The Canvas whiteboard

The Canvas is an infinite whiteboard for thinking visually. Sketch freehand, drop in shapes and sticky notes, add text and images, and connect ideas with arrows. Drag everything around until the layout matches how the story sits in your head. Nothing about the structure is required. A board can be a loose brainstorm, a plot map, a character web, or a floor plan.

The Canvas is part of the Pro tools. Keep as many boards as you like, each with its own name.

Opening a board

There are two ways in:

• The full tool lives at Tools > Canvas. Your boards are listed on the left. Pick one, or start a new one.
• Inside the editor, open the tools panel and choose Canvas to work on a board next to your draft without leaving the page.

A board you start from inside a piece is attached to that piece, which matters once you collaborate (see below).

Drawing

The toolbar across the top holds everything you need: a selection tool, a freehand pen, rectangles, diamonds, ellipses, arrows and lines, text, and an image drop. Pick a tool, then click and drag on the board. Pan by holding the spacebar (or the mouse wheel) and dragging. Zoom with the controls in the corner or a trackpad pinch. Your work saves on its own as you go, so there is no save button to remember.

Working together on a board

A board on its own is private to you. To draw on one with other people, attach it to something you already share: a world, or a piece you co-write.

When a board is attached to a shared world or a collaborative piece, everyone with access to that world or piece can open the board and draw on it at the same time. You see each other’s cursors move and the shapes land as they are drawn. A shared board shows a Shared tag and a Live indicator once you are connected.

Owning a board is a paid Pro feature. Joining one is free. Anyone you collaborate with can open and edit a shared board on any plan, the same way real-time editing works inside a piece.

A world’s boards in the World Bible

Every board attached to a world is gathered in one place. Open the World Bible, go to the Boards tab, and you see all of that world’s boards at once, including the piece each one is tied to. From there you can open any board or start a new one for the world. This is the fastest way back to the map or diagram you drew for a world weeks ago.

Managing your boards

Rename a board by clicking its title. Delete one with the trash icon beside the title. A deleted board goes to your trash, where it can be recovered for a while before it is removed for good. Only the owner of a board can rename or delete it. Collaborators can draw on a shared board, but they cannot remove it.