# Canvas basics

_Shapes, notes, connectors, and how to move around a whiteboard._

Canonical: https://snoze.dev/help/canvas-basics/

A canvas is an infinite whiteboard: a free-floating scene of shapes, text, and
connectors instead of a top-to-bottom document. Reach for one when the
relationships between things matter more than their order — a system diagram, a
brainstorm, a flow.

1. **Create a canvas**

   Click **New** in the sidebar and choose **Canvas**, or add one from any
   folder's create menu. It opens empty, ready to draw on.

2. **Draw with the toolbar**

   The toolbar along the bottom holds every tool: **Rectangle**
   (`R`), **Ellipse** (`O`), **Diamond**
   (`D`), **Triangle** (`Y`), plus sticky notes,
   text, connectors, a pen and highlighter, and frames. Pick a tool and
   drag on the canvas to place a shape.

3. **Connect and annotate**

   Draw a **connector** between two shapes and it binds to them — move a
   shape and the arrow follows. Double-click any shape to type a label,
   drop a **sticky note** for a loose thought, or use **text** for a free
   caption.

4. **Style what you place**

   Select anything to open the style panel: fill, stroke, colour, width,
   dash, font, and opacity. Freshly-drawn shapes already carry polished
   defaults, so styling is optional.

## Groups and frames

Select several elements and **group** them to move, resize, and style them as
one unit; ungroup to break them apart again. A **frame** is a titled container:
drop shapes inside and it owns them, so dragging the frame carries its whole
contents. Frames are how you carve a big board into named regions — and they
double as slides for presentation mode.

## Getting around

- **Pan** by dragging any empty part of the canvas, or scroll with a plain
  mouse wheel.
- **Zoom** with `⌘`-scroll (or Ctrl-scroll), anchored where your
  pointer is.
- `⇧1` fits the whole scene to the screen; `⇧2`
  zooms to your current selection.
- `⌘F` searches text, notes, and frame titles and flies you to
  each match.
- The **minimap** in the corner shows where you are in the larger board and
  lets you jump by dragging.

> [!TIP]
> Canvases are real-time like everything else in Snoze. Teammates' cursors and
> selections appear live, and edits merge cleanly — no one's changes overwrite
> another's.

## Canvas or page?

Use a **[page](https://snoze.dev/help/pages-basics/)** when the content is meant to be read in
order — notes, docs, specs. Use a **canvas** when layout carries meaning:
things sit in space, point at each other, and you want to see the whole picture
at once. Both are items in the same workspace, so link between them freely.

To start from a template or decorate a board with stickers, see
[Canvas templates and stickers](https://snoze.dev/help/canvas-templates-and-stickers/).