# Broadser

> Research on one canvas: web pages, notes, clips, and connections together. Free personal boards on Mac, with optional cloud boards and collaboration on Mac and the web.

Canonical page: https://broadser.kens-toolbox.com/

## Broadser for Mac

Download: https://broadser.kens-toolbox.com/mac/download/v1.0.17/Broadser-1.0.17.dmg (version 1.0.17).

Requirements: a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 13 or later. Personal boards are free and need no account.

Open web pages directly in their cards or in Side Peek, with tabs, find in page, page zoom, print and PDF, downloads, and permissions you grant one site at a time. Access depends on the publisher's restrictions and compatibility; Broadser does not bypass sign-ins, subscriptions, or access controls.

Home keeps your personal boards, folders, Starred, templates, and a Library of your pages and notes. Import Chrome bookmarks, drop in PDFs, or send a page and selected passage with Save to Broadser.

Personal boards stay on your Mac and work offline. Signing in enables separate cloud boards; it does not upload personal boards automatically. Daily backups run while Broadser is open, keeping the last 14. Export everything keeps a copy you can move to another Mac. Web pages and cloud features need a connection. The website download checks daily for updates; you can turn that off in Settings.

## Broadser in a browser

Open https://broadser.kens-toolbox.com/app, or choose Open in browser on the homepage. Create an account or sign in; accounts are shared with Ken's Toolbox. The browser includes your account board and the shared boards you create or join. It supports touch on phones and tablets, with more room to work on a larger screen.

The browser displays saved screenshots from Mac or images you upload, with a source link for each page. Switch between Canvas and Read, inspect a screenshot at its actual size, and open original sources in a new tab. A link without a screenshot stays a source card. Side Peek and live page browsing are available on Mac.

Your account board keeps a browser copy and syncs to your account. Offline edits wait to sync when your connection returns. Shared boards use a separate collaboration history and membership. Check the sync status before closing a device, and keep exports of work you want to preserve independently.

## Collect, read, and structure

Paste a link, press W, or drag one onto the board. Write notes beside sources, connect cards, group them in frames, and put nested boards inside cards. On Mac, Side Peek opens a page beside your work. In a browser, read saved captures or open the original source in a new tab.

Clip passages, pictures, or videos with a source link and date. Copy citations in APA, MLA, Chicago, BibTeX, or RIS, or export a bibliography for Zotero. Citation details depend on source metadata; review them before using them in published work.

Create mind maps, flowcharts, swimlanes, fishbone and timeline layouts, and tables. Paste Mermaid diagrams, indented outlines, spreadsheet cells, Markdown tables, or CSV files. Export board files, images, Markdown with references, and web pages.

## Collaboration and sharing

- **Invited cloud boards:** choose Share ▸ Live collaboration to create a shared copy or manage an existing cloud board. Invite people with view or edit access. Participants sign in; live cursors and comments help you work together across Mac and browser clients.
- **Session tools:** one toolbar entry opens a shared timer, card voting, and the speaking queue. Online cursors and selections follow the canvas camera; comments support replies and resolved threads.
- **Email invitations:** optional recipient-specific invitations check the confirmed account email. Invited participants accept the cloud agreement personally; one-use sign-in links expire separately from board invitations.
- **Event sections:** configured event workspaces keep own-group collaboration. Outside-group reading is private by default and requires both members to opt in; outside views are read-only and access is checked again when opened.
- **Read-only snapshots:** publish a separate copy of the board as an unlisted link. Anyone with the link can view it without an account. Preview the recipient view before publishing. Later edits do not appear in that snapshot. Review its contents before publishing and turn it off on https://broadser.kens-toolbox.com/publish.
- **Exported copies:** save or send a file yourself. Turning off a snapshot link cannot recall saved or downloaded copies.

Sharing a personal Mac board creates a shared copy; the original personal board stays local. Shared board access and public snapshot links are managed separately.

## Privacy and deletion

Broadser has no advertising tracking scripts and does not sell personal information. Websites, hosting providers, account services, and any external AI service you enable process data under their own applicable practices. Local storage does not make opening websites or using cloud features offline.

Delete local boards from Home and empty Trash, or clear website data and page pictures in Mac Settings. Delete the browser account board with Delete my board data in its account menu. Manage shared boards separately, and turn off public snapshots on Shared links. For account deletion or other privacy requests, use https://broadser.kens-toolbox.com/support; Ken's Toolbox accounts are shared across tools.

Read the [Privacy Policy](https://broadser.kens-toolbox.com/privacy) and [Terms of Use](https://broadser.kens-toolbox.com/terms) for the current storage, account, sharing, and use conditions. Third-party licenses: [Notices](https://broadser.kens-toolbox.com/third-party-notices.txt).

Broadser is a free personal project by Ken Pan, part of [Ken's Toolbox](https://kens-toolbox.com/).

Latest update: [Broadser 1.0.15 release notes](https://github.com/Ken-pan/broadser-releases/releases/tag/v1.0.15).
