the
CANVA
BASICS
guide
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO
KNOW TO GET STARTED WITH
CANVA
the
CANVA
CONTENTS BASICS
GUIDE
GETTING STARTED
MAKE A CANVA ACCOUNT.........................................02
LOAD A TEMPLATE YOU HAVE PURCHASED...........03
EDITING BASICS
TEXT.............................................................................04
PHOTOS.......................................................................05
GRIDS + FRAMES........................................................06
ELEMENTS...................................................................07
TRANSPARENCY..........................................................08
LOCKING ELEMENTS..................................................09
CLONE + ADD PAGES..................................................10
GRID VIEW...................................................................11
ADVANCED EDITING
P R O MERGING DOCUMENTS..................................12
the
CANVA
GETTING STARTED BASICS
GUIDE
EDITING BASICS
HOW TO MAKE A FREE
CANVA ACCOUNT
VISIT www.canva.com
in the top right corner, select the
purple sign up button.
Choose from the options to sign up
with Facebook, Google, or your email.
If you chose to sign up with Facebook
or Google, log in to your account to
authorize access.
If you chose to sign up with your
email, fill in the fields.
Click 'Get started'.
Select from the options what you plan
to use Canva for.
Complete the onboarding process.
Confirm your account by clicking on the
'Confirm my account' button from an
email you’ll receive.
the
CANVA
GETTING STARTED BASICS
GUIDE
EDITING BASICS
LOAD A TEMPLATE
YOU HAVE PURCHASED
Make sure you are logged in to Canva.
Open the link provided with your template purchase.
A screen previewing the template will display (as
per image on the left).
Click 'use template'.
The template will open in Canva, ready for you to edit.
You can make a copy of the template to preserve the
original - once your template is opened, just head up
to "File" at the top left and choose "Make a copy"
from the menu.
fast fact
IF YOU CLICK THE HOME SCREEN
IT SHOULD NOW LOAD
UNDER YOUR DESIGNS.
the
CANVA
EDITING BASICS BASICS
GUIDE
EDITING BASICS
TEXT CHEATSHEET
NOTE: THE SMALL CROWN SHOWS
FONT SELECTION FONTS ONLY AVAILABLE WITH A PAID
CHOOSE YOUR FONT FROM HERE SUBSCRIPTION OF CANVA.
FONT SIZE
CHOOSE YOUR FONT SIZE FROM HERE
FONT COLOUR
CHOOSE YOUR FONT COLOUR FROM HERE
FONT STYLE
BOLD, ITALICIZE OR UNDERLINE YOUR TEXT
CASE SETTING
TURN ON UPPER CASE TO AUTO CAPITALIZE ALL SELECTED TEXT
FONT ALIGNMENT
CHOOSE FROM LEFT, MIDDLE, RIGHT OR JUSTIFIED ALIGNMENT
DOT POINTS
CHOOSE FROM NONE, DOTS OR NUMBERS
LETTER SPACING + LINE HEIGHT
ADJUST THE SPACE BETWEEN LETTERS AND LINES
FONT EFFECTS
SPECIAL EFFECTS LIKE CURVED TEXT
the
CANVA
EDITING BASICS BASICS
GUIDE
EDITING BASICS
PHOTOS
How to upload your own
Uploading your own images to Canva is easy!
On the lefthand toolbar click 'upload'.
Then select 'upload media'.
Locate the file on your computer and upload it.
Click the newly uploaded photo to add to
your document.
fast fact
CANVA HAS AN INCREDIBLE LIBRARY
OF FREE + PAID PHOTOS. YOU CAN
ACCESS THESE VIA THE PHOTOS TAB.
the
CANVA
EDITING BASICS BASICS
GUIDE
EDITING BASICS
GRIDS AND FRAMES
Grids and frames are an amazing tool that Where to find them?
help you to neatly lay out photos. When
GRIDS
placed in your document, they will initially
Go to the left toolbar, select
look like this:
'elements' and scroll down to find
'grids'.
FRAMES
In the left toolbar, select 'elements'
and scroll down to find 'frames'.
Drag and drop photos to transform
your grid into something like this! fast fact
ADJUST THE SPACING ON
YOUR GRID BY CLICKING THE GRID AND
THEN CLICKING SPACING FROM THE TOP
TOOLBAR
the
CANVA
EDITING BASICS BASICS
GUIDE
EDITING BASICS
ELEMENTS
Canva comes stocked with a vast amount
of free and paid elements.
ELEMENTS CAN BE FOUND IN THE
LEFT HAND TOOLBAR. USE THE
SEARCH BAR TO FIND ELEMENTS IN
THE THEME YOU NEED.
NOTE THE LITTLE CROWN WHEN YOU HOVER OVER
AN ELEMENT. IT INDICATES WHEN THE PRO / PAID
VERSION OF CANVA IS REQUIRED TO ACCESS
fast fact
A LOT OF ELEMENTS ARE IN VECTOR FORMAT,
WHICH MEANS YOU CAN EASILY ADJUST THE
COLORS.
the
CANVA
EDITING BASICS BASICS
GUIDE
EDITING BASICS
TRANSPARENCY
Transparency affects opacity (how see
through something is) and can be applied to
images, elements, text, and solid shapes.
How to adjust transparency
Click the item you would like
to unlock.
A menu will appear in the top right TRANSPARENCY AT 100%
of the screen.
Click the small, chess pattern icon.
A slider will appear, slide up and
down for the desired effect.
TRANSPARENCY AT 30%
fast fact
WHEN TEXT IS PLACED OVER AN IMAGE,
USE TRANSPARENCY TO IMPROVE
LEGIBILITY.
the
CANVA
EDITING BASICS BASICS
GUIDE
EDITING BASICS
LOCKING ELEMENTS
Locking elements is a great way to
keep your document organized,
especially if you are bringing things
like backgrounds and layered images
into play.
To lock something
Click the item you would like to lock.
A menu will appear in the top right
of the screen.
Click the small lock icon.
To unlock something
fast fact Click the item you would like
to unlock.
YOU CAN LOCK MULTIPLE THINGS AT
ONCE BY HOLDING THE SHIFT KEY
AND DRAGGING YOUR CURSOR A menu will appear in the top right
ACROSS THE ITEMS YOU WANT TO of the screen.
LOCK THEN CLICKING THE LOCK
BUTTON.
Click the small lock icon.
the
CANVA
EDITING BASICS BASICS
GUIDE
EDITING BASICS
CLONE AND ADD PAGES
Canva has the capability to add
multiple pages. You can do this from
the clone and add pages menu.
fast fact
CANVA NOW SUPPORTS A HUGE
100 PAGES PER DOCUMENT!
You can access the clone and add pages menu
from directly above your template's top right
corner.
DUPLICATE PAGE
MAKES AN EXACT COPY OF YOUR CURRENT PAGE
DELETE PAGE
DELETES YOUR CURRENT PAGE
ADD PAGE
CREATES A NEW, BLANK PAGE
the
CANVA
EDITING BASICS BASICS
GUIDE
EDITING BASICS
GRID VIEW
Grid view allows you to look at multiple pages
in your document at once. It's fantastic for
things like ebooks and larger, multi-paged
files.
TO ACCESS GRID VIEW, LOOK
TO THE BOTTOM RIGHT
fast fact
CORNER OF THE SCREEN AND TO REARRANGE PAGES, DRAG
CLICK THE PAGE ICON. AND DROP THEM INTO A NEW
ORDER.
GRID VIEW APPEARS LIKE THIS:
the
CANVA
ADVANCED BASICS
GUIDE
ADVANCED EDITING
MERGING TEMPLATES P R O
*
PLEASE NOTE THAT 'FOLDERS' WHICH ALLOWS YOU TO MERGE TWO TEMPLATES IS A
CANVA PRO ADD-ON, BUT IS A USEFUL TOOL SO WE INCLUDED IT WITH OUR GUIDE!
To insert a design, first add a new
page in your document.
To access folders, select 'folders' from
the left hand toolbar.
Then select 'all your designs' - this will
show all other current designs in your
account.
Then click on the thumbnail of the
document you would like to insert - this
works very similarly to inserting a photo.
fast fact
THE FILE YOU ARE INSERTING WILL
AUTOMATICALLY RESIZE TO THE
DIMENSIONS OF YOUR CURRENT DOCUMENT.
