Using the create canvas

Explains the create canvas — the guided create surface where you drop notes, photos, documents, audio, or links and get help shaping them into a publishable piece. Use when someone has raw material and doesn't know where to start, asks for help writing, or asks what the canvas/guided create is.

  1. 1

    Open the create canvas Open

  2. 2

    Drop in everything you have — notes, photos, documents, audio, video, links

  3. 3

    Choose "Help me shape this" — the canvas suggests a content type and fills the form

  4. 4

    Confirm the type (or change it), edit the result directly, and publish

The canvas is in limited beta — not yet open to everyone. If it isn't available on your account, the regular create forms do everything the canvas does, just by hand. (When it opens up, this guide gets updated — that's a promise the docs keep.)

The create canvas is for the moment when something happened and you have material — notes on your phone, photos, a voice memo, a flyer, a link — but not a finished piece.

Drop everything into the canvas. It reads what you gave it, figures out what you're probably making (a story? an event? a classified?), and fills in the form for you. You confirm the type, edit anything directly, and publish through the same flow as any other content. Audio gets transcribed; what you drop stays yours to show or keep as background research.

Related: How to create a story, Choosing a content type, Your content, drafts, and analytics