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Create documents and canvases beside a Live Session when the conversation needs a shared draft, plan, diagram, or set of notes. Changes appear in real time, and non-private work becomes searchable Project knowledge automatically.

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Create a document or canvas

  1. Start or open a Live Session in the Chief Live Sessions App.
  2. Open the Workspace panel. If it is collapsed, click Surfaces.
  3. Under In this session, open New and choose Document or Canvas. The transcript footer’s Canvas button can also create a canvas.
  4. Rename the untitled item and begin editing.
People with access see the latest saved version. Live Notes appears first under In this session, followed by documents and canvases.

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Collaborate and comment

A document supports shared writing and comment threads. A canvas supports drawing, text, colors, stroke widths, and comments.
  • Click Comments on this document or Comments on this canvas to open its comment threads.
  • On a canvas, select an object and click Comment on selected object to attach a comment to that specific item.
  • People can edit or comment only when the item’s access level and their Project or session role allow it.
People with a Collaborator session link can edit shared items. Readers can open session-shared documents in the browser’s Documents tab.

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Choose who can access it

The creator can open Manage access and choose: Only the person who created the document or canvas can change its access level. Older documents can still show the earlier Project-wide view, comment, and edit levels.
⚠️ Important: Every item that is not Only me is published to the Project’s Library, where Chief can search it and use it in tasks. A canvas is published with a flattened PNG and a text description. Changing an item to Only me removes its published outputs from Project knowledge.

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Add, export, or share your work

  • Click Add to session in a document to add its text to the transcript at the current time. On a canvas, the same control adds a timestamped snapshot. This is separate from adding a screenshot.
  • For a document, use the active tab’s ⋯ menu: Copy as Markdown or plain text, or Download as Markdown, plain text, or Word. A canvas still offers Export › Download PNG or Copy description.
  • On the end-of-session sheet, click Download to download the transcript, notes, and files as a ZIP named after the session. For transcript-only options, see copying and downloading transcripts.
  • Share new work through the session link. A document can still show Turn off earlier document link for a public link created before this sharing model.
Canvases do not have public read-only links. To share a canvas outside the session, export it as a PNG.

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FAQ

You may have Reader access to the session, or the item may use an older Project-wide view or comment level. The access badge shows when the item is read-only for you.
Yes. Chief excludes Only me session items from Project knowledge and retracts outputs created while the item was shared. Sharing it with the session again lets Chief publish the current version.