Canvas is Visual Space's workspace for layered painting and image composition. Create an illustration, combine photographs and lettering, or prepare a poster while keeping its parts editable. A Canvas saved in a space stays near the files, conversations, and people who use it.

Start With the Artwork You Need

Choose Canvas when pixels and layers matter: paint detail, adjust an image, hide part of a layer with a mask, or arrange text over a photograph. Use Whiteboard for freeform team thinking and Layouts for measured plans.

A composition can combine paint, placed images, text, shapes, editable paths, and color adjustments. You can keep an editable project and export a finished picture from the same work.

Open Canvas from the Apps menu to browse files in the current area. Open a file to enter the editor, or choose New Canvas if you have creation access. A Canvas can also open from Docs or a linked document card in chat.

Find Your Way Around

The artwork occupies the center, with tools and supporting panels around it. The selected tool determines which settings appear in the contextual controls. Layers identifies the part you are changing; selecting a different layer can change which commands are available.

On smaller screens, compact controls and panel overlays give the artwork more room. Close a supporting panel when you need to see more of the composition.

Separate layers keep the poster heading, illustration, and background editable.

Hold Space to pan temporarily, or use Hand and Zoom. Fit on Screen brings the whole document back into view; Actual Pixels helps inspect fine detail. Standard, Focus, and Clean Preview change the amount of surrounding editor chrome. Guides, grids, selection edges, and layer bounds help you edit without becoming part of the exported picture.

Build With Editable Parts

A layer is a separately editable piece of the composition. Give layers useful names, change their order to control overlap, and hide one to compare the result. Locks protect finished parts from accidental edits.

Canvas supports groups, raster and vector masks, editable fill layers, layer styles, and embedded Smart Objects alongside ordinary paint, text, and image layers. These have different purposes: a group organizes related layers; a mask controls what is visible; a Smart Object retains source content for later editing.

Rasterize, Merge Down, and Flatten Image simplify the artwork by turning editable parts into pixels. Save an editable copy before committing to a simpler structure when you may need those parts again.

See Layers and masks for the layer stack and Adjustments and effects for changing appearance without repainting.

Paint, Select, and Refine

Brush and Pencil add marks to a suitable visible, unlocked layer. Eraser removes pixel coverage. Adjust size, hardness, opacity, and flow in the tool controls, then choose a foreground color from the swatch. The color picker includes recent colors, numeric controls, and a hexadecimal field for values such as #234A38.

Choose a foreground color visually or enter its exact value.

Marquee, Lasso, and Magic Select let you limit an edit to part of the artwork. Clone Stamp and Healing use a source point; Blur, Sharpen, Smudge, Dodge, Burn, and Sponge offer other focused corrections. Tool availability depends on the current layer and selection, so a disabled command often means a different target is needed.

For practical controls and shortcuts, read Painting and selections.

Save the Project, Deliver the Picture

A space-owned Canvas saves automatically. Routine edits are collected for about 30 seconds before saving begins; Save lets you request a save immediately. Live changes can reach collaborators before the saved copy is complete, so check the save result before leaving or switching devices.

Download .vscanvas when you need an editable Canvas project. Export PNG, JPEG, or WebP for a finished picture. SVG and PSD are also available, with important differences in what remains editable.

Choose a finished image format or keep an editable layered project.

Saving and sharing explains online saves, recovery, and teamwork. Import and export helps you choose the right file format and distinguishes opening a local file from placing content into a shared Canvas.

Work in the Right Place

Creating a Canvas requires Canvas app access, Coordinator access, and access to the destination area. Reading a shared Canvas requires sign-in and access to its space and owning area; private areas retain their membership rules. A reader without editing access may be able to view the file in a read-only workspace.

Creation also makes a paired draft article. It does not publish a feed post automatically. Use Article for supporting information and Comments for whole-document discussion. Publication remains a separate choice.

You can work with others in the same Canvas or bring it into a supported activity meeting. Collaborator pointers help indicate where people are working, while each person keeps their own view and tool selection. When edits overlap on the same pixels, later changes can replace earlier ones in that region.

Common Questions

Is Canvas only a sketch pad?

No. It supports layered image composition, editable text and paths, masks, adjustments, real image placement, and finished-image export as well as painting.

Can I use every command shown in a menu?

Some advanced commands remain unavailable. Others need a compatible layer, selection, or editing permission. A disabled action is not a promise that the feature will work after a click.

How large can the document be?

Dimensions must be positive and no larger than 5,000 pixels on either side. Larger compositions and many detailed layers can also require more browser memory.

Where should I begin?

Follow Create, save, and reopen Canvas artwork, then try Build a layered poster. For shared review, see Use Canvas in a meeting.