# Canvas

A canvas is a freeform board of short notes joined by lines. Some cards are real tasks, some are docs,
the rest are notes that give a task its context. Thinking happens on the canvas; the outcome lands on
the board and in Docs without being copied.

## What you can do

- Use a canvas per project, as a view next to List and Kanban, shared with everyone who can see the
  project's tasks.
- Make personal canvases from Docs > Add doc > Canvas. Only the owner sees them.
- Place notes, task cards, doc cards, images, PDFs and Nextcloud files.
- Draw lines. A line between two tasks in the same project is a dependency (the first blocks the
  second); a line between a doc and a task links them. Both show in the task drawer and on every canvas
  holding both ends.
- Turn a note into a task or a doc. Turn a task or doc card back into a note.
- Add shapes, frames, tables, checklists and link cards. See
  [Shapes, frames and lines](/docs/manual/canvas/shapes-frames-and-lines.md) and
  [Tables, checklists and link cards](/docs/manual/canvas/tables-checklists-and-links.md).
- Tidy lays the canvas out automatically. Fit view brings everything into view. Fullscreen fills the
  screen.

## How to

1. Pick a tool from the toolbar, or press its key:
   - V - Select: drag items, drag empty space to draw a selection box.
   - H - Hand: drag to pan.
   - T - Text: click to add a note.
   - U - Shape.
   - K - Frame.
   <!-- verify: what U and K do once the tool-key change lands (a placing tool, or an insert) -->
   - Space - hold to pan with any tool.
   - Esc - back to Select; pressed again, leaves fullscreen.
2. Add a note: with Text, click the canvas and type. Enter saves, Shift+Enter adds a line, Esc drops
   the edit.
3. Add existing work: Insert doc, Insert tasks, or Insert from Nextcloud in the toolbar. Mod+V pastes
   an image or file.
4. Make a task: select a note and press Shift+T, or right-click it. On a personal canvas, choose the
   project.
5. Make a doc: right-click a note. <!-- verify: Make doc key after the tool-key change (was K, now Frame) -->
6. Remove: select items or lines and press Del or Backspace.
7. Select several: Shift+drag a box, or Mod+click to add or take an item.

## Limits

- No live co-editing: a canvas reloads on focus and when someone else changes it.
- A task or doc appears at most once per canvas.
- Only notes become tasks or docs. Shapes, checklists and tables do not.
- A task made from a note goes into the project's first task list; a doc made from a note is
  unpublished, at Project width on a project canvas and Private on a personal one.
- Client accounts do not see canvases.

## Related

- [Shapes, frames and lines](/docs/manual/canvas/shapes-frames-and-lines.md)
- [Tables, checklists and link cards](/docs/manual/canvas/tables-checklists-and-links.md)
- [Audio and transcripts](/docs/manual/canvas/audio-and-transcripts.md)
- [Agent panel](/docs/manual/agents/agent-panel.md)
- [Today and tomorrow](/docs/manual/daily/today-and-tomorrow.md)