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Canvas

Canvas is the free-form alternative to the grid dashboard: a fixed-size page where you place every item at exact pixel positions, like a design tool. Use it for presentation-grade and print-shaped output -- board packs, A4 reports, wall displays -- where the layout must not reflow.

Creating a canvas dashboard requires the Designer tier (T5) or above.

Availability: canvas is a plan feature, available on the Team plan and higher -- see Plans and billing.

Creating a canvas​

When you create a dashboard you choose grid or canvas. Canvas asks for a page size, with presets for Standard (1280 by 720), Wide (1920 by 1080), A4 landscape, A4 portrait, Tablet and Mobile. Viewers always see the page scaled to fit their window, so the proportions you design are the proportions everyone gets.

The editor​

  • Drag and resize -- move items freely and resize from the corner handle. Positions snap to a fine grid and to the edges and centres of neighbouring items.
  • Alignment guides -- live guide lines appear while you drag, snapping the item to nearby edges and centres.
  • Multi-select -- select several items and drag them together as one.
  • Align and distribute -- line up a multi-selection by edge or centre, and space items evenly.
  • Z-order -- bring an item to the front or send it to the back to control overlap.
  • Lock -- pin an item so it cannot be dragged or resized until unlocked; useful for finished backgrounds.
  • Zoom -- work at 50 to 200 per cent for fine placement or a whole-page view.

What you can place​

Everything a grid dashboard takes -- data cards, favourites and text -- plus decoration cards, which are canvas-only:

  • Shapes -- rectangles and ellipses with fill, stroke and corner radius, for panels and emphasis.
  • Dividers -- horizontal or vertical rules with configurable thickness and colour.
  • Images -- referenced by URL (https), with contain, cover or fill sizing and corner radius. Logos and illustrations.

Decoration cards require the Designer tier (T5) or above, the same tier that creates the canvas.

Canvas or grid?​

  • Pick grid when the dashboard is a living, day-to-day surface: it reflows responsively across screen sizes and is faster to compose.
  • Pick canvas when the output is the design: fixed proportions, precise placement, decorations and print-shaped pages.

The two modes share everything else -- the same cards, datasets, filters and themes -- so the skills transfer directly.

Good to know​

  • Dashboard filters and themes work on canvas dashboards exactly as they do on grids.
  • The viewer scales the page down to fit small screens rather than reflowing it; canvas is desktop- and presentation-first by design.
  • A canvas dashboard lives in the same library, certification and sharing model as any other dashboard.