# The ERD Canvas > Work on the Schemity ERD canvas - add entities, pan and arrange your layout, use auto-layout and alignment guides, and export to PNG, SVG, or SQL, all offline. Source: https://schemity.com/doc/erd-canvas/ The Schemity ERD canvas is where your schema lives visually. It is the main working surface of this **database design software**: **entities** are boxes, relationships are connectors, and you arrange them to tell the story of your data model. ## How do I add entities and draw relationships? - **Add an entity** from the control bar (Schemity calls a table an "entity"), then name it. You can also **right-click empty canvas** or use the create-entity keyboard shortcut. - **Move** an entity by dragging it. Connected relationships follow automatically. - **Draw a relationship** by connecting two entities; Schemity renders it in crow's foot notation. See [Relationships](https://schemity.com/doc/relationships/). A brand-new diagram does not leave you guessing: an empty canvas prints the ways in - right-click or the create-entity shortcut on the main view, **import** inside a [context view](https://schemity.com/doc/context-views/), where entities cannot be created. The hint is click-through, so a right-click lands on the canvas and opens the menu it just described, and it never shows up in a PNG or SVG export. ## How do I pan the canvas and arrange the layout? - **Pan** by dragging empty canvas space; the view auto-scrolls when you drag an entity toward an edge. - **Auto Layout** arranges entities hierarchically, and **Alphabet Layout** orders them alphabetically - both are a good starting point you can then adjust by hand. **Route Relations** in the same menu runs the lines around the tables so they cross less. - **Alignment guides** snap entities into line and equal spacing as you drag, so the diagram stays neat. When a single canvas gets crowded, do not fight it - create [Context Views](https://schemity.com/doc/context-views/) so each view shows only the entities that matter. ## How do I get around a large diagram? Use the **minimap** in the bottom-right corner of the canvas. It shows every entity and legend in miniature, with a rectangle marking the part of the diagram you are looking at. Click anywhere on it to jump there, or drag the rectangle to pan continuously. - **Show or hide it** with the minimap button in the footer, or `Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+M`. It is visible by default. - **Each view has its own.** The main diagram and every context view show their own entities and legends. The [Context Map](https://schemity.com/doc/context-map/) has no minimap. - **New entities stand out.** Entities added since the last save are drawn orange, the only color the minimap uses, so a freshly created, pasted, or imported table is easy to find on a big diagram. The highlight clears when you save. - **It stays readable at any size.** It draws only legends and entities, not relationships or your custom colors. The minimap never appears in PNG, JPEG, or SVG exports. It is a desktop app feature and is not available in the browser version. ## How do I find an entity, field, or legend? Search, rather than scan. Schemity's search is a realtime **fuzzy** search over entity names, field names, and legend names: type whatever fragment you remember - it does not have to be contiguous or complete - and results narrow as you type. Every row states what it is with a prefix (`[E]` entity, `[F]` field, `[L]` legend), and results rank by match quality first, then kind, then name, so equally good hits stay grouped instead of interleaving. Move through the list with Up/Down (hovering a row moves the selection too) and press Enter, or click. An entity or field is selected on the canvas; a legend is selected with the viewport centred on it. Search is scoped to the view you are in - a context view searches its own legends, the main view searches the main ones - matching how [legends live per view](https://schemity.com/doc/legends-and-annotations/). ## How do I check the schema for problems? The **Lint** button next to Search turns on [Schema Lint](https://schemity.com/doc/schema-lint/), which checks the diagram against twenty-six rules and marks what it finds in the margin - the exact entity, and the exact field row. Its count badge stays live whether or not the lint drawer is open, and takes its color from the most serious finding, so the canvas tells you when something needs attention without being asked. ## How do I add a legend to the canvas? Add a **legend** - a colored, named box - to group or annotate a region of the canvas. Legends are a presentation aid; see [Legends & Annotations](https://schemity.com/doc/legends-and-annotations/). ## Can I keep several diagrams open at once? You can keep several diagrams open at once, each in its own tab in the control bar. A tab marked with `*` has unsaved changes. See [Tabs & Navigation](https://schemity.com/doc/tabs-and-navigation/) for switching between them and the keyboard shortcuts. ## How do I export my diagram to PNG, SVG, or SQL? Export the current diagram from the export menu as a **PNG**, **JPEG**, or **SVG** image, or as a **SQL** file of CREATE statements. SVG keeps text selectable and scales infinitely. See [Export SQL / Generate DDL](https://schemity.com/doc/export-sql-ddl/). ## Where is my diagram saved? Every change on the canvas - positions included - is written to the connection's JSON file. That is what makes Schemity an **ERD single source of truth**: the picture and the structure are one versioned file. ## Next Edit the contents of an entity in [Entities & Fields](https://schemity.com/doc/tables-and-fields/).