What is an infinite canvas?

Examples of an infinite canvas

Think of a whiteboard wall or a big sheet of paper: things are organized by where they sit and what they sit next to, not by the order you typed them. That makes a canvas good for material you collect over time, such as a course, a research project or a book outline.

Common uses are class notes with photos of handwritten pages, mind maps and concept maps, brainstorming boards, lesson boards for tutoring, storyboards and mood boards.

An infinite canvas for your notes

Students use a canvas to keep a whole course in one place. Snap a photo of the page you wrote in class and drop it on the board, then pull the main ideas out into cards next to it. Put the mix-ups you keep making in one list and an exam checklist in another. Before a test, zoom out and the whole topic is on one screen.

The ready board above is an example: a photo of handwritten cellular respiration notes, the four stages as cards, the mix-ups to avoid and a checklist for the exam. Open it, swap in your own pages and sort them the same way.

Instaboard also lets any card open into its own board, so one canvas can be a map of the whole course while each lecture or chapter gets its own space inside.

On Windows, Android, Chromebook and iPad

Many canvas apps only run on one platform. Apple Freeform, for example, is only on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Instaboard runs in any modern browser, so it works on Windows laptops and Chromebooks, and it has apps for iPhone, iPad and Android. Your boards are the same on every device.

With a pen: on iPad, Apple Pencil draws while your finger scrolls. On a laptop you can write with a plug-in pen tablet, and pen pressure works in the browser (how to set one up).

Infinite canvas vs. documents and note apps

Documents and most note apps are linear: one page after another, best for writing something to read top to bottom. A canvas is better when the material doesn't fit one order, such as photos next to the notes about them, a diagram with labels around it, or topics you compare side by side.

Many students use both: a notes app for typing during the lecture, and a canvas afterwards to organize what they wrote into something they can revise from.

What to know about Instaboard's free plan

The free plan covers 5 boards and 150 items such as cards, lists and images (pen strokes don't count), with up to 3 images per board. Anyone can view a board you share by link; editing needs a free sign-in with Google, Apple or email. A PDF you import becomes its own board of pages you can write on.

It doesn't read or search your handwriting, and there's no AI that writes your notes for you. Pro is $5 a month billed yearly and removes the board, item and image limits.