If you’ve ever found yourself shaking your fist at the screen because ChatGPT just doesn’t get what you want, well, join the club. But there’s hope, and it’s called “AI multi-prompting.” Imagine you could get exactly three parts from an AI — neatly formatted, consistently engaging, and always ready for easy copy-pasting. Well, it turns out you can. Here’s how.
The Secret Recipe for Multi-Prompting Magic
The trick here is being hyper-specific with your instructions, breaking your request down into distinct, digestible pieces. The best prompts follow a predictable structure — let’s call it the three-part prompt strategy.
In your prompt, you tell the AI that you’re looking for three distinct pieces of content. For each one, you need to:
- Describe exactly what each part should contain.
- Mention any requirements (like links, specific details, or style differences).
- Be specific about how the parts should relate but not overlap.
- Emphasize no preambles or extra text — just the part you need.
Here’s an example prompt that works like a charm:
Prompt Example:
- Provide three parts that can be copied and pasted directly as follows:
- The first part: Tell me about fruit.
- The second part: Drill down into oranges, including the link: https://oranges.example.com
- The third part: Drill down into apples, with the link: https://apples.example.com
- The first part must not include links but should still stand as a complete thought that invites engagement.
- Make sure the parts feel different from previous ones but align with the same theme.
- Give me the first part all by itself with no data before or after.
- When I prompt with “next”, provide the second part all by itself with no data before or after.
- When I prompt with “next”, provide the third part all by itself with no data before or after.
Boom. Now you’re in business.
Tips to Level Up Your Multi-Prompting Game
But wait — there’s more! Here are a few extra tricks to coax the best content out of ChatGPT:
- Tone Clarity: Specify the tone for each part if necessary. Friendly? Academic? Playful? If you let ChatGPT know, it can switch gears appropriately.
- Context Threads: Remind ChatGPT of the overarching context with each “next” request. If it’s about oranges in the second part, make sure it knows to stay fruity for the third.
- Breathing Room for Creativity: It helps to give the AI some room to interpret your instruction — within guardrails. Asking it to add a fun fact about apples, for instance, can make the output more engaging without derailing the message.
One Prompt to Rule Three Canvases
You asked whether you could do all three parts in a single prompt using canvases. And the answer? Absolutely! With the “canvas” feature in tools like ChatGPT, you can create separate text canvases for each of the three parts in a single go, allowing for easy content generation without toggling back and forth.
Here’s how that looks with the same fruit prompt:
Prompt Example for Three Canvases:
- Provide three distinct text canvases as follows:
- Canvas 1: Describe fruit in general terms — make it an inviting overview but keep it link-free.
- Canvas 2: Drill down into oranges, including the link https://oranges.example.com, but keep it short and informative.
- Canvas 3: Focus on apples with https://apples.example.com and add a quirky detail to keep the reader hooked.
The cool thing about using canvases is how easy it becomes to reference each distinct block without copy-pasting confusion. Imagine you’re painting — you don’t want your red, green, and blue colors to get all mixed up. The canvas feature keeps each color — or each idea — neat and organized.
Where Are the Canvases?
If you’re not yet acquainted with the “canvas” feature, it’s simply a way to compartmentalize responses. They usually appear as separate tabs or segments in your AI interface. You can return to previous canvases to tweak content without disrupting your entire flow — making this ideal for complex, multi-layered prompts.
In the top-right corner of the interface, next to the share button, there’s an Open Canvas button. This button allows you to access your current Canvas session. If a number appears on this button, it indicates the count of active or previous Canvas sessions available for review.
The Canvas feature enhances your writing and coding experience by providing a dual-pane interface: a chat area on the left and an interactive workspace on the right. This setup allows for seamless collaboration with ChatGPT, enabling you to generate, edit, and refine content more effectively.
Accessing the Canvas Feature
- Select GPT-4 with Canvas:
In the ChatGPT web interface, choose “GPT-4 with Canvas” from the model selector at the top of the page. - Initiate a Canvas Session:
For longer responses (typically over 10 lines), ChatGPT may automatically open a Canvas. To manually open a Canvas, type commands like “open a canvas” or “open a coding canvas” in the chat.
Navigating the Canvas Interface
- Chat Pane (Left): Continue your conversation with ChatGPT here, providing prompts and receiving responses.
- Canvas Workspace (Right): View and edit the generated content. You can make manual changes or highlight sections to request specific edits from ChatGPT.
Additional Features
- Version Control: Canvas includes version control, enabling you to access and restore previous versions of your document.
- Shortcuts: Hover over the bottom-right corner to access shortcuts for tasks like adjusting text length, adding comments, or debugging code.
The Canvas feature is currently in beta and may not be available to all users. Its availability and functionality could vary based on your subscription level and the platform’s updates. For more detailed guidance, refer to OpenAI’s official documentation: OpenAI Help Center.
Simplified AI Art Prompt
“An impressionist masterpiece depicting a single bright orange resting on a rustic table, captured in soft, diffused light with gentle brush strokes to evoke a timeless, serene moment.”
This prompt doesn’t clutter itself with apples, links, or canvases — it stays focused, and the art captures a distilled essence of simplicity and direction.
Let’s Chat!
I want to hear from you — what kind of multi-prompting challenges are you facing? Or, if you’ve got a hot prompting tip, drop it in the comments! Don’t forget to follow for more ways to harness the power of AI prompts. Let’s figure this out together!