Managing content

You can manage content on a canvas by accessing functions in its title bar and sidebar. Typically the title bar is above the item and the sidebar is to the right. Their locations may change if there is no space to visualize them.

Each canvas item has a title bar and a sidebar that can be used to manage the content.

Pinning content

Most content (like images, movies, browsers, notes, etc.) on a canvas can be pinned. If you pin an item, its scale and position relative to the canvas is fixed. You cannot use your fingers to move or scale the item independently of the canvas.

You can also pin the canvas itself. When a canvas is pinned, you cannot move or scale it. You cannot drag it to view a different region of the canvas, nor can you zoom in or out.

To pin an item on canvas:

1. Press the pin button on the sidebar of the item

Note

You must pin a browser before you can interact with the web page. You must also pin a PDF before you can page through the document.

Floating content

You may want to lock an item on canvas so it is permanently visible on-screen, regardless of how you move or zoom the underlying canvas. To achieve this effect, you can float the widget above the canvas so its position and size do not change if you move or zoom the canvas.

Think of floating as if the item is stuck to the screen glass. However, unlike pinned items, you can still use your hands to move or resize floating widgets independently of the canvas beneath.

To float an item on canvas:

1. Press the float button on the sidebar of the item

Note

Floating is only available for video inputs.

Grouping items together

You can group items on the canvas, allowing you to move and scale them together.

1. If required, resize or scale the child item to make it smaller than the parent item. When you group items, the child item must be smaller than the parent item. If the child item is too big, you cannot group it with the parent.
2. Drag and hold the child item over the parent item so the pin border is positioned anywhere inside the parent's border.
3. When two items are grouped, their borders briefly flash. To ungroup an item, simply drag it away from its parent.

Duplicating items

The Duplicate feature allows you to quickly create copies of screen items such as notes, tables, images and browsers. You can then modify the copied items as required.

For example, you may need a series of notes with the same size and text headings. You can set up your first note as a template and then duplicate it several times.

To duplicate an item:

1. Press the more... button in the sidebar
2. In the sidebar, press the duplicate button

Sending items in email

You can send screen items such as videos, images and files to an email address. This provides a simple method for exporting screen content out of Canvus.

The following content can be emailed:

• Note: The note\'s text content is included in the email.
• Image: The image file is sent as an email attachment.
• Video: The movie file is sent as an email attachment.
• PDF: The PDF file is sent as an email attachment.
• Browser: The web site URL is included in the email.

Note

Support for sending items as email attachments must be set up in advance before you can use it in Canvus client. For example, you must specify the SMTP server and email account that you want to use. See client-email-settings for details.

Using tables

Tables provide a fast and easy way of arranging screen content in rows and columns. For example, you can add images, videos, browsers, and notes into table cells.

You can set the overall size of the table and choose the number of rows and columns. You can also resize individual rows and columns.

For more complex table layouts, you can nest tables by dragging a smaller table into any cell of a larger table, and you can arrange multiple tables into a single extended grid.

To create a table:

1. Open the finger menu.
2. Press the toolbox button.
3. Press the create table button.
4. In the create table widget, tap or drag to select the number of rows and columns.

To add content to a table:

1. If required, resize or scale the item you want to add to make it smaller than the table cell.
2. Drag the item you want to add to a table cell

To remove content from a table:

You must pin a table before you can drag widgets out of table cells.

1. Pin the table
2. Drag the item out of the table cell

Selection

You can select annotations and items on a canvas to move and scale them. To select annotations or items:

1. Open the finger menu.
2. Press the pen button.
3. Press the lasso button.

Press lasso symbol to select annotations.

After pressing the lasso button, the workspace enters selection mode. While in this mode, you can use a pen to select items and annotations. A white dashed border is rendered around the workspace and the text Selection mode is displayed at the bottom of the viewport.

Workspace in selection mode.

To exit selection mode, press the pen button in the finger menu and tap on the lasso tool again or choose another color for the pen. This will automatically switch off the selection mode and the pen can be used to draw normally again.

Snapping

By default, when moving, rotating or scaling canvas items then will snap to each other in order to make creating visually pleasing layouts easier.

Red snap lines indicate canvas items snapping to each others edges or center lines. Blue snap lines indicate regular spacing between canvas items.

You can toggle snapping between canvas items on or off from the workspace settings menu:

Toggle snapping in workspace settings.

Exporting and importing canvases

You can export a canvas to a file and subsequently import it back again. You may want to do this for backup purposes or to import the canvas onto a different video wall. You can also export a canvas to Canvus Connect server, to enable geographically dispersed users to share your canvas.

Export a canvas to Canvus Connect server

By default, Canvus client can only display local canvases, stored on your video wall or your laptop. But it can also display shared canvases stored on a Canvus Connect server. Shared canvases enable geographically dispersed Canvus users to collaborate as naturally as if they were in the same room.

If you want to share a local canvas, you simply drag your local canvas onto the server in the Canvas List widget. In effect, you are exporting your local canvas to the Canvus Connect server.

Similarly, you can import a shared canvas onto your local computer. For example, you may want to edit the canvas on your laptop while offline. Simply drag the shared canvas from the server into the Local folder in the Canvas List widget.

Canvus folder

Canvus folder is a specific folder on the PC running the Canvus client that can be used to organize content and share it between canvases. The contents of the folder stay on the PC running the Canvus client and are not distributed to others via Canvus Connect.

Canvus folder can be accessed from the finger menu.

The default location of the Canvus folder depends whether the Canvus client is running in single user mode or multi-user mode:

• In single user mode, the Canvus folder points to the user\'s home folder on the operating system.
• In multi-user mode, the Canvus folder is stored under the client\'s data folder. It is shared between all users and canvases.

Note

It is also possible to specify a custom location for the Canvus folder. See client-canvus-folder-settings in client configuration file.

Uploads folder

Uploads folder is a folder that exists for each shared canvas stored on a Canvus Connect server. Content can be uploaded to the folder using the web UI and then arranged on the canvas using the desktop client.

The canvas-specific Uploads folder can be accessed from the main menu.

You might use the uploads folder while giving an interactive presentation where you allow the participants to easily contribute content to a canvas through the web UI. As all the content is placed first in the uploads folder, you have full control over when and how you want the uploaded content to appear on your canvas.

You can use shared_links to easily give people access to upload content. Any person with Editor access is able to upload content to the uploads folder.