Canvas
A Canvas is an infinite, zoomable surface where you spread out your thinking: Cards, Images, Links, Sketches, Tables, Sparks, Groups and Dividers, joined by Connections. Use one Canvas per project, course or topic, and arrange things by where they make sense next to each other rather than by folder.
Canvases are not folders
A folder contains a file in exactly one place. A Canvas is a stage: what you see on it are placements of Artifacts that live in your Artifacts Gallery. The same Card — say "Photosynthesis" — can sit on your "Biology 101" Canvas and on your "Exam prep" Canvas at the same time. Edit it on one and the other shows the change.
A few rules follow from this:
- Removing an object from a Canvas does not delete the Artifact. It stays in your Artifacts Gallery and on any other Canvas that has it.
- One Artifact appears at most once per Canvas. Adding something that is already there doesn't make a second copy on that Canvas.
- Deleting a Canvas keeps its contents. Cards, Images and other items on it stay in your Artifacts Gallery.
See Artifacts for the full model.
Where Canvases live
Every Canvas belongs to a Space — a group of Canvases for one area of your life, such as Work or Study. The top of a Space is itself a Canvas that holds its Canvases as tiles, and any Canvas can hold more Canvases inside it (nested Canvases). The left navigator shows all of this as a tree; see Organizing Canvases.
Create a Canvas
There are three ways:
- From the navigator. Open the navigator in the top-left corner and click + (Create Canvas) beside the Space's name. Type a name, optionally pick an icon, then press Create (✓) or Create & Open (↗).
- From the add menu. In the navigator, click More beside the search box and choose Create Canvas ("For a project, a course, a topic").
- On a Space's top Canvas. Right-click or double-click an empty spot and choose Create Canvas.
Create a nested Canvas
To put a Canvas inside the Canvas you are on:
- Right-click or double-click an empty spot.
- Under Organize & Layout (Add), choose Nested Canvas.
- In New nested Canvas, type a name. Optionally click the icon to change it, add a line in What's this Canvas for? (optional) — this becomes its Canvas memory overview — and pick a Canvas folder (optional) to bind a local folder.
- Click Create.
The new Canvas appears where you clicked, as a Canvas tile.
Nested Canvas tiles
A nested Canvas shows on its parent as a tile with its icon, its name and a small stacked preview of what's inside.
- Open it: double-click the tile, or hover it and click Open Canvas.
- Rename it: click its name.
- Change its icon: click the icon.
- More: right-click the tile for Rename, Move to Canvas..., Archive, folder options and more.
Use Go Back and Go Forward (the arrows beside the navigator button in the top-left) to step back out, or pick another Canvas in the navigator.
The Canvas menu
Right-click — or double-click — any empty spot on a Canvas to open the Canvas menu. Both open the same menu at the pointer.
| Item | What it does |
|---|---|
Quick add (⇧A) | Search your Artifacts and place one here. |
| Import from... | Bring in local files or content from other apps. |
| Card | A new empty Card at this spot. |
| Image (upload) | Pick an image file. You can also paste or drag an image onto the Canvas. |
| Sketch | A blank Sketch at this spot. |
| Table | A new Table with one column and one row. |
| Nested Canvas | A Canvas inside this Canvas (see above). |
| Divider / Axis | Draw a Divider to separate areas. |
On a Space's top Canvas the menu has only Import from... and Create Canvas — objects live on Canvases inside the Space, not on its top level. If you try to add something there, Lino tells you to "Enter a Canvas to add objects".
An empty Canvas
A Canvas with nothing on it shows Get Started with a few tiles: From Local Folder (bind a folder with Set up), Chat with AI, New Card and Import from..., plus a box that opens the Start page (⌘T). They disappear once you add something.
Undo
⌘Z undoes and ⌘⇧Z (or ⌘Y) redoes changes to what is on your Canvases — adding, moving, resizing, editing and removing objects, including creating a nested Canvas. Some things are deliberately outside undo:
- Comments (except moving a comment box) are changed only with their own buttons.
- Deleting a Canvas can't be undone — Lino asks you to confirm first.
- Changes Lino AI applies are undone from their proposal card, not with
⌘Z. See Changes, Review & Undo.
Each Canvas remembers
- Its view — where you panned and how far you zoomed.
- Canvas view or Bento view — see Bento view.
- Its Canvas memory — what Lino AI should know about it. See Canvas Memory.
- Its folder, if you bound one. See Canvas Binding.
Related
- Moving around a Canvas — pan, zoom, select, preview.
- Spaces and Organizing Canvases.
- Inbox Stack — where new things wait before you place them.