Canvases

Canvases are the collaborative documents of your Deaku workspace. They’re designed for flexibility - perfect for writing scripts, planning ideas, taking notes, outlining strategies, or anything else you want to create with words on a page.

Every canvas lives inside a workspace, or a specific channel within a workspace, meaning collaborators with access can edit, comment, and contribute in real time.

How to plan and write scripts, notes and plans in canvases that your whole team can edit. Watch the tutorial (1:10)

Tour

In Canvases view, you can manage and organise all of your workspace documents.

Top right:

• Workspace / Channel toggle: Switch between workspace canvases and canvases from your channels.
• Search canvases: Find a canvas by name.
• Sort: Order canvases by date modified or by title.
• Tag Management: Add and manage tags to help you organise your canvases. You can also add tags inside a canvas by typing # followed by the tag name.
• Add (+) → Create a new canvas.

You can also pin important canvases from their cards so they're easy to find.

Within a Canvas:

Top:

• Canvas Title: The editable title of your canvas.
• Generate Title: Automatically generate a title based on the contents of your canvas.
• Lock Canvas: Prevent further edits by yourself or other users. Unlock anytime by clicking this icon again.
• Export Canvas: Choose from PDF, .doc or Plain Text.
• Show Comments: Reveals the comments sidebar from the right of the canvas. Highlight text to quote sections of the canvas, use the @mention system, and attach images. Track open, resolved, and rejected comments here too.
• Fullscreen Toggle: Switch between popout and fullscreen view for your canvas.
• Share Canvas: Opens the share modal where you can control where you’d like to share this canvas to. This can be within the workspace to channels or members, external to Deaku users outside the workspace, or you can generate a link for users outside Deaku. Please be aware that anyone with this link will have the permissions that you set here, and there is always a risk that unintended individuals can end up with a public link like this.
• Minimise Canvas: Move the canvas into a tab at the bottom of your screen.
• Close Canvas: Close the canvas window.
• Tags: Add tags to help organise your canvases.
• Last Saved: Displays the most recent save timecode.
• Link to Projects: Link this canvas directly to one or more active projects in the workspace. Click to open a dropdown of available projects and select one to link.
• Move: Move the canvas to a workspace or channel.

Left Toolbar:

• Undo/Redo
• Save icon
• Insert Meeting Notes: Record your meetings and get an actionable summary at the end. Available on Pro.
• Deaku Assistant
• Text Size
• Header formats
• Bullet list
• Checklist
• Insert Table
• Add link
• Code formatting
• Block quote
• Add image
• Keyboard Shortcuts List

Opening a New Canvas

To create a canvas:

1. Go to Canvases from the toolbar or dashboard.
2. Click the Add (+) icon at the top right.
3. Start writing.
4. Either name your canvas manually or use Generate Title to create one automatically.

You can also create a new canvas directly from a Project by opening its Canvases tab, clicking the + icon, and choosing New Canvas.

Workspace Canvases vs Channel Canvases

Deaku has two types of canvas, depending on where they live.

Workspace canvases are the default. They're accessible to all members of your workspace and appear in the main Canvases view. These are ideal for shared plans, scripts, and documents that your whole team needs to see.

Channel canvases are private to the members of a specific channel. They live inside the chat and don't appear in the Workspace list of the main Canvases view - use the Channel toggle to see them there. Only members of that channel can access them.

Switching between views

In the main Canvases view, you'll see a Workspace / Channel toggle at the top. Use this to switch between your workspace-wide documents and canvases from the channels you're a member of.

Creating a channel canvas

To create a canvas inside a channel:

1. Open the channel in Chat.
2. Click the file icon in the channel header to open the Channel Canvases panel.
3. Click New Canvas.

Or:

1. Open the channel in Chat.
2. Hover over a message you wish to begin a channel canvas.
3. Click the Canvas icon.

The canvas is immediately private to that channel. It won't appear in the workspace Canvases view.

Channel canvases support the same full editing experience as workspace canvases.

Writing in a Canvas

Start typing directly into the document area. Changes save automatically.

• Use headings, bullet points, and paragraphs just like a standard document.
• Edits from all collaborators appear live in real time.
• To undo or redo any changes (including edits made by collaborators or Deaku Assistant), use the Undo/Redo icons or press Ctrl + Z / Ctrl + Shift + Z.

Using Markdown Formatting

Canvases support Markdown for clean, fast formatting. Markdown lets you format while you write - no menus needed.

/ Commands

Type / at the start of any line to open the slash command menu. This gives you a fast, keyboard-friendly way to insert formatting and content blocks without touching the toolbar.

As you type after the /, the menu filters in real time. Use the arrow keys to navigate and Enter to apply, or just click the item you want.

For a full list of available commands, click on the Keyboard Shortcuts icon at the bottom left of any canvas.

Popout Canvas

By default, your canvas will open in a Popout floating window. This is ideal for multitasking alongside Media, Chat, or Projects.

• Drag and resize the Popout to fit your workflow.
• Click the Open in fullscreen icon to switch to Fullwidth view.

Fullscreen Canvas

Fullscreen view expands your canvas to take up your entire screen - perfect for deep focus and long-form writing.

You can toggle back to Popout view anytime using the Popout view icon.

Writing with Deaku Assistant

Deaku Assistant is your built-in writing assistant, available directly within any Canvas.

Click the Deaku Assistant icon in the toolbar to open the prompt box (“Ask Deaku Assistant anything…”).

Use it to:

• Brainstorm new ideas or outlines
• Structure a script or plan content
• Generate titles, summaries, or keywords
• Rewrite sections for clarity or tone

Editing with Deaku Assistant

You can also use Deaku Assistant to edit specific sections of text.

1. Highlight the text you’d like to refine.
2. Click AI Edit (the Deaku hand icon) in the popup menu.
3. Enter your prompt (e.g., “Make this more concise” or “Add humour to this section”).
4. Deaku Assistant rewrites the highlighted text in place. If you don't like the result, press Undo.

Because Deaku Assistant has access to the context of your workspace, its suggestions are tailored to your content strategy.

Collaborating

Canvases are built for real-time collaboration.

• Multiple users can write, comment, and edit simultaneously.
• Changes sync instantly across all collaborators.
• Use @username to mention and notify specific team members.

How to work on a script together in a canvas with comments, mentions and sharing. Watch the tutorial (1:08)

Adding Images

To add images to your canvas:

• Click the Add Image icon in the toolbar, or
• Paste an image directly from your clipboard.

Images appear inline and can be resized, repositioned, or removed.

Linking to Projects

Keep your written work connected to your creative workflow by linking Canvases to Projects.

You can link a canvas in two ways:

• From within a Canvas → click Link to Project.
• From within a Project → open the Canvases tab, click +, then choose Link Existing Canvas or New Canvas.

This helps keep scripts, plans, and feedback tied to their respective projects.

Exporting a Canvas

You can export any canvas as a file to share outside of Deaku or archive offline.

Click the Export icon (download arrow) in the canvas header to open the export menu. Three formats are available:

• PDF: Best for sharing. Exports a paginated, print-ready document.
• Word (.doc): Editable document that opens natively in Word, Google Docs and more, with formatting preserved.
• Plain Text: No formatting. Just clean text with paragraph structure intact.

Export runs entirely in your browser - no files are sent to a server. Images embedded in the canvas are included automatically in PDF and Word exports.

The exported filename matches the canvas title. If the canvas has no title, the file is saved as Untitled Canvas.