Obsidian Canvas core plugin (new in v1.1.0)

Obsidian’s new Canvas core plugin (arriving publicly after insider/alpha testing) turns note-taking from a strictly file-and-tab workflow into a spatial “cork board” where notes, media, and even web pages can be arranged, resized, and visually connected. The core shift matters because it finally supports the analog-style experience many people miss: spreading sticky notes, excerpts, and images across a table and drawing relationships between them—without losing the underlying linkable note structure that makes Obsidian useful.

In the Canvas interface, each note still originates from Obsidian’s vault, but it appears as a movable card on a grid. Users create a canvas via the command palette (“Create New Canvas”), give it a title, and then add content from the vault using options like “Add note from Vault,” “Add media from Vault,” and “Add card.” Notes can be edited directly on the canvas (including creating links to other notes), and each card can be color-coded to distinguish concepts. Canvas navigation supports zoom controls and panning, with practical shortcuts like holding space to drag the view.

Relationships become first-class objects. When hovering near a note card, a small connection node appears; users attach it to one of several nodes on another card to create arrows. Those arrows track movement, so the network stays readable as the canvas evolves. The plugin also supports adding media assets (such as a video thumbnail) and then connecting that media to the specific note it belongs to. For partial content, users can add a card that targets a specific section of a note—using a hashtag to select a heading—so a canvas can include only the relevant excerpt rather than an entire document.

Beyond vault content, Canvas can embed richer artifacts. Users can paste an iframe-containing card that plays a YouTube video directly inside the canvas, and they can embed Excalidraw drawings as cards for visual mapping. Web resources can also be brought in by copying a URL and pasting it into the canvas; the resulting card can be scrolled like a mini browser and even navigated into specific articles. This makes Canvas suitable for research workflows where sources, summaries, and diagrams need to sit together.

Under the hood, a canvas is saved as a separate .canvas file (a JSON document), not a markdown file. That distinction raises future-proofing questions, but the practical upside is that Canvas acts as an extra layer over existing markdown notes—letting users experiment visually without forcing everything into a new document format. The workflow is positioned as a middle ground versus tools like Scrintal: Obsidian keeps notes local and markdown-based by default, while Canvas adds the visual arrangement and connection layer.

The plugin is still early, with changes likely before public release. Still, the described use cases are broad: research synthesis, mind-mapping, project dashboards with mixed information types, and even role-playing game planning such as linked locations for hex crawls. For users who want both durable markdown notes and a tactile, interconnected workspace, Canvas is presented as the missing bridge.