Use sub-canvases

A sub-canvas is a real canvas opened from another canvas. It works like a visible doorway: the parent canvas shows the topic, and the sub-canvas holds the deeper work. Use sub-canvases when one canvas is carrying too many details but you still need the relationship to stay visible.

Sub-canvases are important for large strategy maps, research projects, workshops, design reviews, and planning canvases. They let you keep the parent readable while giving each topic a focused space of its own. They are not just folders, and they are not folded pages. A sub-canvas can have its own content, sharing behavior, thumbnail, name, comments, and navigation path.

Availability and permissions

When to use a sub-canvas

Use a sub-canvas when a topic deserves room to grow but still belongs to the parent conversation. A parent strategy canvas can link to sub-canvases for pricing research, launch risks, customer interviews, or design explorations. A workshop canvas can link to one sub-canvas per breakout group. A project kickoff canvas can link to sub-canvases for requirements, research, and decisions.

Use pages when the work is one ordered document or presentation. Use a sub-canvas when the topic needs its own open workspace, independent comments, deeper structure, or separate sharing. Use a link object when the destination is outside ALLO. Use a file object when the destination is a document to preview or download.

If you are not sure, start with a page. Promote the topic into a sub-canvas when the page becomes crowded, when people need to work there independently, or when the parent canvas is turning into a map of many detailed areas.

If the topic begins as an uploaded PDF or Office document already on the parent canvas, use Convert an uploaded document to a canvas. That creates the child canvas from the selected file and keeps the original document visible as the source.

Create a sub-canvas from the toolbar

Choose Sub-canvas from the canvas toolbar, place it on the parent canvas, then name it. The sub-canvas object appears on the parent canvas and acts as the doorway into the connected canvas.

Rename it immediately. Names like "Customer interviews," "Launch risks," or "Pricing research" are useful. Names like "New canvas" force everyone to open the object before they know what it is.

Place the sub-canvas near the topic it expands. Add a short text label or instruction note if the parent canvas needs context. The parent should answer "why would I open this?" before someone clicks.

Create a sub-canvas from a page

Use the Page menu when an entire page has grown into its own topic. Creating a sub-canvas from a page is useful after a workshop or long review: the parent keeps the high-level path, and the new child canvas holds the expanded work.

For example, a page called "Risks" might become a sub-canvas where the team adds owners, evidence, mitigation ideas, and final decisions. The parent page can stay readable as an index instead of carrying every detail.

Before turning a page into a sub-canvas and cleaning up the parent, check comments. Page deletion or object deletion can remove the comment history tied to that page or object. Preserve decisions before deleting the original discussion area.

Open and return to context

Open a sub-canvas from the sub-canvas object menu by choosing Open canvas, or open it through the visible object interaction when available. The child canvas opens as a canvas in its own right. It can contain pages, objects, files, comments, links, images, spreadsheets, and more sub-canvases.

Keep the parent-child relationship visible. The parent canvas should explain why the child exists. The child canvas should explain what it contains and how it connects back to the parent. Add a title, intro note, or first page that names the parent topic.

When you need to return to the parent, use the normal navigation path available in your app surface, such as browser or app back navigation, the parent link you kept, or the canvas list/project context where the parent lives. If the child is important, place a link or note inside the child canvas that points people back to the parent so they are not stranded.

Rename, share, thumbnail, and copy link

Use the Element menu on the sub-canvas object for sub-canvas actions. Common actions include Open canvas, Share, Rename, Upload a thumbnail, Copy link, Duplicate, and Delete, along with normal object actions such as move, resize, group, lock, and comment.

Use Rename when the label does not explain the content. Use Upload a thumbnail when the default preview is stale, blank, or too generic. A useful thumbnail can make a parent canvas feel like a clear navigation map instead of a set of mystery cards.

Use Copy link when another person needs a direct path to the child canvas or exact object. Use Share when the person can see the parent but cannot open the child. Sub-canvas sharing can be separate from parent sharing, so test access before a meeting or external review.

Sharing and guest limitations

Sub-canvas access is visible but not automatic. A collaborator may be able to open the parent canvas and still get an access error on the child. Share the child canvas directly, move it into a project the person can access, or adjust the relevant share settings. If access still fails, use the work access checklist.

Guests can view, comment, or edit existing content depending on the parent canvas share settings, but sub-canvas creation is restricted for guests. If the Sub-canvas tool is missing for a guest, that can be expected behavior rather than a broken toolbar.

For external collaboration, prefer one clear entry point. Share the parent canvas when you want people to understand the full map. Share the child canvas directly when you want them to focus on one detailed area and avoid changing the parent.

Collaboration and comments

Use comments on the sub-canvas object when feedback is about the relationship: "This needs its own owner," "Thumbnail is stale," or "Move this under launch planning." Use comments inside the child canvas when feedback is about the detailed work.

If the sub-canvas becomes a major work area, treat it like a normal canvas. Give it a clear title, share it deliberately, keep decisions visible, and connect it to the right project or task workflow when needed. See Share a canvas and Comments and mentions.

Do not let a parent canvas become a wall of unlabeled sub-canvases. Group them by topic, create an index page, add section labels, and refresh thumbnails. Navigation is part of the work.

Examples

For product strategy, keep goals and the roadmap on the parent canvas. Create sub-canvases for "Pricing research," "Customer interviews," "Launch risks," and "Experiment backlog." Each child canvas can hold files, notes, and decisions without burying the parent.

For a workshop, create one sub-canvas per breakout group. Groups work in their own space, then the facilitator returns to the parent and summarizes the best findings.

For design review, keep final options on the parent canvas and use sub-canvases for discarded explorations, detailed annotations, or research references that reviewers may need but should not dominate the main review page.

What can go wrong

If a collaborator cannot open the child canvas, check sharing on the child. Parent access does not guarantee child access.

If the Sub-canvas tool is missing, check whether you are a guest, viewer, commenter, on a restricted surface, or using a device/tool layout that does not expose creation.

If the thumbnail is stale or unclear, upload or refresh the thumbnail when the action is available.

If people get lost after opening a child canvas, add clearer labels on the parent and a short context note inside the child. Copy a parent link into the child when the return path is not obvious.

If deleting a sub-canvas object would hide important work, move the link somewhere else first. The connected canvas may still exist, but the visible doorway many people use will be gone.