Place vs. Fill canvas

Summary

Place image adds an uploaded file to the artboard at its native pixel size, centered, with no scaling. Fill canvas adds it scaled and cropped to exactly match the current artboard's width and height, with no distortion. Both create a new layer and leave the original upload untouched.

Use it when

• Use Place image when you want full manual control over size and position — small graphics, stickers, logos, or artwork you plan to resize and position by hand.
• Use Fill canvas when you want a photo or illustration to cover the entire artboard immediately, edge to edge, without doing the math yourself.
• Use either repeatedly from the same upload to add more than one copy — see What changes.

Before you begin

Upload a file first — both actions live in the ⋯ menu on an upload card in Uploads, and are disabled on a card that failed validation (see Supported files and upload limits). No format decision is required in advance; both actions work with whichever format is currently selected.

Steps

1. Open Uploads and upload or select a file.
2. Open the ⋯ menu on its card.
3. Choose Place image to add it at native pixel size, centered on the artboard, or choose Fill canvas to add it scaled and cropped to the artboard's exact dimensions.
4. Check Layers — either action adds a new layer named Image N (numbered by creation order).
5. Repeat from the same card's ⋯ menu to add another copy; each use adds a new, independent layer rather than replacing the previous one.

What changes

• Place image sets the layer's W/H in Transform to the file's pixel dimensions treated as inches at a fixed 96 DPI reference (a 2048×2048 px file becomes a 21.33×21.33 in layer), centered at the artboard's midpoint. It does not crop or scale to fit — on any current format, a typical photo-sized upload will extend well beyond the artboard edges.
• Fill canvas sets the layer's W/H to match the artboard exactly (for example 6.25×10.00 in on Wide), scaling the source image uniformly and cropping the overflow so it covers the full artboard with no empty margin and no stretching. When the source aspect ratio doesn't match the artboard's, the excess is trimmed from the sides or top/bottom — whichever the source has more of — and the crop is centered.
• Both actions add a layer; neither modifies the file's card in Uploads, and neither is a one-time action — invoking either again from the same card adds another independent layer on top.
• Both are ordinary undoable actions: Ctrl+Z immediately after either one removes just the layer it created.

Print note

Because Place image uses a fixed 96 DPI reference regardless of the artboard's physical size, a placed layer that has not been resized to fit the artboard is likely to trigger a low-effective-DPI warning once it's scaled down to printable dimensions — the Effective DPI and resolution warnings article covers this threshold. Fill canvas, by scaling the source to the artboard's actual physical size up front, generally produces a much higher effective DPI for the same source file, and did not trigger a DPI warning in testing with a 2048×2048 px source. Neither action changes the underlying pixel data — cropping from Fill canvas affects what is visible and exported, not the original uploaded file.

Warnings and limits

• Place image's centered, unscaled placement means large source images routinely land mostly or entirely outside the visible artboard. This is not an error — check Layers to confirm the layer exists, then resize or reposition it, or use Recenter/Fit to frame to bring the view to it (see Artboard, stage, and tool rail).
• Fill canvas's crop is not adjustable at the moment you apply it — it always centers on the source image. To choose a different crop region afterward, use the layer's Crop control in Adjust.
• Using Place image or Fill canvas again from the same upload card does not replace the existing layer — it stacks a new one on top. If you meant to replace or reset a layer, delete the old one first or undo before reapplying.

Desktop and mobile

Both actions are reached the same way on desktop and mobile: the ⋯ menu on an upload card, whether that card is in the left rail (desktop) or the Uploads sheet (mobile). The menu's four items — Place image, Fill canvas, Remove background, Delete — were confirmed identical on both layouts.

Troubleshooting

Related topics

• Supported files and upload limits
• Effective DPI and resolution warnings
• Crop and framing
• Artboard, stage, and tool rail

Verification note

Verified against Blotter Builder on 2026-07-20.

Source notes

Primary observations — all from the live application at https://blotterbuilder.tdl.fyi, 2026-07-20, using the built-in demo artwork (2048×2048 px):

• Observed — Place image on a Classic square (7.5×7.5 in) artboard set Transform to W 21.33in, H 21.33in, X 3.75in, Y 3.75in — the file's native pixel size (2048 ÷ 96 = 21.33) centered on the artboard, vastly overflowing it.
• Observed — Fill canvas on a Wide (6.25×10 in) artboard set Transform to W 6.25in, H 10.00in exactly, with no visible distortion of the source image's circular vignette — the full height of the source was preserved and the left/right edges were cropped, consistent with a centered cover-fit rather than a stretch.
• Observed — Fill canvas on a Classic square artboard with the same square-aspect source produced an exact W 7.50in, H 7.50in match with no cropping needed, since source and artboard aspect ratios were equal.
• Observed — the Transform summary line showed no DPI badge after Fill canvas (only 6.27 × 10.02 in · 0°), compared with a 96 DPI — LOW badge observed after Place image with the same source file in earlier testing.
• Observed — invoking Place image a second time from the same upload card added Image 2 above the existing Image 1 in Layers, rather than replacing it. Ctrl+Z immediately afterward removed Image 2 and left Image 1 intact.
• Observed — at 390 × 844, the ⋯ menu on an upload card in the Uploads sheet listed the same four items in the same order as desktop.

Verification log