The canvas is Bloom’s side-by-side writing space. Open it from the workspace tabs above the chat, draft your essay, paragraph, or response in a rich text editor, and ask the AI tutor for feedback in the chat panel beside it. The canvas autosaves every two seconds after you stop typing, supports headings, lists, alignment, and LaTeX equations, and exports to Markdown, PDF, or Word with one click.
What the canvas is
The canvas is a Lexical-based rich text editor that lives in the workspace panel next to the chat, not in a separate page or mode. Use it for anything longer than a chat message: an essay draft, a structured response to a prompt, study notes, or a worked solution that needs proper formatting.
Two limits to know up front:
- 5,000 words for chat-with-canvas. Above this, sending a message to Bloom about your draft is disabled.
- 6,000 words for the autosave. Above this, the document stops saving and you will see “Save failed: text exceeds the word limit” in the top-right of the editor.
Step 1: Open the canvas
Inside any Bloom, look at the workspace tabs above the chat: Canvas, Documents, Quizzes, and (if your educator enabled it) Desmos. Click Canvas. The editor opens to the right of the chat with a placeholder reading “Write your essay, paragraph, or response here. When you’re ready, ask Bloom for feedback on your writing.”
Step 2: Write and format your draft
Click into the editor and start typing, or paste text from another document. The toolbar at the top of the canvas gives you the standard formatting options:
- Block type dropdown (defaults to Normal Text): switch to Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3, Bulleted List, or Numbered List.
- Text formatting: Bold (
Ctrl+B/⌘+B), Italic (Ctrl+I/⌘+I), Underline (Ctrl+U/⌘+U), and Strikethrough. - Alignment: Align Left, Align Center, Align Right.
- Undo (
Ctrl+Z/⌘+Z) and Redo (Ctrl+Shift+Z/⌘+Shift+Z).
The canvas also supports Markdown shortcuts. Type # at the start of a line for a heading, - for a bulleted list, or 1. for a numbered list, and the formatting applies automatically.
Step 3: Insert equations
For maths, science, or engineering writing, the canvas has two equation buttons in the toolbar, both backed by KaTeX. Hovering reveals the tooltip:
- Insert Inline Equation (the sigma icon): an equation that flows inside a sentence, for example, the energy of a photon is E = hf.
- Insert Block Equation (the squared-radical icon): an equation that sits on its own line, centred, for longer derivations or display formulas.
Click either button, type the LaTeX (for example, E = mc^2 or \frac{a}{b}), and confirm. The rendered equation appears in your draft. To edit an equation later, click it once and the modal reopens with the original LaTeX.
Step 4: Track autosave and word count
The canvas saves automatically two seconds after you stop typing. You don’t need a save button. The save indicator sits in the top-right of the editor and cycles through three states:
- Saving... with a refresh icon, while the change is being written.
- Saved with a cloud icon, once the change is committed.
- Save failed: text exceeds the word limit, in red, if you are over 6,000 words.
The word count sits in the bottom-right of the editor. It is grey under 4,500 words, turns amber from 4,500 to 5,000 words, and turns red over 5,000 words. From 4,500 onward the format changes to “4,612 words out of 5,000” so you can see the limit you are approaching.
Step 5: Export your work
When your draft is ready to hand in or move outside Bloom, click the Export button on the right of the toolbar (the up-arrow icon). A dropdown offers three formats:
- Markdown (.md) for plain-text editors, GitHub, or pasting into other tools.
- PDF (.pdf) for submission and printing.
- Word (.docx) for further editing in Microsoft Word or Google Docs.
Equations, headings, lists, and alignment are preserved across all three formats. While the export is running, the tooltip on the button changes to “Exporting...” and the button is disabled so you can’t fire off two exports at once.
Common issues
The chat input is greyed out
If your draft is over 5,000 words, Bloom disables sending new chat messages until you trim it. Reduce the word count or move part of the draft elsewhere, and the input re-enables.
“Save failed: text exceeds the word limit”
You are over 6,000 words. The canvas stops autosaving above this threshold to protect performance. Cut the draft below 6,000 words and the next change will save normally.
The Canvas tab is missing
Your educator has switched the canvas off for this Bloom. Ask them to enable the Canvas toggle under the Workspace section of the Bloom configuration.
The toolbar disappears on a narrow screen
Below roughly 580 pixels wide, the toolbar is hidden to give you more room to type. Resize the window, or close the chat panel, and the toolbar reappears. Markdown shortcuts and keyboard shortcuts still work.
What’s next
- Get targeted feedback on a draft you’ve written → Get feedback on your writing
- Open course readings beside the canvas while you write → Use the document viewer
- Open Bloom and start a draft now → app.bloom.study