How do I use pages and the infinite canvas?
Canvas has two layouts. The infinite canvas is one open, pannable space with no edges, which suits moodboards. Pages split a design into fixed-size artboards (Letter, A4, 16:9, Instagram, or custom) you manage in the film strip, which suits lookbooks and print. Switch between them from the toolbar.
Every design in Canvas uses one of two layouts: an open infinite canvas, or a set of fixed-size pages. You choose based on what you are making. A moodboard wants room to breathe on the infinite canvas, while a lookbook or anything you print reads better split across pages.
The infinite canvas
The infinite canvas is a single open space with no edges. You drop images, products, and color anywhere, spread out as far as you like, and the canvas grows with you. It is the default for free-form work like moodboards.
- Pan with one finger. Select
Move, then drag with one finger. - Pan and zoom with two fingers. Drag two fingers to pan from their midpoint, or pinch to zoom.
- Rotate with two fingers. Select exactly one editable object, then twist two fingers to rotate it.
- Use a trackpad or mouse. Pan by scrolling or dragging with a trackpad. Zoom with
CtrlorCmdand scroll, or useZoom inandZoom outin the toolbar. - Arrange freely. Nothing is locked to a grid or a frame. Use
Tidy upto arrange a selection as aRow,Column,Organiclayout, orCluster. See How do I tidy up the canvas?.
These gestures apply to the touch controls described here. Other Canvas controls may behave differently on touch devices.
Pages
Pages turn a design into a stack of fixed-size artboards, like slides or print pages. This is the layout to use for lookbooks, decks, and anything headed for PDF or print, because each page has real dimensions.
The film strip runs along the bottom of the canvas and shows a thumbnail of every page.
- Add a page. Click
New pagein the toolbar to add a page after the one you are on. - Set the size. Open
Page sizeand choose a preset such as Letter, A4, A5, a 16 presentation, or an Instagram post or story, or enter custom dimensions. Flip between portrait and landscape, then apply the size to this page only or to all pages. - Reorder. Drag page thumbnails left or right in the film strip to change their order.
- Duplicate or delete. Right-click a page in the film strip to duplicate it or delete it.
Each page is a real artboard with set dimensions, so what you see is what exports. When you turn a paged design into a PDF, each page becomes a page in the file. See How do I export a design as a PDF?.
Switching between the two
You can move a design between layouts at any time from the toolbar. On a paged design the button reads Switch to infinite canvas, and on the infinite canvas it reads Switch to pages.
Switching to the infinite canvas removes the page boundaries and places everything onto one open space, so Visualist asks you to confirm first. Switching to pages lays your work out onto sized artboards you can then resize and reorder.
Start on the infinite canvas while you gather and arrange ideas, then switch to pages once you know how the design should be split up to present or print.