objects

You can clone objects by selecting them, then press the Alt key and any direction key together. Alternatively, hold the Alt key and drag from the object - a clone will be created.

Copy & paste

You can copy & paste an object or multiple selected objects. The new copy is placed directly on top of the original.

Opening this view will show you who sent the notification, what type of notification it is and give you a preview of what was said.

Click the link of a mention to be taken directly to the board and object where the mention was created.

Clicking on an Action notification will take you directly to the Action Items Dashboard and highlight the notification you clicked on.

To adjust your notification settings, go your profile preference.

Using Mentions

To mention someone, simply type @ and continue to type their name, or type @ and select Mention from the options that appear. You can mention multiple people in the same board element.

Creating a mention will notify your team mate in the Notifications menu and share a link directly to the object you mentioned them on.

Mentions are supported in:

• Sticky notes

• Index cards

• Task cards

• Roadmap cards

• Text blocks

• Comments

Starting with a Template

Templates are a core part of our platform, and one of the reasons so many teams love us. You can jump right in and in just a few clicks be ready to run a great meeting without thinking about how to create the right structure for your aims.

How to access templates

From your dashboard you can use either the Meeting Types filter at the top of your screen to immediately browse templates filtered for these core meeting types.

Or, use the Templates link in the left-hand menu to access all templates. When you first arrive on the Templates page using the left-hand menu we default to show 'everything', type to search for a specific template or use the meeting type options to filter this view.

Using a template to create a board

Once you know what you want to use, just click on it and it will create a new board for you with that template, you can either open it in design mode, or go straight into an active meeting mode.

Starting with a Blank Board

At the top of your dashboard view, on the right of the Meeting Type template browser you can access the Blank Board option

Select this option to immediately open a minty-fresh new Metro Retro board in Design Mode and go wild with your board design skills.

Changing a board name

By default all boards inherit their name from their template (or just say 'Blank Board' if that's what you used).

Rename your boards either in the board view by clicking the name in the top left.

or by using the 3-dot menu associated with the board in your dashboard view.

Cloning a board

You can make a clone of any board in your dashboard. Use the 3-dot menu to access the options and select 'clone'. This will allow you to name the cloned board and set its location.

• Cloning a board copies everything on the board.

• Boards can be cloned to folders or teams.

• If there was an active meeting on the board you cloned, you will become the Host on the new board.

Voting helps your team prioritize items or make decisions as a group. Voting is available on all plans.

How to Vote

Votes are primarily made on sticky notes or topics, but you can also vote on or task cards or index cards.

A Voting Round can be started by anyone, though we recommend the Meeting Host starts it.

Set up a Voting Round

Step 1. Make sure the board is in Meeting Mode:

Step 2. Click the vote tool in the left toolbar (+1):

Step 3. Click the "Start Voting Round" button that appears in the bottom-left:

Step 4. Set your voting round parameters:

• Number of votes per person

• Allow duplicate votes by the same person on a single item

Step 5. Then ask your participants to equip the Voting Tool from the left toolbar, and click to vote on the stickies or topics they want to vote on. For the best results, we recommend the team decide to vote on either stickies OR topics, not a mix.

Step 6. Once all votes have been placed, use the voting results button in the bottom left to view the vote rankings:

Tips for Voting

Remove a vote

To remove one of your votes: with the voting tool equipped, right-click on your vote in the bottom-right of a sticky note.

You cannot remove other people's votes.

Add voting rounds

You can create unlimited additional voting rounds with different parameters. Starting a new voting round locks the results of all previous rounds:

You can switch between voting rounds to review the results, or delete a voting round.

See vote totals

Use the Vote Results button in the bottom left to view the vote rankings. You can toggle between viewing vote rankings for just stickies, or for just topics. If you choose topics, it will combine all the votes on stickies inside the topic as well as votes on the topic itself.

Spotlight people's votes

You can view all the votes an individual has made by clicking on their picture in the top-right list and clicking "Spotlight", then clicking their name to switch from spotlighting objects to votes. Use the left and right arrows to switch between people:

View who voted for a sticky

To see who voted on a particular sticky note, click on the vote count in the bottom-right of the sticky:

Anonymous voting

There are two ways to import data into your board:

1. From text - just copy and paste directly into the board. Each new line is a sticky note. Simple!

2. CSV - Drag & drop or copy/paste a CSV file or tabular data onto the board.

3. Jira - Connect to your Atlassian account and pull tickets directly into your board.

Import CSV or Tabular Data

If you want to import structured data to a board, you can drop a .csv file onto a board, paste .csv data or use the Insert option in the Toolbar. You then map the data columns to board elements like stickies, zones, topics, tokens or task cards.

How to import and map your data

1. Drop, paste or Insert your CSV data

2. Select the object types you would like the data imported as, choosing from stickies, zones, groups index cards, and tokens.

3. Confirm the import and your data will be automatically created on the board for you.

   Tip - You can undo an import with Ctrl + z, or use the undo button.

Import tickets from Jira

Our Jira integration lets you work with your Jira backlog in your Metro Retro board.

Jira cards can be imported and edited, or new issues can be sent to Jira from your stickies.

Your Jira cards will now be added to your board and ready to use.

You can export your Metro Retro board to use in your other tools, like Wikis, emails and backlogs:

Ways to Export

Export your entire board

You can still refine your selection during the export process.

Export a selection

With an object, zone, multi-selection etc selected you can use the 3-dot menu to select the 'Export' option.

Data export file types

Export process

When exporting your board or a selection (unless exporting to PDF) you will be walked through a series of options to ensure you export the exact data you want.

Select object type

Stickies, Index Card, Token, Task Card, Roadmap Card or Jira Card. If they exist in your board you will see them in the list with an object count. You can only select one object type per export.

Set data columns

We predefine the following columns: Content, Color, Author, Created and Zone. You can remove any you don't want to include.

Data export column descriptions

The below are specific to sticky notes, the default and available columns adjust based on object type selected for export.

Default columns for sticky notes:

Additionally, you can add the following columns for sticky notes:

Select export file type

Name and Download or Copy your data

Our Jira integration lets you work with your Jira backlog in your Metro Retro board.

Jira cards can be imported and edited, or new issues can be sent to Jira from your stickies.

Connect your Atlassian account and import your data

Sign-in to Atlassian

Select your project

Select and import your project items

Select individual items, or use the top left check-box to select all. Then use 'import' to add the items top your board.

Your Jira cards will now be added and ready to use.

Create Jira issues from sticky notes

To create Jira items from sticky notes:

• Select the stickies you want to export to Jira

• Click the "Save as Jira Issue" button.

• Enter your project ID, then confirm.

• Your stickies will convert into Jira cards and be sent to Jira. Note - you cannot choose the issue type yet, they will be created as the default issue type on that project. Once the Jira card has been created, you can change the issue type from your board. Use Bulk Change on multiple Jira cards.

• Go to Jira to see your newly-created Jira items!

Delete a Jira card

Deleting a Jira card in Metro Retro does not delete the issue in Jira. It only removes the card from your board.

How to enable immediate 2-way sync

The default Jira connection is not a real-time 2 way sync, instead the data is updated each time you import data or refresh your board.

To enable continuous 2-way sync, your Jira admin needs to contact us to get this set up.

Jira Integration Feedback

We need your feedback to know what's missing for your team and how we can improve the Jira integration for you. Talk to us using the support chat in your boards or email us contact [@] metroretro.io.

Data Security when using the Jira Integration

At least one user on a board must be present and connected to Jira with their Atlassian credentials.

Any user with access to a board can view the Jira issues that have been imported, this includes guests.

Only users that have an active connection authenticated through your Organization's Atlassian login can make updates to Jira issues.

Your Jira data is not permanently stored in Metro Retro when imported. Only the Jira issue ID is stored, and each time the board is opened or refreshed, the full payload of issue data is retrieved each time using those issue IDs. This is stored in temporary memory, which is removed once all Atlassian-authenticated users close the board.

Metro Retro has a built in meeting timer to help you manage your sessions. Your board must be in Meeting Mode to access the timer.

Switching Modes

Only a host can switch the meeting mode, either by selecting 'Start Meeting' at the top of the board UI or by using the mode switcher in the toolbar:

Turning on the Timer

When in Meeting Mode, click "Meeting in Progress" at the top of the board to access the timer in the facilitator controls.

Set your time and start the timer. It will countdown from your set time. Everyone on the board can see the timer.

Using the Timer Gadget

In some instances you might just need a quick, contextually positioned timer for a specific activity in your meeting. Use our timer gadget for this, it's a great way to drop a configurable timer on to your board.

Open the gadgets drawer

Add the timer gadget to your board and configure to your needs.

By default, your boards are shown in descending order from the last time they were visited.

You can change this by adjusting the filter on the top right of your boards view.

Any board that is not assigned to a folder will appear in your dashboard 'root'. If you move a board to a folder it will no longer be visible at the root level but you can search for it.

Boards can be moved from the root to a folder by dragging and dropping

To move a board out of a folder and back to the root, you can drag it to the 'Back To Root' folder

Cloning a board

You can make a clone of any board in your dashboard. Use the 3-dot menu to access the options and select 'clone'. This will allow you to name the cloned board and set its location.

• Cloning a board copies everything on the board.

• You can clone a board across teams and folders.

• If there was an active meeting on the board you cloned, you will become the Host on the new board.

Tags are a way to add additional labels to sticky notes and cards:

• Tags can either be just a label or a label & value.

• Tags can be customized with color and symbol.

• Tags can be added by selecting a sticky note and using the 'tag' icon.

• Tags can be quickly added by typing a #hashtag or wrapping a label/value in square brackets like this: [valueTag=50].

Exporting Stickies with Tags

Tags can be added as a column to a data export of stickies:

• Each tag type is shown in the column list, choose which to include.

• Each Tag type chosen is a column in the data export.

• Tag values for chosen tags will be displayed in the table.

Private Writing allows you to write your stickies without anyone seeing what you are writing. You can write and edit your sticky notes as you need, then only reveal your stickies when you want to. It's great for brainstorming and helps reduce bias or influence among the team.

Start Meeting Mode to enable Private Writing

You must start Meeting Mode to enable Private Writing:

When Meeting mode is on, everyone on the board can write sticky notes in private, and choose to reveal their stickies when they want, with the switcher at the bottom of the screen.

How private sticky notes look to other people:

You can reveal individual sticky notes one by one, by clicking the icon at the top of your sticky notes:

Private Writing can be disabled for everyone by the Host from the meeting controls at the top of the board:

Reveal other people's sticky notes

The Meeting Host can reveal other people's hidden sticky notes by right-clicking on the sticky notes when in Meeting mode, and selecting the "Force Reveal" command:

Managing Actions

The Action Items dashboard lists actions created in team boards.

From here you can edit, delete or batch update your team actions.

Click the board link to go to the action sticky on the board. If the original sticky has been deleted, you can choose to open the time machine to view the now deleted sticky (you can even copy-paste it out).

Although Actions and Mentions are both displayed in the same notification drawer in the header, only actions are shown in the Action Items view.

Create Actions from the dashboard

You can also create actions directly from the dashboard, by using the ‘Create Action’ button (plus symbol) in the top left of the Action Items dashboard view. Add a summary, assign the action and set a due date.

The assigned team member will be sent a notification. If they click the notification, they will go to the dashboard view, with the action item highlighted.

The Host controls are available when Meeting mode is active, and they help you run a productive collaboration session.

Switch to Meeting Mode

Either by selecting 'Start Meeting' at the top of the board UI or by using the mode switcher in the toolbar.

Meeting controls

Click on the 'Meeting In Progress' status indicator at the top of the board.

Changing tools for meeting participants

In the Meeting Tools menu you can adjust what your participants are able to access, these options are grouped in 3 categories, Collaboration, Design, and Gestures.

If you do make any changes to our defaults, be sure to click the 'Update' button when you're done.

Hide Identities

One of our Host Controls which requires special mention is Hide Identities, it allows you to make all participants anonymous, and to stop Metro Retro tracking what they wrote or where they voted.

When Hide Identities is on:

• you can’t tell who is who

• you can’t tell who wrote a sticky note, ever!

• voting is anonymous

Hide Identities is a mode that you can turn on and off, to use whenever you need - whether for the whole session or just one activity.

With Hide Identities enabled

Anything written or voted on when Hide Identities is active stays that way, forever. Nothing can ever be tied back to an individual.

When you’re done, turn Hide Identities off to go back to regular mode, where all new contributions and votes are tracked again.

Why isn’t everything always anonymous in Metro Retro?

In short - we don’t believe anonymity should be default for team sessions, but we recognize that anonymity can be a useful tool in certain scenarios:

• helping newer teams raise awkward issues

• reducing bias like zombie groupthink, or the HIPPO effect

• is another useful tool in a facilitators toolbox

Locking objects in your board is a great way to avoid accidental editing.

Lock the layout when you start a meeting

Whenever you start a meeting as the host you will be presented with the option to lock the layout. This is a quick way to lock everything you have laid out in Design mode.

Lock individual objects

If you just want to lock a certain object, use the padlock icon when the object is selected. Locked objects will display an 'unlock' icon when selected.

Lock a multi-selection

To lock a group of the same object types, shift+click or shift+drag a multi-selection and use the 3-dot menu to select the lock option.

Quickly select all objects of the same type

To quickly select all objects of the same type, select an individual object and use the 3-dot menu to use the 'Select Others' function. This will select all matching object types across the entire board.

Whether you're looking for a template for your next meeting, or just need a spark of inspiration, Metro Retro has a range of pre-made templates available to use instantly.

You can preview all templates in the Template Library, accessed from the left menu. All standard templates are listed in their categories, and you can preview each board in full before using it.

In addition, teams can create and add their own custom templates to their Team Template Library.

Template Guides

For more detail on how to browse, customize and manage your templates, read our detailed guides below.

Prerequisites

In order to configure Google SSO integration with Metro Retro you will need:

• Admin access to your Metro Retro account.

• Admin access to your organization's Google account.

• One or more authorized domains adding to your Metro Retro account (see end of article).

• A note of your organizations Metro Retro Account ID.

How to find your Metro Retro Account ID

Integration Setup

From within the Google dashboard, choose Apps > Web and Mobile Apps from the left hand navigation. Then, click Add App and choose Custom SAML App.

Step 1 - App details

Click Continue.

Step 2 - Google Identity Provider details

Copy the settings from the Google screen into Metro Retro as follows:

• For "Entry Point" use the "SSO URL" value

• For "Issuer" use the "Entity ID" value

• For "Certificate" use the "Certificate" value (note will be quite large).

Once copied, click Save.

Back on the Google page, click Continue.

Step 3 - Service provider details

On this screen we configure the Google side with the configuration it needs to communicate with Metro Retro.

Input the following settings:

• For "ACS URL" use https://metroretro.io/login/saml

• For "Entity ID" use your Metro Retro Account ID (see above on where to find this).

• Leave all other settings as their defaults.

Click Continue.

Step 4 - Attribute mapping

The final step is to configure which profile values Google will send to Metro Retro. We need to map three of these:

• "First name" should be mapped to firstName

• "Last name" should be mapped to lastName

• "Email name" should be mapped to email

Click Continue to complete the setup wizard.

Step 5 - Grant access

Depending on how your organization is configured, it's likely that Metro Retro will be OFF for all users by default. You can control which users have access to the app via the User Access screen available from inside the App information panel. The easiest way to configure this is to set the app ON for everyone.

Step 6 - Configure domains

If you have not already had your authorized domains configured by a Metro Retro team member, please contact us on Intercom or at [email protected] to set these up. The domains must include all domains that your team will login from.

Who are Admins?

Admins are members of the Organization that can manage people and invites, teams, security settings, and the subscription.

Admins can:

1. Manage team members.

2. Manage teams.

3. Promote and demote other people to Admin, including themselves.

4. Manage the Access and SSO settings.

5. Manage team invite approvals

Only individuals designated as Admins can access the Admin management screens.

Owners

Owners have the same permissions as Admins, but they can additionally manage the subscription and billing for the Organization space.

Prerequisites

In order to configure Azure SSO integration with Metro Retro you will need:

• Admin access to your Metro Retro account.

• Admin access to your Azure portal (with permission to add Enterprise Applications).

• One or more authorized domains adding to your Metro Retro account (see end of article).

• A note of your organizations Metro Retro Account ID.

How to find your Metro Retro Account ID

Integration Setup

From within the Azure portal, search for and select Enterprise Applications from the resources palette, click New Application and then Create your own application. Set the name as Metro Retro and select Integrate any other application you don't find in the gallery if not already selected.

Click Create.

Select Single sign-on from the left menu (or getting started quick link) and select SAML as the sign-in method.

Leave the default User Attributes & Claims settings, as per the screenshot above. If the defaults are different or you have changed them, please set them as above.

Next, download the Base64 encoded Certificate file from Section 3. Make a note of the Login URL and Azure AD Identifier from Section 4. We will need all these values to configure the Metro Retro side of the integration.

Go to your Metro Retro account administration screen and navigate to Single Sign-On. Map the values from Azure to Metro Retro like so:

• Entry Point = Login URL

• Issuer = Azure AD Identifier

• Certificate = Text content of the Base64 certificate file

Once added, click Save Configuration. We recommend leaving the "Restrict login" setting off until you are sure all your team members are able to login via SSO otherwise it may block their access.

If you have not already had your authorized domains configured by a Metro Retro team member, please contact us on Intercom or at [email protected] to set these up. The domains should include all domains that your team will login from.

Authorized domains allow us to redirect users from Metro Retro to your SSO Identity Provider if they login directly via our login interface rather than going via your service portal. They are not required, but recommended.

Your Teams

Your active team is shown in the left menu and the top of the dashboard.

To select a different team, use the dropdown menu:

Managing your team

Inviting new members

You can add members to your team in a number of ways:

• Use the + icon next to the team select dropdown or next to the team profile images at the top of the dashboard

• You can add team members via name (if they already have an account in your org), email or link. Invite links expire after 5 days.

• If you are an Admin or Owner, you can open the Manage Teams screen via the team dropdown.

• You can invite existing Account members to another team, or send an invite to new people to join.

Create a new team

Use the manage team screen to create or delete teams for your organization account

• Teams can have as many members as you like (limited by your plan)

• The account owner is automatically added to all teams

• You can drag and drop members from one team to another

• Members can be in multiple teams

• To remove members, click on your team to 'open' it and use the 3-dot menu

• Members can only access boards in a team they have been added to

Team limits

• Starter Plan: 1 Team of 20 Members

• Business Plan: Unlimited Teams and Team Members (Max 200)

• Enterprise Plan: Unlimited Teams and Members

If you are on our Business Plan and reach the maximum member limit you initially subscribed to, you can go to your billing settings and add more members, up to 200.

Need help with teams or which plan is best for your team?

Teams are groupings of people and boards. The number of Teams you can have is determined by your Billing (Starter = 1 team, all other plans = Unlimited).

Admins and Owners can manage the Teams in an Account.

Each Member should belong to at least one team.

Create a new team

Use the Manage Team screen to create or delete teams for your organization account:

• Teams can have as many members as you like (limited by your plan)

• You can drag and drop members from one team to another. Hold shift to copy someone into a new team without leaving the other.

• Members can be in multiple teams.

• To remove members from a team, click on your team to 'open' it and use the 3-dot menu.

Delete a Team

• Deleting a Team will immediately archive all boards in that team and remove the members.

Your Dashboard

Your first visit

If you've just created a Metro Retro account your dashboard will look something like the image below. A pristine space for you to start building and organising boards, growing your team and running some of the best meetings you've ever experienced

Once you start to grow your team and use Metro Retro more, your dashboard will evolve and be your launchpad to manage, access and create everything you need.

Board UI overview

Quick access templates and boards

We've added a selection of core meeting types to the top of the dashboard, this allows you to quickly browse through all of our templates pre-filtered for the meeting type you want to run.

If you want to build your own board without a template, use the blank board option. Any board you have starred will also appear in this quick launch area.

Board folders

Folders help to keep your boards organised. You can either create new boards inside your folder to automatically add them there, or if the board is on your dashboard 'root', drag and drop it to the folder you want to organise it in.

If you delete a folder with boards in it, those boards will automatically move back to your 'root' folder, which is your team dashboard.

When you create a folder, it will appear along the top of your Boards area and will also be added to left hand menu for quick access if you have scrolled down the page.

There is no limits on how many folders you can add.

Dashboard Guides

For more information on the core areas of your dashboard, take a look at the following guides.

Prerequisites

In order to configure Okta integration with Metro Retro you will need:

• Admin access to your Metro Retro account.

• Admin access to your Okta account.

• One or more authorized domains adding to your Metro Retro account (see end of article).

• A note of your organizations Metro Retro Account ID.

How to find your Metro Retro Account ID

Integration Setup

Click Next.

Under Attribute Statements, add the following mappings:

• firstName (basic) -> user.firstName

• lastName (basic) -> user.lastName

• email (basic) -> user.email

Click Next.

Choose "I'm an Okta customer adding an internal app". You may optionally fill in any other fields on this form that are appropriate for your organization, they are not required for the integration to work.

Click Finish.

You should see the screen below, if not, click View Setup Instructions. The three values on the setup screen need to be added to Metro Retro under Management / Single Sign-On.

Once added, click Save Configuration. We recommend leaving the "Restrict login" setting off until you are sure all your team members are able to login via SSO otherwise it may block their access.

If you have not already had your authorized domains configured by a Metro Retro team member, please contact us on Intercom or at [email protected] to set these up. The domains must include all domains that your team will login from.

Pro Plan: The Pro plan is great for teams and organizations who want dedicated spaces for their meetings and workshops. The Team plan enables unlimited active boards, private folders & workspaces, advanced facilitation features & better security.

Business Plan: With the Business plan you can work with unlimited external guests, get enhanced security through SSO, and benefit from personalised onboard and support.

Enterprise Plan: If you have custom requirements, talk to us about the Enterprise plan.

Pro Plan

$12 per team member, per month

The Pro Plan is for teams that want unlimited collaboration, private folders & workspaces, advanced features, plus better security & privacy controls including SSO. It includes 2 free gusts + 1 additional guest per 10 team members.

Business Plan

$25 per member, per month

The Business Plan includes unlimited free guests (who do not need to sign up to participate), includes Single Sign On, personalised onboard and priority support.

Enterprise Plan

Talk to us

The Enterprise Plan enables custom contracts, custom payment methods, personal onboarding from the Metro Retro Founders, and priority support. Please email [email protected] to discuss your requirements.

Simple pricing, amazing meetings

Available plans with Metro Retro

All of our plans are fully loaded with everything you need to run fun, engaging and collaborative meetings.

$39 per month (billed annually).

For a single team getting started with great team collaboration.

• Single team (up to 20 members)

• Unlimited Boards

• Secure Workspace

• Facilitation Tools

• All Professional Templates

$3.8 per member/month (billed annually), minimum of 20 members.

Advanced collaboration features and team management, for up to 200 members.

• Everything in Starter

• Unlimited private teams and folders

• Cross-Team Collaboration

• External Collaborators (2 per board)

• Time Machine/Board History

• Single Sign-On

• Priority Support

Scaled collaboration across your whole organization. For 100+ users.

• Everything in Business

• Unlimited Teams

• SLAs

• Onboarding From The Founders

• Multi-Year Contracts

• On-Premises

Start your 30-day trial

Customer case studies

Need help deciding?

People & Seats

The People screen shows how many people are in the Account compared to the total seats set by your Billing.

Roles

There are four Account roles in Metro Retro - Owner, Admin, Member, Guest. The Owner has the most permissions, Guest has the least. Any number of people can be assigned to each role (within your billing limits).

Owner:

The top-dog role with all permissions. They have access to all Admin controls and functionality.

Admin

Admins have access to all admin functionality except Billing. This means they can manage People, Teams, Boards, Access Control, SSO. Like Owners, they also have all the functionality of a Team Member.

Member

This is the standard role in Metro Retro. Most of your team will be this role. Members can join teams, create and participate on boards, run meetings... all the standard stuff.

Guests

Guests are external to the Organization space. They can only access the individual boards they are invited to. They cannot access the team dashboard or workspaces.

Invite people

Invite by email

Any member, Admin or Owner can invite others by email. The recipients will receive an invite in their inbox to join your organization space.

Invite Link

Admins and Owners can generate an invite link to share with others, instantly adding them to the Account.

Removing people from the Organization

Removing a person from an Organization does not delete their user account. The user will need to delete their own user account.

If a person was removed accidentally from the Organization, they can be re-added.

Appointing other Admins

Admins can promote other people in the Organization to Admin.

Admins can also demote any other Admin (including themselves) to a regular Team Member or Guest.

Change a person's role by using the 3-dot menu on a team members name in the 'people' list of your organization.

The Business Plan is ideal for working with larger groups of external guests, while knowing that your team dashboard is secured with your Single Sign On solution.

Each team member requires a paid license, and has all functionality.

How to invite guests to a board

Simply share a board link with someone and they will automatically join the board as a free guest. Guests do not need to signup or login to participate on your boards.

Guests can only view the boards you share with them, they cannot access the team space or other boards.

Business Plan Pricing

The Business plan is $25 per member per month, or $250 per year (before VAT / sales tax).

The Enterprise plan is for those with custom requirements and payment methods. Talk to us [email protected] to discuss your needs.

Owners and Admins can see and manage all Boards in an Organization.

In the boards table, you can click the Board name, User, and Team to see more details.

Move Boards

You can move a board to any other team/folder.

Archive Boards

Archived Boards are hidden from view to all users.

Delete Boards

Delete boards to remove them entirely from the system. Please note this is permanent.

Organization members can access and participate on boards, as well as create their own boards.

Organizations can:

• Restrict who can become a team member by using domain-based access control & approval mechanisms.

• Setup Single Sign-on (SSO). Business and Enterprise plans only.

• Invite Guests (external collaborators) to their board. Guest access is restricted to just the board shared with them. Business and Enterprise plans only.

Organization access

All plans are able to restrict access to the organization and set joining rules with the Access Control setting (see below 👇), or for Business and Enterprise plans, through integration with your Single Sign On provider.

Access Control

You can control who has access to your Organization with Access Control.

Simply add your Organization domain(s) to Access Control to allow automatic access to anyone logging in with email addresses from your domain(s).

If you do not whitelist any domains, when you share a link with others for the first time, they will need to request to join the organization.

We can't promise our release notes will always be hilariously funny — sticky notes and confetti are an extremely serious business after all — but we do put effort in to making them useful, so please do take a look:

Browse by category

Keyboard Shortcuts

• Press the H key to bring you back to the center of the board.

• Press the Tab key to drop a ping arrow.

• Press the W key to open the Gestures menu, then press a 1-4 key to select the appropriate gesture.

If an Organization Account has strict access rules, or a user is invited that does not have a trusted domain, then the user will not be able to join the Organization Account.

Share a guest link to invite the person to an individual board instead (Business and Enterprise plans only).

The Pro Plan gives you:

• unlimited active boards for all your members

• board & account security and privacy options

Pricing

Monthly subscription: $12 per month per member

Annual subscription (get two months free): $120 per year per member

Who is included in the subscription?

Each person in your organization space is counted toward your subscription. This means all team members, Admins, and Owners.

Each team member, Admin, and Owner can create workspaces and boards, run meetings, and use all tools and templates.

Guests are free

You get up to 10 external guests free on every board. Guests do not need to signup, and may use a temporary profile. Guests cannot access the team dashboard.

Subscription details

The subscription is tied to your organization space, not an specific user. When you choose the Pro plan, you can select which members to upgrade. The rest will be demoted to external guests. You will be charged for each member you add to your organization space.

You can add or remove team members at any point. If you are on the monthly plan, your bill will be updated pro-rata.

You can cancel your subscription at any time and won't lose access to any of the boards you've created. You will keep your plan benefits until the end of the current billing period. Once your subscription ends your space will be reverted to the Free plan. Only the four most recent boards will be active on the Free plan.

Free 30 day trial

You can start a free trial of the Pro Plan for your Organization. The active board limit is removed, and your organization's security & privacy controls are enabled.

Once the trial is finished, your organization will be downgraded to the Free Plan.

You can choose to start a subscription at any point during or after your trial.

Your plan, subscription, and payment details can be managed from the Admin panel.

Billing Management

Billing management will open in a new tab, where you can:

• See your current Plan

• Upgrade your Plan

• Manage your subscription and payment details

• View historic and upcoming payments

• View audit log of billing events

Trials

• All new organization accounts start with a 30-day free trial.

• Once your trial expires your organization will need to select a plan before continuing to use Metro Retro.

• You can only start a trial once per Account.

• You can upgrade at any time while in the trial.

Manage Subscription

You'll find everything you need in the Billing screen. Change your subscription, update your details and view previous invoices.

Click on the 'Change' button to access additional options:

Change to a different plan will allow you to switch your billing frequency and adjust which plan your team uses:

For teams on the Business plan, you can use the change quantity option to add more teams to your plan:

Cancel your Plan

You can cancel your plan at any time. Your organization will remain on the paid plan until the end of your current billing period.

To cancel your Plan, follow these steps:

2. Select 'Change' and then cancel from the options

3. Confirm cancellation

4. Return to your Billing Settings. You may need to refresh to see the updates.

What happens when you cancel

• Your organization account will continue on your current plan for the time left in your subscription period.

• After the end date, your account will move into a paused state.

• Nothing is deleted when your account is paused.

• You can still access your account and all the boards within, in a read-only mode.

• You cannot create, edit or export boards.

• You can delete individual boards, delete teams, remove people, or delete the entire organization account.

• Individual user profiles are not deleted when you delete a team or organization. Each individual must login and delete their own profile.

Introduction

Metro Retro is a dynamic, real-time application providing users with a rich interactive environment to work collaboratively. It is primarily deployed into a virtual private cloud operated by Deqo Software Ltd and provided in the form of Software as a Service.

Logical Topology

The diagram below shows the logical topology layout including the data transfer routes. Blue lines are one way transfers, purple lines are bi-directional transfers.

Physical Topology

Cloud Deployment

Within the main cloud deployment, we utilize Digital Ocean with the following:

• Ubuntu VMs for App Server, App Worker, Snapper, Podopolis, Rabbit MQ, Redis & Caddy

• Digital Ocean Managed Postgres & MongoDB instances

• Digital Ocean Spaces (S3 Compatible Storage)

• Bunny CDN as the external CDN provider

Each component runs directly on a dedicated VM of a size applicable for the current system load.