Canvas on Ultrathink | A second brain built by an ADHD brain

Canvas views

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

A canvas is one more way to show a view, beside the list, table, board and calendar. The view still decides which entries belong to it. The canvas decides where each one sits.

Each view has one canvas board. It saves as you go and shows the same on your other devices.

Show a view as a canvas

Open any page or view from the sidebar: All items, Projects, Tasks, Knowledge, a smart view or one of your own views.
In the view switch at the top, click Canvas.
The canvas fills the page. The first time you open a board on a device, it zooms to show everything on it. An empty board says how many entries match the view, with an Open the tray button.

To keep the view opening as a canvas, save the change:

Notes, arrows, frames and drawing

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The cards on a canvas are your entries. Everything else on the board is yours to add around them: sticky notes, text, arrows, frames, shapes and drawings. They save with the board and show on your other devices.

The tool dock

The dock at the bottom of the board holds the tools, in this order. Press a tool’s key, or its number, to pick it.

Tool	Key	Number	What it does
Select	V	1	Pick, move and resize things
Hand	H	2	Drag to pan the board
Note	N	3	Click for a sticky note
Text	T	4	Click for text
Arrow	A	5	Drag from one shape to another
Frame	F	6	Drag out a named section
Draw	D	7	The pen
Highlighter	Shift+D	8	A wide, see-through pen
Eraser	E	9	Rub out notes, text, shapes, lines, arrows and drawings

The last slot holds the rest. It shows the one you used last, and the small arrow beside it opens them all:

Presenting and exporting

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

A canvas can be shown to other people as it is. Present it frame by frame, or export it as a picture or a file another app can open.

Both live in the small bar at the bottom right of the canvas: Present, and the … menu beside it for export, theme and the hand-drawn style. The same options are in the menu you get when you right-click the empty board.

Canvas shortcuts

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

These shortcuts work on a canvas. Press ? on any board to see the same list there.

On a Mac, use Cmd wherever this page says Ctrl, and Option for Alt.

Single keys, such as N or D, do nothing while you are typing in a note, a card’s title or a label, so they never get in the way of your writing.

Tools

Tool	Key	Number
Select	V	1
Hand	H	2
Note	N	3
Text	T	4
Arrow	A	5
Frame	F	6
Draw	D	7
Highlighter	Shift+D	8
Eraser	E	9
Rectangle	R	0
Ellipse	O
Line	L
Laser pointer	K
Keep tool selected, on or off	Q
Back to Select, or cancel	Esc

Edit

Action	Keys
Undo	Ctrl+Z
Redo	Ctrl+Shift+Z, or Ctrl+Y (on a Mac, Cmd+Shift+Z or Ctrl+Y)
Copy	Ctrl+C
Cut	Ctrl+X
Paste	Ctrl+V
Delete, or remove a card from the board	Delete, or Backspace
Clone	Ctrl+D
Select all	Ctrl+A
Lock or unlock	Shift+L
Show more of a card	Alt+Down
Show less of a card	Alt+Up

Arrange

Action	Keys
Tidy up	Ctrl+Alt+T
Align left	Alt+A
Align centres across	Alt+H
Align right	Alt+D
Align top	Alt+W
Align middles	Alt+V
Align bottom	Alt+S
Distribute across	Alt+Shift+H
Distribute down	Alt+Shift+V
Group	Ctrl+G
Ungroup	Ctrl+Shift+G
Frame selection	Ctrl+Alt+G
Bring to front	]
Bring forward	Alt+]
Send backward	Alt+[
Send to back	[

View

Action	Keys
Zoom in	Ctrl+=
Zoom out	Ctrl+-
Zoom to 100%	Shift+0
Zoom to fit	Shift+1
Zoom to selection	Shift+2
Minimap, on or off	M
Dot grid, on or off	Ctrl+'
Focus mode, on or off	Ctrl+.
Keyboard shortcuts	?

On the board

Action	Keys
Pan	Space and drag, or scroll on a trackpad
Zoom	Ctrl and scroll, a mouse wheel, or pinch
Nudge the selection	Arrow keys. Add Shift to move 10 pixels at a time
Select the first shape, when nothing is selected	Enter
Edit the selected note, text, label or frame name, or open a card	Enter
Next or previous shape	Tab, Shift+Tab
Select the nearest shape in a direction	Ctrl and an arrow key
Select only shapes fully inside the box	Hold Ctrl while you drag a box
Move in a straight line	Hold Shift while you drag
Drag without snapping	Hold Ctrl while you drag
Into a group, or back out	Click again, or Enter; Esc
The menu for the selection	The Menu key, or Shift+F10
Leave the canvas for the page around it	Esc, then Tab

While typing in a note

Action	Keys
New note to the right, or the left	Tab, Shift+Tab
New note below	Ctrl+Enter
New note above	Ctrl+Shift+Enter
Stop typing	Esc

Drawing arrows, shapes and lines

Action	Keys
Arrow end that runs into the shape, to the exact point	Hold Alt while you drag the end
Arrow end that attaches to nothing	Hold Ctrl while you drag the end
Arrow end at an exact point on a shape	Rest on the shape while you drag the end
Label an arrow, rename a frame, write in a shape	Double-click, or Enter
Straight line on from the last pen stroke	Hold Shift as you press, with the pen
Square or circle	Hold Shift while you draw a shape
Keep proportions while resizing	Hold Shift on a corner
Resize from the centre	Hold Alt while you resize
Draw a shape out from its centre	Hold Alt while you draw a shape
Line in 15 degree steps	Hold Shift while you draw a line

While presenting

Action	Keys
Next slide	Right arrow, down arrow, Space, Enter or Page Down
Previous slide	Left arrow, up arrow, Backspace or Page Up
First or last slide	Home, End
End the presentation	Esc

Keyboard shortcuts for the rest of the app
Notes, arrows, frames and drawing
Presenting and exporting

Moving from the work plan

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The work plan was the old canvas for the entries you starred. Canvas views have taken its place: every view can now be a canvas, so you can have a board for any set of entries, not only the starred ones.

If you used the work plan, your boards have moved across for you. This page explains where they are and what changed.

Where your boards went

Each work plan board is now a view of its own, shown as a canvas:

Canvas on Ultrathink | A second brain built by an ADHD brain

Canvas views

Show a view as a canvas

Notes, arrows, frames and drawing

The tool dock

Presenting and exporting

Canvas shortcuts

Tools

Edit

Arrange

View

On the board

While typing in a note

Drawing arrows, shapes and lines

While presenting

Related pages

Moving from the work plan

Where your boards went