permalink: plugins/canvas

Canvas

Canvas is a core plugin for visual note-taking. It gives you infinite space to lay out notes and connect them to other notes, attachments, and web pages.

Visual note-taking helps you to make sense of your notes by organizing them in a 2D space. Connect notes with lines and group related notes together to better understand the relationship between them.

Canvas data you create in Obsidian is saved as .canvas files using the open file format JSON Canvas.

Create a new canvas

To start using Canvas, you first need to create a file to hold your canvas. You can create a new canvas using the following methods.

Ribbon:

In the ribbon on the left, select Create new canvas ( ) to create a canvas in the same folder as the active file.

Command palette:

Open the Command palette.
Select Canvas: Create new canvas to create a canvas in the same folder as the active file.

File explorer:

In the File explorer, right-click the folder you want to create the canvas in.
Select New canvas.

The .canvas file extension

Obsidian stores your canvas data as .canvas files using an open file format called JSON Canvas.

Add cards

You can drag files into your canvas from Obsidian or from other applications. For example, Markdown files, images, audio, PDFs, or even unrecognized file types.

Add text cards

You can add text-only cards that don't reference a file. You can use Markdown, links, and code blocks just like in a note.

To add a new text card to your canvas:

Select or drag the blank file icon at the bottom of the canvas.

You can also add text cards by double-clicking on the canvas.

To convert a text card to a file:

Right-click the text card and then select Convert to file....
Enter the note name and then select Save.

Note

Text-only cards don't appear in Backlinks. To make them appear, you need to convert them to a file.

Add cards from notes

To add a note from your vault to your canvas:

Select or drag the document icon at the bottom of the canvas.
Select the note you want to add.

You can also add notes from the canvas context menu:

Right-click the canvas and then select Add note from vault.
Select the note you want to add.

Or, you can add them to the canvas by dragging the file from the File explorer.

Add cards from media

To add media from your vault to your canvas:

Select or drag the image file icon at the bottom of the canvas.
Select the media file you want to add.

You can also add media from the canvas context menu:

Right-click the canvas and then select Add media from vault.
Select the media file you want to add.

Or, you can add them to the canvas by dragging the file from the File explorer.

Add cards from web pages

To embed a web page in your canvas:

Right-click the canvas and then select Add web page.
Enter the URL to the web page and then select Save.

You can also select a URL in your browser and then drag it into the canvas to embed it in a card.

To open the web page in your browser, press Ctrl (or Cmd on macOS) and select the card label. Or, right-click the card and select Open in browser.

Add cards from folders

Drag a folder from the file explorer to add all files in that folder to the canvas.

Edit a card

Double-click on a text or note card to start editing it. Click outside the card to stop editing it. You can also press Escape to stop editing a card.

You can also edit a card by right-clicking it and selecting Edit.

Delete a card

Remove selected cards by right-clicking any of them, and then selecting Delete. Or, press Backspace (or Delete on macOS).

You can also select Remove ( lucide-trash-2.svg > icon ) in the selection controls above your selection.

Swap cards

You can swap a note or media card for another card of the same type.

To swap a note card:

Right-click the card you want to replace.
Select Swap file.
Select the note you want to replace with.

Select cards

Select cards in the canvas by clicking on them. You can select multiple cards by dragging a selection around them.

You can also add and remove cards from an existing selection by pressing Shift and selecting them.

Press Ctrl+a (or Cmd+a on macOS) to select all cards in the canvas.

To scroll the content of a card, you first need to select it.

Arrange cards

Drag a selected card to move it.

Press Alt (or Option on macOS) and drag to duplicate the selection.

You can press Shift while dragging to only move in one direction.

Press Space while moving a selection to disable snapping.

Selecting a card moves it to the front.

Resize a card

Drag any of a card's edges to resize it.

You can press Space while resizing to disable snapping.

To maintain the aspect ratio while resizing, press Shift while resizing.

Connect cards

Draw lines between cards to create relationships between them. Use colors and labels to describe how they relate to each other.

Connect two cards

To connect two cards with a directed line:

Hover the cursor over one of the edges of a card until you see a filled circle.
Drag the circle to the edge of a different card to connect them.

Tip

If you drag the line without connecting it to another card, you can then add the card you want to connect it to.

Disconnect two cards

To remove the connection between two cards:

Hover the cursor over a connection line until two small circles appear on the line.
Drag one of the circles from the card without connecting it to another.

You can also disconnect two cards by right-clicking the line between them, and then selecting Remove. Or, by selecting the line and then pressing Backspace (or Delete on macOS).

Connect a card to a different card

To move one of the ends of a connection line:

Hover the cursor over a connection line until two small circles appear on the line.
Drag the circle over the end you want to reconnect, to another card.

Navigate a connection

If two connected cards are far apart, you can navigate to the source or the target of the connection by right-clicking the line and then select Go to target or Go to source.

Add a label to a connection

You can add a label to a line to describe the relationship between two cards.

To label a connection:

Double-click the line.
Enter the label and then press Escape or click anywhere on the canvas.

You can also label a connection by selecting it and then selecting Edit label from the selection controls.

To edit a connection label, double-click on the line, or right-click the line and then select Edit label.

Change the color of a card or connection

Select the cards or connections you want to color.
In the selection controls, select Set color ( ).
Select a color.

Group cards

Group selected cards

To create an empty group:

Right-click the canvas and then select Create group.

To group related cards:

Select the cards.
Right-click any of the selected cards and then select Create group.

Rename group: Double-click the name of the group to edit it, and then press Enter to save.

Navigate the canvas

As you start adding more cards to your canvas, you want to understand how you can navigate the canvas to look at a part of it. Learn how to pan and zoom to move across the canvas with ease.

Pan the canvas

To move the canvas vertically and horizontally, also known as panning, you can use any of the following approaches:

Press Space and drag the canvas.
Drag the canvas using the middle-mouse button.
Scroll the mouse to pan vertically, and press Shift while scrolling to pan horizontally.

Zoom the canvas

To zoom the canvas, press Space or Ctrl (or Cmd on macOS) and scroll using the mouse wheel. Or, select Zoom in ( lucide-plus.svg > icon ) and Zoom out ( lucide-minus.svg > icon ) from the zoom controls in the upper-right corner.

Zoom to fit

To zoom the canvas so that every item is visible, select Zoom to fit ( lucide-maximize.svg > icon ). Or, use the keyboard shortcut, Shift+1.

Zoom to selection

To zoom the canvas so that all selected items are visible, right-click a selected card and then select Zoom to selection. Or, use a keyboard shortcut by pressing Shift+2.

Reset zoom

To change the zoom level back to the default, select Reset zoom in the zoom controls in the upper-right corner.

Advanced tips

We have made some quick videos to demonstrate some advanced use cases of Canvas.

You can check out all 72 tips here. Please note that the tip videos are only visible on desktop.