How to Get Content Onto a Canvas

This guide shows you how to bring a file onto a Canvas and turn it into structured content.

Prerequisites

• Canvas must be available in your Space. See How to Check Whether Canvas Is Available in a Space.
• You must be an admin of the Space. See Canvas Access.
• Open a Canvas at /spaces/<spaceId>/canvases/<canvasId>.

Upload a File

1. Drag a file onto the Canvas, or use the upload control.

Result: The file is uploaded to the Canvas. An artifact node appears on the Canvas, and the Canvas version summary reads Uploaded <filename>.

Uploads accept one file at a time, up to 20,971,520 bytes (20 MiB). A file dropped without a position is placed at x: 80, y: 120.

Supported File Types

Anything else is rejected with Unsupported ingestion media type. PDF, Word, email, archive, audio, and video files cannot be ingested.

Extract a Table from a Workbook

Use this when the uploaded node previews as a workbook.

1. Open the node's actions menu and select Extract table….
2. Select the sheet.
3. Optionally enter an A1-style range, for example A1:D200. Leave it blank to take the whole sheet.
4. Confirm.

Result: A step node and a table node are added to the Canvas and wired to the source. The new table node is named <sheetName> (<range>), and the version summary reads Extracted table from <sheetName>.

Derive a Schema from a Table

Use this when a node previews as a table.

1. Open the node's actions menu and select Create schema….
2. Optionally enter a name and select the columns to include.
3. Confirm.

Result: A step node and a schema:literal node are added. The version summary reads Derived schema <schemaName>.

Column headers become property keys: trimmed, lower-cased, non-alphanumeric runs replaced with underscores, and de-duplicated with a numeric suffix. Every property is typed as a string.

Tidy the Layout

Select nodes and use auto-layout to arrange them. One selected node stays where it is and the rest are placed relative to it. The version summary reads Auto-arranged <n> nodes.

Troubleshooting

Canvas Changed in Another Session

If two people edit the same Canvas at once, the second save fails with Canvas changed in another session and the page reloads. Nothing is lost — reapply your change.

Limitations

• Every action on this page appends a new Canvas version. Use the version menu to review or restore history. See Canvas Lifecycle and Versions.
• A preview is shown for workbooks, tables, and Schema definitions; everything else shows No preview is available for this node.
• Table extraction and Schema derivation accept their output automatically. See How to Use Generated Content on a Canvas.