How to organize multiple canvases

Why Canvasola names tabs for you

The tab rail above the canvas shows Canvas 1, Canvas 2, Canvas 3, and each title is generated by the app. There is no rename control, and the titles are not editable by any route, including a right-click menu.

That is a deliberate simplification, and it works because the tab title was never meant to describe the work. It marks the position of a canvas in your workspace, the way a page number marks a position in a document, and the app keeps that bookkeeping consistent for you.

The consequence for you is that the naming has to live somewhere you control. In practice that means a short written index, a naming convention you remember, and a habit of naming the content inside the canvas rather than the tab that holds it.

• Titles are generated in order: Canvas 1, Canvas 2, Canvas 3
• There is no rename control anywhere in the tab rail
• The number is a position, not a description of the work
• A workspace holds up to 100 tabs

Note: The guide to naming your files covers where the naming effort should go instead, including node labels and exported file names.

What a workspace tab holds

Each tab is a complete document rather than a view onto one shared document. It carries the canvas elements, the current style, the mind map, the App Builder project, the camera position and the layout mode, so two tabs can hold entirely different work at the same time.

That is why a tab is worth keeping. A sketch of a layout and a mind map of the same project can sit next to each other without either one overwriting the other, and the app restores each tab's camera when you switch back to it.

The current document is also kept in a local autosave, and the tab list itself is stored separately, so a browser restart brings your workspace back the way you left it. Cloud sync is a separate opt-in step and is not needed for the local behavior.

1. Open a new tab. Click the plus button at the end of the tab rail to open another empty canvas beside the one you are working in.
2. Move between tabs. Click a tab to make it active. The active tab is marked with an Active badge and its content fills the canvas.
3. Watch what a switch costs. Each tab keeps its own undo history, so switching tabs and coming back starts a fresh history rather than the one you left behind.

Keep a numbering convention

Since the title is fixed, the convention has to come from you. A simple one that works is to reserve the low numbers for the documents you return to every day, and let the high numbers collect the experiments that will be closed again.

Write the index down somewhere you will actually see. A short list in a notes app, a line in your phone, or a mind map of your own that lists what each number holds will do more for you than any label in the interface, because the interface cannot be labeled.

The guide to keeping a canvas organized goes further into how to structure a single canvas, and the split view guide covers seeing two of them at once.

• Low numbers for the documents you use every day
• High numbers for experiments and one-off sketches
• A written list of what each number holds
• Close the numbers you no longer need so the rail stays short

When to open a second canvas

Open a second tab when the work is genuinely parallel rather than merely related. A layout sketch beside the mind map that explains it is a good pair, because you will look at one while working on the other.

Do not open a tab for something that belongs in the same document. Two half-finished versions of one idea cost more to reconcile than one messy one, and the tab rail stops telling you which version is current the moment there are five of them.

If you are only going to look at the other canvas once in a while, switch tabs instead. The rail and the plus button sit right above the canvas, so the cost of a switch is one click, and the cost of an extra tab is a permanent entry in the strip.

• A sketch beside the map that explains it is a good pair
• Two versions of one idea is not, and the rail cannot tell them apart
• A one-off sketch can live in a tab you close the same day
• Split view beats a second tab when you need both at once

Note: Split view is the better answer when you need to see both at once. It previews a second tab beside the one you are editing, so you get the comparison without a second canvas in the rail.

Close tabs without losing work

Closing a tab is destructive in a way that switching is not. A tab you switch away from keeps its snapshot in the workspace, and the app writes the tab list to local storage as you go. A tab you close is removed from that list.

So the safe order is: save first, close second. Press Ctrl/Cmd+S to save the project as a .canv file, and the file holds the canvas, the style, the mind map, the App Builder project, the camera and the layout mode, all in one document.

The last tab in the rail cannot be closed at all. Canvasola shows a short notice asking you to keep at least one canvas tab open, which is a sensible guard against ending up with no workspace at all.

• Switching between tabs preserves the work in both
• Closing a tab removes it from the workspace for good
• Save a .canv project before you close anything you still need
• The final tab in the rail cannot be closed

Recover the tab you closed

There is no reopen button for a closed tab, and Ctrl/Cmd+Z will not bring it back, because the undo history belongs to the document and a closed tab leaves the workspace entirely. The honest recovery route is the file you saved.

Press Ctrl/Cmd+O, or choose Open Project… from the File menu, and select the .canv file. Canvasola rebuilds the document from it, including the mind map and any App Builder frames, so a saved tab is recoverable in full.

That is also why the save habit matters more here than in a tool with named files. The offline guide covers how local storage behaves when a browser is closed or a device is wiped, and the complete Canvasola guide covers saving and opening projects in detail.

• There is no reopen button for a closed tab
• Ctrl/Cmd+Z does not bring the tab back either
• Ctrl/Cmd+O opens a .canv project you saved earlier
• The local autosave covers the open document, not closed tabs

Note: The local autosave protects the document that is open now and the tab list as it stands. It does not keep a history of closed tabs, so the .canv file is the only copy once a tab has gone.

A checklist you can reuse

• A written index says what each tab number holds
• The everyday documents sit in the lowest tab numbers
• A second tab is opened only for genuinely parallel work
• Nothing is closed until the project has been saved with Ctrl/Cmd+S
• The last tab in the rail is understood to be unclosable
• Saved .canv projects are kept somewhere outside the browser
• The tab rail is reviewed once a week and old tabs are closed

Common mistakes to avoid

• Hunting for a rename button. Workspace tab titles are generated and cannot be changed. Spending a minute looking for a rename control is a minute you will never get back, so label the work inside the canvas instead.
• Closing a tab with unsaved work. A closed tab leaves the workspace and its contents with it. Save a .canv project first, or leave the tab open and switch away from it.
• One tab per rough idea. Fifteen half-finished canvases make the rail useless as a map of your work. Close what is dead, and keep the live documents in a predictable order.
• Expecting undo to restore a tab. Undo belongs to the open document, not to the workspace. Once a tab is closed, the file you saved is the only route back to that work.
• Forgetting that a switch resets the history. Every tab carries its own undo history, so switching away and back does not restore the steps you had undone. Finish a change before you move on.

Frequently asked questions

Can the numbered workspace tabs be given meaningful names?

No. Tab titles are generated in order as Canvas 1, Canvas 2 and so on, and there is no rename control in the interface. The naming has to happen somewhere you control instead: a written index of the numbers, a label on the root node of a mind map, or the file name of an exported project.

How many tabs can a workspace hold?

Up to 100. The number of tabs is not the hard part of staying organized, though, because a rail of thirty canvases is harder to read than ten. Closing what is finished is the part that pays off, and a written index of the numbers helps more than any extra tab.

What happens to my work if I close a tab?

The tab and its contents are removed from the workspace, and there is no reopen button for it. Anything you still need should be saved as a .canv project with Ctrl/Cmd+S first, because that file can be brought back through Open Project… with Ctrl/Cmd+O.

Does the workspace survive a browser restart?

Yes. The tab list is stored locally and restored when you return, along with the camera position of each tab, so your workspace comes back the way you left it. The local copy lives in the browser, so it is worth keeping .canv backups for anything that matters.

This guide is part of the workflow and productivity collection. For the wider product tour, read the complete Canvasola guide, and keep the keyboard shortcut cheat sheet open while you work.