I’m a power user of ChatGPT – this is why Canvas is its best productivity feature

OpenAI is constantly adding new features to ChatGPT to make it more functional for daily needs. Recently added Canvas feature — announced in October — transformed my ChatGPT workflow, and as of this week, it’s available for free to all ChatGPT users with a few updates.

Canvas is a new interface that makes collaborating on your writing and coding projects easier with ChatGPT.

How to use ChatGPT to create: Code | Excel formula | Essay | Curriculum vitae | Application | Charts and tables

During the fourth day of OpenAI’s 12 days, where the company introduces a new feature every day, it was announced that OpenAI-developed Canvas will be coming to all web users, regardless of plan. Canvas will be integrated GPT-4o Which basically means you can call the tool instead of going to the toggle on the model selector.

If you use ChatGPT as a co-editor in any capacity, you will never use ChatGPT again without this feature. Don’t believe me? This concept is best understood visually, so follow me. This is how Canvas works.

Interface

To get started, simply let ChatGPT know you want to use Canvas to answer your query. The AI ​​will then ask you to enter what you’re working on, and when you enter your project, you’ll see the magic happen.

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As a guiding example, I will use an essay I published when I was a student because I did not use artificial intelligence tools to edit or write my ZDNET articles in any capacity. I copied and pasted the essay text into the text box with the prompt: “Can you help me edit this paragraph?”

As you can see below, instead of just outputting the revised version below the original prompt, ChatGPT with Canvas automatically opened a new view. My edited project is placed on the right side of the screen, while my original prompt is on the left, with a text box available to ask additional questions.

With this interface, no matter how many questions you ask or how many edits you make, your project will always be in the same right place, making it easy to see what your text looks like after each edit. edit and how to proceed to the original.

So what makes the Canvas interface a game changer? Typically, when you ask ChatGPT to revise text, the AI ​​outputs the new version as a follow-up message, making it difficult to compare the original and edited parts side-by-side and track changes.

For example, with a typical interface, if you ask questions like “Can you revise this cover letter?” and then following up by asking to revise a particular chunk, ChatGPT may just output the new chunk, forcing you to go back and forth to put both generations together. This approach is inconvenient, especially if you switch between both versions and have a lot of paragraphs. dialogue in between.

The new interface is useful if you use it for coding tasks and want to track changes. Canvas also allows you to run Python code directly in Canvas, allowing ChatGPT to execute coding tasks such as debugging.

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Although ChatGPT has advanced writing skills, it still an AI prone to hallucinationsso double-checking the edits will be helpful. Tracking edits is also useful because it helps you learn from the changes and be able to implement them next time. This approach also saves you from constantly scrolling up and down in the chat looking for suggestions and corrections.

Shortcuts

Another game changer of the Canvas feature is the new keyboard shortcuts. On the page containing your project, a button in the lower right corner — indicated by a pencil — includes four one-click shortcuts that can transform your project.

Writing shortcuts help users adjust length, change reading level, add emojis and “add the final polish”, checking grammar, clarity and consistency. Coding shortcuts can review code, add logs, add comments, fix errors, and switch languages. Buttons are a quick and effective way to make your changes without text prompts.

Here’s another nifty tool (and my personal favorite): you can mark sections of your project for specific changes. All you need to do is highlight your lines of text or code and another set of keyboard shortcuts will appear.

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This time, Canvas allows you to change the formatting with options like bold or italic and directly ask ChatGPT for help on that specific part.

Once editing is complete on that section, the changes will be reflected in the larger project, leaving the rest of the text intact and only changing the areas requested by the user. It’s gratifying to see a part of your life project change. This approach can be useful for resumes, cover letters, or other job application documents.

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What about the quality of the edits? Because Canvas uses GPT-4o — OpenAI’s most advanced, mature model — the edits are valuable and improve the overall quality of the text. If you request general editing, Canvas will check grammar and spelling (eg grammar yes) and syntax.

My favorite way to use this feature, which I’ve set as default almost every day since it launched, is to polish personal email correspondence. Sometimes, getting the words out perfectly is difficult, especially when cold emailing. So I dropped my draft into ChatGPT (with GPT-4o Canvas enabled) and asked the tool to polish my text.

Depending on the results, I’ll go to the right side of the page and add inline text myself, then tell ChatGPT to edit the email or highlight the part I don’t like and use a keyboard shortcut to specify the area I want How does that change?