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Link external boards and docs

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Teams rarely keep everything in one tool. When the kickoff board lives in Miro and the design file lives in Figma, you can pin those links inside the project so nobody digs through chat history to find them. Linked boards and docs appear as cards in a document folder and open in a new tab when clicked.

Section titled “Link a board or doc”

  1. Open the project’s Docs section and go to the Whiteboards tab.

  2. Select Link board/doc. The Link external board or doc dialog opens.

  3. Choose the Document Folder the link should live in. If the project has no folders yet, create one first under Docs → Document Folders.

  4. Paste the URL. Onplana recognizes Miro, Figma, Notion, Confluence, Google Docs, and Excalidraw links automatically and tags them with the right provider; anything else is stored as a plain Web link. You can override the detected provider.

  5. Optionally give it a Display name (it defaults to the provider name), then select Attach link.

Section titled “Link previews”

Right after you attach a link, Onplana fetches the page’s public title, description, and thumbnail in the background and shows them on the card, so a wall of links stays scannable.

If a preview goes stale (say the board was renamed), the quickest fix in the app is to attach the link again and remove the old card. Connected AI agents can also refresh a stored preview directly on request.

FAQs

Section titled “FAQs”

Does Onplana sync the content of the linked board? No. A link is a reference, not an import. The content stays in the source tool, and clicking the card opens it there.

Who can open a linked board? Anyone on the project can see the card and click it, but the source tool applies its own access control. Make sure the board is shared with your team in Miro, Figma, or wherever it lives.

Can I share a linked board with someone outside Onplana? Not through Onplana’s document sharing, which only works for files with stored content. Share the source URL directly instead. See Share reports and documents externally for what can be shared.

How is this different from attaching a Google Drive file? Pasting a link works on every plan and stores only the URL. The cloud file picker (Business plan) connects your account so you can browse, attach, preview, and optionally copy real files. See Attach files from cloud storage.

Best practices

Section titled “Best practices”
  1. Link don’t duplicate. When work lives in Miro/Figma/Notion, link from Onplana rather than recreating. The source of truth stays where the team already collaborates.
  2. Give links meaningful display names. “Q3 architecture diagram” beats the raw URL. The name persists even if previews fail.
  3. Organize external links in dedicated folders. “External References” or “Design Files” folders keep links separate from uploaded files.
  4. Verify provider detection. Onplana detects Miro, Figma, Notion, Confluence, Google Docs, Excalidraw. Other URLs land as generic Web links. Override provider if needed for icon clarity.
  5. Refresh previews when sources change. Renamed boards = stale preview. Re- attach the link to refresh, or use the MCP refresh_link_preview tool.

Troubleshooting / common pitfalls

Section titled “Troubleshooting / common pitfalls”
  • Preview shows raw URL. The page doesn’t expose Open Graph metadata, or it’s private. The link works; the preview just falls back to the display name.
  • Provider detected wrong. Override via the dialog’s provider dropdown. Common case: a Notion page on a custom domain.
  • Link 404 for teammates. Source tool’s access control. Share with team in the source tool.
  • Pasted URL rejected. Onplana validates URLs; malformed or non-HTTP URLs reject. Verify the URL works in a browser first.
  • Stale preview after rename. Re- attach to refresh, or call MCP refresh_link_preview.

How this combines with other features

Section titled “How this combines with other features”
  • External links + Document libraries. Mix links + uploaded files in one folder. See Organize document libraries.
  • External links + Whiteboards. Native whiteboards + Miro/Figma links side by side. See Sketch on collaborative whiteboards.
  • External links + Cloud storage. Cloud storage attach (Business+) is richer than URL paste for files. Use URL paste for boards/docs without cloud integration.
  • External links + Cards. Each link is a card; preview metadata is fetched server-side.

Coming from another tool

Section titled “Coming from another tool”
ToolMapping
Notion embedDirect concept; URL-based preview cards
Slack URL unfurlDirect
Linear “Open in” cardsDirect
Confluence Smart LinksDirect
Jira issue linksDirect
Section titled “Related”