Everything you need to run great retrospectives with Retroscribe — from your first board to facilitator power tools, exact limits, security guarantees and what's coming next. Use the search bar above to filter articles instantly.
Retroscribe is a realtime retrospective board: your team opens a shared link, adds cards to columns, votes, comments and captures action items — everything syncs live, with no page refreshes.
Three ways to get in
Email & password — create a full account with your name, email and a password. You'll receive a verification email; please verify within 24 hours or the account is temporarily locked until you do.
Sign in with Google — one click, no password. Your Google profile photo becomes your avatar.
Join as Guest — no account at all. Open a board link someone shared with you, enter a display name, and you're in. Guests can add cards, vote and comment — but can't create boards or polls (see Roles & permissions).
Limits
Password: minimum 6 characters
Unverified email accounts are locked after 24 hours (you can request a fresh verification link)
Guest accounts are auto-deleted after 30 days of inactivity, and cannot create boards or polls
Create your first board
Who can do this
Who: registered accounts only (email or Google). Guests can never create boards.
When: always — the create form lives in the lobby.
If you don't see it: you're signed in as a guest — guests are redirected to the sign-in screen and never reach the lobby. Register a free account (upgrading keeps everything you contributed as a guest).
Sign in with a full account (email or Google) — creating boards requires registration.
In the lobby, enter a board title and pick a template: Went Well / To Improve / Action Items, Glad / Sad / Mad, Start / Stop / Continue, 4Ls, or Custom (type your own column names separated by commas).
Optionally set a vote limit per person, turn on anonymous cards, or restrict poll creation to the host.
Click create — your board is live in seconds.
Invite your team
Click Share Link on the board — the board URL is copied to your clipboard.
Paste it into your team chat. Anyone with the link joins automatically — registered users with one click, everyone else as a guest with just a display name.
Tip: Boards are never listed or searchable publicly — the link with its random ID is the only way in. Share it only with people you want on the board.
Find your way back
Your Recent Boards list in the lobby remembers boards you've visited. For registered users it syncs across devices; for guests it lives in the browser. Deleted boards disappear from the list automatically.
Almost every "is this broken?" question about Retroscribe is really a question about roles. Read this once and the rest of the help center — and the app — will make sense.
The golden rule: hidden, not broken
Retroscribe hides controls you're not allowed to use — it does not grey them out. If you can't find the trash icon, the crown, the Start Meeting button or the Lock Voting switch, that is not a bug: the control genuinely does not exist on your screen because your role doesn't include it. On another participant's screen (the host's, the author's) the very same card or panel shows more buttons.
Support shortcut: before reporting "the button disappeared", check two things — what role do I have on this board? and what state is the board in? The tables below answer both.
The roles
Role
How you get it
What it unlocks
Host (facilitator)
You created the board — or the current host handed you the crown. There is exactly one host at a time.
Everything: the meeting lifecycle (Start/End), timer, Lock Voting, Reset Votes, Hide/Reveal Cards, spotlight, Discussed checkbox, moving/merging anyone's cards at any time, editing columns and board settings, deleting polls, transferring the host role, deleting the board.
Creator
You created the board. You start out as its host.
Board settings and column editing — forever, even after handing the host role to someone else. But after a hand-over the creator can no longer delete the board or take the crown back; only the current host can.
Member
You opened the board link and joined (with any kind of sign-in, including guest).
Adding cards, voting, comments, action points, voting in polls, seeing the participant list. Moving/merging/deleting applies to your own cards only, and only while the meeting hasn't ended.
Guest (anonymous)
You chose Join as Guest on a board link — no account.
Everything a member can do, minus creating boards and creating polls, and with no access to the lobby / Recent Boards. Upgrading to a full account keeps all your contributions.
Full account
Google sign-in or email & password.
Everything a member can do, plus creating boards and polls, plus the lobby with Recent Boards synced across devices.
Roles are per board: you can be the host of one board and a plain member of another at the same time.
Board states — and what each one switches off
State
Who sets it
What changes
Active
—
Everything works as described in the feature articles.
Voting locked
Host (toggle, reversible)
Vote clicks show a "Voting is locked for this board." toast. Everything else keeps working — cards, comments, action points, polls.
Meeting ended (frozen)
Host (End Meeting — cannot be restarted)
Card authors lose move, merge and delete on their own cards: the trash icon disappears and cards stop being draggable. The host is unaffected and can still move/merge anything. Still allowed for everyone: adding new cards, voting (unless voting is also locked), comments and action points.
Honest note: vote limits, Lock Voting and the after-meeting freeze are enforced by the app's interface, not by server rules. They are meeting-etiquette tools; hard security guarantees (who can read or write your board at all) are described in Security & privacy.
Host-only controls that members simply never see
The board control panel: Timer, Hide Cards, Lock Voting, Reset Votes
Start Meeting / End Meeting buttons (members still see the meeting status and timers)
The crown icons for transferring the facilitator role (everyone sees the Facilitator badge, only the host sees clickable crowns)
The spotlight icon and the Discussed checkbox on cards
The poll delete trash icon (and, when the board restricts polls to the host, the Create Poll button)
The column edit pencil follows the same rule: it appears only on the current host's screen, so members never see it — see Boards & templates.
Enter your name, email and a password (at least 6 characters).
Check your inbox for the verification email and click the link.
If you don't verify within 24 hours, you'll be signed out and asked to verify before continuing — a fresh activation link is sent automatically.
Sign in with Google
Click Sign in with Google on the auth screen or in the join modal. A Google popup handles everything — no password to remember, and your Google photo becomes your board avatar.
Join as Guest
Open a board link a teammate shared with you.
Choose Join as Guest and enter a display name (required).
You get a random avatar color and full participant powers: add cards, vote, comment.
What a guest can do
Who: anyone with a board link can join as a guest. A guest is a full board member: cards, votes, comments, action points and poll votes all work.
When: joining works whenever the board exists — regardless of locks or meeting state.
If you don't see it: guests never see the lobby or Recent Boards, can't create boards, and can't create polls — those controls are absent by role, not broken (see Roles & permissions). In the account menu a guest sees Register instead of Sign Out.
Guest limits
Guests cannot create boards
Guests cannot create polls (enforced by security rules, not just the UI)
Signing out as a guest deletes the anonymous account; abandoned guest accounts are auto-deleted after 30 days
Upgrade a guest to a full account
Liked the trial run? Register a full account from your guest session — your identity is linked in place, so everything you contributed as a guest is preserved: cards, votes, comments. If your email is already taken, you'll be guided through normal sign-in instead.
Edit your profile
Open your profile from the header.
Change your display name and pick one of 12 avatar colors.
Your avatar is your initial on the chosen color — or your Google photo if you signed in with Google.
From the lobby, fill in the create-board form. Five formats are built in:
Went Well / To Improve / Action Items — the classic
Glad / Sad / Mad — feelings first
Start / Stop / Continue — behavior-focused
4Ls — Liked, Learned, Lacked, Longed For
Custom — type column names separated by commas (an empty entry falls back to a single "Retrospective" column)
At creation time you can also set the per-person vote limit, make cards anonymous, and restrict poll creation to the host.
Who can do this
Who: registered accounts only (email or Google). Guests can never create boards.
When: always, from the lobby. You become the board's creator and first host.
If you don't see it: guests are redirected to the sign-in screen and never reach the lobby form — register a free account first.
Limits
Board title: max 200 characters
Columns: max 12 per board
Vote limit: any whole number ≥ 0 (0 = unlimited votes)
Board creation requires a full (registered) account
Recent Boards
The lobby shows boards you've visited, with dates and badges for their settings. For registered users the list syncs across your devices; guests keep it locally in the browser. Boards that were deleted are cleaned out of the list automatically.
Limits
Recent Boards keeps the 10 most recent boards on this device (up to 50 stored server-side)
Share a board
Open the board and click Share Link.
The URL (ending in #board_…) is copied to your clipboard — paste it anywhere.
Whoever opens it joins the member list automatically; no email invitations needed.
Edit columns Host
Who can do this
Who: the current host — the pencil icon in the column header appears only on the host's screen.
When: always — including after the meeting has ended.
If you don't see it: you're not the current host. Like every other host control, the pencil is hidden, not broken — ask the host to make the change, or have the facilitator role transferred to you.
Click the edit control in a column header.
Change the title and pick a color theme (green, red, purple or gray).
Save — everyone sees the change instantly.
If a column is removed and cards get orphaned, the host's app automatically rescues them into the first column (you'll see a toast).
Anonymous cards
If the board was created with anonymous cards enabled, authors are recorded as "Anonymous" with a neutral color at the moment of saving — the identity never reaches the database in readable fields. This is real anonymity, not a UI mask, so people can be genuinely honest.
Sort cards in a column
Each column has a sort dropdown: by votes (default), newest first, or oldest first. Sorting is a personal preference — it doesn't change what others see.
Adjust card text size
Use the A− / A+ buttons to scale card text — great for projectors or small screens. Your choice is remembered in this browser.
Limits
Font size range: 0.7–1.5 rem in 0.1 steps (saved locally, not synced)
Delete a board Host
Who can do this
Who: only the current host. Handing over the facilitator role hands over the delete right too — after a transfer, the original creator can no longer delete the board.
When: always — but only from the Recent Boards list in the lobby. There is no delete button on the board screen itself.
If you don't see it: the trash icon in Recent Boards appears only next to boards you created; boards you merely joined show a "Guest Link" badge instead. Edge case: if you created a board but transferred the host role away, you'll still see the trash icon — the deletion will be refused with "Failed to delete board." Ask the current host to delete it.
In Recent Boards, click the trash icon next to the board.
Confirm the prompt.
The board, all its cards, presence records and session logs are deleted together — no leftover data.
Careful: deleting a board is permanent and cascades to every card, comment, vote and log on it. Only the current host can delete a board — the creator loses this right after transferring the facilitator role.
Who: every board member, guests included. On boards with anonymous cards, the author is saved as "Anonymous".
When:always — adding cards keeps working even while voting is locked and even after the meeting has ended.
If you don't see it: the "Add a card..." field is shown to everyone in every column. If you can't see the board at all, you haven't joined yet — re-open the invite link.
Type into the "Add a card..." field at the top of any column.
Submit — your card appears for everyone instantly.
Limits
Card text: max 5,000 characters (enforced server-side — very long pastes will be rejected)
Delete a card
Who can do this
Who: the trash icon appears only on your own cards. (Server rules also allow the host to delete any card, but the host gets no trash icon on other people's cards — in practice deletion is the author's tool.)
When: only while the meeting is active or hasn't started. After the host ends the meeting the trash icon disappears — even on your own cards.
If you don't see it: it's not your card, or the meeting has ended. Neither is a bug — see Roles & permissions.
Click the trash icon on your card and confirm ("Delete this card?"). Deleting a card you voted on returns the vote to your pool.
Note: once the host ends the meeting, authors can no longer move, merge or delete their own cards. Adding new cards, voting (while unlocked), comments and action points still work — the freeze is a facilitation aid enforced by the app, not a server rule.
Move cards with drag & drop
Who can do this
Who: your own cards — you. Other people's cards — only the host.
When: authors can move their cards while the meeting is active or hasn't started; after End Meeting only the host can move anything.
If you can't grab a card: cards you don't own (and every card once the meeting ends) simply aren't draggable for you. A blocked attempt shows: "You can only move your own cards during an active meeting."
Grab a card and drag it over another column — the column highlights.
Drop it. The card moves for everyone in real time.
Merge (group) duplicate cards
Who can do this
Who: the card you drag (the source) must be your own — the host can merge any cards. The target card can belong to anyone.
When: authors while the meeting is active or hasn't started; the host at any time, including after the meeting ends.
If it won't merge: you're dragging someone else's card or the meeting has ended — you'll see "You can only merge your own cards during an active meeting."
Drag one card and drop it directly onto another card — the target highlights.
Confirm the merge prompt.
The texts are combined with a clean separator, votes are deduplicated per person (nobody's vote is counted twice — freed votes go back to their pool), and comments and action points are merged. Nothing from the discussion is lost.
Mark a card as Discussed Host
Who can do this
Who: the host — the Discussed checkbox exists only on the host's screen.
When: always; it toggles both ways ("Card marked as discussed/undiscussed").
If you don't see it: members and guests see only the "✓ Discussed" badge on cards the host has marked — never the checkbox itself.
The host toggles the Discussed checkbox. The card gets a badge and a dimmed style, and its comment and action sections collapse — a visible "done" marker for your agenda. Toggle it again to un-mark.
Spotlight a card Host
Who can do this
Who: the host only.
When: always; one card at a time.
If you don't see it: the spotlight icon exists only on the host's cards view. Everyone else sees the effect — the pulsing card — but has no control to trigger it.
Click the spotlight control on a card to make it pulse on every participant's screen — the whole room looks at the same topic. Click again to turn it off.
Action Points on a card
Who can do this
Who:every member, including guests — on any card, including other people's. Deleting is equally open: anyone can remove any action point, even ones someone else wrote.
When: always — even after the meeting ends. Removal is immediate, with no confirmation prompt.
If you don't see it: the lightning-bolt icon is on every card for every member — if it's missing, you're not on the board.
Click the lightning-bolt icon on a card (it shows a counter) to expand the Action Points section.
Type a task and add it. Any board member can add action points — even on someone else's card.
Remove an action point with its delete control (removal is immediate, no confirmation).
Action items live right where the discussion happens, so nothing gets lost between the board and the follow-up.
Who: every member, including guests — on any card, yours or someone else's.
When: whenever voting isn't locked by the host and you have votes left under the board's limit (removing an existing vote always works and frees one up). Ending the meeting does not stop voting — only the lock does.
If you don't see it: the vote button is always visible to everyone. When a click is blocked, a toast tells you why: "Voting is locked for this board." or "You have reached the maximum number of votes allowed."
Click the vote button on a card to add your vote; click again to take it back. Your own vote is highlighted. Votes are written atomically, so even if two people vote at the exact same moment, no vote is ever lost — this is proven by automated race-condition tests.
Limits
1 vote per person per card — voting is a toggle, not a counter
Per-person total is set by the board's vote limit (see below)
Vote limit per person ("Votes left")
If the board was created with a vote limit, the board header shows a "Votes left" counter. When you run out, further votes are blocked with a toast — but you can always remove an existing vote to free one up. A limit of 0 means unlimited voting (the badge is hidden).
If you don't see it: the Lock Voting button sits in the host control panel, which is hidden (not greyed out) for members — see Roles & permissions.
When it's time to move from voting to discussion, the host flips Lock Voting. Anyone who tries to vote sees a "Voting is locked" toast. Flip it back off any time.
Reset all votes Host
Who can do this
Who: the host only.
When: always — with a confirmation ("This action is permanent."); there is no undo.
If you don't see it: Reset Votes lives in the hidden host control panel — members don't have the button at all.
Open the host controls and choose Reset votes.
Confirm — every vote on every card is cleared.
Careful: resetting votes is irreversible. It's perfect for a second voting round on the same board, but there's no undo.
Who: every member, including guests — on any card.
When:always — commenting is never blocked by Lock Voting or by the meeting ending.
If you don't see it: the speech-bubble icon is on every card for every member — if it's missing, you're not on the board yet.
Click the speech-bubble icon on a card (it shows a comment count) to open the inline comment section — or open the full Card Discussion modal for longer threads.
Type your comment and submit. Author name, avatar color and time are shown with each comment.
Comments are written atomically — two people commenting at the same instant both get through, guaranteed.
Delete a comment
Who can do this
Who: only the comment's author gets a delete icon. The host has no delete control on other people's comments.
When: always, with a confirmation ("Delete this comment?").
If you don't see it: it's not your comment — ask its author to remove it.
Add emoji
Every comment field has an emoji picker — click the emoji button in the modal or inline form and pick away. Retros don't have to be somber.
Attach images
Who can do this
Who: anyone signed in — guests included.
When: always.
If it fails: upload rejections are about the file (type or size — see the limits below), not about your role.
In a comment form, attach an image from disk — or simply paste a screenshot from your clipboard.
Check the preview, then send.
Click any thumbnail later to view the image full-screen.
Image limits
Max file size: 5 MB
Allowed formats: PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP only
File names are sanitized automatically and capped at 100 characters
Uploading requires being signed in (guest or full account)
Tip: a screenshot is worth a thousand words — paste the bug right into the retro card that mentions it.
The board creator starts as the host (facilitator) — shown with a crown badge under the board title so everyone knows who's driving. Hosts get a full toolkit in the Meeting Panel and the board control panel.
Who sees the host tools
Who: the current host only. The board control panel (Timer, Hide Cards, Lock Voting, Reset Votes) exists only on the host's screen — members don't see any of those four buttons.
When: the tools are available for as long as you hold the host role; transferring the role moves them to the new host instantly.
If you don't see it: you're not the current host. Retroscribe hides host controls rather than greying them out — see Roles & permissions.
The Meeting Panel
A slide-out side panel gathers the facilitation tools in one place: Lifecycle, Active Timers, Polls and Participants. Sections collapse and can be reordered by drag & drop. The panel auto-opens when a new poll appears or a timer starts, so nobody misses the moment. Everyone can open the panel — but the host-only buttons inside (Start/End Meeting, timer controls) appear only for the host.
Start and end the meeting Host
Who can do this
Who: the host only.
When: Start — while no meeting has been started yet; End — while a meeting is running. An ended meeting cannot be restarted, so end it only when the retro is truly over.
If you don't see it: members see the meeting status — the start time, a live elapsed counter and later "(Ended)" — but never the Start/End buttons.
Open the Meeting Panel and click Start Meeting. Everyone sees the start time and a live elapsed-time counter.
When you're done, click End Meeting and confirm.
Note: after the meeting ends, participants can no longer move, merge or delete their own cards — but adding cards, voting (while unlocked), comments and action points keep working. The host keeps full control. The board becomes a read-mostly record — perfect as the retro's protocol.
Session timer Host
Who can do this
Who: only the host sets, pauses, resumes and stops timers.
When: always — timers are independent of the meeting state.
If you don't see it: the timer controls are host-only; the countdown itself is shown to everyone (in the panel or the top bar), with a final-minute warning and a "Time is up!" toast + sound for the whole room.
In the Timers section, set a countdown and start it.
Everyone sees the same synchronized timer — in the panel, or in the top bar when the panel is collapsed.
Pause, resume or stop at any time. The final minute pulses; when time is up, everyone gets a "Time is up!" toast with a sound.
Limits
Timer duration: 1–60 minutes; only the host sets and controls timers
Polls
Who can do this
Who:creating a poll — members with a full account (guests never can); if the board has "Only Host Can Create Polls" enabled — the host only. Voting in a poll — every member, guests included. Deleting a poll — the host only.
When: always — polls are independent of voting locks and the meeting state.
If you don't see it: on host-only-poll boards, the Create Poll button is hidden from everyone but the host ("Only the host can create polls."). Guests who try to create one get "Create a free account to launch polls." The poll's trash icon exists only on the host's screen.
In the Polls section, enter a question and at least two options (click Add Option for more).
Publish — everyone votes with one click and watches live percentage bars.
Changed your mind? Click a different option — your vote moves (handled in a transaction, so counts always stay correct).
Poll limits
Minimum 2 options, no upper limit
1 vote per person per poll (clicking another option moves your vote)
Guests can't create polls; if the board has "Only Host Can Create Polls" enabled, only the host can
Only the host can delete polls
Tip: polls are great for a quick ROTI (Return On Time Invested, 1–5) at the end of the retro, or for choosing which topic to discuss first.
Participants & presence
The Participants section shows who's actually on the board right now — avatar, name, and a Facilitator badge for the host. Presence updates via a heartbeat every 60 seconds; anyone silent for over 2 minutes is hidden. You'll see a toast when someone joins, and people disappear from the list the moment they close the tab.
Hand over the facilitator role Host
Who can do this
Who: only the current host — to any participant on the list.
When: always, after confirming "Do you want to pass facilitator rights to {name}?".
If you don't see it: the clickable crown icons next to participants exist only on the host's screen. Everyone sees the Facilitator badge showing who currently hosts — but only the host can pass it on. A former host can't take the role back; the new host would have to hand it over.
In the Participants list, click the crown icon next to a participant.
Confirm — the host role transfers instantly, and all host controls move to the new facilitator in real time.
The handover is complete: all host controls — including the column edit pencil — move to the new facilitator in real time. After a transfer the original creator can no longer delete the board or transfer the role back; those belong to the current host.
Hide / Reveal cards (anti-groupthink blur) Host
Who can do this
Who: the host only toggles the blur; each card's author (and the host) always sees the text sharply.
When: always — a reversible toggle ("Cards blurred for focus mode" / "Cards revealed").
If you don't see it: Hide/Reveal Cards is in the hidden host control panel — members don't have the button.
During idea collection, the host can blur all card text for everyone. Each person sees only their own cards sharply (the host and each card's author see everything). Reveal when collection is done — no anchoring, no bandwagon.
Log Book
The Log Book section of the Meeting Control panel is the board's live attendance record. Every visit gets its own entry — who joined, when they came in and left, and how long they stayed, with a live Active/Offline status — plus a short summary of the board's ground rules (whether cards are anonymous and who may create polls). Everyone on the board sees it, host and members alike, and it updates in real time as people come and go.
Three realtime streams keep everyone in sync: the board itself (settings, timer, polls, spotlight), the cards, and the presence list. Any change made by anyone shows up on every screen immediately — no refresh button, ever. It feels like being in the same room.
No lost updates — guaranteed
Votes, comments, action points and poll votes use atomic write operations; poll voting runs in a transaction; bulk operations are batched. Two people acting at the same millisecond both win. This isn't a hope — it's proven by automated two-user race-condition tests that run in CI.
Clean deletes and self-healing boards
Deleting a board removes all of its children — no zombie data. If cards ever get orphaned (for example after a column is removed), the host's app automatically rescues them into the first column and lets you know with a toast. A weekly automated cleanup job also sweeps stale presence records and data from deleted boards.
Notifications
Success and error feedback arrives as unobtrusive toasts that auto-hide after about 3.5 seconds — no blocking popups (except confirmations for destructive actions, which is deliberate).
Look & feel
Retroscribe uses a dark glassmorphism theme with the Inter typeface and animated backgrounds, responsive down to phone widths. Card spotlights, modals and drag operations are animated. There's currently no light theme.
Deep links
Every board URL (#board_…) is a deep link: open it while signed out and you'll get the Join Board dialog; the app cleans up your presence properly when you navigate away or close the tab.
Retroscribe's access model is share-by-link: your board is not listed, indexed or searchable anywhere, and its ID is random and unguessable — the link is the only way in. Anyone who has the link can join, so treat it like you'd treat a private meeting link. Here's what the platform guarantees, in plain language:
Who can see your board
Members only. Your board, its cards, the participant list and the session log can be read only by people who have actually joined the board (plus the host and creator). Non-members get nothing — even if they somehow knew the board ID.
No public listing. There is no directory of boards; listing is switched off entirely at the database-rules level.
You can only join as yourself. When someone opens a board link, they can add only their own identity to the member list — nobody can add someone else, impersonate another member, or smuggle in other changes while joining.
What people can and can't touch
Your cards stay yours. On someone else's card, a member can only interact collaboratively — vote, comment, add action points. Rewriting the card's text or deleting it is reserved for the author and the host, enforced server-side.
Identities can't be forged. The creator of a board or card is recorded once and can never be changed; a card can never be moved to a different board; only the current host can hand over the host role.
Guest accounts are capability-scoped. Guests can't create boards or polls — and that's enforced by security rules, not just hidden buttons.
Anonymous means anonymous. On anonymous boards, names and colors are stripped before the data is written — your identity never reaches the database, so it can't be revealed later.
Everything else is denied. The rules end with deny-by-default: any data path not explicitly described above is inaccessible, and no access exists without authentication.
Uploads
File storage accepts only images (content-type checked), only up to 5 MB, only into the board's comment folder, and only from signed-in users. Everything else is rejected. File names are sanitized against path tricks.
Platform hardening
App Check (reCAPTCHA v3) is enforced on the database, storage and authentication — requests that don't come from the real Retroscribe app are rejected. This also blocks bot flooding of guest accounts.
Strict security headers are live in enforcing mode: a tight Content-Security-Policy, clickjacking protection (the app can't be embedded in a hostile iframe), MIME sniffing disabled, and camera/microphone/geolocation switched off at the browser-policy level.
Anti-XSS discipline in the client: notifications render as plain text, colors and uploaded file names are sanitized.
Verified, not just promised
The security rules are covered by 112 automated rules tests (including a full attack matrix from a hostile non-member) and the app by 74 end-to-end tests covering multi-user scenarios, race conditions, guest restrictions and hostile file names — all running in CI on every change.
Honest footnote: the per-person vote limit, Lock Voting and the after-meeting freeze are enforced in the app's interface, not by server rules — a determined member with developer tools could bypass them. They're meeting-etiquette tools, not security boundaries. Board content isolation, on the other hand, is a hard server-side guarantee. See Roles & permissions for what each role and board state controls.
I don't see the trash icon / Start Meeting / crown / a button someone else has
This is almost never a bug. Retroscribe hides controls your role doesn't include — it doesn't grey them out. Check which case matches:
No trash icon next to a board in Recent Boards → you didn't create that board (it shows a "Guest Link" badge instead). Only the current host can delete a board.
No trash icon on a card → it's not your card, or the host has ended the meeting (the icon disappears even on your own cards then).
No Start Meeting / End Meeting, Timer, Hide Cards, Lock Voting or Reset Votes → you're not the current host; those controls exist only on the host's screen.
No crown icons in Participants → only the host sees the clickable crowns for transferring the role; everyone else just sees the Facilitator badge.
No Discussed checkbox / spotlight icon on cards → host-only; members see only the effects (the badge, the pulsing card).
No Create Poll button → the board restricts polls to the host — or you're a guest, and guests can't create polls at all.
No edit pencil on a column header → column settings are host-only, so the pencil too appears only on the host's screen — like every other host control.
1. You're not a member yet. Open the board via its link so the app can join you to the member list — don't copy data out of someone's screen share.
2. The meeting has ended. After the host ends the meeting, you can't move, merge or delete your own cards anymore (adding cards, voting, comments and action points still work). An ended meeting cannot be restarted — but the host can still move and merge cards for you.
3. It's a host-only action. Moving other people's cards, timers, locking votes, spotlight, blur, marking cards Discussed, ending the meeting and deleting polls all require the crown — and their controls are hidden from everyone else. Editing columns is host-only too — the pencil is hidden for members, so you'd normally never even reach this error. Ask the host, or ask them to transfer the role to you. See Roles & permissions.
4. You're a guest trying to create a board or poll. Guests can't — upgrade to a full account (your contributions are preserved).
My board title, card or entry was rejected by a limit
Check the limit for what you were writing:
Board title ≤ 200 characters · columns ≤ 12 · card text ≤ 5,000 characters · display name ≤ 100 characters · image ≤ 5 MB (PNG/JPEG/GIF/WebP only) · poll needs ≥ 2 options · timer 1–60 min.
Card text is the sneaky one: the input field doesn't stop you at 5,000 characters, but the server does. If a giant paste fails silently, split it into several cards (which usually makes a better retro anyway).
I don't see other people's changes in real time
Retroscribe streams every change live; if your board is frozen, something is blocking the connection:
1. Check your network — corporate firewalls or VPNs sometimes block the realtime channel to Google/Firebase domains.
2. Aggressive ad-blockers or privacy extensions can block reCAPTCHA (App Check), which the app requires. Try allowing the site or a different browser profile.
3. Refresh the tab — the app will resubscribe to all live streams.
4. Make sure you're actually on the board (your avatar appears in Participants). If not, re-open the board link.
I can't vote — "Voting is locked" or "Votes left: 0"
"Voting is locked" means the host closed the voting phase — that's intentional; ask them to unlock if needed.
"Votes left: 0" means you've spent your allowance (set when the board was created). You can still remove a vote from a card you care less about — click your highlighted vote to take it back — and spend it elsewhere.
I was signed out and asked to verify my email
Accounts that stay unverified for more than 24 hours are locked until verified. A fresh activation link is sent when this happens — check your inbox (and spam folder), click the link, and sign in again. Nothing is deleted; your boards and contributions are waiting for you.
My image won't upload
Uploads are rejected when the file is over 5 MB, isn't a PNG, JPEG, GIF or WebP, or you're not signed in. Screenshots pasted from the clipboard are usually PNG and well under the limit; exported photos are the usual over-5 MB culprits — resize or compress and retry.
Someone left but still shows in the participant list
Presence uses a 60-second heartbeat with a 2-minute timeout. If someone's laptop went to sleep instead of closing the tab, they may linger for up to 2 minutes before disappearing. Closing the tab normally removes them instantly. No action needed — it resolves itself.
A card vanished after I deleted a column
It didn't vanish — it got rescued. When a column is removed, its cards are automatically moved to the first column by the host's app (you'll see a toast when it happens). Scroll the first column and you'll find them. Note the rescue runs on the host's screen, so the host needs the board open for it to trigger.
I merged two cards by accident
Merging always asks for confirmation first, but if it happened: there's no automatic un-merge, and there is no edit control on cards to trim the combined text. The fastest fix is to add fresh cards with the original texts and delete the merged card — its author can do that while the meeting is active (the merged card belongs to the card you dropped onto).
No. Only the person creating the board needs a registered account. Everyone else can open the link and Join as Guest with just a display name — full ability to add cards, vote and comment.
Is my board private?
Boards are not listed or searchable anywhere and have random, unguessable IDs — only people you give the link to can find them, and only actual members can read the content. Note this is share-by-link, not invite-only: anyone holding the link can join, so share it deliberately.
How many votes do I get?
It depends on the board: the creator sets a per-person limit (shown as "Votes left" in the header), or leaves it at 0 for unlimited. Either way it's max 1 vote per card, and you can always take a vote back and spend it elsewhere.
Are anonymous cards really anonymous?
Yes — on anonymous boards, the author's name and color are replaced with "Anonymous" before the data is saved, so the identity never enters the database. It's not a UI trick that could be peeled back later.
What happens to my data if I join as a guest?
Your cards, votes and comments stay on the board. Your guest identity is deleted when you sign out, and abandoned guest accounts are auto-deleted after 30 days. If you upgrade to a full account before that, everything is linked to your new account seamlessly.
Can I change who facilitates mid-meeting?
Yes — the current host clicks the crown icon next to any participant to hand over the role. All host controls move to the new facilitator instantly, on every screen. Handy for rotating facilitators or when the host's connection drops.
Can I export my board to PDF, CSV or Markdown?
Not yet — export is on the roadmap. Today the board itself is your durable record: after the host ends the meeting it becomes a frozen protocol you can revisit any time from Recent Boards. The bigger vision — an AI-written report after each retro — is also coming; see the Roadmap.
Is there a light theme?
Not currently — Retroscribe ships with a dark glassmorphism theme only. If you need extra readability on a projector, use the A+ button to bump the card text size up to 1.5×.
Can I change the app's language?
Yes — click the globe icon in the app header to switch the interface between 8 languages: English, Polski, Deutsch, Українська, Русский, Čeština, Slovenčina and Svenska. The choice is remembered on your device; the default is English.
Does it work on phones and tablets?
Yes — the interface is responsive with dedicated breakpoints for tablets and phones. Facilitating (drag & drop, panel juggling) is most comfortable on a desktop; participating (cards, votes, comments) works fine on mobile.
When can Retroscribe record my retro and write the report?
That's the flagship vision — a Microsoft Teams add-in that syncs the meeting transcript with your card timeline and has AI write the report with action items assigned to people. It is not available yet; it's under active design. See the Roadmap for what's planned and follow our updates to know when it ships.
Retroscribe's tagline is a promise: the retro that writes its own report. Here's where we're headed. Everything below is in design or development — not available today. What you can use right now is everything described in the articles above.
Coming soon: Retro inside Microsoft Teams Coming soon
This feature is in development and is not yet available in the app.
A Teams meeting add-in: the facilitator gets a compact side-panel remote control while the shared board lives on the meeting stage. Sign-in flows straight through your Teams identity — no separate accounts for your team.
Coming soon: Phase-driven retros Coming soon
This feature is in development and is not yet available in the app.
A guided flow through the classic retro arc: collect → group → vote → discuss → close. Cards blur automatically during collection (no groupthink), vote results stay hidden until voting closes (no anchoring), the discussion phase combines spotlight with timeboxes, and a ROTI 1–5 poll wraps it up. Today's free-form mode will remain available.
Coming soon: Recording & transcript, synced to your cards Coming soon
This feature is in development and is not yet available in the app.
The heart of the vision: Retroscribe pairs the meeting transcript with a timeline of your board — which card was on screen, spotlighted or discussed at which minute. The conversation and the board become one navigable record of the retro.
Coming soon: AI-written report with assigned action items Coming soon
This feature is in development and is not yet available in the app.
After the meeting, the scribe gets to work: AI combines the transcript and the card timeline into a structured report — what was discussed, what was decided, and action items assigned to actual people from the meeting roster. A summary lands in your team chat; the full report is a click away. No one has to write minutes ever again.
Coming soon: Also on the list Planned
This feature is in development and is not yet available in the app.
Board export (Markdown / PDF / image)
Emoji reactions on cards
Carrying unfinished action items into the next retro
Card clustering suggestions and voting analytics
Live cursors and an AI facilitation assistant
Honesty policy: we only describe a feature as available when it's live. If it carries a "Coming soon" badge, it's a commitment we're building toward — not something you can click today.
Write to grzegorz.patynek@gmail.com — include the board link (we can't find boards any other way, by design), what you did, what you expected and what happened instead. Screenshots help a lot.
Report a bug or request a feature
Email grzegorz.patynek@gmail.com with "BUG" or "FEATURE" in the subject. Good bug reports mention your browser, whether you were host / member / guest, and steps to reproduce.
Security disclosures
Found a security issue? Please email grzegorz.patynek@gmail.com with "SECURITY" in the subject rather than reporting it publicly — we take these seriously and respond first.
Before you write: the Troubleshooting section covers the most common issues — permissions, limits, realtime sync and uploads — with concrete fixes.
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