How To Use Canvas Feature in ChatGPT?

Among its many updates, OpenaAI recently released Canvas, a feature that transforms ChatGPT from a standard chat-based assistant into a collaborative editor to streamline complex writing and coding tasks.

Instead of just chatting with the model, you can now work collaboratively on documents and code, making targeted edits, experimenting with different styles, and tracking changes over time—all from one flexible workspace.

In this article, we'll cover how to access Canvas, its benefits, main features and their applications.

Who Can Benefit From ChatGPT Canvas

Writers and Editors

If you’re drafting articles, essays, technical documentation, or blog posts, Canvas helps you refine your text. You can highlight specific sections, adjust reading levels, shorten or lengthen content, and add a final polish without leaving the interface.

Developers and Coders

Canvas is equally useful for programming projects. It enables you to review code, add logs for debugging, add explanatory comments, fix bugs, and even translate code into different programming languages. For Python code, you can execute it directly in Canvas and receive real-time feedback and suggested fixes.

Content Creators and Educators

Anyone who works iteratively on text—marketers refining ad copy, educators creating study materials, or technical writers producing clear instructions—can use Canvas to streamline their creative process.

How to Access Canvas

1. Automatic Opening:
   When ChatGPT detects that a response might benefit from Canvas—such as a long piece of writing (over 10 lines) or coding tasks—it will open the Canvas window automatically.

2. Manual Activation:
   You can request Canvas yourself by typing “use canvas” into your prompt. You can also say “open a canvas” or “open a coding canvas” to start with a blank workspace.

3. Platform and Model Requirements:

   • Available on Web and Windows now, with Mac, iOS, Android, and mobile web coming soon.
   • Requires GPT-4o. If you reach your GPT-4o limit, you must wait for it to reset before continuing.

4. Other Access Methods:

   • Paste content into ChatGPT and look for a shortcut in the upper-right corner to open it directly in Canvas.
   • Use the “/canvas” command in the prompt composer toolbox to open a new canvas.

Feature 1: Inline Highlighting and Editing

What it is:
Within the Canvas interface, you can highlight sections of text or code you want to improve, rewrite, or clarify. Highlighting gives ChatGPT specific context for more targeted and helpful suggestions.

How to use it:

• Click and drag over any portion of your text or code to select it.
• Provide instructions (e.g., “Shorten this paragraph” or “Explain this code snippet”).
• Apply ChatGPT’s suggestions directly, or edit the text/code yourself.

Feature 2: Direct Text and Code Editing

What it is:
Canvas allows you to edit your content directly. Treat it like a basic editor where you can type, delete, and rearrange text or code.

How to use it:

• Click into the Canvas and start typing to add or remove content.
• Use basic Markdown formatting (bold, italics, headers, bullet points, numbered lists) by highlighting text and choosing formatting options.
• If something doesn’t work out, revert to a previous version using the version history tools.

Feature 3: Writing Shortcuts

What it is:
Canvas offers a menu of shortcuts for common writing tasks, speeding up adjustments and refinements.

How to use it:

• Suggest Edits: ChatGPT provides inline improvements.
• Adjust Length: Make your text shorter or longer using a slider.
• Change Reading Level: Rewrite content at a chosen complexity (Kindergarten through Graduate School).
• Add Final Polish: Check grammar, clarity, and consistency.
• Add Emojis: Sprinkle emojis throughout the text for emphasis or tone.

Feature 4: Coding Shortcuts

What it is:
For developers, Canvas includes a suite of coding aids to refine, debug, and enhance your code in real-time.

How to use it:

• Review Code: Get inline suggestions to improve logic or performance.
• Add Logs: Insert print/log statements for easier debugging.
• Add Comments: Annotate your code to explain reasoning and structure.
• Fix Bugs: Detect and automatically correct problematic code.
• Port to Another Language: Translate your code into various programming languages.

Feature 5: Python Code Execution

What it is:
For Python projects, you can run your code directly in Canvas and view outputs or errors in real-time.

How to use it:

• Paste or write Python code into Canvas.
• Click the “Execute” button to run it.
• Review the output at the bottom of the screen. If there’s an error, click “Fix bug” and let ChatGPT suggest corrections on the spot.

Feature 6: Integrating Canvas with Your GPTs

What it is:
If you’re creating your own custom GPTs, you can enable Canvas functionality inside it.

How to use it:

• In the GPT Builder, enable the Canvas capability.
• End users can then open Canvas during their chat sessions for direct editing and refinement of their content or code.

Conclusion

Canvas transforms ChatGPT from a simple Q&A chatbot into an interactive, iterative editor for text and code. Whether you’re writing, coding, or refining your ideas, Canvas offers a collaborative environment with powerful tools for improving quality, clarity, and performance—all in one place.

Valeriia Kuka

Valeriia Kuka, Head of Content at Learn Prompting, is passionate about making AI and ML accessible. Valeriia previously grew a 60K+ follower AI-focused social media account, earning reposts from Stanford NLP, Amazon Research, Hugging Face, and AI researchers. She has also worked with AI/ML newsletters and global communities with 100K+ members and authored clear and concise explainers and historical articles.