Signage Editor

Use the Signage Editor to make the graphics that players see. These are Tee Signs at each Tee and Info Boards at the entrance. Your Caddie Books use the same templates and themes, so printed and published graphics look the same.

The editor takes hole numbers, distances, par, layouts and Fairway shapes from the course you built. It draws them with a Signage Template and a Theme.

The Signages tab

The Signages tab in the sidebar lists every Tee Sign and Info Board on the course. Click a row to show that sign on the canvas. Click Bulk edit in the tab header to change the list into a table. In the table you can edit names, notes, QR codes, layouts, templates, aspect ratios and images.

The table has a Filter field. It matches name, hole number, template, notes, QR and layout names. The sign group menus from the list are above the table (see Sign groups).

The header checkbox selects only the visible rows. Groups, the filter and bulk actions work together. For example, pick a group, select the header checkbox, then choose Actions → Change template. Only that group changes.

Click the Notes cell of a row to open that sign's own tab. The sign is selected and framed on the canvas. You then edit its sections next to the live sign.

Sign groups

Three menus under the tab header group the signs. They appear when the course has more than one kind of sign, layout or template. The menus are Layout (MPO, FPO and so on), Type (Tee Signs or Info Boards) and Template.

Each menu picks one value, or All. The menus work together. Layout: MPO with Type: Tee signs shows the MPO Tee Signs. Set a menu to All to remove its filter.
A number in a menu is the count of signs that choice shows with your other choices. A choice that shows no signs is gray.
A line under the menus names the group and its size, for example MPO · Tee signs · 27 signs. Its Download link opens the download dialog with that group selected.
Groups are automatic. They follow the type of each sign, the layouts it shows and the template it uses. This includes custom templates.
A new sign joins its groups by itself. A copied course keeps its groups. You do not set up or update groups.
The group stays selected when you switch between the list and Bulk edit.

Sections

The text and pictures on a sign are sections. A section is one block of content. It has an optional title, some text and at most one picture. A Tee Sign holds up to 4 sections. An Info Board holds up to 12.

An Info Board can also hold a legend section. A legend explains the map symbols. It has no text of its own.

Sections are in the Content tab of a selected sign. Every change shows on the sign at once. There is no preview and nothing to save. Click Wide view in the tab header, next to the sign picker, for more room to write.

To manage the section cards:

Drag the handle of a card to change the order. With the keyboard, select the handle and press the arrow keys.
An open card closes when you start to drag it. This keeps the list short.
Click the chevron on the right of a card to open it.
Click Add section to add a section at the bottom. On an Info Board, Parkdly first asks if you want Text or a Legend.
When the sign is full, Add section is gray. A line under it shows how many sections that kind of sign holds.
Click the bin at the bottom of an open card to delete the section. Parkdly asks first. Undo brings the section back.

You can also select, move and delete sections on the sign. See Sections on the sign.

Open a section to edit it:

Title — optional, one line. It prints as a heading above the text.
Text — the body text. The Subheading and Divider buttons insert markers that the sign understands. The counter shows how much room is left.
Picture — click Add picture and pick one of the project's images. The cross removes the picture.
Full width — this shows only when more than one section fits side by side on the sign. It makes this section use the full width, for example for a welcome message or a wide map.
Include in caddie book — this shows on Tee Signs only. The hole notes page of a Caddie Book prints the sections of each Tee Sign. Turn this off for a section that belongs on the sign but not in the book. To remove a section from its sign, delete it.

Picture placement and size

After you add a picture, four buttons show its job. Hover a button to see its name.

Thumbnail — the picture is left or right of the text.
Figure — the picture is below the text.
Banner — the picture runs across the full width of the section.

Size sets the width of the picture as a share of its section. XS is one fifth, S is one third, M is one half and L is two thirds.

A picture beside the text offers XS, S and M, so the text keeps room. Use XS for a small icon next to the text.
A picture below the text offers S, M and L.
A banner has no size, because it always uses the full width.
A new picture starts small beside the text and medium below it.

If a section has more content than fits, the text becomes smaller first. The picture keeps its size. The picture becomes smaller only after the text reaches the smallest readable size.

Parkdly never crops pictures. They print exactly as you uploaded them. A Caddie Book ignores size and placement. Its pages print every section picture at column width.

Legend sections

A legend section on an Info Board explains the symbols on the course map. You do not build the list. The legend shows what the map of that course shows. If you add trees or a mando to the map later, they appear on the board automatically.

Open a legend section to set it up:

Legend style — List prints one row for each symbol, with its name beside it. Example hole draws a small hole with labeled symbols. This is the easiest style for new players. It shows only the symbols that fit the picture: Tee, Target, hole number, Flight Path, trees and an Info Board.
What to show — one row for each symbol on the map of this course. Clear the box of a symbol to leave it out.
Name — the box beside a symbol sets the name that the board prints. Leave it empty to use the Parkdly name. You can type your own name, for example in another language. A name has at most 32 characters, so people can read the legend quickly.
Title — optional, the same as in other sections. If it is empty, the board prints only the key.

The template decides where the board shows a legend. The example hole fills the width of its section and keeps its shape. Use a wide section for it. In a narrow section, the labels are small. If the map has no symbols yet, the legend prints nothing.

Headings

Headings in a sign and in a Caddie Book follow one order:

The Header at the top of the Content tab is the largest.
The Title of each section is one step smaller.
A Subheading inside the text is one step smaller again.

A # or ## that you type or paste in section text also becomes a subheading. No text in a section is larger than its own title.

Where sections go on the sign

The template decides where sections go on the sign. The section does not decide.

A Tee Sign shows one section in each row, unless its template says otherwise.
An Info Board shows as many sections side by side as the content area has room for, up to three. The other sections move to the next row.
Sections fill in the order that you set. A section that you add at the end never moves the sections above it.

The panel shows where sections go:

Row markers in the card list, for example Row 2 on the sign, show where the sections wrap. Read the list from top to bottom to read the sign.
Point at a card to outline its section on the sign. The keyboard does the same. Tab through the cards to move through the sign.
Show the section areas outlines all sections together. This is the fastest way to see why a sign looks the way it does. It is off by default. It never shows on an export or a printed sign.

If the content does not fit, the panel shows This content does not fit on the sign. It marks only the cards that Parkdly cuts. Shorten one of those sections or remove a picture. The warning clears when the content fits.

Signs made before sections

An older sign can have notes in one text field. It prints as it did before. Its Content tab shows the text and a Turn into … sections button. The sign does not change until you click it.

When you convert, Parkdly keeps every word:

On an Info Board, each column that a | separates becomes a section.
A line that starts with # becomes the title of that section.

After conversion, the template places the sections like on any other sign. Check the canvas. Then reorder or merge sections if you want.

Pictures and your plan

Your plan sets how many pictures one sign can hold. The limit counts every picture in all sections of that sign. When you reach it, the section shows what your plan includes and which plan raises the limit. See Plans and Billing.

Switching and adding signs

The signage editor opens in view mode. View and Edit are at the start of the bar above the canvas. They show the mode and switch it. On a phone they are one menu (View ▾).

In view mode, you see one sign at a time. It is cut out from the map on a dotted background, as it looks when printed. You cannot drag anything by accident. The sidebar still edits this sign: its template, theme, content and QR code.

The signs form a grid. The first column is the course map with its Info Boards. Each next column is a hole with the Tee Signs of that hole. Use the arrows around the sign to move:

← → move between columns: the course map, hole 1, hole 2 and so on. After the last hole, you return to the course map. The sign switcher in the bar above the canvas does the same.
↑ ↓ move through the signs of a column. The signs of one hole are variants of each other. A variant is another Tee Sign for the same hole. It has its own name, map framing, layouts and content. For example, make one variant for each layout, or a smaller one for a second spot. Each variant uses a template that sets its layout on the page. The theme is the same for the whole course. The arrows stop at the first and last sign.
After the last sign, the down arrow changes to +. Its label is Add tee sign variant for hole … or Add info board variant for the course.

The sign switcher shows where you are, for example "Hole 3 · Pro tees". On a wide screen it also counts the signs, for example "4 / 20". On a narrow phone it shows "3 · Pro tees". A long sign name is cut short. When the canvas has focus, the arrow keys on your keyboard do the same as the arrows on screen.

All signs in the bar above the canvas (or Z) zooms out to the whole grid. Each sign shows its name, template and layouts. A star marks the primary sign. Click a sign to go to it. The + at the end of each column adds a variant there.

Keyboard shortcuts

The shortcuts work when the canvas has focus. Click the map or a button on it first.

Key	In view mode	In edit mode
← →	Previous or next column (course map, holes)	—
↑ ↓	Previous or next sign in the column	—
E	Switch to edit mode	—
Esc	Close All signs	Back to view mode
Z	Open or close All signs	—
R	Recenter the view	Recenter the view

Adding a variant

Click + to make another sign. There is no dialog. Parkdly only asks how to start the sign:

Copy of "…" — a copy of the current sign. It has the same template, shape, layouts, header, sections, pictures, QR code and map position. Its name is "… (copy)". Use this in most cases. The second sign of a hole is usually a variant of the first, and a copy saves you from framing the map again.
Blank tee sign or Blank info board — a new sign with the template and shape of the course. It is framed over the hole, or around the whole course.

Parkdly shows the new sign at once. A short message names it and offers Undo. If a hole has no sign yet, there is nothing to copy. In that case + makes the blank sign immediately.

Your plan can limit how many signs a hole or course has. When you reach the limit, + shows a crown and opens the plans.

Editing a sign

To switch to edit mode, use one of these:

Click Edit in the middle of the sign.
Press E.
Pick Edit at the start of the bar above the canvas.

In edit mode, the whole map shows around the sign. Handles move, resize and rotate the sign. See Positioning a signage on the map. The tab of the sign (Tee Sign or Info Board) opens in the sidebar. It has the design, content and QR code of the sign.

The bottom toolbar has these items:

Star — makes this sign the primary sign. Parkdly exports, prints in a Caddie Book and opens first the primary sign. There is one primary sign for each hole, and one for the course Info Boards. When you star a sign, the previous primary sign loses its star.
The sign name — click it to rename the sign.
Bin — deletes the sign after a confirmation. You cannot delete the primary sign or the last sign. Star another sign first.
Auto-fit signage — reframes the map of the sign to fit the hole around the content of the sign. See Positioning a signage on the map.

To return to view mode, pick View at the start of the bar above the canvas or press Esc. Every change saves as you make it. There is nothing to save first.

Clicking what's on the sign

In edit mode, point at a part of the sign. This can be the header, a notes section, the QR code or a logo. The part gets a blue outline. Click it to select it. The sidebar opens the setting that changes it:

Notes, their heading and sections open the Content tab. When you click one section, its card opens. On a phone, the section toolbar shows first. See Sections on the sign.
Hole stats and the hole summary table open the Layouts card on the Content tab. There you pick which layouts the sign shows. If the course has only one layout, there is nothing to pick. You see a short note.
Logos and sponsor images open Images on the Design tab. On the header, a click on the logo opens Images. A click on the name shows that it is the course (or project) name. A button opens the settings where you change it.
The QR code opens the QR Code tab.
The map shows the part of the course under the sign. To change it, move, resize or rotate the sign. A click on the map shows this message and an Auto-fit button.
Other parts that the sign does not own show a short note about their source. These parts are the compass, text that the template fixes, par and distance.

Empty parts of the sign show as dashed placeholders in edit mode, so you can click them. For example, an empty notes panel opens the Content tab, ready for a new section. Placeholders and outlines show only in edit mode. They never show in downloads, prints, Caddie Books or shared pages.

A click selects. A drag moves the whole sign.

Sections on the sign

In edit mode, the sign looks as it prints. Point at a section to see a light outline. Click the section to see a small toolbar above it:

‹ and › move the section one place earlier or later. The sign and the card list both follow. The section stays selected. To drag a section to a new place, use the handles in the card list.
Bin deletes the section after Parkdly asks.

The toolbar also names the section. Section 2 is the second card in the Content tab. Each change is one Undo step. You add sections and write their text in the Content tab. The sign updates as you type. A new section has no text yet. The sign shows a dashed New section placeholder. Click it to select that section.

On a phone, tap a section to select it. The toolbar shows without a cover on the sign. It has an Edit button that opens the card of the section.

The outlines, the placeholder and the toolbar show only in edit mode. They never show in downloads, prints, Caddie Books or shared pages.

Positioning a signage on the map

Each Tee Sign and Info Board frames an area of the course map. The printed sign shows what its frame covers on the canvas.

To change the frame, go to the sign and switch to edit mode. See Editing a sign. A frame with handles shows around the sign:

Move — drag the selected sign to slide it across the map. A click without a drag selects the part of the sign under the pointer. See Clicking what's on the sign. The four-way arrow grip in the center shows that you can move the sign.
Resize — drag a corner handle. Resizing keeps the aspect ratio. To change the ratio, use the Ratio picker. See Aspect ratio and print size. The size has a minimum and a maximum. The editor tells you when you reach one.
Rotate — drag the round handle with the rotation arrow above the sign. For exact degrees, use the Rotation field (-180° to 180°) in the details panel of the sign in the sidebar.

Each move, resize or rotate is one undo step. One undo returns the sign to its position before the gesture.

Two tools help when you moved the sign too far:

Recenter view — the button in the control column at the top right (low on the right on a phone). The keyboard shortcut is R. It centers the canvas view on the selected sign. The sign does not change.
Auto-fit signage — in the bottom toolbar in edit mode. It reframes the map from the course content: Tees, Targets and Flight Paths on the visible layouts. The button is highlighted when some of that content is outside the current frame.

How Auto-fit frames a tee sign

On a Tee Sign, Auto-fit looks at the sign as it is now. The header, notes, QR code and other items on the map use room. Auto-fit puts the hole in the free space.

The whole hole stays clear of the content of the sign. This includes the Tee and Target icons at their drawn size, and the full width of the Fairway. Margins that grow with the hole length keep it away from the edges. There are 5–10 m below the Tee, 15–25 m around the Target so its green rings fit, and a small margin beside the Fairway.
It uses the room that it has. With no notes, the hole can use the left side of the sign. With a short note, a Fairway can bend around the note box. With long notes, the hole stays out of the space that they cover.
Small marks on the map, such as the "Made with Parkdly" credit, only keep the Tee and Target out from under them. The Fairway can run under them. The hole stays centered in the map area.
The Tee is as low as the free space allows, close to the bottom edge, with the Target above it. The sign can turn up to 45° from the direction from Tee to Target when this gives a clearly bigger map.

If the hole fits only at a very small size next to the content, Auto-fit uses the map area of the template. It tells you when this happens. Shorter notes give the map more room.

Auto-fit never moves a sign by itself. Sometimes you change the content later, and the hole no longer fits. For example, you add a long note. In that case the Auto-fit signage button is highlighted in edit mode. In view mode, an Auto-fit button shows under Edit on the sign. Use it to refit without a change of mode.

Info Boards use a simpler fit for now. They frame every hole in the map area of the template.

Select rows with the row checkboxes. The header checkbox selects every visible row. The selection bar at the top of the toolbar shows the count and an Actions menu.

The Actions menu has these operations.

Set main image

Use this to apply one main logo to every selected sign that has a main logo slot. The dialog shows how many signs Parkdly will set, replace or skip. You see this before you save.

The Use Parkdly default button in the footer resets the main image of the selected signs in one batch. Sponsor logos stay.

Set QR code

Use this to apply one QR URL or label, or both, to all selected signs. Each field has a checkbox. You can update only the URL, only the label, or both. An empty field clears that field on the selected signs.

The Use public page URL shortcut points all selected signs to your public project page.

The Use Parkdly default button in the footer resets the QR code of every selected sign that has its own QR code.

Change template

Use this to switch the template of all selected signs. All selected signs must be Tee Signs, or all must be Info Boards. A mixed selection does not work, because the two types have different template lists.

Click through the templates. A summary shows how many signs change and how many already use the template. It also flags items that need attention, such as bounds that Parkdly will reposition and layouts that Parkdly will limit.

Then choose how to confirm:

Apply — switches the template only.
Apply & Reposition — also fits the bounds to the new template.

The picker lists the built-in templates of Parkdly. Under My templates it lists the templates that you designed. See Signage Templates to design your own.

Change aspect ratio

Use this to apply one output shape to all selected signs. This action works on a mixed selection of Tee Signs and Info Boards, because they share the same ratios. The summary shows how many signs change. Parkdly skips signs on a template with a fixed ratio.

Undo for bulk actions

Each Actions operation makes one undo entry for all signs that it changed. One undo reverts the whole batch.

Aspect ratio and print size

Most templates let you choose the shape of the sign, its aspect ratio. Use the Ratio column in the table or the details panel of the sign. Each option has a name for its shape, with example print sizes. The options are A-series, US Letter, US Legal, 4:5, 3:4 and 2:3 posters, and banner ratios. Map templates also accept a custom width-to-height ratio.

When you change the ratio, Parkdly reframes the map area to the new shape. The map does not distort or crop.

A new sign starts with a default that fits the course units. This is US Letter for courses in feet and A-series for metric courses. A hole that you add later gets the ratio that the rest of the course uses. You can change the ratio afterward, for one sign or in bulk.

When you export, each shape offers its real physical sizes. Examples are A4 and A3, US Letter (8.5 × 11 in), and 9 × 12 and 18 × 24 posters. The PDF has exactly that size.

Logos and images

A sign has two kinds of logo:

Main logo — the mark of the project or club. There is one for each sign, if the template has a slot for it.
Sponsor logos — one or more, depending on the template.

Set logos for one sign in its details panel. To set them for many signs, use Set main image. The accepted formats are PNG, JPEG, WebP and SVG.

The export method depends on the file:

Simple SVG logos use solid colors and shapes. This includes the class-based <style> colors that Adobe Illustrator exports. They export as sharp vector graphics at any print size, with their real colors.
SVG logos with effects have gradients, filters, text or embedded photos. They export as a flat image. It looks as it does on the canvas, but it does not scale without loss.
Photographic images are background photos and course maps. Parkdly compresses them in the export, so the PDF stays small. Logos keep their transparent edges.

You do not choose the method. Parkdly picks the best one for each file. For the sharpest logos, prepare the artwork as in Custom SVG: preparing your file. The same guidance applies to logos on signs.

Themes

A Theme sets the colors and fonts that all signs of a course share. Open the Theme tab in the sidebar to choose one. The tab has three parts, from top to bottom:

This course — the theme that the course uses now, with its name. A status line can show:
- Customized — these colors are only on this course.
- Shared across N courses — the course uses a saved theme.
- Update available — Parkdly changed the gallery theme that this course came from.
The buttons outside the cards are here. Customize edits the colors. Save as theme… puts customized colors in your library. Update shows a newer version of your theme.
Theme gallery — looks that Parkdly made. Apply copies a gallery theme onto your course. You can edit the copy. Later changes by Parkdly do not change your copy.
Your themes — the themes that you saved. Apply shares the saved theme with the course. The course uses the saved theme itself. If you edit it later, every course that uses it changes. The ⋮ menu of each card has Rename and Delete. Applying a saved theme needs Club. On Free and Hobby you can save and design one, and preview it on your course.

A click on a card previews the theme on your course.

Trying a theme before you switch

A click on a theme shows it on your own course at once. The map, the Tee Signs and the Info Board all draw in that theme. Parkdly saves nothing while you look. A bar above the canvas names the theme that you preview. It has two buttons:

Apply — makes it the theme of the course.
Exit — returns to the previous theme. Nothing changed.

The preview exists only on this editor screen. It ends when you leave the screen. These actions also end it and return to the saved theme: reload, Apply, Exit, and a click on the theme that the course already has. One exception: for a theme with an update waiting, a click shows the new version.

An export, a print, a published page and a shared page always use the saved theme. They never use the preview. When you start a download, Parkdly ends the preview and tells you why. The file always matches what you see.

You can preview themes on every plan. Then you can decide if an upgrade is worth it. To apply a theme other than Parkdly Classic or Parkdly Pure, you need a plan with custom branding. If your plan does not have it, the bar offers the upgrade instead of Apply. Your course stays as it was.

Applying a gallery theme replaces your colors

Parkdly copies a gallery theme onto your course. It replaces the colors that were there. If those colors have no other place, Apply asks first. This applies to colors that you edited on this course, and colors from a theme that left the gallery. Apply offers to save them as a theme before it continues. Cancel leaves everything as it was, including the preview.

Any plan can apply Parkdly Classic and Parkdly Pure. You can always switch between them or return to one of them. Other gallery themes need custom branding to apply. You can still preview all of them.

If your course uses a saved theme, applying a theme never asks. Parkdly keeps your colors. The saved theme stays in your library without changes.

When a seasonal theme leaves the gallery

Some gallery themes are seasonal. Parkdly removes them from the gallery when the season ends. Your course keeps everything. The colors are a copy, so nothing changes on your signs. The This course card still names the theme that they came from.

You cannot pick that theme again, because it is not in the gallery. If you apply a different theme over it, Parkdly asks first. It offers to save those colors as a theme of your own. This is how you keep them for next season.

When Parkdly refreshes a theme

Parkdly copies a gallery theme onto your course. For this reason, our later changes to the theme do not change your course. Your signs keep the colors that you applied. This is important when the signs are already printed and installed.

When Parkdly refreshes a theme, it tells you. It does not switch the theme. The card of the theme in the gallery has a mark. The This course card shows Update available. Click Update to preview the new colors on your own course. Click Apply to take them. Click Exit to leave your course as it is. If you do nothing, nothing expires and nothing changes.

When you edit the colors yourself, the offer ends. The course shows Customized from then on, because the colors are now only yours. If you apply a theme after that, Parkdly asks before it replaces them.

Editing the colors

Click Customize to edit the theme in the panel. Each change applies to the course as you make it. The canvas is your live preview. There is no Apply step. A series of changes is one undo step (Ctrl/Cmd+Z).

The side panel holds the settings that you change most: Font, Sign style colors and notes text sizes, Holes → Colors and Map → Colors. Every other setting is in the theme editor. The link All theme settings → Theme editor at the end of the edit view opens it. The raw theme JSON is there too, under Advanced JSON.

The theme has four cards. Each setting below says where it lives:

Font — the typeface for all text: sign blocks, map labels, distance markers and PDF exports. Single text elements can still pick their own font.
Sign style — the colors that sign templates use, and the text sizes for notes (Info Board notes and hole notes). One sign can override both. See Customizing a single signage.
Holes — everything that Parkdly draws for a hole. The colors (Tee, Target, drop zone, mando, Flight Path and Boundary) are in the side panel and the theme editor. Element sizes, the flight path line, shared tees & targets and the number badge are in the theme editor only.
- The number badge is the hole number on the course map. Badge sizes go from extra small to extra large. Each size fits itself to your course. The size shows on the maps on your signs and in shared course views. While you build, the map keeps the default size.
- With Use layout colors on (the default), each badge takes the colors of its layout, if the layout has colors. Badge colors that you leave unset follow your Sign style colors.
- Shared tees & targets sets how Parkdly draws a Tee or Target that layouts with different colors use. Split (the default) draws one wedge for each layout. Theme color uses the Tee color or Target color of the theme.
- A layout can also override the Tee, Target and Flight Path colors. Use the Layouts subtab.
Map — the background map. The surface colors and their opacity, and the text on the map, are in the side panel and the theme editor. Surface effects, textures and custom graphics are in the theme editor only.

Element sizes set how large Parkdly draws Tees, Targets and mandos. Each has its own control. Each option is a multiple of the real size of the element:

Auto (the default) fits the size to the size of the course. The same theme reads well on a small park and on a large forest course.
True size draws the element at its exact real measurements. You set these on each Tee and Target. See Tee and target size. A Target is only about 0.65 m wide. At true size it is a very small dot on a map of the whole course. This is correct, but not always practical.
The other steps go from Small to Extra large. Standard is the size that the map normally draws.

Each control shows its setting in meters on the course that you see. Practice Tees and practice Targets follow the Tee and Target settings. Mandos have their own control. A mando stands for a tree or a pole and has no real size. It has no Standard to compare with. Its steps start from the size that the map normally draws.

Drop zones are not here. They are course elements, so you set their size on the element.

The notes text sizes work on every plan, because they keep a sign readable. Everything else in these cards needs custom branding. On a plan without it, the cards show but are locked. Each shows the plan that unlocks it.

Theme editor

For more room than the side panel, open the theme in the theme editor: a full page with every theme setting next to a live preview of the map.

The theme editor works on phones too. The preview stays at the top of the screen while you scroll through the settings below it. The header keeps to one row: the theme's name, Publish and ⋮. The status, Used by and the other actions are in the ⋮ menu.

From the edit view: click All theme settings → Theme editor at the end of the side panel.
For a saved theme: open the ⋯ menu on its card under Your themes and choose Open in theme editor. Or open Library → Themes in the top bar and click the theme.

To rename a saved theme in the theme editor, click its name at the top.

The preview starts on All elements: a sheet with every element a theme paints, each in its own labeled cell: each course object, boundary type and map surface. One hole has each of its parts labeled: tee, target, mando and its line, flight path line, secondary flight path line, flight path area and hole number. That way you see every color the theme sets, even ones your own course doesn't use yet. Use Preview on at the right of the bar above the preview to switch to the course you came from instead. The preview shows only what the theme paints, so a course's satellite or helper image doesn't show under it.

The bar above the preview has two views, Map and Signs. Map shows the sheet or the course map. Signs shows the signs themselves, so you see what your sign style colors and text sizes do: on All elements, a sample info board and tee sign; on your course, its own signs. Use the arrows in the bar to step from sign to sign. A change to a color or a text size shows on the sign as you make it. If the course you picked has no signs yet, the preview says so and offers Preview on All elements. On a phone, the views and Preview on are in the menu at the left of the bar (Map ▾).

A course's layouts can have colors of their own. On such a course, the tees, targets, flight path lines and hole numbers show each layout's color instead of the theme's, and a note above the preview says so. In the settings, the colors that layouts replace carry a Layout color tag. The tag follows your settings: turn off Use layout colors for the number badge and its colors are the theme's again. With Shared tees & targets set to Theme color, a tee or target that layouts with different colors share takes the theme's color, and one used by a single layout keeps that layout's color.

Finding a setting

The settings are grouped by what you see, in the same words as the course editor's menus:

Signs — the sign colors, by role: Primary, Secondary and Neutral, each with the text color drawn on it, Background and text, and the Notes text sizes. A single sign can still override these from its course's Signs tab.
Course — what you place in Course mode: Holes (tees, targets, mandos, drop zones, flight paths, hole numbers, distance markers and practice tees and targets), Boundaries, Trees, rocks & objects and Amenities & text (the amenity icons and the color of text you place). Shared tees & targets and Shared stretches are at the end of Holes, under For the whole course.
Map — first Map background, the color of the bare ground under everything. Then what you place in Map mode: Roads & paths, Waterways, Barriers (fences, walls and hedges) and Areas (grass, forest, water and other ground).

Roads, paths, paved areas and parking lots take the color of their surface, so Roads & paths lists the surfaces: Asphalt, Concrete, Gravel, Dirt and Grass. Each surface says which roads and areas use it. A path set to dirt takes the Dirt color. To give one road a different color, change its surface in Map mode. Concrete and Dirt start with the Asphalt and Gravel colors, and each has its own color once you edit it. Railway is drawn in the Asphalt color. Search finds a surface by the roads that use it: type track to find Gravel. Click a road in the preview to open the surface it is painted with.

Text & font — the font for every text Parkdly draws, and the color of text on the map.

Each group shows a few of its current colors. Open a group to see its elements, then tap an element to see every setting that changes it. A tee, for example, shows its fill and stroke colors and its size. Settings that need a higher plan (surface effects, textures, custom graphics) sit inside the element they change, with the plan that unlocks them.

To jump straight to a setting, type in Search colors and elements at the top: the name of an element ("mando") or of a setting ("stroke"). Pick a result to open that element.

The preview follows the panel. Open Signs and the preview switches to the signs. Open any other group and the preview shows the map, zoomed to that group's row of All elements. Go back to the groups, or use the fit button, to see the whole sheet again. On your own course the preview switches between the map and the signs but doesn't zoom.

Clicking an element

To change something you see, click it in the preview. On a computer, a small card opens at the click with the element's name, its colors and More settings →, which opens all of that element's settings in the panel. The element has an outline while the card is open. Press Esc or click empty map to close it. Empty map opens nothing: to change the map background, open Map background at the top of Map in the panel. On a sign, click a part (the header, the text, the footer) to change the sign color it uses. A part that uses several opens the sign settings as a whole. On a phone, tap an element to open its settings in the panel. A theme you can only look at, such as a gallery theme, opens nothing.

Saving

Changes to a course's own theme save as you make them, just like in the panel. The status reads Saving…, Saved or Not saved: at the top of the page, or in the bottom bar on a phone. There's no undo on this page: to go back, change the setting again. Back to course returns you to where you were.

A saved theme works differently, because many courses can use it. See Editing a saved theme in the theme editor.

Advanced JSON is in the ⋯ menu at the top of the page (for a saved theme, the ⋮ menu next to Publish). It opens the raw theme JSON. Use it to paste a theme that someone shared with you, or to read the whole theme at once. On a plan without custom branding the JSON is read-only for a course's own theme. In a saved theme you can edit, it is editable on every plan.

Decorations

Decorations are the map artwork of the Pro plan: surface effects and custom graphics. On other plans, both blocks show with the plan that unlocks them. A course that already has decorations keeps them. On the Club plan you can switch them off, but changing them or adding new ones needs Pro.

Surface effects

Map → Surface effects gives a map surface an edge treatment, such as a shoreline on water or a tree line on forest. Every surface offers every effect. Surface effects are part of Decorations. On the Club plan you can switch an existing effect off by setting it to None.

Textures

Map → Textures fills a map surface with a printable pattern. Every surface offers every texture, so you can pick the one that fits your ground:

Wetland: rows of short dashes, the marsh symbol. Swamp has it by default.
Tall grass: scattered tufts of grass. Tall grass has it by default.
Dots: a fine scatter of tiny dots, for sand, gravel or bare ground that should look loose rather than paved.

The golf areas (fairway, tee, driving range, green and bunker), Asphalt and Gravel take a texture too. On asphalt and gravel, the texture fills paved areas and parking lots. Roads and paths are lines, so they stay a plain color.

Choose None to turn a surface's default texture off. When a texture is on, set its Color (by default, a darker shade of the surface) and its Size. Textures are sized in meters on the ground, so they keep their scale at every zoom and print the same on a sign or in a PDF.

Textures need the Club plan, like the map colors. A course that already has textures keeps them.

Flight path line

Use Holes → Flight path line to set the dashed line that Parkdly draws along each hole:

Width, Dash and Gap are lengths in real meters on the course. The line keeps its proportions at every zoom level and sign size. The rhythm looks the same on a 60 m hole and on a 200 m hole. Set the gap to 0 for a solid line.
Shared stretches sets what happens where several layouts use the same corridor. These layouts have grouped control points. Split colors each dash with all their colors side by side. Alternate gives each whole dash to one layout in turn. A hole that one layout plays looks the same in both settings.

Map surfaces

Most ground surfaces in the Map card take a color and an opacity. These are water, grass, forest, farmland, rock, scree, buildings and the golf areas. Click the percentage next to a color to fade that surface. Then the holes and Flight Paths are easier to see.

Swamp takes an opacity too. Under its wetland texture it starts at a faint 30%. With its texture set to None, it starts at 100%, like the other surfaces.

Concrete, Dirt and Barricade start with the Asphalt, Gravel and Metal colors. Each has its own color, so changing Asphalt doesn't change Concrete. The gallery themes of Parkdly set their own Concrete and Dirt. Tall grass has a meadow-green default and takes an opacity like grass.

Custom graphics replace a built-in course map element with your own SVG. These elements are Targets, trees, bushes, rocks and the amenity markers. Custom graphics are part of Decorations. On the Club plan you can Remove a graphic the theme already has, but uploading or replacing one needs Pro. See Your own graphics for built-in elements.

Reusing a theme across courses

To use one look on several courses, save it to your library.

Put the colors on the course.
Click Save as theme… on the This course card.
Type a name.
Click Save.

The theme then shows under Your themes in the Theme tab of every course. Click it to preview it. Click Apply to use it. The counter next to the heading shows how many library slots you used.

On Free and Hobby, your library has one slot. A theme you save there does not go on the course. It opens in the theme editor, where you can design it with every color, font and logo. To use it on a course, you need Club. With no saved theme yet, Design a theme… under Your themes starts one from the course's colors.

Save as theme… shows only when the colors are Customized. Only then is there something to save. A gallery theme or a saved theme that you already have needs no second copy.

The Themes page

Open Library → Themes in the studio's top bar to see every theme of the account in one place. You do not need to open a course first.

Your themes lists the themes that you saved, with how many courses use each one. Click a theme to open it in the theme editor. The ⋮ menu has Open in theme editor, Rename and Delete. A new name changes no colors and no course.
Theme gallery lists Parkdly's ready-made themes. Click one to see it on All elements, the sheet of every element, in the theme editor. You can look but not change it there.
Copy to my themes makes a gallery theme your own. It is on every gallery card, and above the settings in the theme editor when a gallery theme is open. The copy is called, for example, Winter (copy), and opens in the theme editor right away. It uses one slot of your library, and you can change everything in it. Apply it to a course from the course's Theme tab. When your library is full, the button offers the plans instead (in someone else's account, it says the owner can upgrade).

With no saved themes yet, the page starts with Start from a built-in theme: the gallery themes, each with Copy to my themes. You can also save the look of a course you've styled: open the course, go to its Theme tab and click Save as theme….

If you are a member of someone else's account and can edit only some of its courses, you see the account's themes but cannot change them.

Editing a saved theme

A saved theme is shared across courses. Edits never change the other courses by accident. Click Customize while a saved theme is active. Parkdly first makes a copy for this course. Your edits apply only to this course.

The edit view shows where the copy came from: "Based on '[name]' — used by N courses". It has two actions:

Update for all courses — writes your edits back to the saved theme. The confirmation shows how many courses change.
Detach — removes the link. The colors stay as the custom theme of this course.

If the saved theme has an unpublished draft in the theme editor, Update for all courses replaces it. The confirmation warns you before your unpublished changes are discarded.

Editing a saved theme in the theme editor

To change a saved theme for every course that uses it, open it in the theme editor. Use the ⋯ menu on its card under Your themes. You can edit the saved themes your plan's library holds on any plan. Applying one to a course needs Club.

Edits save as a draft. They save as you make them, so nothing is lost if you close the tab. The preview shows the draft. Courses that use the theme keep the published colors.
Publish makes the draft the theme every course uses. The header shows Used by N courses, and Publish asks you to confirm when a course uses the theme.
Discard draft, in the ⋮ menu next to Publish, deletes your unpublished changes. The editor goes back to the published version.

The header shows where the theme stands: Published, or Draft with Saving…, Saved or Not saved. A saved theme with a draft shows a Draft label on its card under Your themes.

On every plan. You can edit and publish the saved themes your plan's library holds: one on Free and Hobby, 3 on Club, 10 or more on Pro. Applying a saved theme to a course needs Club. Your course's own theme follows its usual rules: on Free and Hobby, custom colors, fonts and logos on the course itself still need Club.

After a downgrade or when a subscription ends. Saved themes above your plan's limit are read-only. Your oldest ones stay editable, up to the limit. Courses that use any saved theme keep showing it. If courses already use a saved theme, publishing changes to it needs Club, because it changes those courses. You can still save drafts and discard them.

Customizing a single signage

Usually all signs on a course share one look. The course Theme does this. Sometimes one sign needs a different look. For example, a sponsored hole uses brand colors, or the notes on an Info Board must be larger for distance reading. You can customize that one sign. The course theme does not change.

There are two ways to open the customization editor:

From the Theme tab — select the sign on the canvas. Then open the Signs subtab in the Theme tab. The panel follows your selection.
From the table — open the Theme column on the row of the sign. A popover with the same editor opens at that row.

The editor has two sections.

Typography

Override the size of H1, H2, H3 and body text in the notes of this sign. Each field starts as Default. It then uses the size of the course theme. Click the field to set a size (xs, sm, md, lg, xl) for this sign only. The × button next to a size resets only that field. Text sizes work on every plan.

Colors

Override these colors for this sign: primary, primary foreground, secondary, secondary foreground, background and text. Each color field works the same way. It shows Default when it uses the theme. After you customize it, it shows a color picker and a × button. Colors for a single sign need custom branding.

Click Reset all in the editor to clear all overrides. The sign then uses the course theme.

This editor does not change the typeface. Text always uses the font of the theme, unless a template sets a font of its own for a block. See Fonts in Signage Templates.

Downloading signs

Use the Download button in the course toolbar to export signs. For the shortest path, see Export and Share. This section describes all options.

Download one sign

Select a Tee Sign or an Info Board. Then open the Download popover. You can export the sign as PDF, PNG or JPG.

The PDF sizes match the shape of the sign. The file prints at its true physical size. The sizes include:

A-series (A4, A3 and so on)
US Letter
posters such as 9 × 12 and 18 × 24
the DiscGolfPark horizontal Info Board (1050 × 700 mm)

See Aspect ratio and print size for more shapes.

PNG and JPG sizes are in pixels. They go from Small (for social media) to Maximum (best quality, largest file).

Download several signs at once

Open the Download popover.
Click Choose signages to download. The download dialog opens.

The dialog keeps the format, size and print options that you already picked. It has two tabs, the same as the Caddie Book editor. Signages is for what to download. Format & size is for how the files look. The Download button is at the bottom of both tabs.

On the first tab, pick the signs with the Quick select menus. These are the sign groups of the course: Layout, Type and Template. Each menu is set to one value or All. You can also open the Info boards and Tee signs groups and select signs one by one.

The menus work together. Layout: MPO with a template selects only the MPO signs of that template. Clear empties the selection. To download a group that you view now, use the Download link under the menus in the sign list of the editor.

On Format & size, choose the format. Then choose a size for each shape of sign in your selection. These are the same sizes as for a single download. Tee Signs and Info Boards usually print at different sizes, so each has its own picker.

For PDFs, you also choose what happens to the Tee Signs:

One PDF each — one file for each Tee Sign.
All in one PDF — one multi-page file with every Tee Sign.

Info Boards always come out as separate files. A line under the choice shows how many files the archive holds. All files arrive in one ZIP archive. The file name at the bottom of the tab sets its name. It starts with a name from your course, in the form that the files use. You can change it to any name with at least one letter or number.

Parkdly renders multi-sign downloads on its servers, one sign at a time. This is true for PDF, PNG and JPG. The dialog shows which sign Parkdly renders and how many are done. It offers the ZIP when the render ends. Your map does not change during the render. You can switch browser tabs. Each sign takes a few seconds. Keep the dialog open until the download button shows.

One download holds up to 100 signs. If you select more, the dialog says so. You can download the rest separately. Very large sizes need more effort to render, so fewer signs fit in one download. The dialog shows about how many. Pick a smaller size or download in batches.

When the ZIP is ready, the dialog shows a share link beside the download. Copy the link and send it to your print shop. Anyone with the link can download the same ZIP. They do not need a Parkdly account.

The link and the download both work for 7 days after the export finishes. The dialog shows the exact date. After that, the link shows a short "expired" notice. Run the download again to get a new ZIP and a new link. If you closed the dialog before you copied the link, open Share → Overview. The link is under Print-shop links for as long as it works.

Share links come only with multi-sign ZIP downloads. A single sign or a Caddie Book PDF has no share link. Share links stop working when your plan no longer includes downloads.

Print options

Leave room for mounting

Some signs are mounted with screws or in a frame that covers part of the sign. When you export to PDF, templates made for this show a Leave room for mounting option. When you turn it on, the design shrinks a little so screws and the frame do not cover any text, logos or map. Backgrounds, such as the sign color and a full-sign map, continue under the screws and frame, so the edges stay covered.

On a DiscGolfPark® holder size (an A4 vertical Tee Sign, a 520 × 400 mm Tee Sign or a 1050 × 700 mm Info Board), the design leaves exactly the room the holder's screws need. On other sizes, the template's own margin applies.

The option shows in the Download popover and in the download dialog. It applies to every selected sign whose template supports it. Each template knows where its mounting hardware is:

Parkdly Pure, Classic and Rise leave room on all four sides.
Parkdly Grand Info Boards keep their top band flush with the top edge.
Parkdly Grand Tee Signs keep the design flush with the bottom edge.

Not every template has this option.

This is not the same as print bleed, the extra paper a print shop cuts away. The page size stays the size you chose.

Add print bleed

Print shops print on a larger sheet and cut it down to the sign's size. The cut is never perfectly exact, so they ask for bleed: extra background around the sign that the cutter trims away. Without it, a slightly off cut can leave a thin white line along the edge.

The Add print bleed option adds 3 mm on every side. The PDF page grows by that much, for example 216 × 303 mm for an A4 sign. The option shows the page size it makes. The design keeps its size and nothing moves. Only backgrounds continue into the bleed: the sign color, a full-sign map, a map window that reaches the edge, and boxes that reach the edge. The PDF also records where the cut line is (its trim box), which print-shop software reads.

Tick Crop marks under it if your print shop asks for them. Short lines at the four corners, outside the bleed, show where to cut. The page grows a little more to make room for them.

The option shows in the Download popover and in the download dialog when you export to PDF. It works together with Leave room for mounting and the DiscGolfPark® holder marks, whose cut line stays on the sign's edge.

DiscGolfPark® holder marks

The physical sign holders of DiscGolfPark mount with screws at fixed positions. The DiscGolfPark® holder marks option adds the production marks that their print shop expects. These marks are a cut line and four screw hole marks.

The option shows in the Download popover and in the download dialog. It shows when you export to PDF and the sign matches a holder size:

an A4 vertical Tee Sign
a 520 × 400 mm landscape Tee Sign (set a Parkdly Rise Tee Sign to the 520 × 400 mm shape)
a 1050 × 700 mm horizontal Info Board

The marks are true machine-readable spot colors (Cut and Drill). They are ready for production as they are. For this reason the option works only for PDF. Raster formats such as JPG cannot carry spot channels. The marks sit on top of the design. They do not move or shrink it. To keep your content clear of the screws, use the option together with Leave room for mounting.

Convert text to outlines

Some print shops ask for a PDF with text drawn as shapes, not as text in a font. The Convert text to outlines option does this. Every word becomes geometry. No software can substitute a font before printing. The option shows in the Download popover and in the download dialog when you export to PDF.

You need this option only if a print shop asks for it. Parkdly PDFs already embed the fonts that they use. They have the true print size. They print correctly as they are.

Outlines help when a print shop opens the file in its own design software and saves it again. That software matches fonts by name against the fonts on that computer. If it cannot find a bold weight, it replaces it with regular. Outlined text cannot change this way, because there is no font to replace.

Outlined text is no longer text. You cannot search, select or copy it in the PDF. The file is also a little larger. Leave the option off unless your print shop asks for outlines.