Share a canvas

Member·7 minutes to read

What this does for you

A canvas is a page one of your bots made for you. It starts private. From one Share panel you decide who else can open it: people you invite, one group of your organisation, everyone in your organisation, or anyone with the link, without signing in. Copy link and Open in browser hand the canvas on. The Shared by you list on the Canvases page shows every canvas of yours that someone else can open, so you can narrow or unshare any of them in one place.

Before you start

You can share only a canvas you own: one your bot made for you.
To share with a group, your organisation needs at least one member group. An administrator makes them under Organisation → Groups.
On a personal account there is no organisation, so A group of your organisation and Everyone in your organisation are not offered there. The Share panel says why.

Steps

Choose who can open a canvas

Open Canvases: click your avatar at the foot of the sidebar, then More → Canvases (or go to /canvases). Open the canvas.
Find Share. The first row names you as the Owner; under it are the people who have access, and a line says who can open the canvas now.
To add a colleague, type part of their name or email in Add people and select Add beside them. The canvas is shared with them straight away, at the access level you chose. Select × beside someone to take their access away.
Under General access, pick one of the three access levels (on an organisation, a group as well). Your choice saves at once:

Access level	Who can open the canvas
Invited people only	You and the people you added, up to 50. A canvas you have not shared yet starts here.
A group of your organisation	You and every current member of the group you pick from the Group list.
Everyone in your organisation	Every member of your organisation.
Anyone with the link	Anyone who has the page address, without signing in, plus the people you added.

Anyone with the link publishes the canvas at its page address, /p/<address>. If it has none yet, the panel asks for one and suggests the canvas title; select Publish the link. Choosing any other level takes the page off its address. The address stays yours, so choosing Anyone with the link again publishes it at the same address.

Everyone you share with can read the canvas; only you can change it, rename it, or change who can open it.

The audiences the Shared by you list names map onto these levels:

Audience	In the Share panel
Only you	Invited people only while you have added nobody.
People you choose	Invited people only once you have added someone.
A group of your organisation	The same level in the Share panel.
Everyone in your organisation	The same level in the Share panel.

Copy link and Open in browser

Copy link puts the canvas link on your clipboard and says "Link copied.". While the canvas is published, that is its page address (/p/<address>); otherwise it is the canvas in the app (/canvases/<id>), which opens only for the people who can open the canvas.
Open in browser opens the same link in a new tab, so you see what the people you send it to will see.

Group membership is checked each time someone opens the canvas, so you never share again when a group changes: someone added to the group later can open the canvas at once, and someone removed from the group can no longer open it.

The Shared by you list

Open Canvases. The Shared by you section lists every canvas you own that someone else can open: one you shared with people, a group or everyone, and one published at a page address (anyone with the link can open that). Each row shows who can open it and whether it is published.
To Narrow who can open it, pick Only you, a group, or Everyone in your organisation, then Save. To change the people on a canvas shared with people you chose, follow Change people to the canvas.
To Unshare it, select Unshare: only you can open it afterwards, and a published page comes off its address (the address stays yours).

Each change takes effect the next time anyone opens the canvas, and writes one entry to your organisation's audit log naming the canvas, who could open it before and who can open it now.

A worked example

Your bot made a canvas called "Client brief". In Share, type "grace" in Add people and add Grace, who can then open it in the app. Next week the client needs it too: under General access, pick Anyone with the link, keep the suggested address client-brief and select Publish the link. Select Copy link and paste the /p/client-brief link into your email to the client. When the work is done, pick Invited people only: the page comes off its address and only you and Grace can open it.

Your bot made another canvas called "Rota" and you shared it with everyone in your organisation. Only the Field team needs it. On Canvases, under Shared by you, the Rota row reads "Shared with everyone in your organisation". Pick "Shared with the group Field team" and select Save: the row now reads "Shared with the group Field team", and a colleague outside that group no longer finds Rota under Shared with you. When a new person joins the Field team, they can open Rota straight away.

What can go wrong

What you see	Why	What to do
No group option in the Share panel	This is a personal account, which has no organisation.	Share with people you choose, or move the work to an organisation.
"Your organisation has no groups yet."	Nobody has made a member group.	Ask an administrator to make one under Organisation → Groups.
"Choose a group of this organisation."	The group was deleted while the panel was open.	Reload the canvas and pick another group.
"Choose a page address for the link first."	The canvas has no page address yet.	Type one under Page address for the link and select Publish the link.
"That page address is already taken."	Another canvas is published at that address, or holds it.	Pick a different address. Nothing else changed.
"The link could not be copied."	Your browser blocked the clipboard.	Select Open in browser and copy the address from the address bar.
"Only the owner of this canvas can change it."	The canvas was shared with you; it is not yours.	Ask its owner to change who can open it.
A canvas is still in Shared by you after narrowing	It is still published at a page address.	Select Unshare, or pick a level other than Anyone with the link on the canvas.