> Rally Help Center. Index of every page: https://rallywith.ai/help/llms.txt
> This chapter's pages: https://rallywith.ai/help/canvases/llms.txt

# What a Canvas is

> A Canvas is a conversation with Rally and the things it makes there, with versions, a name, and a place in your Canvases list.

A Canvas is the home of one piece of work. It has a conversation, the things
Rally made in that conversation, and a short list of the people who can open
it. This page covers each of those, and the list of Canvases in the sidebar.

## The parts of a Canvas

| Part | What it is |
| --- | --- |
| The conversation | Your messages, your teammates' and Rally's, in the middle of the window |
| What Rally made | A document, spreadsheet, image, PDF, archive or website, in the panel on the right |
| Versions | Every earlier state of what Rally made, kept and readable |
| People | Who can open the Canvas, and who has it open right now |

A brand-new Canvas has only the conversation. The panel on the right stays
closed until Rally makes something, and the Canvas is perfectly happy as a
conversation until then. Plenty of good work starts with "before you write
anything, what questions do you have?".

### One Canvas, more than one thing

Most Canvases hold one thing, and that one thing gets better version by
version. If you ask for something separate in the same Canvas ("now a short
email announcing it"), Rally can make a second file alongside the first. Both
show as cards in the panel on the right, and you click one to open it. When the
second thing is really a separate piece of work, start a new Canvas for it, so
each one keeps its own conversation and its own audience.

## Versions

Rally changes what it made by publishing a new version. It never edits it
behind your back, and it does not post "Plan (final) (2) (really final)". The
title stays the same, the card in the conversation still points at it, and
every earlier version is kept. The panel shows which version you are looking at
and who made it, such as **version 7 · Rally**.

To read an earlier version, open the **Versions** list in the panel's header
and pick one. [Artifacts and versions](https://rallywith.ai/help/things-rally-makes/artifacts.md#versions)
has the details.

Nobody types into a Canvas directly. To change it, say what you want in the
conversation, or point at the part you mean and leave a comment, as
[Comments](https://rallywith.ai/help/canvases/comments.md) explains. Rally makes the change and publishes the
next version, so every version has an author and a reason you can scroll up to.

## The Canvases list

Click **Canvases** in the rail to see the list in the sidebar.

- **Pinned** comes first. Drag a Canvas into it to pin it, or right-click a
  row and choose **Pin** or **Unpin**. Pinned Canvases keep the order you
  pinned them in. Your pins are yours: pinning a Canvas does not pin it for
  anyone else, though it does mean you hear about its new versions (see
  [Activity and notifications](https://rallywith.ai/help/rally-everywhere/notifications.md)).
- **All canvases** holds the rest, the most recently active first. The
  **Recent** menu beside the heading sorts them by **Name** instead.
- A row's second line says who is in the Canvas now, with a green dot, or else
  who changed it last: **Edited by Rally**, **Edited by Maya**. One nobody has
  changed yet says who made it, such as **Made by Weekly changelog** for a
  Canvas a Sidekick made.
- A bold name and a red dot mean something is new for you. [Status dots and
  badges](https://rallywith.ai/help/canvases/status-dots-and-badges.md) explains them all.

### The home page

The Canvases home page shows the whole collection with room to breathe. Use the
search box to find a Canvas by name, and the filter chips to narrow the list:

| Chip | Shows |
| --- | --- |
| **All** | Every Canvas you can open |
| **Data** | Canvases containing an artifact with its own database |
| **Made by me** | Canvases you started |
| **Shared with me** | Canvases someone else started and shared with you |
| **From Sidekicks** | Canvases a Sidekick made |

**Recent** lists matching Canvases by their latest activity. A card's top-left
faces show other people who have it open now. The **Data** badge at the top
right identifies an artifact with its own database, whether anyone is there
or not. Use the **Data** chip to find those Canvases.

## Naming a Canvas

Rally names a new Canvas from your first request, in a few words. To change
the name, click the header pill at the top of the Canvas, or right-click the
Canvas in the sidebar, and choose **Rename…**. Type the new name in the pill
and press <kbd>Return</kbd>, or <kbd>Esc</kbd> to leave it as it was. A name
can be up to 300 characters and cannot be blank. A name you choose is final:
Rally never renames a Canvas a person named.

## Canvases from Sidekicks

A Sidekick that makes something people will work on afterwards, such as a
weekly changelog or an incident timeline, makes a Canvas. It shows in your list
like any other, under **From Sidekicks** on the home page, and as a card in the
Sidekick's own conversation. Open it and you can talk to Rally about it like any
Canvas you made yourself. Who can see a Sidekick's Canvas is covered in
[Where a Sidekick's results go](https://rallywith.ai/help/sidekicks/where-results-go.md).

## When a Canvas will not open

If a link names a Canvas that does not exist, or one in another
Organization, Rally says **This Canvas does not exist.** rather than showing an
empty page.

If the Canvas exists in your Organization but has not been shared with you,
Rally says **You don't have access to this Canvas**, without showing its name.
Click **Request access**, add a message if you like (**Message (optional)**),
and click **Send request**. The Canvas's creator and your Organization's owners
and administrators are asked, in their Activity. The page then reads
**Request sent** with when you asked, and the Canvas opens there by itself the
moment someone lets you in. If they decline, nobody tells you, and you can ask
again.

Guests cannot ask: a guest who opens a Canvas link that was not shared with them sees **This
Canvas could not be opened.** with **Only a member of the Organization can ask
to open a Canvas**, whether or not that Canvas exists, so the page gives
nothing away. **Try again** will not change the answer; ask whoever sent the
link to share the Canvas with you.

When Rally cannot reach its server, a Canvas you have opened before still
shows what it last loaded, with **Rally can’t reach the server right now.** and
a **Try again** button. A message you write meanwhile stays in the message box
as a draft; send it once Rally is connected again.

Next, the place every request starts: [The message box](https://rallywith.ai/help/canvases/the-message-box.md).