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Canva
Basics
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO
KNOW TO GET STARTED WITH CANVA
Contents
GETTING STARTED
MAKE A CANVA ACCOUNT..........................................2
LOAD A TEMPLATE YOU HAVE PURCHASED............ 3

EDITING BASICS
4
TEXT...................................................................................
5
PHOTOS............................................................................
6
GRIDS + FRAMES.............................................................
7
ELEMENTS.........................................................................
TRANSPARENCY.............................................................8
LOCKING ELEMENTS......................................................9
10
CLONE + ADD PAGES...................................................
11
GRID VIEW.......................................................................

ADVANCED EDITING
P R O 12
MERGING DOCUMENTS....................................

If you would like to try Canva Pro free

for 30 days click the link below

CANVA PRO FREE 30 DAYS

1
GETTING STARTED

How to make a 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 UP THE FIELDS.

CLICK GET STARTED.

SELECT FROM THE OPTIONS ON WHAT YOU’RE

PLANNING 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.

If you would like to try Canva Pro free

for 30 days click the link below

CANVA PRO FREE 30 DAYS

2
GETTING STARTED

Load a template
you have purchased
MAKE SURE YOU ARE LOGGED IN TO CANVA

IF YOU HAVE PURCHASED ONE OF OUR TEMPLATES, OR ARE

LOADING IN ONE OF OUR FREE RESOURCES, OPEN THE LINK.
IT SHOULD DISPLAY A SCREEN PREVIEWING THE TEMPLATE.

CLICK USE TEMPLATE

IT WILL OPEN THE TEMPLATE IN CANVA,

READY FOR YOU TO EDIT.

fast fact
IF YOU CLICK THE HOME SCREEN
IT SHOULD NOW LOAD
UNDER YOUR DESIGNS

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EDITING BASICS

Text Cheatsheet
NOTE THE LITTLE CROWN SHOWS
FONT SELECTION FONTS FOR THE PAID VERSION OF CANVA
CHOOSE YOUR FONT FROM HERE

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

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EDITING BASICS

Photos
How to upload your own
UPLOADING YOUR OWN IMAGES TO CANVA IS EASY.

ON THE RIGHT HAND 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.

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EDITING BASICS

Grids and Frames

GRIDS AND FRAMES ARE AN AMAZING TOOL WHICH Where to find them?
HELP YOU TO NEATLY LAY OUT PHOTOS. WHEN GRIDS
PLACED IN YOUR DOCUMENT THEY WILL INITIALLY GO TO THE RIGHT TOOLBAR, SELECT ELEMENTS AND
LOOK LIKE THIS: SCROLL DOWN TO FIND 'GRIDS'

FRAMES
GO TO THE RIGHT TOOLBAR, SELECT ELEMENTS
AND SCROLL DOWN TO FIND 'FRAMES'

DRAG AND DROP PHOTOS TO TRANSFORM YOUR

GRID TO SOMETHING LIKE THIS!
fast fact
ADJUST THE SPACING ON
YOUR GRID BY CLICKING THE GRID AND
THEN CLICKING SPACING FROM THE TOP
TOOLBAR

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EDITING BASICS

Elements
CANVA COMES STOCKED WITH A HUGE NUMBER OF
FREE AND PAID ELEMENTS.

ELEMENTS CAN BE FOUND IN THE

RIGHT 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 COLOURS.

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EDITING BASICS

Transparency
TRANSPARENCY AFFECTS 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 OF TRANSPARENCY AT 100%

THE SCREEN.

CLICK THE SMALL, CHESS PATTERN ICON.

A SLIDER WILL APPEAR, SLIDE UP AND DOWN

FOR THE REQUIRED EFFECT.

TRANSPARENCY AT 30%

fast fact
WHEN TEXT IS PLACED OVER AN IMAGE,
USE TRANSPARENCY TO IMPROVE
LEGIBILITY.

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EDITING BASICS

Locking Elements
LOCKING ELEMENTS IS A GREAT WAY TO KEEP
YOUR DOCUMENT ORGANISED, 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 ALSO LOCK MULTIPLE
THINGS AT ONCE BY HOLDING SHIFT, A MENU WILL APPEAR IN THE TOP RIGHT OF
DRAGGING YOUR MOUSE ACROSS THE SCREEN.
THE ITEMS AND THEN CLICKING
THE LOCK BUTTON CLICK THE SMALL, LOCK ICON.

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EDITING BASICS

Clone and add pages

CANVA HAS THE AMAZING 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 TEMPLATES 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

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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

fast fact
TO THE BOTTOM RIGHT
CORNER OF THE SCREEN AND TO REARRANGE PAGES, DRAG AND
CLICK THE PAGE ICON. DROP THEM INTO A NEW ORDER.

GRID VIEW APPEARS LIKE THIS:

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ADVANCED EDITING

Merging Templates P R O

*
PLEASE NOTE THAT 'FOLDERS' WHICH ALLOWS YOU TO MERGE TWO TEMPLATES IS A PRO ADD ON,
BUT IS AN AMAZING TOOL SO WE WANTED TO INCLUDE IT WITH OUR GUIDE

TO INSERT A DESIGN, FIRST ADD A NEW PAGE IN

YOUR DOCUMENT.

ACCESS FOLDERS SELECT 'FOLDERS' FROM THE

RIGHT HAND TOOLBAR.

THEN SELECT 'ALL YOUR DESIGNS' - THIS IS

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.

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