Use the canvas to choose a tool, move around a Workspace, and select the exact layers or Visuals you want to edit.
Choose a tool
Move (V or M) selects, drags, and marquee-selects.
Hand (H) pans the canvas. Hold Space for temporary panning without changing tools.
Rectangle (R), Ellipse (O), Text (T), and New Visual (F) create new content. Drag to choose a size, or click for the default size.
Text, shape, and image tools need an existing Visual. New Visual works on an empty Workspace.
Pan and zoom
Scroll to pan vertically. Hold Shift while scrolling to pan horizontally.
Hold Cmd/Ctrl while scrolling, or pinch on a trackpad, to zoom around the pointer.
Use the zoom percentage in the top toolbar for Zoom In, Zoom Out, Zoom to 100%, and Zoom to fit.
Select layers and Visuals
Click a layer to select it.
Hold Shift and click to add or remove layers from the current selection. Layer selections stay inside one Visual.
Hold Cmd/Ctrl and click to deep-select a layer inside a group.
Drag on a Visual background to marquee-select intersecting layers in that Visual.
Drag on empty canvas to marquee-select whole Visuals.
Click a Visual frame to make it active. Hold Shift to select more than one Visual.
Work inside groups
Double-click a group to enter it, then select and edit its children. Press Esc to leave the current group.
Move and transform a selection
Drag a selected layer or its outline to move it. Hold Shift to constrain movement to one axis.
Hold Alt/Option while dragging to duplicate and move the layer.
Drag corner handles to resize. Hold Alt/Option to resize from the center.
Drag the rotation handle to rotate.
Use arrow keys to nudge by 1 px; hold Shift to nudge by 10 px.
Understand locked layers
A fully locked layer cannot be selected or transformed on the canvas. A position-locked layer can still be selected and styled, but it cannot be moved or resized.
Tip
Open Help → Keyboard shortcuts for the complete shortcut reference available in Canvas and Table modes.