Expand Support

Expand is a spatial board for macOS. Place text, images, files, and shapes on an open canvas, then nest boards you can actually go into. Your boards stay on your Mac and, if you choose, in iCloud Drive. Expand does not collect account data or analytics.

Double-click an empty area of the board to add a new element. You can also right-click the canvas and choose the kind of content you want to create, including text, images, files, or shapes. The plus button in the toolbar provides the same creation options and places the new element near the top of the window. After adding an element, drag it to the position that makes sense for your layout.

A board can contain text, images, PDFs and other files, shapes, connecting lines, Kanban-style elements, and additional boards. This lets you keep written notes, visual references, documents, and structures together on one open canvas instead of separating them across several apps or folders.

Boards can contain other boards, and those boards can contain further boards without a fixed nesting limit. Open a nested board to work inside it as its own canvas. The breadcrumbs in the title bar show your current position and let you move back to a parent board. This is useful for starting with a broad overview and opening deeper levels only when you need their details.

Drag elements freely across the canvas and place related material close together. Expand is intentionally spatial: there is no required row, column, or document order. You can use position, distance, shapes, and connecting lines to express relationships. Moving an element changes its place on the board without changing the content itself.

Yes. Text elements support rich-text formatting, including bold, italic, and underline. Use formatting to create visual hierarchy inside a note, emphasize important details, or distinguish headings from supporting information while keeping everything directly on the board.

Connecting lines make relationships between elements visible, similar to a mind map. Kanban-style elements are useful when a topic is better organized into stages or columns. Both can live alongside ordinary text, images, files, shapes, and nested boards, so you can combine different ways of thinking within one document.

Use full-text search to find written content across your boards instead of opening nested boards one by one. Search is especially helpful in larger documents with several levels, where the spatial structure provides context but you need to jump directly to a specific term or note.

Expand documents are saved as .exd packages in a location you choose. They can remain locally on your Mac or be placed in iCloud Drive if you want them available through your iCloud storage. Expand does not require an account or upload your boards to a separate Expand service.

Yes. An .exd document is a package that should be moved or copied as one complete item in Finder. You can include it in your normal local or iCloud backup routine. Avoid opening the package contents in Finder and changing individual internal files, because those files belong to the document structure managed by Expand.

No. Expand does not collect account data or analytics, and no Expand account is required. Your document remains in the storage location you selected. If you save it in iCloud Drive, synchronization is handled by your Apple iCloud account rather than by a separate Expand cloud service.

Expand requires macOS 26.5 or later. If the Mac App Store does not allow installation, first check the macOS version under Apple menu › About This Mac and install any available system updates that are compatible with your Mac.

Yes. Expand is available on the Mac App Store as Expand Board for a one-time purchase of €7.99. There is no subscription. The store listing provides the current compatibility information and delivers future app updates through the Mac App Store.