Create and manage components
Create a card, tile, token, board, mat, rulebook, box or sheet in the Component Designer and find your way around the workspace.
Last reviewed October 11, 2026
This article is for designers starting their first component in the Component Designer. It shows you how to create one at the right size, what the workspace looks like, and how saving works.
What this page helps you do
- Create a component of the right type and size.
- Find and filter the components your team already has.
- Learn the top bar, the side panel and the page controls.
- Trust autosave, and know what to do when it stops.
You'll start from Prototypes > Components in the sidebar (/home/components).
Before you start
- Beta, rolling out to teams. If Prototypes is missing from your sidebar, your team is not in the rollout yet.
- Plan: Pathfinder plan and up. Adventurer teams see "Prototypes are a Pathfinder plan feature" with Upgrade to Pathfinder. Virtual Table AI is Oracle and LaunchBoom only, 50 builds per team per day.
- Roles: Collaborators cannot use the Component Designer or 3D Mockups.
Browse the library
The Components page lists every component your team has made, with a preview, its type, how many rows its table holds and "Edited 2 hours ago".
Helpful details
- Key areas: Search components at the top, a type filter (All or one type), and a New component button.
- What you can do: Open a component by clicking its card. Delete one from its menu; a dialog asks you to confirm, and the delete also removes its table.
- Good to know: A component can be marked Draft, Published or Archived. That status shows as a badge in the library only, and the workspace has no control to change it.
Create a component
Click New component. The dialog asks for three things.
- Type. Pick one of eight: Card / Deck, Tile, Token, Board, Player Mat, Rulebook, Box or Sheet.
- Size. Pick a preset for that type, or Custom and type Width (mm), Height (mm) and, for a box, Depth (mm).
- Name. Type a name, then click Create. The workspace opens.
Helpful details
- Key areas: Presets by type. Card / Deck: Mini (44 × 67 mm), Bridge (57 × 87 mm), Euro (59 × 91 mm), Poker (63 × 88 mm, the default), Square (70 × 70 mm), Tarot (70 × 110 mm). Tile: Small, Medium and Large square (50, 60 and 75 mm) and Hex (60 mm). Token: Round small, medium and large (25, 35 and 45 mm) and Square (25 mm). Board: Quad-fold (20 × 20 in) and Bi-fold (20 × 14 in). Player Mat: Letter landscape, A4 landscape, Large (240 × 300 mm). Rulebook: A4, US Letter, A5, Square (8 in). Box: Deck box and Small box (two-piece, lid and base). Sheet: A4, US Letter, A3.
- What you can do: Change the size later from the Resize panel. It is saved on the component, and every page follows.
- Good to know: Every component starts with a 3 mm bleed and a 3 mm safe zone. Bleed is the extra artwork past the cut line that absorbs trimming error; the safe zone is where text must stay to survive it.
Get to know the workspace
The workspace is a full-screen editor at /home/components/<component>. The top bar runs, left to right: a Components link back to the library, the type and size, the editable name, the view switch (Pages | Front | Back), the save status, then Save, Import and Export.
Helpful details
- Key areas: Side panel tabs, top to bottom: Components (switch to or create another component without leaving), Data Merge, Game Data, Text, Photos, Elements (with sub-tabs Elements and Favorites), Vector shapes, Score track, Background, Layers, Resize and Codes (QR codes and barcodes).
- What you can do: Card, Tile and Token components open on Data Merge, because they are usually made in batches. The other types open on Text.
- Good to know: Each page has a bleed toggle and a dieline toggle in its controls. The dieline shows the cut line, the bleed, the safe zone, a box's net or a board's folds as a guide layer. It is never printed as part of the art.
Save your work
You rarely need to press anything. The design saves 2 seconds after your last change and the table 1.5 seconds after. Save (or Ctrl+S / Cmd+S) saves right away.
Helpful details
- Key areas: The status in the top bar reads Saved 2 minutes ago, Saving…, Unsaved changes, Save failed or Signed out, not saving.
- What you can do: If you try to leave while a save is pending, the editor asks first.
- Good to know: When your session expires, the editor opens a sign-in tab and keeps your changes in place. Sign in there, come back, and the save goes through.
Tips & common questions
Which type should I pick for a punchboard of hex tiles? Tile with the Hex (60 mm) preset, or Custom. Tiles behave like cards: one master, many rows.
Can I change a component's type after creating it? No. Create a new component of the right type. You can copy elements between them through Favorites (see Vector shapes, score tracks, favorites, resize).
Where do I set the status to Published? Nowhere in the workspace yet. The badge in the library reflects the stored status, but there is no control to change it.
Why does the editor say "Signed out, not saving"? Your login session ended. Use the sign-in tab the editor opened; your work stays in the editor and saves once you are back.