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Writing and the editor2 min readUpdated August 15, 2026

Draw inside a note

The drawing canvas for diagrams and sketches, and where to find it on each platform.

Some thinking is spatial. Grape has a drawing canvas that lives inside a note rather than in a separate file.

Adding a canvas

On desktop, type / and choose Drawing, or use the drawing button in the editor toolbar. On mobile, tap the brush button on the toolbar above the keyboard, and the canvas opens full screen for finger or stylus drawing.

The tools

A family of pens (ballpoint, fountain, brush, pencil and highlighter), shapes (rectangle, rounded rectangle, ellipse, triangle, diamond, line and arrow), a text tool, an eraser and a colour palette. The toolbar sits along the top of the canvas. Undo and redo sit at the bottom right, zoom at the bottom left. On desktop you can pan a large drawing by holding Space and dragging, or with the hand tool.

What it is for

Freehand sketching, diagrams, wireframes and marked-up pages. Drawings sync between devices, so a sketch made on the phone is waiting in the note on your desktop.

Keeping it findable

Add a line of text under the drawing describing what it shows. Search reads the text, so a one line caption is the difference between finding the sketch later and scrolling for it.

Try It While the Guide Is Open

Grape is free to install and needs no account, so you can follow along in the real app.