Create your first canvas

Your first canvas should make one piece of work easier to review

A first canvas does not need a perfect system behind it. It needs a real piece of work, a clear question, and the right people looking in the same place. That is enough to show why a canvas exists: it keeps the material, the conversation, and the decision together instead of scattering them across a file link, a chat thread, and a recap message.

Use this guide when you are new to ALLO and want to make the first useful thing, not explore every canvas tool. You will start from Home, create a Blank canvas, add enough context for review, and share it without turning one review into a workspace-wide access problem.

The short version

Open Home, then choose Quick actions → Blank canvas. Give the canvas a name someone else can recognize later. Add the material people need to review, put the main question near that material, then share the canvas or @mention the reviewer in a comment. If the work belongs to a larger plan with owners, dates, sections, or progress, add it to the right project before the team starts using it.

Availability

Give the canvas one job

The fastest way to make a bad first canvas is to treat it like a drawer for everything. Give it one job first: review this landing page, compare these campaign directions, collect questions for Friday's planning session, or decide which mockup moves forward.

Ask three questions before you create it:

If the answer involves owners, Due dates, sections, or project progress, create the canvas from the project context or add it to the project before sharing. If the answer is "we run this same review every week," use a template. If the answer is "we just need a place to look at this together," start blank.

Choose a starting point

Most first canvases should start blank. Templates and project-connected canvases are better when the work already has structure around it.

For the full format comparison, use Create a canvas. This article keeps to the first useful path.

Build the first review room

1. Open Home.
2. Select Quick actions → Blank canvas.
3. Name the canvas for the work, not the tool. Homepage review - June launch beats New canvas.
4. Add the material people need to inspect: images, files, screenshots, text notes, links, shapes, or a short prompt.
5. Put the main question close to the material it belongs to. Reviewers should not have to guess what kind of feedback you want.
6. Add a comment on the exact object or page that needs a response, then @mention the person who should answer.
7. Share the canvas with view, comment, or edit access based on what that person needs to do.

Keep it simple. A messy canvas is fine on day one. An unclear canvas is expensive because everyone has to ask what they are looking at.

Add real work, not sample content

The first canvas should prove a real workflow. Put in the thing the team already needs to review, then add only enough structure to make the next action obvious.

For the basics of selecting, moving, and editing objects, use Learn canvas basics. For comments and mentions, use Comments and mentions.

Ask for feedback where the work is

Sharing and inviting solve different problems. Share the canvas when someone needs to review this specific work. Invite the person to the workspace when they need ongoing access across the team's work.

After sharing, mention the reviewer in a comment if you need a specific answer. A shared link without a question often becomes another unread tab. A comment attached to the exact image, file, page, or object tells the reviewer where to look and what to answer.

Make it findable next week

A canvas is not only for the meeting happening now. It should still make sense when someone opens it from Recent, All canvases, Search, or a shared link.

Use a title that includes the project, campaign, client, date, or workstream. Put a short note near the top that says what needs review. Group related material together. Put open questions next to the assets they refer to. When the team makes a decision, write it into the canvas instead of leaving it buried in chat.

Future readers should be able to answer two questions without asking you: what changed, and why.

When permissions get in the way

Creating a canvas depends on your workspace or project permissions. Sharing is separate: a canvas can exist before everyone has access, and a teammate can need an invite or link before they can open it.

If Blank canvas is missing, confirm that you are in the right workspace and ask an admin whether your role can create canvases. If a teammate cannot open the canvas, check whether they are a workspace member, guest, or external collaborator in Roles and access, then use Share a canvas for the specific work.

What can go wrong

First canvas checklist

Before sending the canvas to anyone else, check five things: useful title, real material, clear question, right access, and enough context for someone to respond without asking where to look. That small setup pass prevents most first-canvas confusion.