I'm a ChatGPT power user - and this is still my favorite productivity feature a month later

OpenAI is constantly adding new features to ChatGPT to make it more functional for everyday needs and essential in our workflows. The recently added Canvas feature -- unveiled last month -- has transformed my ChatGPT workflow and I opt to use it nearly every time I reach for the chatbot.  

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Canvas is a new interface that makes collaborating on your writing and coding projects easier with ChatGPT. If you use ChatGPT as a co-editor in any capacity, you will never again use ChatGPT without this feature. Don't believe me? The concept is best understood visually, so stick with me. Here's how Canvas works.

The interface

If you are a ChatGPT Plus subscriber, you can choose the "GPT-4o with canvas" beta from the model selector dropdown in the ChatGPT interface. Once you've selected the option, your page may look the same, but once you enter your project, you will see the magic happen. 

For my example walk-through, I'll use an essay I published as an undergrad since I don't use AI tools to edit or write my ZDNET articles in any capacity. I copied and pasted the essay text into the textbox with the prompt: "Can you help me edit this piece?" 

As you can see below, instead of just outputting a revised version below the initial prompt, ChatGPT with Canvas automatically opened a new interface. My edited project was placed on the right side of the screen, while my initial prompt was on the left, with a textbox available to ask additional questions. 

With this interface, no matter how many questions you ask or how many edits are made, your project will always remain in the same spot on the right, giving you easy visibility as to what the text looks like after each edit and how it fares next to the original.

What makes the Canvas interface a game-changer? Typically, when you ask ChatGPT to revise the text, the AI outputs the new version as the next message, making it difficult to compare the original and edited piece side-by-side and keep track of the changes. 

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For example, with the regular interface, if you ask something like, "Can you revise this cover letter?' and then follow up by asking to revise one specific paragraph, ChatGPT may just output the new paragraph, forcing you to go back and forth to piece both generations together. This approach is inconvenient, especially if you switch between both versions and there is lots of dialogue in between. 

Although ChatGPT has advanced writing skills, it's still an AI prone to hallucinations, so it's useful to double-check edits. Keeping track of the edits is also useful because it helps you learn from the changes and possibly implement them next time. This approach also prevents you from having to scroll up and down continuously through your conversation to find suggestions and edits. 

The shortcuts 

Another game-changing element of the Canvas feature is the new shortcuts that are available. On the page where your project lives, a button in the lower-right corner -- represented by a pencil -- includes four one-click shortcuts that can transform your project. 

The writing shortcuts help users adjust lengths, change reading levels, add emojis, and "add final polish", which checks for grammar, clarity, and consistency. The coding shortcuts can review code, add logs, add comments, fix bugs, and port to a language. The buttons are a quick and efficient way to implement the change you want without using text prompts. 

Here's another convenient tool (and my personal favorite): you can highlight portions of your project for specific changes. All you need to do is highlight lines of your text or code, and another set of shortcuts will appear. This time, Canvas enables you to change the formatting with options such as bold, italicize, or change text type, and asks ChatGPT directly for help with that specific section. 

Once the edit on that section is complete, the changes will be reflected in the larger project, keeping the rest of the text intact and only making the user-requested changes. It's satisfying to see one portion of your living project change. This approach can be especially useful for resumes, cover letters, or other job application materials. 

What about the quality of the edits? Because Canvas uses GPT-4o -- OpenAI's most advanced, well-rounded model -- the edits made are valuable and improve the overall quality of the text. If you ask for a general edit, Canvas will check grammar and spelling (as Grammarly does) and syntax.

My favorite way to use the feature, which I've defaulted to almost every day since it launched, is for polishing personal email correspondence. Sometimes, getting the words out perfectly is difficult, especially when sending cold emails. So, I drop my draft into ChatGPT (with GPT-4o Canvas activated) and ask the tool to polish my text.

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Depending on the results, I will go to the right-hand side of the page and either add in-line text myself and then ask ChatGPT to polish the email or highlight a part I don't like and use the shortcut to specify how I want that part changed.   

The cost 

Unfortunately, all of the wonders described above come at a cost. To access the feature right now, you must be a ChatGPT Plus subscriber, which costs $20 per month. If you are a ChatGPT power user, the cost may be justified as it comes with other perks, such as the Advanced Voice Mode, ChatGPT Search, and unlimited image generation.

Enterprise and Edu users will get access to Canvas this week, according to OpenAI, and ChatGPT free users will gain access in the future once the tool is out of beta.