> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.canvasview.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Sharing and access

> Choose who in your organization sees a canvas and who can open its link, invite people by email, see who opened a canvas, and find canvases shared with you.

Two settings decide who reaches a canvas:

* **Visibility** decides who in your organization sees the canvas on their Canvases page and through their agents.
* **Access mode** decides who can open the link.

Your agent sets both when it creates or changes a canvas, and you can change them on the [Canvases](https://app.canvasview.dev/canvases) page at any time. Changing either is free.

## Owner and visibility

Every canvas has an owner: the person whose API key or connected agent created it. Inside its organization, a canvas is visible in one of two ways:

| Visibility | Who sees it |
| - | - |
| **Private** | The owner and Admins |
| **Organization** | Every member of the organization |

New canvases are **Private** unless the agent chooses otherwise. An Admin can change this on the [Defaults](https://app.canvasview.dev/settings/defaults) page under **Default visibility**.

To change a canvas's visibility, select **Manage** next to it, then **Share with organization** or **Make private**. Only the owner or an Admin can do this. Making a canvas private takes it out of other members' lists at once.

## Access modes

| Mode | Label in CanvasView | Who can open the canvas |
| - | - | - |
| `link` | Anyone with the link | Anyone who has the URL. Each person types their own name. |
| `signed_in` | Signed-in people | Anyone signed in to CanvasView. What they do carries their verified email. |
| `invited` | Invited people | Only the email addresses on the invite list, after signing in with that address. Up to 50 addresses. |

> [!WARNING]
>
> A canvas link works like a password while the canvas uses link access. Anyone who has the URL can open the canvas and work on it. Use `signed_in` or `invited` for anything you would not post publicly.

## Who can open a canvas

A person can open a canvas if any one of these is true:

1. They own it and are still a member of its organization.
2. They are an Admin of its organization.
3. They are a member of its organization and the canvas is shared with the organization.
4. A verified email of theirs is on the invite list.
5. The canvas uses **Signed-in people** and they are signed in.
6. The canvas uses **Anyone with the link**.

CanvasView checks this on every request and every live connection. Nothing is granted for good.

## Canvas roles

Everyone who opens a canvas has a role on it.

| Role | What they can do | Who gets it |
| - | - | - |
| **Viewer** | See the canvas, read its comments | Invited addresses your agent marks as viewers |
| **Participant** | Also work on it: change shared state, use components and tools, comment and answer | Anyone who opens it by link or by signing in, and invited addresses by default |
| **Editor** | Also ask [the canvas's agent](https://docs.canvasview.dev/people/canvas-agent.md), resolve any comment thread, extend or keep the canvas, and save the default components arrangement | Members of its organization when it is shared with the organization |
| **Admin** | Also change who can open it, and delete it | Its owner and the organization's Admins |

Your agent can give an invited address any role with `set_canvas_access`, for example to make a colleague from another organization an editor, or a reader a viewer. A role on the invite list can raise or lower someone, but never lowers the owner or an Admin.

The **Who can open this canvas** dialog sets addresses only. Saving it gives every address on the list the Participant role.

## Change who can open a canvas

1. Open [Canvases](https://app.canvasview.dev/canvases).
2. Select the access button next to the canvas. It shows the current mode, such as **Anyone with the link**.
3. Choose a mode in **Who can open this canvas**.
4. For **Invited people**, enter the email addresses, one per line.
5. Select **Save**.

Only admins of the canvas can change who can open it: its owner, the organization's Admins, and anyone invited as an admin.

## When access gets narrower

When a canvas becomes more restricted, everyone who no longer qualifies is disconnected at once. This happens when:

* the access mode changes to one fewer people can use, such as from **Anyone with the link** to **Invited people**;
* an address comes off the invite list;
* the canvas is made private;
* an Admin gives the canvas a new owner, and the previous owner no longer qualifies.

What people already did on the canvas, such as answers and comments, stays.

When someone leaves your organization, their access through membership ends too, and their email comes off your canvases' invite lists. See [Organizations and members](https://docs.canvasview.dev/account/organizations-and-members.md#when-someone-leaves-or-is-removed).

## Invitations

Each new address on the invite list gets one email with the canvas title and link, sent shortly after you save. If someone did not get it, share the link with them yourself.

An invited person must sign in with the invited address, and the address must be verified. If they sign in with another address, the canvas says **Invitation required** and shows the address they used.

## What people see

* **Anyone with the link.** The canvas opens straight away. People are asked for their name, which labels what they do.
* **Signed-in people and Invited people.** The canvas asks people to **Sign in or create an account**, then returns them to the canvas. Their name comes from their CanvasView sign-in and cannot be changed on the canvas.

Everyone who opens a canvas while signed in, other than its owner, sees **The owner can see that you opened this canvas.** at the top.

## Who opened it

The owner and Admins can see everyone who opened a canvas. On the Canvases page, select **Manage**, then **Who opened it…**. Each entry shows:

* the person's name;
* their verified email if they were signed in, or **Name not verified** for someone who opened a link canvas without signing in;
* how they had access: **Owner**, **Admin**, **Organization**, **Invited** or **Viewer**;
* when they first and last opened it.

Signed-in people are listed by the name and verified email from their sign-in. Anonymous link viewers are listed by the name they typed, one entry per browser. The log keeps up to 1,000 viewers for each canvas and shows the 200 most recent. It holds no canvas content, and it is deleted with the canvas.

## The Canvases page

The [Canvases](https://app.canvasview.dev/canvases) page has three sections. Each row has one label for how you have access.

| Section | What it lists | Label |
| - | - | - |
| **Yours** | This organization's canvases that you can see: your own, those shared with the organization, and those that invite you, or every canvas if you are an Admin. | **Owner**, **Admin**, **Organization** or **Invited** |
| **Shared with you** | Canvases from any organization whose invite list has one of your verified email addresses. | **Invited** |
| **Recently viewed** | Canvases from any organization that you opened by link or by signing in, with no invitation. | **Viewer** |

Rows in **Yours** also show the canvas's visibility, its owner when that is not you, the number of answers, and the key or agent that created it. Rows you own, or every row if you are an Admin, show how many people opened the canvas and when it was last opened.

Canvases in **Shared with you** and **Recently viewed** show which organization they belong to, and only open. A canvas leaves **Recently viewed** when it expires, and both lists when it is deleted or you lose access. An expired canvas stays in **Shared with you**, marked Expired, until its read-only period ends. To take a canvas off **Recently viewed**, select **Remove**. Opening it again puts it back.

## Default access for new canvases

The [Defaults](https://app.canvasview.dev/settings/defaults) page sets the access new canvases start with when your agent does not choose one: **Anyone with the link** or **Signed-in people**. The built-in default is **Anyone with the link**. Existing canvases keep their own access. Only Admins can change defaults. See [Canvas lifetime](https://docs.canvasview.dev/account/canvas-lifetime.md) for the other defaults on that page.

## Canvases that use a data source

A component on a canvas can call a [data source](https://docs.canvasview.dev/account/data-sources.md) your organization approved. Anyone who can open that canvas can make those calls through CanvasView. So a canvas that uses a data source is not left open to anyone with the link by default:

* A canvas created with a data source starts as **Signed-in people** when the agent did not choose an access mode and your default access is **Anyone with the link**.
* When a link-access canvas starts using a data source, CanvasView switches it to **Signed-in people** and sends a [notification](https://docs.canvasview.dev/account/notifications.md).

An access mode the agent sets, or one you set on the canvas, always wins. You can switch the canvas back to **Anyone with the link** on the Canvases page if link sharing is intended, and CanvasView does not undo that.

## Report a canvas

Anyone viewing a canvas can open **More** in the bar and select **Report canvas**. CanvasView reviews reports. If CanvasView removes a canvas after a report, its link stops working, and you get a notification that explains how to contact support.


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