I’m posting this under “API → Bugs” because there doesn’t seem to be any proper place on this forum to give feedback or report bugs related to the core ChatGPT product or the Canvas feature — which is frustrating in itself.
That said, this is a serious design flaw that needs visibility.
I’ve been building a long-term, complex creative project using ChatGPT and Canvas — a survival fantasy game with layered systems, nested structure, and detailed planning. I chose Canvas because it was marketed as a way to organize, visualize, and preserve structured ideas.
But here’s what I’ve experienced:
Core Issues with Canvas:
- Canvas silently overwrites existing documents.
If I tell ChatGPT to “load” a Canvas (like “Core Concept”), and one with that name already exists, it creates a new blank one and replaces the original without warning. There’s no confirmation, no safeguard, no undo — just permanent loss.
- No version control or recovery.
If something gets overwritten, it’s gone. Manual backups are the only defense, but that defeats the point of using Canvas.
- Canvas visually flattens formatting.
Deep structures I create (e.g. categories with subcategories and sub-subcategories) get displayed with inconsistent or no indenting. The structure is there, but visually destroyed — making it hard to manage or reference.
- Edits are not reliably saved.
I’ve edited Canvases, told ChatGPT to save, and then later reopened the file only to find an older version restored — as if the “save” didn’t actually happen. This erodes trust in the entire workflow.
- No warnings for duplicate names.
ChatGPT can recreate a Canvas with the same name and overwrite it without asking. That’s not a user error — that’s a missing safety feature.
Why This Matters
I’m not a programmer, but I’m a designer and planner. I work in structure, logic, and long-term ideas. Canvas was supposed to help people like me bring ideas to life. Instead, it’s made it risky to create at all.
I’ve now lost time, effort, and confidence in the platform.
My information still exists — but it’s scattered, disorganized, and I’ve had to use chat logs and manual rebuilds to reconstruct things I’d already done right the first time.
Final Thoughts
Canvas feels like it was built without being tested by real users working on complex projects. It’s pitched as a tool for creation and structure, but right now it silently destroys work and provides no way to recover.
Please don’t dismiss this.
I really like the idea of Canvas. I even find ChatGPT fun and productive when it works.
But this feature is currently harmful to serious users.
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To be fair, I’m fairly sure there IS version control, at least on desktop… But yes this is very annoying. Similarly when it is working on multiple code files within a single chat, ive had it overwrite the same canvas as the previous code contents to the point I always remember to remind it to create a separate canvas “doc” for each file.
I am not sure exactly what you mean version control. Do you mean adding like a version every time you save a canvas? If that is what you mean, then it doesn’t stop it from rewriting the canvas blank when i ask it to load the canvas. For example I have edited a canvas had it save as “example v2”, instead of just saved went to load it and it was an empty canvas doc named “example v2”.
I have done all the work on PC.
I mean the back arrow that lets you step back through previous versions and restore…
I’ve been experiencing these same headaches for weeks. I even have it stated in my Project Instructions AND GPT’s, instructing: NO new canvases unless I request them. That doesn’t work either. We are not alone. I see tons of the same complaints in other forums, including Reddit, supposedly Openai pays them a hefty fee for it too. The support team MUST be aware of it, But provide no workarounds or solutions other than the usual, “clear your browser, cache, blah, blah, blah….I can’t be spending all of my time cleaning up my Assistant’s messes. I, too, am a professional creative, I am an Author and a Designer, of many of things. Openai promotes Canvas as this wonderful tool. Meanwhile, it plainly, sucks. This problem with Chatgpt and canvases is the absolutely most annoying thing working in Chatpt. Thank you for your post. You’re speaking for many of us.
Formal Report: Canvas Data Loss, Token Limit Regression & Lack of Transparency (May 2025)
To OpenAI Support & Fellow Users:
As a long-term ChatGPT Plus subscriber and serious creative user, I am compelled to report the following critical issues that have severely disrupted my workflow and trust in the platform:
- Canvas Token Limit Regression
- Previously: Canvas reliably supported documents up to ~25k tokens.
- Currently: Documents exceeding ~8k–10k tokens are at risk of silent truncation, with content beyond this limit not reliably stored or retrievable.
- Loss of Persisted Save Files
- Issue: Committed versions of canvas documents are no longer accessible, and version history has been removed without notice.
- Impact: This undermines the reliability of the platform for long-form content creation and management.
- Silent Data Loss Without Warning
- Observation: Users are experiencing data loss without any system warnings or error messages, leading to irretrievable content.
- Lack of Transparency and Communication
- Concern: There has been no official acknowledgment or documentation regarding these regressions, leaving users uninformed and unprepared.
- Impact on Professional Workflows
- Effect: These issues have rendered ChatGPT unsuitable for structured, long-term projects, forcing users to seek alternative solutions.
Request for Action
I urge OpenAI to:
- Provide clear documentation on current canvas token limits and storage behaviors.
- Restore or replace the versioning and persistence features that have been removed.
- Implement warnings for users when approaching token limits or potential data loss scenarios.
- Communicate transparently about changes that affect user workflows.
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My work of 15 hours yesterday got wiped out because it did not properly save my work when i asked it to. Went back to it the next day and updates had wiped out my canvas and it said it only had a summary of the 15 page document I had created. This product wastes more of my time than it saves. I had spent an hour going round and round with it because it couldnt figure out it kept missing sections of a document and it could not get the order correct. I had to point out specifically where it was going wrong. It cant count past 7 it seems.
