The Hotspots tab: place and edit hotspots on a scene

The Hotspots tab is where you put things on a scene that visitors can click: a link to another scene, a card with text, a video or a picture gallery, or a picture fixed to a wall. You choose a scene on the left, turn the picture, add a hotspot with one of the three buttons under it, and edit it in Hotspot Properties on the right. This page lists each control. What goes inside a hotspot is on the pages for link hotspots, info hotspots and surface media.

Who can use it. The owner, and collaborators whose role includes the Hotspots tab: Editors and Admins by default. A Viewer does not see the tab. Saving a change also needs the right to edit the tour's panoramas, which the same roles have (What each tab in the tour editor does).

Basic and Advanced. The Basic view shows the scene list, the picture, Set Initial View, Add Infotation, Add Link Hotspot, undo and redo and the fields of the selected hotspot. The Advanced view adds Add Surface Media, Links from Map, Show as in Theme, the color, sharing and preset boxes of a hotspot, and the gallery options of an Image Gallery. A hotspot you already made keeps showing all its fields in Basic.

When visitors get a change. There is no Save button: a change is saved about half a second after your last one. For a tour that does not use Draft Workflows the tour's public page is made again at once, for every tour that uses the same panorama. A tour that uses Draft Workflows keeps its published copy until you click Publish changes (My changes do not show for visitors).

Hotspot

A hotspot is a marker placed on a spot in a 360° scene that does something when a visitor clicks it: it takes them to another scene, or opens text, a picture, a video, a sound or a web link. In Panoramr you add them on this tab: Add Link Hotspot makes a door to another scene and Add Infotation makes a marker that opens information. Add Surface Media (in the Advanced view) fixes a picture, video, page or text to a flat spot in the scene instead. They belong to the panorama, so every tour that uses it shows them, and you can hide one in a single tour with Toggle Visibility in this Tour. Hotspot types lists every kind and variant.

The scene list

Panoramas

The list on the left holds the scenes of the tour. Click a scene to open it in the picture.

Where: Left of the Hotspots tab. On a phone the picture comes first and the list is one strip under it that scrolls sideways. Default: The first scene, or the scene named in the page's address (?pano= and the scene's number). What it does: Each row shows a small picture, the scene's name, its number (ID: 12) and, when it has any, how many hotspots it holds (3 Hotspots). Opening another scene drops a hotspot that waited to be placed and closes the open hotspot; a save that was waiting is sent first. What visitors see: Nothing; the list is for you. Related: Set the initial view.

Search panoramas...

Narrows the list while you type.

Where: Above the list, a box with a magnifier. Default: Empty. What it does: Keeps the scenes whose name or file name contains what you typed, ignoring capitals. With no scene left the list says nothing is found; with no scenes at all it reads No panoramas uploaded yet. Start by uploading your first 360 image above. What visitors see: Nothing.

Under the box, once the tour has two or more groups, a list narrows it to one group as on the Panoramas tab: All categories, each group (a group that is part of another indented under it, and taking in its parts), and Ungrouped. The box and the list work together.

Under the picture

Set Initial View

Saves the way you are looking now as the direction visitors face when this scene opens.

Where: Left button under the picture. Basic and Advanced view. Default: Visitors face the scene's own starting view, or the front of the photo if it has none. What it does: Saves the yaw, pitch and zoom of the picture as it is on screen. The button turns green and reads View Set Successfully for a second. It is saved with the hotspots, one undo step. The zoom you see is stored with it, but every scene opens at the tour's own starting zoom, which is set in the Design tab. What visitors see: The scene opens facing that way, unless they arrive through a link hotspot that sets its own view. Related: Set the initial view, Target Camera View on a link hotspot.

Add Infotation

Arms an information hotspot; your next click on the picture puts it there.

Where: Second button under the picture. Basic and Advanced view. Default: A new one is a Classic Panel with no title and no text. What it does: The button stays pressed, the pointer over the picture becomes a crosshair and a hint reads Click the panorama to place the infotation. Click the picture where it goes. Press Enter to put it in the middle of the view, or Esc or the button again to cancel. A press that moves more than a few pixels turns the view and does not place. A tap does the same on a touch screen. One click places one hotspot; press the button again for the next. The new hotspot is selected, so its fields open at once. What visitors see: A round badge. A visitor who clicks it gets the card, panel, video, gallery or sound you set up. Needs: A panorama with fewer than 500 hotspots. At the limit the page says A panorama can have at most 500 hotspots. and adds nothing. Related: Add info hotspots and interactive cards.

Add Link Hotspot

Arms a link; your next click puts a hotspot there that takes visitors to another scene.

Where: Third button under the picture. Basic and Advanced view. Default: A new link is called New Link, points at nothing and is not turned. What it does: Placed like Add Infotation; the hint names it a link hotspot. Choose the scene it leads to in Target Panorama afterwards. What visitors see: A badge with an arrow. A link with no scene to go to is not published. Related: Link scenes together to build a walkthrough.

Add Surface Media

Arms a surface: a picture, video, page or text fixed to a wall, a screen or the floor.

Where: Fourth button under the picture, green. Advanced view only. Default: A new surface is a 300 by 200 picture with no source yet, drawn by its four corners, which you can drag. What it does: Placed like Add Infotation. What visitors see: The picture or video drawn on that spot, turning with the scene. Related: Surface media.

Links from Map

Adds link hotspots between the scenes that have a map position, both ways, as Street View does.

Where: Last button under the picture. It shows once two scenes of the tour have a map position. Advanced view only, on Pro, Agency and Enterprise. What it does: Opens a window with a map of the scenes and the links it would make; you drop or add lines, give each scene its North, and save. What visitors see: Ordinary link arrows. Related: Add links from the map.

Undo and redo

Two round buttons at the top left of the picture take a change back or put it again.

Where: Top left of the picture. The keys are Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on a Mac) to undo and Shift+Ctrl+Z or Ctrl+Y to redo. Default: Nothing to undo when the page opens. What it does: Covers adding, deleting, moving and every field of a hotspot, hiding and showing hotspots, and Set Initial View. Each scene has its own history, kept until you leave the page, up to the last 100 steps. Edits to the same field in a row, such as dragging a slider, are one step. It does not cover alignment. The keys do nothing while you are typing in a box, which undoes its own typing, or while a window is open. An undo is saved like any other change. If a hotspot someone else changed since is part of a step, it is left as theirs and the page says how many were left. What visitors see: The undone state, once it is saved.

Hotspot Properties

Hotspot Properties

The panel on the right edits the hotspot you select. Click a hotspot in the picture, or choose it from the list below.

Where: Right of the picture. On a phone it comes under the scene list. Default: With no hotspot selected it shows the list Hotspots on this panorama and, if the scene is shared, From Other Tours. What it does: The heading of a selected hotspot names its kind: Link Hotspot, Infotation, Video Hotspot, Image Gallery, Audio Narration, E-Commerce Product, External Web Link or Surface Media. Under it come four round buttons (Preview Hotspot Action, Move hotspot, Toggle Visibility in this Tour and Delete Hotspot), the fields of that kind, Color Override, Share with other Tours and the preset box. Round buttons also appear around the selected hotspot in the picture: turn a link by 45 degrees, delete, test a link, set its target camera view. With a hotspot selected and the focus on it, the arrow keys move it by a degree, ten with Shift. What visitors see: What each field sets; see the pages for each kind. Related: Hotspot looks and presets.

Show as in Theme

Draws the hotspots in the picture the way the tour's design draws them.

Where: Under the heading Hotspot Properties. Advanced view only. Default: Off. What it does: A switch for the editor only. Off, the editor draws every hotspot black so it is easy to see and select. On, it draws them in their own Color Override or the tour's hotspot colors. Idle and entrance animations are always off in the editor, so a hotspot does not move while you try to drag it. The switch turns itself off if you go back to Basic. What visitors see: Nothing changes for them; the switch only affects this page. Related: Hotspots setup in the Design tab.

Preview Hotspot Action

Shows what a visitor gets when they click the hotspot.

Where: Round eye button at the top of Hotspot Properties, with the tooltip Preview Hotspot Action. It shows only for a link and for a surface picture that opens something when clicked. What it does: For a link it opens the scene it leads to in the picture, facing the way you set. For a surface picture with an action it opens the media window or the pop-out image. Other hotspots show their card when you click them in the picture. What visitors see: Nothing; this is a preview.

Move hotspot

Moves the selected hotspot without dragging.

Where: Round button with arrows in four directions, tooltip Move: click the panorama where it goes. What it does: Press it, then click the picture where the hotspot goes. Enter puts it in the middle of the view, Esc or the button again cancels. It is one undo step. Dragging the hotspot and the arrow keys work as well. What visitors see: The hotspot in its new place.

Toggle Visibility in this Tour

Hides a hotspot from this tour only, or shows it again.

Where: Round eye button in Hotspot Properties, tooltip Toggle Visibility in this Tour. Green when the hotspot is shown, crossed out when it is hidden. What it does: Adds the hotspot to this tour's list of hidden hotspots, or takes it out. The hotspot stays on the panorama and in every other tour that uses it. A hidden hotspot still shows in the editor. What visitors see: A hidden hotspot is not drawn in this tour.

Delete Hotspot

Opens the window Remove Hotspot.

Where: Round bin button in Hotspot Properties, and a bin in the picture around the selected hotspot. What it does: The window explains that a hotspot belongs to the panorama, so deleting it removes it from every tour that uses the panorama, and lists those tours under Also used in these tours:. Two choices: Hide in this Tour (it says Already Hidden if it is) and Delete Hotspot (Globally), which the window says cannot be undone. While the page stays open the undo button does put a deleted hotspot back. What visitors see: After a global delete the hotspot is gone from every tour that uses the panorama. Related: Share hotspots between tours.

With no hotspot selected

Hotspots on this panorama

A list of the scene's hotspots, so you can select one without a pointer.

Where: In the right panel while nothing is selected. It only shows when the scene has hotspots. What it does: One button per hotspot with its name (a link's label, or the title of an info hotspot in your editing language) and its kind; hidden is added to those hidden in this tour, and a link Links from Map made is tagged From map (its properties then say Made by Links from Map: moving it or changing its target makes it yours). Choosing one selects it and moves the focus to its heading. What visitors see: Nothing.

From Other Tours

Lists hotspots that other tours put on a panorama you share.

Where: In the right panel while nothing is selected, when other tours have added hotspots to this panorama. What it does: Shows each tour's name and how many hotspots it added (2 hotspots), with the buttons Hide All External Hotspots and Show All External Hotspots, which hide or show them in this tour only. A hotspot is from another tour when it is shared and was made there. What visitors see: Hidden ones are not drawn in this tour. Related: Share hotspots between tours.

Hide All External Hotspots

Hides every hotspot from other tours in this tour.

Where: Under From Other Tours. The button shows only while some are visible; Show All External Hotspots shows only while some are hidden. What it does: Adds them to this tour's hidden list, or takes them out. It is one undo step. What visitors see: The hotspots from other tours disappear from, or come back to, this tour.

When two people edit

Keep mine

A yellow list over the picture appears when someone else changed the same thing as you.

Where: Over the top of the picture, headed Someone else changed this while you were editing it. (Someone else changed 3 of these while you were editing them. when it is more than one). What it does: Your other changes are saved. For each hotspot (or The starting view) the list gives two buttons. Keep mine sends your changes over theirs, and their changes to other fields of that hotspot stay. Take theirs puts their version on screen and drops yours. A hotspot that someone deleted while you changed it is held the same way; Keep mine puts it back. Held hotspots are ringed in the picture. What visitors see: The version you pick, once it is saved. Related: Edit hotspots at the same time.

Troubleshooting

Clicking the picture does not place the hotspot. The scene must have loaded: wait until Syncing to Cloud... has gone. A click on an existing hotspot or a control keeps its own meaning; click an empty part.

A red message sits over the picture. The server refused the change, for example A panorama can have at most 500 hotspots. The message goes after eight seconds. Reload the page and make the change again.

Visitors do not see my hotspot. Check that it is not hidden in this tour, that a link has a target, that the change has reached visitors (My changes do not show for visitors), and that the tour with the hotspot is the tour they look at (a hotspot from another tour shows here only if it is shared).

I lost the last half second of typing when I closed the tab. Closing the page sends what is waiting, but a browser allows about 64 KB of such a send, so a scene with hundreds of long hotspots can lose the last change.