What a Canvas is

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#

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 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 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).
• 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 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:

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 Return, or Esc 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.

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.