User Guide

Chapter 2: Documents and Setup
Startup dialog box and new documents
Whenever you launch Canvas, the Startup dialog box opens. You can quickly create a new document,
open documents, or access recent documents from this screen.
To disable the Startup dialog box:
Select the Don't Show Me This Screen Again check box.
To enable the Startup dialog box:
Choose Window | Show Startup.
Quitting Canvas
Choose File | Exit. If you try to quit without saving a document that has changed, Canvas asks if you
want to save it first.
Overview of the Canvas interface
Canvas has four types of documents: Illustration, Publication, Animation, and Presentation. These
documents share some common elements, while some specialized controls apply to particular
documents types.
Canvas window
The Canvas interface contains eleven main components, providing you with a Layout area as the main
area for working on your illustrations, and a variety of toolbars and docks with all the tools you need.
Depending on your operating system and your Canvas customizations, your interface may look
different than what you see in the image below.
You can customize the interface in several ways, such as by hiding the Toolbar, Properties bar,
Docking bar, and Docking pane. You can also dock various palettes and customize the Toolbar. Each
document window has Zoom controls, Document controls, and scroll bars. All documents share the
Smart Toolbox, Properties bar, and Status bar. You can switch between Canvas documents using the
Window menu, or you can tile or stack windows to see more than one document at a time.
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