From one sentence to a working board: how SketchMind's AI Explainer works
A look inside the AI Explainer: what happens between the sentence you type and the board you land on, and how to get better boards out of it.
- The AI Explainer turns one written description into a structured board: sections, frames and elements you can edit like anything you drew yourself.
- You choose one of four board types — presentation, flow, plan or checklist — and that choice decides what the AI builds. You can attach a PDF as context.
- Better prompts name the subject, the goal and the audience. One specific sentence beats three vague ones.
- Everything the AI generates stays editable — and with Rewrite you can have the AI redo a single frame without touching the rest.
Every whiteboard tool starts you in the same place: an empty page and a blinking cursor. SketchMind starts somewhere else. You describe what you're working on, pick the shape you want it in, and land on a board that already has structure. This article walks through what actually happens in between — and how to get the most out of it.
What the AI Explainer actually does
The Explainer is the dialog you see when you create a new board. It has exactly two steps. First it asks "What should this become?" — you pick one of four board types: presentation, flow, plan or checklist. Then you describe what you want to work through, in up to 3,000 characters.
Two extras live in that second step. You can attach a PDF — a brief, a report, lecture notes — and the AI will use it as context for the board. And when you're generating onto a board that already has content, you can toggle whether the AI should build on what's already there.
That's the whole dialog, deliberately. No wall of settings, templates and style pickers before you've even started thinking. One choice, one description, go.
What happens between your idea and the board
After you hit create, the generation card walks through its steps: Reading your idea, then Planning frames. For a presentation, the AI first writes an outline and decides how many frames the topic deserves — a focused topic gets a handful, a deep-dive gets more. Then your board takes over: the empty frames appear first, with their titles already in place, and fill in one by one.
Flow, plan and checklist boards work slightly differently: they're written as a single frame that holds the whole thing, which usually takes ten to twenty seconds.
Either way, you land on a normal SketchMind board. Move things, rewrite them, recolour them, delete half of it — nothing about a generated board is locked.
The four board types and when to use each
The board type is the biggest lever you have, because it changes what the AI builds from the same idea.
| Board type | What the AI builds | Best for |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Presentation | Frames that explain it step by step — the AI decides how many the topic needs | Explaining or pitching an idea to someone |
| Flow | One frame: the process with its decisions and branches | Processes, funnels, anything with an if-then in it |
| Plan | One frame: the goal, a timeline and steps with owners | Projects and anything with a deadline |
| Checklist | One frame: grouped items you tick off on the board, with progress | Work you'll actually execute |
If you're unsure, presentation is the safest default — it gives your idea a sequence you can walk through, and you can always restructure afterwards.
Writing prompts that get better boards
The Explainer works with whatever you give it, but some sentences give it more to work with. Three things help. Name the subject: not "my idea" but "a subscription service for plant care". Name the goal: map it, plan it, pitch it, test it. Name the audience or constraint if there is one: for investors, for the team, before Friday.
Compare "help me with my startup" to "map the target customer, problem and riskiest assumptions for my plant-care subscription idea". The second one gives the AI a subject, a structure and an implicit board type. That's the difference between a generic board and one that feels like it read your mind.
What the AI won't do for you
The Explainer isn't trying to finish your thinking. It's trying to give your thinking a place to start. It won't validate your business model, check your facts or make your decisions. What it removes is the twenty minutes of drawing boxes before you can start reacting to something.
You can invite the AI back in, one frame at a time: select a frame, tell it what's wrong — "make this more concrete", "add the numbers" — and hit Rewrite. The rest of the board stays untouched, so you stay in charge of the whole while the AI redraws the part.
Where the Explainer goes next
We're improving the Explainer in two directions: better structure for complex prompts, and more control over what you get without adding more questions up front. The dialog staying simple is a feature, not a limitation we haven't fixed yet. Follow the roadmap to see what's shipping.
Can I edit what the AI generates?
Yes — everything. A generated board is a normal board. Every section, frame and element can be moved, rewritten, recoloured or deleted, exactly like something you placed yourself. And if a single frame misses the mark, select it and use Rewrite to have the AI redo just that frame.
Which board type should I pick if I'm not sure?
Presentation is the safest default: it gives your idea a clear sequence you can walk through, and you can always restructure afterwards. If your idea is a process, pick flow; if it has dates and owners, pick plan; if it's things to do, pick checklist.
Does a longer prompt give a better board?
Up to a point. The field takes up to 3,000 characters, but one or two specific sentences beat a paragraph of loose thoughts. The AI needs a subject and a goal, not an essay. If you have real source material, attach it as a PDF instead of pasting it in.
