⚠️ Canny Ideas is currently in closed beta
All teams on the Canny Pro plan are currently welcome to join
Overview
An idea in Canny represents an internal piece of feedback. A post is the public-facing version of an idea. Posts can be created in two ways:
End users submitting feedback through the Canny Feedback Portal
Admins creating a Post from an existing Idea, making it accessible via the Feedback Portal
No change to the end-user experience
When a user submits feedback, a post appears in your Canny Portal exactly as before. The end-user experience does not change.
Each post is connected to an idea, but updates made to the Idea do not affect the post. This enables clear distinction between internal workflows and external communications.
If your team no longer wants a post visible to end users, you can remove it from the portal. The internal Idea remains for tracking and prioritization.
Insights
End-user votes and comments on a post appear as insights on the idea.
Insights created manually on an idea are internal-only and help your team track what customers are saying
Autopilot creates insights on ideas (these are no longer visible on the post)
Insights can be created for users and/or companies
Summary
Posts | Ideas |
Visible to end-users | Only visible to Canny admins |
Creating a post automatically creates an idea | Creating an idea does not automatically create a post |
Updates to the post status do not update Ideas | Updates to the idea status do not update the post |
End-user comments to the post will be added as insights to ideas | Insights added by Canny admins will not be added as post comments and are not visible in the portal |
Posts are visible by anyone who has access to the board it belongs to | Ideas are fully internal |
Post vs. Idea Statuses
Post and Idea statuses are completely independent.
During your initial migration to Canny Ideas, existing Ideas will inherit their status from their linked Posts. After migration, changing one status will not affect the other.
Idea status reflects your internal workflow (where the Idea stands for your team).
Post status reflects your external communication (what you want to share with users).
When to Add a Vote vs. an Insight
When you want to capture user interest or internal context on an idea, you can choose to add either a vote or an insight. The right choice depends on whether the information should be visible on the public Post or remain internal.
Add a vote when:
You want the feedback to be visible on the Post
The feedback comes from a specific end user
You want the Post’s vote count to reflect user demand
You’re tracking an end user’s interest directly (e.g., “This customer requested it”)
A vote always shows on the post and includes the linked user who requested it.
Add an insight when:
You want the information to be internal-only
You want to capture feedback from sources that should not appear on the Post
The “user” is actually an internal teammate, success rep, or abstract signal that you don't want to impact the vote count
You’re adding context or reasoning, not public-facing demand
Insights are never visible to end users and do not display on the Post.
⭐ Simple rule of thumb
If you want it to appear publicly on the Post → add a vote.
If you only want your team to see it internally → add an insight.
Deleting a Post:
When a post is deleted:
If the Idea only has insights from the post (i.e. all insights are from post votes / comments) then the Idea will also be deleted
If the Idea has insights from other sources (e.g. manual insights, Autopilot insights) then only insights linked to the deleted Post (insights created from votes, comments) will be removed.
Note: If a comment is deleted or a vote is removed from a Post, the linked insight is also removed from the Idea.
Things to note:
Admin comments on Posts - both public and internal - do not appear as Insights.
Public comments from end users do appear as Insights on the connected Idea.
Have feedback?
We'd love to hear from you, especially during the beta!