What can you do on Linwood Butterfly's infinite canvas?

Updated

Linwood Butterfly is a free, open-source workspace for handwriting, sketching, annotating, and organizing ideas on an infinite canvas. You can use it if you want notes, PDF markup, diagrams, and images to live in one editable document instead of being split across page-bound apps. It runs on Android, Windows, macOS, Linux, and in the browser, with an iOS preview also available, so the same canvas can move from a desk to a class or meeting.

Core things you can do

The site describes Butterfly as "a workspace for visual thinkers" and lists several concrete uses that can be mixed in the same document:

  • Capture lecture notes with a stylus
  • Mark up a PDF
  • Sketch an interface
  • Build a diagram
  • Plan a project

Because the canvas is infinite, these tasks are not forced into separate pages. You can keep a lecture note, a PDF annotation, and a diagram side by side and still treat them as one document.

Draw and edit with control

Butterfly supports drawing with a stylus, touch, or mouse. You can adjust stroke width, color, smoothing, and texture. If a mark is not quite right, the site says you can edit it instead of starting over.

Every element stays editable after you place it. You can move, resize, recolor, and reorganize content, so a first attempt does not have to be final. This matters for tasks like sketching an interface or building a diagram, where you often need to shift labels, resize shapes, or change colors after the initial layout.

Bring different media into one document

You can import camera photos, gallery images, PDFs, and SVGs, then combine them with your own notes. The site says you can export clean results in common formats. A practical example: import a PDF handout, annotate it with a stylus, add a photo of a whiteboard, and sketch a diagram next to it, all in the same file.

Use tools beyond pen and eraser

Butterfly includes labels, shapes, polygons, rulers, grids, textures, stamps, a laser pointer, presentation tools, and more. These are useful when a task needs structure rather than freehand drawing:

  • Use rulers and grids for precise diagrams or interface sketches
  • Use shapes and polygons for flowcharts or system diagrams
  • Use labels to annotate parts of a sketch
  • Use stamps and textures to reuse visual elements
  • Use the laser pointer and presentation tools when walking through your canvas

Reuse layouts and content

You can start with a template that brings together backgrounds, tools, layers, areas, and pages. Favorite layouts can become templates, and frequently used content can become packs, stamps, palettes, and styles available across documents. This is helpful if you repeatedly create the same kind of document, such as a weekly project plan or a standard annotation layout.

Keep control of your files

Butterfly is local by default: you can keep working without an internet connection, and documents live on your device unless you choose to save them elsewhere. You can connect WebDAV services like Nextcloud to sync, back up, and edit notes anywhere. Documents use the documented .bfly and .tbfly formats. The software is free and open source under the GNU AGPL-3.0 license. Experimental collaboration supports end-to-end encrypted sessions through Swamp or a WebSocket server you host yourself.

Where to start

If you want to try it, the site offers a download and a web app, plus documentation and a blog. A reasonable first step is to open the web app or install it on your platform, create a document, and test one of the listed tasks, such as importing a PDF and annotating it, to see whether the infinite canvas and editing model fit your workflow.