User Guide

Chapter 2: Documents and Setup
This section describes document layout options and procedures, including how to add, delete, and
arrange pages and layers, and use the Document Layout palette.
About document pages and layers
Pages, layers, and master pages are a common element of all types of Canvas documents.
Pages
All Canvas documents can contain multiple pages. Here, “pages” is used as a general term for
elements that make up a document.
Publications can have single or facing pages.
Illustrations have pages, called “sheets,” which are single-sided.
Presentations have pages, called “slides,” which can be displayed in sequence as “slide
shows.”
Animations have pages, called “frames,” which form animation sequences for animated GIF
files.
In the Document Layout palette, pages are at the top level of the layout hierarchy, followed by layers,
groups, and objects.
The Layout area in Canvas represents a document page. Page and layer controls are located at the
bottom of the screen. The current page is shown in the Page menu and the Page Navigator palette.
Layers
A layer is a transparent level that objects are placed on. On a page you might have one or more
layers. You can use layers to organize similar objects together. For example, you might use one layer
for text and another layer for objects. By default, when you place or draw objects on a page, they are
placed on a single layer. Layers can help you work efficiently. You can organize objects on layers,
and you can display, print, and save layers individually.
In the Document Layout palette, a page’s layers are listed after the page name. Objects are listed
after the layer they are on. A new page has one layer (Layer #1). You can add layers to any page,
including master pages.
You can save time by sharing layers in a document. A shared layer is similar to a master page. As
with a master page, objects on a shared layer appear on every page where the shared layer is
applied. You can update multiple pages by editing a shared layer.
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