TaskCanvas Help Center

v1.1.0 · October 2026

Quick Start

About: TaskCanvas is a fully-offline Windows desktop tool that turns task planning into an infinitely zoomable canvas — every task, milestone, idea and dependency at a glance.

Installation

Download the zip, extract it to any folder, and run the .exe. No installation and no administrator rights required.

First launch

On first launch a splash screen with a progress bar is shown for about 3 seconds. The app initialises its database, loads language files and applies the theme. All data stays on your machine and is never uploaded.

Free-trial limits

• Up to 3 projects
• Up to 100 cards per project
• Backup and full export require a Pro/Business key

Project Management

About: Create and manage multiple task projects. Every canvas, card and view works within the context of the currently selected project.

How to use:

• Click New Project and fill in the name, description and other fields
• Click Set as Current to switch to a project
• When you switch projects the undo/redo history resets automatically, so actions in one project never leak into another

Infinite Canvas

About: The core workspace. Cards can be placed anywhere on the canvas, with a rich set of interactions.

Supported interactions:

• Pan: hold the middle mouse button / spacebar and drag, or scroll
• Zoom: Ctrl + mouse wheel
• Drag cards: move them anywhere
• Box-select: drag a rectangle to select many cards at once
• Snap to grid: cards align to the grid while dragging for tidy layouts
• Batch delete: select multiple cards and press Delete

Mind Map

About: Automatically organises your project's dependencies into a layered mind map, visualising task hierarchy and ordering with dependency links.

Highlights:

• Auto layout: levels are computed automatically from dependencies
• Pan and zoom supported
• Double-click a card to edit its title
• Arrows run from parent to child tasks, showing the flow clearly

Board

About: Organises tasks into status columns (To Do / In Progress / Done, etc.) for a clear view of progress.

Highlights:

• Drag a card between columns to move it; the status updates automatically
• Automatic blocking: a card with unfinished predecessors shows a blocked status
• Right-click a card to delete it

Gantt Chart

About: Shows tasks on a timeline by start and end date, giving a quick view of your schedule.

Highlights:

• Each task is shown as a start–end bar
• Date scale with week / day view toggle
• A 'today' reference line is displayed
• Zoomable time range
• Critical path (CPM): the task chain that drives the whole project is computed from dependencies and durations; critical bars get a red outline and a ★ marker
• Dependency links are drawn on the chart: critical-path links as solid red lines, the rest as gray dashed lines
• Overdue tasks are highlighted in red and tagged 'Overdue'

Workload & Statistics

About: A resource view that summarises task volume, progress and hours per assignee.

Highlights:

• Per assignee: total tasks, completed count and average progress %
• Estimated and logged hours, summed per person and across the whole project
• Tasks with no owner are grouped under a single row
• Click 'Summary' to open a written workload report

Time Tracking

About: Record estimated and actual hours for every task, so effort can be planned and compared.

How to use:

• Open a task card and enter its estimated hours
• After working, enter the hours spent this time and click 'Log' to add them
• The logged total accumulates automatically and stays read-only
• Logged hours feed the Workload & Statistics view, broken down by assignee

Cards & Editing

About: Cards are the basic unit of the canvas, in four types. Double-click anywhere to create one quickly.

Four card types:

• Idea: capture inspiration and to-do thoughts
• Task: a formal task with status, dates and owner
• Milestone: marks a key milestone
• Note: a free-form text sticky note

Editing: Double-click a card to edit its title, type, status, start/end dates, owner and description. Cards are colour-coded by type.

Dependencies & Blocking

About: Connect cards with dependency links; the app computes and displays blocked states automatically.

How to connect: Drag from a card's link anchor onto another card.

Automatic blocking: When a card has unfinished predecessors it shows '⛔ Blocked by {names}', so bottlenecks surface immediately.

Project progress: The completion percentage and done/total counts are summarised automatically at the top.

Undo & Redo

About: Full undo/redo support for every canvas operation.

Shortcuts:

• Undo: Ctrl + Z
• Redo: Ctrl + Y
• Toolbar also provides undo/redo buttons

Search & Filter

About: Find cards on the canvas quickly, or filter the view by condition.

Search: Type a keyword to match titles and descriptions, with highlight-and-locate.

Filter:

• Blocked only: focus on tasks stuck behind dependencies
• Due this week: show only tasks due within the current week

Attachments & Preview

About: Attach any file to a card, with in-app image preview.

How to use:

• Click Add Attachment while editing a card and pick a local file
• Any type is supported: images, documents, archives, etc.
• Images can be previewed directly on the card
• Attachments are stored locally with the project

Export

About: Export your project in several formats for sharing, archiving or reporting.

Supported formats:

• CSV: tabular data, openable in Excel
• JSON: structured data, importable again
• PNG: canvas snapshot
• PDF: printable report

Backup & Restore

About: Packages the entire project (attachments included) into a zip backup, restored in one click.

How to use:

• Click Backup to package all data and attachments as a .zip
• Click Restore to load from a backup
• Backups include exports and are compatible with legacy .db data

Example Templates

About: A built-in sample project demonstrates the four views and dependencies, so you can learn quickly.

How to use: Choose 'Create sample project' in the main window to load a pre-built task canvas.

Settings

About: Configure the app language, theme and other preferences.

Languages: English, Chinese, Traditional Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Dutch

Themes: Modern (light), Dark, High contrast

How to use: Pick a language and theme, then click 'Save & restart' to apply.

License & About

About: View your machine code, activate the licence and check the version.

Activation steps:

• Copy the machine code from this page
• Buy a licence on our website
• Receive an activation code by email
• Paste it here and click Activate

Offline activation: Validation is fully offline — no network calls, no machine info uploaded.