As you invite new people into your space on Gather, it's not always immediately obvious how they should use the space. Consider walking into an office for the first time (virtual or in-person!). You might have questions like: 

• Where does the HR team sit? 
• Is there an open coworking space? 
• Where's the break room? 
• Who sits in that desk pod over there? 

To help users understand who's who and how to use different areas of your space, we recommend placing labels with the Text Tool. 

To access the Text Tool, you need to have Mapmaker access. You can view User Roles and Permissions here. 

Overview

Here's a quick summary of how to place text in your space. For more detailed instructions, scroll down to the next section.  

1. Open the Mapmaker and then open the Object Picker
2. Search for "Text" and select the Text Tool
3. Place the Placeholder Text into your space
4. Use the menu to customize what the text says (Label), the font, the font size, and the color
5. Once you're satisfied with your text, click Save at the top of the Mapmaker

Step by Step Tutorial

1. Open the Object Picker from Within the Mapmaker

To open the Mapmaker, click on the Build Tool icon in the bottom navigation bar. (The hammer icon.) At the top of the menu, select Open Mapmaker. 

Once the Mapmaker opens, select More Objects on the right to open the Object Picker. 

2. Select the Text Tool and Place the Label

At the top of the Object Picker, search for "Text." The Text Tool should be the first "object" listed. Select it and then place the placeholder text onto your map.

This will open the Object Details panel where you can change what the text says (the Label), the font, the font size, and the color. 

You can either continue placing more labels or click Save if you're all done. 

To Move or Edit a Text Label

While still in the Mapmaker with the Select Tool enabled, you can click the first letter of a label to move or edit it.

To move the label to a new place, click and drag it to a new location on the map. 

To edit what the label looks like or says, click it and use the options in the Object Details panel. You can edit it as many times as you need!

Once you're satisfied with your text, click Save at the top of the Mapmaker.

To Delete a Text Label

While still in the Mapmaker, select the Eraser tool. Click the first letter of the text to delete the label. Click Save at the top of the Mapmaker when you're all done. 

Ideas for Labels in your space

As we've visited offices and events on Gather, we've seen creative uses of in-space text to help provide better context of how to use the space. Here are some ideas!

For Offices: 

• Label each desk pod with the team sitting there
• Label conference rooms so they're easily identifiable 
• Label coworking / social areas so everyone knows where to go for casual chats
• Add your company values throughout the space to reinforce the culture you're building
• Type OKRs or goals as visual reminders of what you're working toward

For Conferences: 

• Label each room so attendees know where different sessions are taking place
• Label sponsor booths so your event partners are clearly identified
• Use text to promote key speakers or sessions