Canvas sharing, security and access

Creating a canvas is a great way to share information with your colleagues, but some information isn’t meant for everyone. Read on to learn more about sharing canvases, assigning permissions and who can access your canvases.

Understand access permissions

Before you share a canvas, it’s important to understand the different levels of access that we’ve outlined below.

A channel or DM canvas

A standalone canvas

Channel canvases

• Members of your workspace can view any public channel’s canvas. To view a private channel’s canvas, they need to be a member of the channel.
• A member's ability to edit a channel canvas is determined by their posting permissions in the channel, and by permissions set by the channel manager.
  

DM canvases

• A direct message (DM) canvas can only be viewed by members of the DM.
• All members of a DM or Group DM can edit the DM canvas.

Embedded canvases

• You can embed other canvases into your conversation’s canvas by pasting a link or clicking the  plus icon to insert one. When you embed a canvas, you’ll be prompted to choose whether everyone in the conversation should have Can view or Can edit access to it.
• A member's ability to edit the embedded canvas depends on the permissions that they're assigned.

The following permissions can be applied to individual people, entire channels or your entire workspace or Enterprise Grid organisation as general access permissions:

•   Restricted (default)
  A restricted canvas won't appear in search or in the   Canvases tab for anyone that it hasn’t been shared with. If it's shared to a public channel, a restricted canvas can be viewed by anyone in your workspace or organisation.
•   Can view
  Those with view access can read a canvas, but cannot make changes or add comments. When a canvas is shared in a public channel, everyone in your workspace can view it.
•   Can edit
  Those with edit access can read a canvas, plus make changes and add comments. Members with edit access can assign either view or edit access to others, unless the canvas owner has limited sharing.
• Limited sharing
  Only the canvas owner can grant view and edit access permissions to other members. Members who can access a canvas with limited sharing can either view or edit the canvas, but they can't assign access to others.

Note: Once a canvas has been shared in a public channel, everyone in your workspace or organisation will be able to find and view it, even when the general access permission is set to Restricted.

Share a canvas

A channel or DM canvas

A standalone canvas

By default, anyone with posting permissions in a channel can edit the channel canvas. Channel managers can restrict this to only allow channel managers to have edit access.

1. From your desktop, open the channel that you’d like to adjust canvas edit access for.
2. Click the channel name in the conversation header.
   
3. Select the Settings tab.
4. Next to Posting permissions, click Edit.
5. Select who can edit the channel canvas.
6. Click Save changes.

When sharing a standalone canvas, you can control who can access it in three different ways. You can:

• Add specific people or channels
  Decide who should have view or edit access.
• Set general access
  Determine the level of access for people who haven’t been specifically added.
• Limit sharing 
  Control whether everyone with edit access can grant other members view or edit access.

If you can’t see the option to share a canvas, you might not have edit access, or sharing may be limited to the canvas owner.

Add people and channels

Add specific people to choose whether they have permission to view or edit a canvas, or add specific channels to give everyone in the channel the same permission.

1. From a canvas, click  Share.
2. Type the name of the people or channels that you’d like to share the canvas with and choose whether they have Can view or Can edit access.
3. Add a message if you like, then click Share.

Set general access permissions

By default, the general access permissions on canvases that you create are set to Only invited people can access. The general access permissions that you choose for your canvas will apply to anyone who finds it in the canvas browser or is sent a link to the canvas.

1. From a canvas, click  Share.
2. Click the drop-down menu in the bottom-right corner, and choose either Only invited people can access, Anyone in [your organisation] can view or Anyone in [your organisation] can edit.
3. Click the   close icon.

Limit sharing

Once you’ve decided who can access your canvas, you can decide if you’d like to prevent members with edit access from granting view and edit access to others. If you enable limited sharing, members can request permission to view or edit the canvas, but only the canvas owner can grant access. 

1. From a canvas, click  Share.
2. Click   Advanced settings and tick or untick Only you can share.
3. Click the   close icon.

• If someone other than the owner shares a link to a canvas in a public channel, only members who have been granted access by the canvas owner can view it.
• If the canvas owner shares their canvas in a public channel, it becomes visible to everyone.

Note: Owners and admins can also enable limited sharing for all canvases. 

Tip: To share a standalone canvas on mobile, tap the   three dots icon, then tap   Share in Slack.

Revoke or adjust access permissions

A channel or DM canvas

A standalone canvas

If you were the last person to edit a channel or DM canvas, you can lock it to prevent others from making changes:

1. From your desktop, click on the  canvas icon in a channel or DM to open the canvas.
   
2. Click the  three dots icon, then choose Settings.
3. Tick the box next to Lock the ability to edit the canvas, then click Save.

Note: Anyone with posting permissions in the conversation can unlock the canvas to make edits.

If you have edit access for a canvas, you can revoke or adjust the access permissions for the people and channels that it's been shared with. If you can’t see this option, you might not have edit access, or sharing may be limited to the canvas owner.

1. From a canvas on your desktop, click Share.
2. To change the access for a channel, click Channels. To change it for an individual, click People.
3. Click the current access level, then select Can edit, Can view or Remove.
4. Click the   close icon or Remove access to confirm the change.

Role-based access permissions

Review the following tables to understand who can view or edit a canvas based on their role, the permissions that you set and where it’s been shared.

Public channels

A channel or DM canvas

A standalone canvas

✔ Yes

★ Yes, if the member is in the channel where the canvas was created

◼︎ Yes, if the member is in the channel and has posting permissions

	View	Edit	Grant access permissions
Org owner/org admin	✔	★	✔ *
Owner/admin	✔	◼︎	✔ *
Channel manager	✔	✔	✔
Member	✔	◼︎
Guest	✔	◼︎

* Can adjust the posting permissions in the channel to enable edit access

✔ Yes

★ Yes, if the member is in the channel where the canvas was shared

◼︎ Yes, if the member has Can edit access

	View	Edit	Grant access permissions**
Canvas owner	✔	✔	✔
Org owner/org admin	✔	◼︎ *	◼︎
Owner/admin	✔	◼︎ *	◼︎
Member	✔	◼︎	◼︎
Guest	★	◼︎	◼

* Owners and admins can delete any canvas that they can view. ** Only the canvas owner can grant access permissions if limited sharing is enabled.

Note: When you share a canvas in a public channel, your entire workspace or organisation will be able to find and view it.

Private channels

A channel or DM canvas

A standalone canvas

✔ Yes

★ Yes, if the member is in the conversation where the canvas was created

◼︎ Yes, if the member is in the conversation and has posting permissions

	View	Edit	Grant access permissions
Org owner/org admin	★	◼︎	✔ *
Owner/admin	★	◼︎	✔ *
Channel manager	✔	✔	✔
Member	★	◼︎
Guest	★	◼︎

* Can adjust the posting permissions in the channel to enable edit access

✔ Yes

★ Yes, if the member is in the conversation where the canvas was shared

◼︎ Yes, if the member is in the conversation and has Can edit access

	View	Edit	Grant access permissions**
Canvas owner	✔	✔	✔
Org owner/org admin	★	◼︎ *	◼︎
Owner/admin	★	◼︎ *	◼︎
Member	★	◼︎	◼︎
Guest	★	◼︎	◼︎

* Owners and admins can delete any canvas that they can view. ** Only the canvas owner can grant access permissions if limited sharing is enabled

Slack Connect

Canvases in Slack Connect conversations follow the same principles for access as any other canvas in your workspace or org. When you share a canvas with external people in Slack Connect, you can choose whether it is shared with view or edit permissions. 

A channel or DM canvas

A standalone canvas

✔ Yes

★ Yes, if the member is in the conversation where the canvas was created

◼︎ Yes, if the member is in the conversation and has posting permissions

	View	Edit	Grant access permissions
Org owner/org admin	★	✔	✔ *
Owner/admin	★	◼︎	✔ *
Channel manager	✔	✔	✔
Member	★	◼︎
Guest	★	◼︎
External people	★	◼︎

* Can adjust the posting permissions in the channel to enable edit access

✔ Yes

★ Yes, if the member is in the conversation where the canvas was shared

◼︎ Yes, if the member is in the conversation and has Can edit access

	View	Edit	Grant access permissions
Canvas owner	✔	✔	✔
Org owner/org admin	★	◼︎	◼︎
Owner/admin	★	◼︎	◼︎
Member	★	◼︎	◼︎
Guest	★	◼︎	◼︎
External people	★	◼︎

Note: In Slack Connect, someone from the organisation who created the canvas will need to assign view permissions to any additional external people.

Manage requests

Members who don’t have permission to view or edit a canvas will need to request access. When someone requests access, the canvas owner and anyone with edit access will receive a DM from Slackbot where they can approve or deny the request. If the canvas owner has limited sharing, only they will be able to approve access requests.

1. When you receive a request, open your DM with Slackbot to review it.
2. Select Grant edit access, Grant view access or Ignore to deny the request.

Copy a link to a canvas

Copy a link to a canvas and send it in a message or paste it into another canvas to embed it. When you send a link to a canvas, everyone’s ability to view the canvas will depend on the general access permission and whether the canvas owner has limited sharing.

1. From any canvas on your desktop, click the   three dots icon.
2. Click Copy link.
3. Paste the link in a message, then send the message to share the canvas with members of the conversation.

Who can use this feature?

• All members and guests
• Channel and DM canvases are available on all subscriptions
• Standalone canvases are available on paid subscriptions