Visual Space manual, Live Apps, Create Save And Reopen Canvas Artwork

This walkthrough takes a Canvas from an empty area-owned file to a small layered artwork that you can safely leave and reopen. Along the way, you will paint on one layer, add editable text, test the layer controls, confirm the online save, and optionally keep a local `.vscanvas` project copy.

Before You Create the Canvas

Choose the destination first. A Canvas belongs to the space area where you create it, so that area determines who can find and open the file.

•

Check the area - Use an active, non-archived area. If it is private, you must be a member of that area, and only people with the same access can open its Canvas files.

•

Confirm creation access - Creating a Canvas requires both Canvas app access and Coordinator access in the destination. People who can open an existing file may not necessarily be able to create one.

•

Choose a recognizable name - Prepare a short name that distinguishes the artwork from other files in the area, such as Campaign color study.

Canvas currently begins with an empty 2048 x 1536 px artwork frame. This is a practical starting size, but Canvas is still developing its full pixel-processing foundation. For this first project, use native paint and editable text rather than depending on a placed image or filter result.

Create the File in the Right Area

•

Open the destination area - Go to the space area that should own the artwork. Double-check the area name before creating anything, especially when similarly named private and shared areas exist.

•

Open Canvas - Choose Canvas from the Apps menu. The Canvas explorer lists the Canvas documents in the current area; editor tools remain hidden until a file is open.

•

Start a new file - Select New canvas. If this action is unavailable or an access prompt appears, confirm the creation requirements above rather than creating the project elsewhere by accident.

•

Name the document - In Canvas name, enter your prepared name and select Create. A blank name is not accepted. After creation succeeds, the new file opens directly in the Canvas workspace.

Creation also makes a paired draft article for the Canvas. It does not publish a feed post automatically. Open Article when you want to add background or a brief, and use Comments for discussion about the Canvas as a whole. Publishing that paired article remains a separate decision.

Build a Small Layered Artwork

The new document has an empty frame, so create a raster layer before trying to paint. The following mix gives you a useful persistence check without relying on unfinished image-compositing features.

•

Open Layers - Show the Layers panel and find its layer stack and selected-layer controls. On compact screens, Canvas displays one supporting panel at a time.

•

Create a paint layer - Use Create raster layer in Layers. Select the new layer if it is not already selected, then use Rename layer to give it a meaningful name such as Paint marks.

•

Choose Brush - Select Brush from the paint tools. Use the visible tool options or open the Brush panel to choose a comfortable size, opacity, flow, and color.

•

Add several deliberate marks - Paint a few broad strokes inside the artwork frame. One continuous stroke becomes one useful local-history action, so finish a stroke before changing a brush setting or color.

•

Add editable text - Select Text, then click the artwork where the label should begin. Canvas creates a separate text layer and opens Character. Replace the default value in Text layer content with a short phrase such as Color study, then adjust its size or color if useful.

You should now see at least two independent layers: the raster layer containing the marks and a text layer above it. The visible artwork is the combined result, while the Layers panel preserves each part for later editing.

Check Order, Visibility, and Locks

Use the layer stack to prove that the composition is genuinely layered before moving on. These checks also make it easier to recognize whether the same state returns after reopening.

•

Reorder the text - Select the text layer and use the forward or backward layer-order controls. Place it where it remains visible above the paint. The top-to-bottom stack should match the overlap you see on the artwork.

•

Test visibility - Hide the text layer with its visibility control. Confirm that the words disappear while the paint remains, then show the text again.

•

Protect completed paint - Select Paint marks and turn on Lock layer. Try selecting Brush and starting a mark; a locked layer should not accept that edit. Unlock it when you want to continue painting, or leave it locked as a reminder that the paint pass is approved.

•

Review the selected layer - Confirm that Layers identifies the intended layer and shows its visible, locked, and opacity state. If a command is disabled, first check the selected layer's type, visibility, and lock state.

The protected background, when one is present, follows stricter rules than an ordinary layer. Do not depend on moving, deleting, or painting directly on it.

Navigate and Inspect Without Changing the Artwork

Navigation changes your view of the project, not the artwork itself.

•

Pan around the frame - Select the Hand tool, or hold Space temporarily, and drag until a different part of the artwork is centered.

•

Inspect at different scales - Use Zoom or pointer-centered wheel or trackpad zoom. Choose Fit on Screen to recover the full composition, then use Actual Pixels when you want to inspect it at its native scale.

•

Try a focused view - Switch among Standard, Focus, and Clean Preview when you want more editing controls or a clearer look at the composition. View aids such as the grid, guides, selection edges, and layer bounds help you work but do not become artwork content.

•

Review local actions - Open History and look for the paint, text, and layer changes you just made. Undo one harmless action and redo it, then confirm the composition returns to the intended state.

History belongs to the current local editing session. It is useful for correcting recent work, but it is not a shared timeline that merges different people's brush strokes. Opening or switching documents isolates the active session history, even though a local .vscanvas project can retain supported history entries.

Confirm the Online Save

Canvas queues supported document changes and saves the editable project to the Canvas file in its area. Before leaving, stop editing and watch the session status long enough for the latest change to finish.

•

Wait through the active states - Saving changes soon means the latest change is queued. Saving Canvas changes means the save is in progress. Keep the workspace open until those messages clear and any unsaved marker disappears.

•

Respond to a delay - Save delayed. Changes stay local. or Reconnecting. Saves may be delayed. means the online copy is not yet confirmed. Keep the page open, restore the connection if needed, and wait for saving to complete before you leave.

•

Treat reloading as a conflict boundary - Reloading latest Canvas means a newer accepted version must be loaded. Recheck the layer stack and visible composition after the reload instead of assuming competing edits were combined.

•

Handle an oversized project honestly - Autosave paused means the current project exceeds the online save boundary. Reduce the project where practical and wait for a successful retry. Downloading a local project copy can protect editable work, but it does not by itself confirm that the area-owned Canvas has been updated.

Canvas shares accepted saved versions, not simultaneous brush-by-brush merging. If another person may edit the same file, agree on one active editor and hand off only after the save has completed. This avoids competing unsaved versions and unexpected reloads.

Optionally Download the Native Project

Use a local project copy when you want editable exchange or an additional working backup.

•

Open the File commands - Choose Save as Layered Project.... Depending on the surface, Export As > Layered Project... offers the same supported project export.

•

Save the download - Confirm the local save when prompted. Canvas names the file from the document and adds .vscanvas.

•

Keep the format's purpose clear - A .vscanvas file preserves supported document geometry, layers, colors, masks, effects, view state, and retained history. It is an editable Canvas project, not a flattened picture for ordinary image viewers.

PNG, JPEG, WebP, PSD, and per-layer raster export are not currently available. Some paint, placed-image, and filter behavior is also still bounded or preview-oriented. A placed image appears as a labeled placeholder rather than decoded picture pixels, so it should not be central to an artwork you need to deliver as a finished montage.

You can inspect project exchange later with Open Layered Project.... Cancelling its file picker leaves the current document unchanged, and an invalid or unsupported .vscanvas reports an error without replacing the open document. A valid project opens as its own local session, so finish and verify the area-backed save before using this command.

Leave and Reopen the Saved Canvas

Once the active save messages have cleared, close the document with the Canvas close action. Canvas attempts to finish pending save work before discarding the local session, then returns you to the explorer for the owning area.

Reopen the shared file through whichever surface matches your work:

•

Use the Canvas explorer - Return to the owning area, open Canvas, and select the named file from the explorer.

•

Use Docs - Find the Canvas-linked file in Docs and open it. Visual Space recognizes the file as a Canvas and opens the Canvas workspace rather than treating it as an ordinary article.

•

Use chat - Select a linked Canvas document card in a conversation when someone has shared the file there. Access to the link does not bypass the space or private-area rules.

After the editor loads, confirm the restored state instead of making another edit immediately:

•

Inspect the artwork - Check that the paint marks and text appear in their expected positions on the 2048 x 1536 px frame.

•

Inspect Layers - Confirm the layer names, order, visibility, lock state, and selected-layer details you meant to preserve.

•

Check the view and editable content - Verify that supported view state returns, then select the text layer and confirm its content is still editable in Character.

•

Watch for recovery states - If Canvas is still loading, reports an access problem, or offers retry and browse-files actions, resolve that state before judging the artwork as missing.

The reopened layer stack is the clearest proof that the Canvas survived as an editable project rather than a flattened preview. If the state differs after a conflict reload, pause and coordinate with the other editor before rebuilding changes.

The visible artwork and ordered raster layers provide a settled comparison point for a reopened editable project.

Finish and Continue

You now have a named Canvas in the intended area, a small paint-and-text composition with tested layer behavior, a confirmed shared save, and optionally a native project copy. The paired Article and Comments remain available for context without forcing the work into the feed.

For a broader explanation of the editor, its supported tools, and current export boundaries, see Canvas. To understand how Canvas fits alongside the other shared workspaces, return to Live Apps. When you want to bring an existing project onto a shared call, continue with Use Canvas in a meeting.