A free moodboard and reference workspace for Windows.
Collect images, explore ideas, and keep your references beside your work.
No account. No subscription. Your boards stay on your PC.
Download for Windows · Features · Shortcuts · Report a bug
A place for images, notes, and the details that connect them.
Built for artists, designers, and anyone who works with visual references. Bring a collection together, make sense of it, and keep it close while you create.
- Collect without friction. Paste from the clipboard or drag images and files onto the canvas. Imported images retain their original data and quality.
- Arrange freely. Move, resize, rotate, and group references, or pack them into a tidy layout with one key.
- Keep your work local. Boards and images are stored on your PC. Working on a board does not require an internet connection.
- Stay in your flow. Pin RefBoard above other windows, switch between boards, and choose a compact or always-visible toolbar.
- Download
RefBoard-Installer-<version>.exefrom the latest release and run it. The standardRefBoard-Setup-<version>.exeinstaller is also available there. - Open RefBoard, choose New board, and drop in a few images. You can also paste with Ctrl+V.
- Press P to arrange your references, F to fit them in view, and Ctrl+S to save your board.
Installed release builds check for updates on startup by default. When an update is ready, RefBoard offers to restart and install it. Update preferences are in Settings → System.
Windows SmartScreen during installation
RefBoard is not currently code-signed, so Windows may display “Windows protected your PC.” If you downloaded the installer from this repository's release page and want to proceed, choose More info → Run anyway.
Home keeps recent boards within reach, with visual previews, pinned favorites, and search by board name or folder. Rename a board or reveal its file in Explorer directly from its card.
Classic Grid keeps your reference library in view.
Prefer to browse one board at a time? Switch to Focus Flow for large previews and a thumbnail strip.
See Focus Flow
Keep the thinking alongside the references. Add text notes, lists, drawings, and arrows; label images to find them again; and pull a color palette from a reference.
| Tool | What you can do |
|---|---|
| Arrange & group | Resize with proportions intact, rotate, snap to nearby items, and organize references in named groups. |
| Notes & drawing | Add formatted notes, checklists, pen marks, and arrows to explain an idea. |
| Image tools | Crop, flip, view in grayscale, and sample colors with the eyedropper. |
| Labels & search | Label references, filter by label, and search within a board. |
| Navigation | Zoom at the cursor, pan across the canvas, fit the selection or whole board, and jump around with the minimap. |
| Appearance | Choose from six dark themes, toggle the dot grid, and keep tools compact or always visible. |
- Copy at full resolution. Copy a reference back to another app; copying several selected items creates a combined image.
- Export the board. Save a PNG at 1×, 2×, or 4× with a transparent, dark, or white background.
- Export individual images. Keep the original format or choose PNG, JPEG, or WebP, with optional cropping and export order controls.
- Work beside other apps. Use the title-bar pin controls to keep references visible, and open up to four RefBoard windows.
- Keep making changes. Undo and redo edits, and use configurable autosave while you work.
A board is one file, Name.refboard, holding the layout, notes, tags, the
Explorer preview, and every original image. Move it, share it, or back it up
like any other document.
Saving adds only new or changed images to the file, so a save on a large
board takes a moment instead of rewriting everything. Boards from older
versions open as before and become the current format on their next save.
A temporary .refboard.bak protects file replacement and is removed after a
successful save; an interrupted replacement keeps it available for recovery.
Boards saved by 2.1.2 or later need RefBoard 2.1.2 or later. See board files.
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Paste / copy references | Ctrl+V / Ctrl+C |
| Save / save as | Ctrl+S / Ctrl+Shift+S |
| Open a board | Ctrl+O |
| Pack references | P |
| Fit selection or board | F |
| Pan / zoom | Space+drag / Mouse wheel |
| Add a text note | Shift+T |
| Group / ungroup | Ctrl+G / Ctrl+Shift+G |
| Search / labels | Ctrl+F / Ctrl+Shift+T |
| Toggle the minimap | M |
| Undo / redo | Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Shift+Z |
| Export board / images | Ctrl+E / Ctrl+Shift+I |
Press ? on a board for the full shortcut reference.
On Windows, with Node.js 22.12 or later and npm installed:
git clone https://github.com/sounak1125/RefBoard.git
cd RefBoard
npm ci
npm startRefBoard uses vanilla HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, packaged with Electron. Run npm test for the unit and contract checks. npm run dist runs those checks and builds the Windows installer into dist/.
Contributor references: maintaining and releasing · board storage · screenshot capture and photo credits.
Found a bug or have an idea? Open an issue. Pull requests are welcome. If RefBoard is useful to you, a star helps others discover it.
All screenshots use public sample photographs and fictional board data in an isolated app profile. No personal boards or history are shown. Photo credits.