Top 9 Canva Tips and Tricks You Should Know

Canva’s greatest strength is the simplicity of its interface and other options. The ease with which it lets you create a poster or template in a few simple steps is commendable. However, this popular design tool includes more than just compiling many elements into templates and stories. It has many useful tools that can make your graphic design easy and convenient in the long run.

So if you want to get the most out of Canva, here are some tips and tricks to help you out.

Let’s check them out.

1. Overlapping Objects

Designing a basic template requires lots of elements, whether it’s a simple shape or a complex mass of clip art-like elements. And the key to any well-designed template is layering. Fortunately, Canva lets you easily edit layers in a few clicks.

After all items and objects are placed, right-click on a specific object and select Return or Bring Forward to change its position. The good thing is that you can also take care of them via keyboard shortcuts (more on that later).

If you want an object on the base, the Send Back option will do the trick.

2. Crop Image into Shapes

The ability to crop images into shapes is perhaps one of Canva’s most useful features. From Instagram stories to postcards, apply this simple trick in a variety of scenarios. All you have to do is make sure the shape is available in Canva.

To get started, upload the image you want to crop into Canva. Next, select Elements from the right panel and click See All next to Frames.

After selecting your frame, return to Uploads and drag the new image into the frame to crop it. Isn’t it simple?

Double-click the picture inside the frame to adjust the size of the picture. Now drag one of the four white dots to adjust the size of the image.

Cool Tip: You can also use it to crop the pictures in the image gallery to a shape you want.

3. Create Animated GIFs

As mentioned earlier, Canva isn’t just about designing templates or Instagram Stories. This neat tool also lets you play with animations. You can make small and silly animations or GIFs in a few clicks.

For example, if you are creating an Instagram story, you can add an animated frame. To do this, click to select the item you want to animate and select Animate from the top ribbon.

Once complete, select one of the Page Animations from the right panel as shown above. You can also animate other elements of the page. Once complete, click the Play icon at the top to see the full picture.

Animated files can only be downloaded in MP4 format.

Cool Tip: Like an object? Select it and click the Info icon at the top. Then click Add to Likes. After that, it will also appear under Folder > Likes for easy access.

4. Adjust Image Transparency

The degree of transparency of an object or image is key to designing a quality template. Fortunately, the web version of Canva lets you adjust image transparency pretty easily.

Select the object or item and click the small square icon in the upper right corner.

Now all you have to do is drag the slider according to your preference.

5. Make a Custom Filter

Canva comes with a number of presets for editing images. But if you do not like ready-made filters, you can adjust the image to your liking. This is made possible by the Adjustment tool. The good thing is that you can also save the filter settings to use in future projects.

So, next time you adjust an image, copy and save the Filter code as shown in the screenshot below.

Whenever you want the same filter setting on a new image, open the Adjustment panel and paste the Filter code at the bottom. The image will transform almost instantly. Is not it beautiful?

6. Lock Messy Items

The lock tool is useful when working with lots of items. As the name suggests, it allows you to lock the position of some selected items. In this way, you can continue your design without disturbing the completed module.

To do this, select a single item, click the little Lock icon in the top ribbon and voila!

This will lock the group’s location. You are free to continue with other changes. Once the design is complete, click (you guessed right) the icon again to unlock it.

Great Tip: To lock a group of objects in place, first group them and then lock them.

7. Add Hyperlink

Canva isn’t just about dealing with JPEG or PNG images. This graphic design tool also allows you to download templates and designs as PDF files. And it doesn’t end there. First, you can link a page element (text or thumbnail) to an external website.

To do this, select the object you want to link, click the Link icon in the upper right corner and enter the URL of the site.

Now you have to make sure you download the design in PDF format.

8. Manage Pages Easily

One of the key features of the Canva web tool is that it lets you create a group of pages for a single project. However, sorting all the pages can be difficult and time consuming. The nifty Page admin icon at the bottom will take care of that.

Click the Pages icon in the bottom ribbon to view all your pages at once.

Next, select the page you want to revisit, and then double-click on it.

Cool Tip: Magnified view also allows you to easily rearrange different pages. Simply drag and drop different pages to rearrange them to your liking.

9. Know the Shortcuts

They say there’s no going back once you get used to keyboard shortcuts, and rightfully so. Shortcuts not only make your work easier, but also save you a lot of time. The good thing about Canva is that it includes both keyboard shortcuts and traditional shortcuts.

For example, if you only want red garlands for a Christmas-themed card, you don’t have to go through all the garlands in Canva’s library. To add Christmas themed items, simply type ‘red + garland’ in the search box to get the search results.

Likewise, if you want to exclude all red garlands, simply add the Minus denominator to your search query.

Apart from the above, Canva also supports a few keyboard shortcuts apart from the regular Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V combination.

• To resize an image proportionally, press Alt while resizing it.
• To duplicate an object, select it and press Alt + D
• Send the item forward, select it and press Ctrl + ]
• Send the item backwards, select it and press Ctrl +[[[tuşlarınabasın[
• To group several objects, select them all and press Ctrl + G.

Here are the Informed Designs

These were some tips and tricks for the free version of Canva, where you can create a range of attractive brochures, posters and templates for Instagram stories. The key to any graphic design is to keep it to a minimum so that each element stands out.

So, which Canva feature is your favourite?