Unlocking the Full Potential of OpenAI's Canvas: 10 Expert Tips

Introduction

After spending a couple of weeks using the new canvas user interface in ChatGPT, I found it to be far more useful than initially imagined. This article highlights ten power user features of the canvas interface that you might not be aware of.?

It would be a mistake to dismiss OpenAI’s canvas as being a clone of Anthropic’s artifacts interface in Claude. As you go deeper into canvas you realize it’s entirely different. Ultimately the interface you choose will depend on the specific task at hand.?

To keep this article brief, I will focus on OpenAI’s canvas abilities as a writing assistant, but you should be aware that it is a remarkable code editor as well.?

Announcement from OpenAI

OpenAI announced the canvas interface this way:?

“We’re introducing Canvas, a new interface for working with ChatGPT on writing and coding projects that go beyond simple chat. Canvas opens in a separate window, allowing you and ChatGPT to collaborate on a project. This early beta introduces a new way of working together—not just through conversation, but by creating and refining ideas side by side.” — OpenAI, October 3, 2024

Canvas is currently in early beta, and OpenAI plans to rapidly improve its capabilities.

A New Way to Interact with ChatGPT

This new interface completely changes the way we interact with generated output from ChatGPT, making it easier to iterate on ideas. For example, you can ask for modifications, and the changes appear in place without losing context, making the editing process smoother and more efficient. The chat window remains, but when you ask ChatGPT to write some text or program code, a canvas opens with the generated output on the left side and the chat window as a sidebar on the right.

More importantly, when you ask ChatGPT to change the text or program code, it regenerates the content in place. No more scrolling up and down between versions of the email you are writing or the snippet of program code you are working on.

Getting Started with Canvas

There are two ways to start with Canvas: selecting the anvas option directly from the main window or asking ChatGPT to generate content that opens in a Canvas.

Typically, you begin by selecting ChatGPT-4o with canvas from the model selection in the upper left corner of the main ChatGPT window.

Alternatively, you can start a chat with another model, such as o1-preview, and then switch to ChatGPT-4o with canvas. This leads us to the first tip:

Tip 1: Start with Any Model

You can start your writing using any model, including o1-preview. For example, when writing this article, I started with o1-preview and then switched models to ChatGPTprompted ChatGPT, "Put the article into Canvas."

Opening a Canvas

If you have selected ChatGPT-4o with Canvas, you initially see the familiar chat interface. You can create a canvas in one of two ways:

1. A prompt designed to generate a block of writing, such as "create an email that..." or "write a short article," will put the content into a canvas.
2. Alternatively, you can create a blank Canvas with a prompt like "create a new Canvas."

Either way, a new Canvas is created that will look like this:

The Canvas interface includes two primary sections: the left side shows the chat history, while the right side is dedicated to the generated output. The toolbar at the top allows you to undo, redo, and copy content, while additional options are available in the bottom right menu.

Canvas Layout

Once you are in Canvas mode, there are three main actions you can take:

1. Text Formatting
2. Create or Replace Content: Generate new content or replace existing content in place with ChatGPT.
3. Other Actions: Access additional options using the menu in the lower right corner.

Before you begin, take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the Canvas layout:

• Two-Paned Window: On the left is the chat interface, which remains active. On the right is the Canvas, where you can make changes to the text in place. Focus on the key buttons such as 'Undo,' 'Redo,' and 'Copy to Clipboard' at the top, as well as the action menu in the bottom right corner, which provides additional options for editing and refining your text.

Canvas Toolbar

• Top Right: Undo Redo Copy to Clipboard
• Top Left: Close the Canvas and return to the standard chat interface. Your Canvas will be saved in the chat.
• Bottom Right: Menu for actions you can perform on your writing. Hover over it to expand.

AskGPT Menu

One of the first differences when working with canvas is that you can make changes in place, by selecting an area of text first. First, you can do simple formatting, or you can ask ChatGPT to make any other changes to the content.?

Formatting Text

You can do basic text formatting similarly to any basic text editor. Select (highlight) an area of text to access formatting options.

Ask ChatGPT to Make Changes to Content

In addition to text formatting, you have the ability to ask ChatGPT-4o to make any changes you like.? Simply type what you want it to do and it make the changes needed. Want to add a paragraph? If you have selected a paragraph, the added paragraph will follow the paragraph you selected.?

As an example I was working on article about the Antarctic treaty. The paragraph I was interested in read as follows:?

"Signed on December 1, 1959, and entering into force on June 23, 1961, the Antarctic Treaty was initially agreed upon by 12 countries: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union."

I thought the article could benefit with some context around what was happening in 1959.? So I selected the paragraph above and asked ChatGPT to add some context around what was happening in 1959. It added the following paragraph.?

"The year 1959 was marked by significant global events, including the intensification of the Cold War, the Cuban Revolution, and the ongoing Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Cold War brought heightened suspicions and rivalries, with both superpowers striving for global influence, while the Cuban Revolution shifted the balance of power in Latin America, increasing tensions in the Western Hemisphere. The Space Race, meanwhile, represented the technological competition between the two powers, capturing the world's imagination and pushing the boundaries of scientific exploration…?"

Best of all, if I don’t like what is has written I can use the undo function and go back to the earlier version.?

Tip 2: Use the Undo for Version Management

If you don’t like the changes made by ChatGPT, you can easily undo them and go back to the previous version. The Undo arrow, located in the upper right of the Canvas, is a helpful tool for iterative editing, making it easier to refine your work step by step.

You can edit the text in place manually, but any changes you make will be forgotten the next time you apply any actions to the text, as the system prioritizes its own generated changes over manual edits. This leads to the following tip:

Tip 3: Finalize Your Work in an External Editor

Iterate as many times as you need with ChatGPT-4o with Canvas until you get a version of your first draft. Once you have a solid draft, copy the resulting text into an editor of your choice to make manual changes that reflect your personal style.

Action Menu (Bottom Right)

You have not seen anything yet. Now try out the action menu.? Hover over the action menu in the bottom right to access the following functions (from bottom to top):

• Suggest Edits: Adds suggested changes that can be applied one at a time or not. Do this first.
• Adjust Length: Rewrites the article or marked text in place so that it is either longer or more concise.
• Adjust Reading Level: Adjusts the reading level of the text (grade level) as needed.
• Add Final Polish: Reviews the draft and makes any changes necessary to the wording for readability. Do this last.
• Add Emojis: Not the most useful function, but it is there if you like to add emojis.

The action menu is where canvas has its most powerful capabilities as a writing assistant.?

Tip 4: Actions on Highlighted Text?

When you are performing actions on your writing, the action will apply to the entire article unless you have highlighted specific text. In that case, the action will only apply to the highlighted text. So if you want add emojis to a single paragraph, ore make that paragraph more concise. Highlight the text before performing the action.?

Working with Multiple Canvases

You can? work with multiple Canvases in a single chat, using each as a kind of scratchpad. The advantage is that all of the Canvases are aware of the context in the chat window. As mentioned earlier, you can start with a model like o1-preview in the chat and then open a Canvas. You won’t have access to the o1-preview model in the Canvas, but the Canvas is aware of the content generated in the chat.

Tip 5: Create and Manage Multiple Canvases

Entering a prompt like "Create a new Canvas" will create a blank canvas. Each chat can have multiple canvases in which you can work. There is a dropdown list in the upper right corner of the main chat window. Clicking on this will reveal the canvases that have been created in this chat.

It’s good practice to give your canvases a meaningful name, especially when you start working with multiple canvases in the same chat.?

Tip 6: Naming Canvases

You can give your canvas a name like “Article Draft 1.” Subsequently, you can open the canvas by prompting something like "Open Article Draft 1”? or you can use the dropdown list in the upper right corner from the main chat window. You cannot rename a canvas or delete a Canvas once it is created.

One final note, at this time a canvas can only contain text.?

Tip 7: Limitations on Content Types

A Canvas holds plain text only or programming code only—more on the programming use case later. If you try to add an image, even one created in the chat, it will not appear. If you try to express something in mathematical notation, it will not appear. If your document is full of images, canvas may not be the best tool to use.?

Importing and Exporting Text

Whether you are working using the regular chat interface or Canvas, you can prompt ChatGPT to effectively import or export any generated output to an external file format like PDF, Word Document, or even plain text.

For importing, simply attach one or more files and add a prompt that specifies that you want to create a Canvas.

Tip 8: Importing Text

When you create a new chat, you can import text from a PDF, Word Document, or an image by first attaching the file to be imported and adding a prompt like: "Create a Canvas called Article Draft from this file."

Exporting text becomes more straightforward with the Canvas interface. You can have multiple active Canvases in a chat, and at any time, you can issue a prompt that asks ChatGPT to save one or more Canvases by name as a PDF or Word Document.

Tip 9: Export Formats

You can save (export) the text from a canvas in any of the following formats with a prompt like: "Save the Article Draft canvas as a PDF file."

You can save the contents of a canvas in the following formats:

1. PDF (.pdf) - Portable Document Format, suitable for sharing and printing.
2. Word Document (.docx) - Microsoft Word format, widely used for text documents.
3. Plain Text (.txt) - Unformatted text files.
4. Markdown (.md) - Plain text with markup for formatting, popular in web and technical writing.
5. Rich Text Format (.rtf) - Supports basic text formatting and is compatible with most word processors.
6. HTML (.html) - Used for web pages, can include formatting tags for browsers.
7. Comma Separated Values (.csv) - Useful for tabular data; can be opened in spreadsheet programs.

Tip 10: Small Blocks of Text Only?

Canvas is likely not going to be useful for large works of writing. It will be useful for emails and short articles that range up to about 2,000 words.?

As an experiment, I put five chapters' worth of text into a prompt that said, “Put the entire text that follows into a canvas.” It created a canvas with only the first chapter—roughly 1,900 words.

In the same chat, I asked it to take the text from Chapter 2 and create another canvas. It did this, but the entire text of Chapter 2 was not in the canvas, only about 500 words.

This suggests that Canvas is constrained by the size of the context window of ChatGPT, which is not surprising. The context window refers to the amount of information that ChatGPT can retain and process at any given time, limiting how much text can be handled effectively within a single Canvas. For the time being, it’s only going to be useful for sections of larger works of writing or for blog articles, emails, etc.

Summary

In a nutshell, OpenAI’s canvas simplifies the editing process for writing by providing direct, interactive tools for content creation and refinement. It is a powerful tool for short articles, emails, and coding.?

Keep in mind that like anything else associated with ChatGPT, its context window, in which this interface operates in, limits the size of what can be worked on.?