Canvas — Complete Guide
Everything you need to know about the visual project board for cards, diagrams, and spatial planning.
In this article
What is Canvas?
Canvas is a spatial, infinite board for visual thinking. Drag-and-drop cards, draw connections and arrows, build structured diagrams, add freeform shapes and text, and embed timelines — all on one surface.
Think of it as a whiteboard that understands structure. Cards snap into diagrams, connections route automatically, and auto-layout keeps everything tidy.
Canvas vs Timeline
Timeline is linear and date-driven — Gantt charts, schedules, milestones, and deadlines. Canvas is spatial and relationship-driven — cards, connections, diagrams, and freeform layouts.
Use Timeline for schedules and deadlines. Use Canvas for brainstorming, architecture, planning, and mapping relationships. Embed timelines in canvases for the best of both worlds.
Creating a canvas
1. Open Canvas from the sidebar.
2. Click '+ New Canvas' to start with a blank board.
3. The infinite canvas lets you pan (click and drag the background) and zoom (scroll wheel or pinch) freely.
4. Use the toolbar at the top to add cards, connections, shapes, text, images, or embedded timelines.
Canvas toolbar
Select — Click to select and move elements. Drag a box to multi-select.
Card — Add a new card to the canvas. Cards have titles, descriptions, colors, and tags.
Connection — Draw an arrow or line between two elements.
Shape — Add rectangles, circles, diamonds, triangles, arrows, stars, or callouts.
Text — Place a freeform text block on the canvas.
Image — Add an image from your computer (PNG, JPG, SVG, GIF, max 5 MB).
Timeline Embed — Insert a live view of one of your existing timelines.
Auto-layout — Arrange selected elements as a mind map, flowchart, or org chart.
Zoom controls — Zoom in, zoom out, zoom to fit, and zoom to selection.
Sharing and collaboration
Share canvases via a link. You can set password protection and control whether viewers can edit or only view.
Real-time multi-user collaboration is coming soon. For now, shared canvases support turn-based editing — one person edits at a time.