
OpenAI is consistently including new options to ChatGPT to make it extra useful for on a regular basis wants. The Canvas characteristic was unveiled final October and has reworked my ChatGPT workflow — and the perfect half is that it retains getting higher.
Canvas is a separate interface that makes collaborating in your writing and coding initiatives simpler with ChatGPT.
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Canvas is out there to all internet customers in GPT-4o, no matter plan. As of this week, Canvas can also be accessible with o1, OpenAI's mannequin that excels at reasoning, making it even a greater assistant for coders. Nevertheless, to entry the device in o1, you want a ChatGPT Plus plan.
Should you use ChatGPT as a co-editor in any capability, you’ll by no means once more use ChatGPT with out this characteristic. Don't imagine me? The idea is greatest understood visually, so keep on with me. Right here's how Canvas works.
The interface
To get began, simply let ChatGPT know you wish to use Canvas to reply your question by choosing the toolbox on the backside of the search field and clicking "Canvas". You can too name on the device in your immediate by typing "/canvas". As soon as Canvas seems on the textbox, comply with it along with your regular immediate.
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For my instance walk-through, I used the lyrics to Joyful Birthday since I don't use AI instruments to edit or write my ZDNET articles in any capability. I copied and pasted the textual content into the textbox with the immediate: "Are you able to assist me edit this piece?"
As you’ll be able to see beneath, as an alternative of simply outputting a revised model beneath the preliminary immediate, ChatGPT with Canvas mechanically opened a brand new interface. My edited venture was positioned on the appropriate aspect of the display, whereas my preliminary immediate was on the left, with a textbox accessible to ask extra questions.
With this interface, irrespective of what number of questions you ask or what number of edits are made, your venture will all the time stay in the identical spot on the appropriate, providing you with simple visibility as to what the textual content seems like after every edit and the way it fares subsequent to the unique.
So, what makes the Canvas interface a game-changer? Sometimes, whenever you ask ChatGPT to revise the textual content, the AI outputs the brand new model as the following message, making it tough to check the unique and edited piece side-by-side and maintain observe of the modifications.
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For instance, with the common interface, should you ask one thing like, 'Are you able to revise this cowl letter?' after which comply with up by asking to revise one particular paragraph, ChatGPT may output the brand new paragraph, forcing you to shuttle to piece each generations collectively. This strategy is inconvenient, particularly should you swap between each variations and there may be a number of dialogue in between.
The brand new interface is useful should you use it for a coding job and wish to maintain observe of the modifications. Canvas additionally allows you to run Python code immediately in Canvas, permitting ChatGPT to execute coding duties similar to fixing bugs.
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Though ChatGPT has superior writing expertise, it's nonetheless an AI susceptible to hallucinations, so it's helpful to double-check edits. Conserving observe of the edits can also be helpful as a result of it helps you be taught from the modifications and presumably implement them subsequent time. This strategy additionally prevents you from having to scroll up and down constantly via your dialog to search out options and edits.
The shortcuts
One other game-changing factor of the Canvas characteristic is the brand new shortcuts characteristic. On the web page the place your venture lives, a button within the lower-right nook — represented by a pencil — consists of 4 one-click shortcuts that may remodel your venture.
The writing shortcuts assist customers modify lengths, change studying ranges, add emojis, and "add ultimate polish", which checks for grammar, readability, and consistency. The coding shortcuts can evaluation code, add logs, add feedback, repair bugs, and port to a language. The buttons are a fast and environment friendly strategy to implement your modifications with out textual content prompts.
Right here's one other handy device (and my private favourite): you’ll be able to spotlight parts of your venture for particular modifications. All you should do is spotlight strains of your textual content or code, and one other set of shortcuts will seem.
This time, Canvas lets you change the formatting with choices similar to daring or italicize, and immediately asks ChatGPT for assist with that particular part.
As soon as the edit on that part is full, the modifications will probably be mirrored within the bigger venture, retaining the remainder of the textual content intact and solely altering the areas requested by the consumer. It's satisfying to see one portion of your dwelling venture change. This strategy will be helpful for resumes, cowl letters, or different job software supplies.
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What concerning the high quality of the edits? As a result of Canvas makes use of GPT-4o the edits are priceless and enhance the general high quality of the textual content. Should you ask for a normal edit, Canvas will examine grammar and spelling (as Grammarly does), and syntax.
My favourite method to make use of the characteristic, which I've defaulted to virtually on daily basis because it launched, is for sharpening private electronic mail correspondence. Generally, getting the phrases out completely is tough, particularly when sending chilly emails. So, I drop my draft into ChatGPT (with GPT-4o Canvas activated) and ask the device to shine my textual content.
Relying on the outcomes, I’ll go to the right-hand aspect of the web page and both add in-line textual content myself, after which ask ChatGPT to shine the e-mail, or spotlight a component I don't like and use the shortcut to specify how I would like that space modified.