Design an image from scratch

Design a post image from a blank canvas or a template, sized for the accounts you've selected, without leaving the composer.

Before you start

• This is rolling out gradually. If you don't see Design in Add Media, it isn't on for your workspace yet.
• Select the accounts for your post first. The canvas opens at the size the first of them needs, such as 4:5 for Instagram.
• Use a screen at least 1024 pixels wide. On smaller screens the Design tab doesn't appear.
• To keep a design for later, click Save design in the editor. Saved designs are shared with everyone in your workspace.

Open the feature

Choose Publish in the left sidebar to open the Publish Content composer. Click the image icon to open Add Media, then choose Design in the list on the left, right after Canva.

You can also choose Designs in the left sidebar, marked Beta, right after Publish (on a phone or tablet, open the menu to find Designs with the same badge). It offers a blank design, sizes and ready-made templates to start from, lists your workspace's saved designs, and opens the designer on its own page, in the same window; see Find and manage your saved designs.

Steps

1. In Add Media, choose Design. Choose Start a new design, or pick one of your saved designs under My designs to keep working on it.
2. Pick a template, or start from the blank canvas. Add text, elements, photos and a background with the panels on the left. Something new goes in a free part of the page where there is one, so it doesn't land on your headline; otherwise it goes a little below and to the right of the last thing you added. A blur area always starts in the middle, ready to drag over what it hides. In Templates, search first, then narrow down by design type (the row of types scrolls sideways). Click the Filters icon at the end of the search field for category, style and Use my brand colours and fonts; a number on it shows how many filters (category and style) are on. When nothing matches, Clear filters shows every template again. When your design has a photo of your own, Quick layouts from your photo come first.
3. To bend a heading into an arc, select it, then drag Curve in the text settings on the right. Curve works on one line of text.
4. To start text from a ready-made pairing, open the Text panel and pick one under Font combinations: a heading with a subheading or a line of text, already matched in size and font. It's added as one group in a free spot; double-click a text to change the words, and use Ungroup to move the parts separately.
5. To add a graphic, open Elements and pick one from its section: bursts, badges and seals, arrows, underlines and highlights, speech bubbles, ribbons, sparkles, or dots and confetti. Each section in Elements shows one row; click See all beside its name for the rest. It comes in your brand colours as one group in a free spot. To change a colour in it, select the whole group and pick a swatch under Group colours, then the colour it should become. To find anything in the Elements panel (graphics, shapes, photo frames, photo grids, charts, the table, icons, drawing or a QR code), type in the search box at the top, such as "sale", "arrow" or "star". Use the arrow keys to move through the results and press Enter to add one; Esc clears the search. Items you added show under Recently used until you close the editor.
6. To have AI write for you, use the Text panel's Write a headline with AI: describe the post and click Write a headline. To change existing text, select it and use Write with AI at the end of the text settings (after Font, Size and the rest): Rewrite (pick a tone first if you like), Make it shorter or Translate. Each suggestion replaces the text; press Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on a Mac) to undo it. To change every text in the design at once, use Whole design with AI in the Text panel: Rewrite all (pick a tone first if you like) or Translate all. Texts that are only numbers or prices, such as "50%", stay as they are, and Ctrl+Z undoes the whole change.
7. To build a design from your post's text, open Templates and click Design from my post (it shows when your post has text). AI writes a headline, a small heading and a line of text from your post, and you get up to three templates for this size filled with them. If your design has no photo yet, the first free photo that matches your post is used, and Find photos shows the rest. Click a design to use it; press Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on a Mac) to undo. Template text your post has nothing for, such as a button, is left out.
8. To animate the design, select an element and pick an Entrance under Animation in the settings on the right (Fade in, Rise, Slide in from the right, Slide in from the left, Pop or Wipe). Set when it Starts at and how long it Takes. To keep it moving while it's on screen, choose Repeat while on screen (Pulse, Wiggle, Blink, Float or Spin); to have it leave, choose an Exit, which finishes as the animation ends. Use Play (the triangle button below the canvas) to watch it, and Length to set how long the animation runs (2 to 15 seconds).
9. To see the design at other sizes, use the size chips above the canvas. In taller sizes such as Story and Pin, a design made from 28 October 2026 uses the extra height: words and photos grow. In a design made from 4 November 2026, long text also re-wraps to grow further, and the free space is shared out between the rows. In a window narrower than 1,100 pixels, clicking something on the canvas folds the tool panel away so the canvas has room (narrower than 1,024 pixels, the editor opens with it folded); click any tool on the left to bring it back. Narrower than 900 pixels, the canvas stays at the top and the settings of what you select come first under it.
10. To arrange elements, select them and use Position in the settings on the right. With one element selected, the align buttons (Align left, Align centre, Align right, Align top, Align middle and Align bottom; point at one to see its name) line it up with the page; with several, they line up with each other. With three or more selected, Space across and Space down spread them evenly. To place or size an element exactly, type in X, Y, W (width) and H (height), in pixels for the size you're on, and press Enter; the up and down arrow keys change a value by 1, or by 10 with Shift. The link button between W and H keeps the proportions; photos, icons and QR codes always keep theirs, and a text's height follows its words. Group (Ctrl+G, Cmd+G on a Mac) shows when several elements are selected and keeps them together so they select and move as one (Shift-click a part of a group, such as a button's label, and the whole group is added or removed; grouping part of a group takes the whole group); Ungroup (Ctrl+Shift+G) shows when a group is selected and separates them. If you grouped groups together since opening the design (two buttons, say), Ungroup brings those groups back, each label on its button. Bring forward, Send backward, Duplicate, Lock and Delete are the icon buttons at the top of the settings on the right (point at one to see its name). The most-used actions are also in a small bar just above the selection on the canvas: Edit text for a text, Replace and Crop for a photo, Replace for a photo frame and Colour for a shape (it opens the shape's fill colours; a line has none), Group when several elements are selected (Ungroup when they are one group), then Duplicate, Lock and Delete, with Bring forward, Send backward, Group or Ungroup and the six align buttons under More actions (the three dots). The bar hides while you drag. For a locked element the bar keeps Unlock and Duplicate. Near the bottom of the page, the turning handle moves above the element. Lock stops an element from being moved, edited or deleted until you unlock it; while a locked element is selected, only Unlock (the same button), Duplicate and Copy style are offered. Copy style takes the look of one element, and Paste style (shown once you've copied a style) puts it on other elements of the same kind (text onto text, photo onto photo).
11. To draw freehand, open Elements and click Draw at the top, pick a Pen colour and Pen size, then draw on the canvas. Each line you draw is kept, and the lines from one go are grouped so they move together. Press Esc or click Done to stop. Select a drawing later to change its colour or pen size.
12. To add a chart, open Elements and pick Bar chart, Line chart, Donut chart, Pie chart, Ranked bars or Progress ring under Charts. Ranked bars suit long labels, such as countries or accounts. A Progress ring shows one value from 0 to 100 as a share of a circle, for example how close you are to a goal; type its value and an optional label. Select it to edit its Data: type a label and a number in each row, Add row for more (up to 12), or remove a row with the x button at its end. Change the Type, Main colour and Labels colour, or untick Show values.
13. To make a carousel or a set of slides, use the slide strip under the canvas. It shows a small picture of each slide with its number; click one to open it, or press Page Up and Page Down. The Add slide tile after the pictures adds an empty slide after the one you're on. The icons beside it work on the slide you're on: Duplicate slide, Move this slide earlier, Move this slide later and Delete slide (point at an icon to see its name). To move a slide, you can also drag its picture to a new place, or select it and press Alt and the Left or Right arrow. After you delete a slide, click Undo in the message to bring it back. When the strip has no room for every tool on one line, All slides and the download tools are under Slide at its end (in a very narrow designer, Duplicate slide and Delete slide too). A design can have up to 10 slides. Save to post adds every slide to your post as separate images, in order. To start from a ready-made carousel, open Templates and choose the Carousels category. Each one shows how many slides it has (for example 6 slides), and clicking it previews every slide. Using one replaces your design with all of its slides: a cover, numbered slides and a closing call to action. Fill them in one slide at a time (the form says Fill in slide 2 of 6); changing the main colour on one slide changes it on every slide of that carousel.
14. The Data tab brings in your Social Champ numbers wherever you open the designer, including from Edit Media. Under Numbers from, pick one of your accounts or Competitor analysis, and a Period of the last 7, 30 or 90 days. When you open the designer from Analytics with Design with this, it starts with the numbers you were looking at. Click Add to put one on the slide as a chart (or a big figure with its change), with a caption naming the account and the dates. To make a report, tick up to 8 and click Make a report: you get a cover, one slide for each, and a closing slide, all in your brand colours and ready to edit.
15. To show several photos together, open Elements and pick a layout under Photo grids. The grid covers most of the page, uses the photos you've uploaded (a sample photo if you haven't uploaded any) and moves as one. Double-click a photo in it to select just that photo, then choose Use another photo or change its shape. Double-clicking works the same way for anything you've grouped.
16. To make one colour see-through, such as the white around a logo, select the photo (or open Background for the background photo) and turn on Make colour transparent. It starts with the colour in the photo's top-left corner. To choose another, click Pick and then click that colour on the photo, or set it in the colour box. Drag Tolerance to include similar shades. Press Esc to stop picking.
17. To crop a photo, select it and click Crop. Pick a shape such as Square 1:1, Portrait 4:5, Story 9:16 or X post, or Free, then drag the box or its handles (arrow keys move it; Shift with an arrow key resizes it) and click Apply. Reset shows the whole photo again. To flip a photo, select it and click Flip horizontally or Flip vertically. To turn any element by an exact amount, type an angle from -180 to 180 in the rotation field under Position (the one with the turning arrow). To make text bold, italic, underlined or struck through, select it and click Bold, Italic, Underline or Strikethrough in the text settings (point at one to see its name); the button after them sets Capitals, and the three icon buttons under them align the text left, centre or right. To change the text size, type it next to Size or use - and + beside it.
18. To change a photo's look, select it (or open Background for the background photo). The photo settings open on Adjust; Filter, Duotone, Blur, Make colour transparent, Effects and Colour blend are folded, each with a short note of what it's set to, such as None or Grain. Click one to open it. Under Adjust, Hue turns its colours and Vibrance strengthens or softens the duller ones. Under Effects, turn on Invert or Emboss, or drag Sharpen, Pixelate, Grain or Vignette. Colour blend mixes the whole photo with one colour: pick the colour, a mode such as Tint or Multiply, and its Strength.
19. To hide a face, a number plate or other private details, open Elements and click Blur area at the top, then move and size it over them. Select it to choose Blur or Pixelate and its Strength. A slide can have up to 3 blur areas, and they can't be turned or animated.
20. To find a photo without leaving the designer, open Photos and use Find photos. Choose Free photos and search, for example "coffee shop" (results come from Pixabay; press Enter or click the arrow, or click a suggestion such as Food or Nature), or choose Recent or Media library to see photos you've used or saved in Social Champ (in a narrow panel the three are a menu instead of tabs). Click Load more for more results, then click a photo to add it to your design. Your own photos show as a grid above Find photos: click one to add it, or point at it and click the button in its corner to set it as the background. For other sources, click More sources under Find photos: Add Media opens over the designer with Free Images, AI Imaginator, Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Flickr, Imgur and Direct Link. Pick one JPEG or PNG image and click Add; it's added to your design.
21. To use an SVG logo or icon, upload it in Photos like any photo (up to 2 MB). The editor turns it into a PNG image, so it can't be recoloured afterwards. To put a photo in a shape, open Elements and pick one under Photo frames, such as Triangle, Star, Arrow or Heart. To shape a photo with an image of your own, upload an image with a transparent area, select the photo, choose that image next to Mask with this image and click the button: the photo keeps only the part where the image isn't see-through. Press Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on a Mac) to undo it.
22. To pick an element that is hidden behind others, open Layers on the left. The top of the list is in front. Each layer shows a small preview (the photo, or the element's colour) and a name: what it is, such as Rectangle or Bar chart, or the first words of a text. Names that repeat are numbered in the order you added them (Rectangle, Rectangle 2). Click a layer to select it, use the arrows to move it forward or backward, and the lock icon to lock or unlock it (the arrows and the lock show when you point at a layer or select it; the lock always shows on a locked one).
23. Lines appear as you drag an element, to show when its edges or centre line up with the page or with another element, and it snaps into place. Hold Alt (Option on a Mac) while you drag to move it freely. While you move, resize or turn an element, a small label under it shows its position, size or angle. Hold Shift while you turn it to turn in 15 degree steps. Pointing at an element outlines it, so you can see what a click will select.
24. To copy elements, select them and press Ctrl+C (Cmd+C on a Mac), or Ctrl+X to cut them, then Ctrl+V to paste them. Pasted elements land a little below and to the right, and you can paste them onto another slide. To paste an image you copied somewhere else, such as a screenshot, press Ctrl+V in the designer; an image on your clipboard is added as a photo.
25. To zoom, use - and + below the canvas (they step through 10%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%, 150%, 200%, 300% and 400%), or hold Ctrl (Cmd on a Mac) and scroll. The number between them is the zoom, where 100% shows the design at its own pixels; click it to pick Fit page, 50%, 100% or 200%. On a very large design some of these can't be shown and are greyed out. Ctrl+0 (Cmd+0 on a Mac) fits the page. Hold Space and drag to move around a zoomed page. Zoom only changes your view, not the image you save.
26. To style text further, select it and click an effect under Effects in the text settings; each tile shows what it does. Shadow (with its colour, blur, distance, angle and opacity), Lift (a soft shadow below), Neon (a glow), Outline (with its colour and width), Hollow (outline only), Highlight (a colour behind the words) and Box (a coloured box behind the text, with padding, rounded corners and opacity). An effect's settings show under the tiles while it's on. Some effects can't be combined; turning one on turns off the others it clashes with. To set a slider to an exact value, click the number next to its name, type the value and press Enter.
27. To fill text or a shape with a gradient, select it and choose Gradient under Fill (Fill style for shapes). Pick two colours, or tick 3 colours for three, set the Angle, and click Swap ends to reverse it. Choosing a single colour swatch turns the gradient off.
28. To make text appear as it's typed, pick Typewriter (letter by letter) or Word by word as its Entrance; the Exit list offers Untype (letter by letter) and Word by word. They work on straight text (not curved) without a gradient or a Box, up to 500 characters; if you later curve the text or make it longer, it fades in instead.
29. To look for problems before you save, click Check design at the top. Its title says how many issues it found. It lists text that's hard to read, text too small for a phone, anything running off the edge or under an app's buttons and captions (on a story it says which: the top bar, the caption at the bottom or the side buttons on the right), text with a photo on top of it, and photos that will look soft, naming each element, such as Heading ‘Weekend sale’ or Rectangle. A red mark is a problem to fix; an amber one is worth a look. Show selects the element. The same problem on several elements is one item with a count and the elements listed under it; its Show goes to each of them in turn (Show 1 of 3, then Show 2 of 3). For text that is hard to read against a plain background, Fix (or Fix all) makes it black or white, whichever reads best; Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on a Mac) undoes it. When nothing needs fixing, it says Looks good. Check design looks at the size and slide you're on.
30. To make a list, select the text and click Bullets or Numbers in the text settings. Each line becomes a point; blank lines are skipped in the numbering, and long points wrap under their own text. No list turns it off. Lists line up on the left (on the right for Arabic or Hebrew text), and curved text can't be a list.
31. To place things precisely, click Guides below the canvas and turn on Rulers. (When the bar below the canvas is narrow, Show platform UI is in this menu too.) Drag from the top or left ruler onto the page to add a guide; elements snap to it as you move them. Drag a guide back onto its ruler to remove it, or click Clear guides on this size. Margins shows a frame 5% in from each edge, and Lock guides stops them moving. Guides are saved with the design for each size, but never appear in the image you save.
32. To give a shape a drop shadow, select it and turn on Drop shadow in the shape settings, then set how far it falls, how soft it is, its strength and colour. To frame a photo, select it (or a photo frame) and turn on Border, then pick its colour and width. The border sits inside the photo and follows a frame's shape.
33. To add a table, open Elements and click the table under Tables. Type into the cells in the table settings, use Add row, Remove row, Add column and Remove column (up to 12 rows and 6 columns), and turn the Header row and Striped rows on or off. You can also change the font, size, alignment (left, centre or right, the three icon buttons) and colours. Text that doesn't fit gets smaller; if it still doesn't fit, it's cut short with "…" in the image, and Check design tells you so (and if any table text is hard to read).
34. To round a photo's corners, select it and drag Corner radius in the photo settings. A border and shadow follow the rounded corners.
35. More shapes are in Elements under shapes: Hexagon, Pentagon, Diamond, Speech bubble, Banner and Badge. They take a fill, outline, gradient and drop shadow like the other shapes.
36. To restyle text in one click, select it and pick one of the Styles in the text settings, such as Bold headline, Poster caps or Boxed label. Press Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on a Mac) to undo. As with other text settings, unlock a text first to restyle it.
37. To find and replace text, click Find at the top (under More when the top bar has no room for it) or press Ctrl+F (Cmd+F on a Mac). Type what to find; the first match is selected as you type, and the count at the end of the field (3 of 7, or No matches) covers every slide and table. Next match and Previous match (the arrows beside the count) go to each match, as do Enter and Shift+Enter, Replace changes the current one, and Replace all changes every one at once (one Ctrl+Z undoes it). Turn on Match case to match capital letters exactly. Locked texts are skipped and counted. If a replacement would make a text too long to save, nothing is changed and the editor tells you why.
38. To see every slide at once, click All slides in the slide strip. Click a slide to open it. Point at a slide (or move to it with the Tab key) to see its icons: the arrows move it (or press Alt and the arrow keys), and the others duplicate or delete it. Add slide at the end adds an empty slide. After you delete a slide, click Undo in the message, or press Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on a Mac).
39. To animate a whole slide in one click, click an empty part of the page and pick a look under Animate everything in the settings on the right: Rise, Fade, Pop, Slide in, Typewriter (the biggest text types itself in, the rest fade) or Stagger (a quick cascade). Elements come in one after another, from top to bottom and left to right, within the animation's Length. Locked elements and blur areas stay still. Animate everything shows once the slide has two elements or more. With nothing selected, the settings on the right also show your design's size, its background (click it to open Background; a plain colour background can be changed right there with one click on a swatch), with slides which slide you're on, and the keyboard shortcuts. Remove animations (shown once something on the slide is animated) takes every entrance, exit and repeat off the slide. Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on a Mac) undoes either in one step.
40. To turn your slides into one video, click Video from all slides in the slide strip (from two slides). Choose how long Each slide shows (1.5 to 5 seconds) and a Transition: Cut, Fade, Slide or Zoom. Each slide plays its own animation. Click Download video, or Save to post to add the video to your post.
41. To match a design to a photo, select the photo (or open Background for the background photo) and click Colours from this photo. Its main colours appear. Add to brand colours adds them to the Brand kit, and Recolour design recolours every slide with them, keeping text readable. Locked elements keep their colours, and Ctrl+Z undoes the recolour in one step.
42. Where it is turned on, select a photo (or open Background for the background photo) and click Retouch to smooth skin, brighten eyes and teeth, add makeup, reshape gently or adjust the whole photo. Retouch opens from the original photo each time, with your values kept when you save the design. See Retouch a portrait.
43. To swap a photo for another one and keep everything else, select the photo (or a photo frame, or open Background for the background photo) and click Replace photo. The Photos panel opens and says what will be replaced; click one of your photos, upload one, drop or paste one, or pick one under Find photos or More sources. The new photo takes the old one's place, size, filters, border and other looks. Its crop is set again to fit the new photo, or cleared when the whole photo fits the same box; a frame centres the new photo. Background focus points, retouching or a transparent colour made from the old photo are reset when they were set, and the editor tells you what it reset. Press Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on a Mac) to undo. Cancel (or Esc) stops, and photos you pick are added again. A locked photo can't be replaced until you unlock it.
44. To keep the design, click Save design (or press Ctrl+S, Cmd+S on a Mac). Save to post also saves it.
45. To download a design with two or more slides as one PDF, click Download PDF in the slide strip. Each slide becomes one page.
46. To fit several photos to every size at once, click Resize photos at the top (under More when the top bar has no room for it). Click Choose photos, drop up to 12 photos on the box, or paste a copied photo (Ctrl+V, or Cmd+V on a Mac); once you have some, Add more adds others. Pick how each one fits (Fit, blurred backdrop, Fit, brand colour or Fill, crop around subject) and tick the sizes you want, then click the export button, which says how many images you'll get (for example Export 6 images). Start a new batch clears the photos.
47. To make one design per row of a spreadsheet, click Make from a spreadsheet at the top (under More when the top bar has no room for it). Tick what changes per row (if the design isn't from a template); the name beside each is its column in your spreadsheet, and you can click it to change it. Paste rows or upload a CSV and click Read data, check the preview, tick the Sizes you want and click the export button, which says how many images you'll get (for example Export 40 images). Each step is numbered and shows a check mark when it's done. Photo columns use the file names of photos you've uploaded. When you click Export ZIP, each row uses the design as it was when you started that export; editing the design or switching slides while it runs does not change the ZIP.
48. Click Save to post. If nothing has been added to the design yet, the editor asks first (Your design is empty): Keep editing goes back, Save blank image carries on. To have AI write for your post too, turn on Write a caption and Alt text (both are off; together they use 1 AI credit), then click Save to post again. The caption goes into your post if it's empty; if your post already has text, you're asked before it's replaced. Alt text goes on the new image (each slide gets its own). If the design is animated, choose Video, GIF or Still image first; the editor offers only what every network on your post accepts and tells you why when one isn't available. If the image is too large for one of your networks, the editor shows it before saving: the line above your networks says Ready for all your networks only when every one of them takes the image, and otherwise what is too large (for example Too large for Instagram or Ready for 3 of 4 networks). Make it fit finds the best quality that fits; while it works the line says Checking your networks…. Save to post stays off until the image fits, and says why next to it.

Use more fonts

Every font in the library is free to use in your designs. Select a text, then click All fonts next to Font in the text settings. Search by name, or pick a category, such as Sans serif, Serif, Display or Handwriting (Uploaded holds your workspace's own fonts). Click a font to use it on the selected text. A font loads the first time you use it, so it may take a moment; until then its name shows in the editor's own font. Heading font and Body font in the Brand kit list every font too.

If a design uses a font that isn't available (for example an uploaded font someone deleted), the menu shows it as "(not available)". When you save or download, the editor asks first: Try again loads it again (when it didn't load), Use a standard font instead carries on with a standard font in its place, and Cancel goes back so you can pick another font.

Upload your own font

Owners, admins and editors can add a font file for everyone in the workspace. In All fonts, click Upload a font, then Choose a file: a TTF, OTF or WOFF2 file up to 4 MB. Check the name (it's taken from the file when it has one), pick the Weight and Style this file is, and tick "I have the right to use this font in my designs". Then click Upload. The font shows under Uploaded and is applied to the selected text.

Upload each weight or style as its own file under the same name, for example a regular and a bold file both named "Brand Sans". A name can use letters, numbers, spaces, dots and hyphens. A workspace can hold 30 font files. A name the editor or the library already uses can't be taken.

To delete an uploaded font, click the bin next to it in All fonts. If it has more than one style, choose one style or All styles, then click Delete. It's deleted for everyone in the workspace, and designs that use it show a standard font instead. Deleting frees a place, so you can upload a corrected file, for example one you gave the wrong weight.

Make a profile banner or cover

On the Designs page, under Banners and covers, pick one of the banner sizes: LinkedIn banner 4:1 (1584 x 396), X header 3:1 (1500 x 500), YouTube banner (2560 x 1440) or Facebook Page cover (1640 x 624). A banner stays at its own size: it has no other sizes and no animation. The shaded areas show what profile photos and phone screens may cover; they're approximate, so keep words and logos away from them. For the YouTube banner, keep everything inside the middle area (1544 x 423) that every screen shows. When it's ready, click Download PNG (or JPG next to it for a smaller file) and upload it in your profile settings on that network. Save design keeps it in My designs.

Keep your brand kit for every new design

Your workspace can keep one brand kit: its colours, a heading font, a body font and a logo. Every new design in the workspace starts with it, for everyone on your team, and templates use its colours and fonts.

1. In the designer, click Brand kit on the left. Under Brand kit, a label shows where this design stands: Saved to your workspace, Changed in this design or Not saved to your workspace yet.
2. Set the colours and fonts, and click Upload a logo (or drop your logo file on it) to add your logo (Replace changes it later).
3. Click Save as my brand kit. When the label says Saved to your workspace, new designs in this workspace start with this kit.
4. A saved design you open from My designs keeps its own colours and fonts. To give it your brand kit, click Use my brand kit, then Apply brand to this design to recolour it. Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on a Mac) undoes each step.

If your workspace has no brand kit yet, the designer may start with colours from your brand profile; click Save as my brand kit to keep them. Each workspace has its own kit, so every client workspace keeps its own brand. Workspace owners, admins and editors can save the brand kit; other team members can use it but not change it. If a teammate changed the brand kit after you opened the designer, you're told; click Save as my brand kit again to replace it with yours. The logo can be a PNG, JPEG or WebP image; one over 5 MB or 4,000 pixels on a side is made smaller when you save it. If the logo is slow to load, the designer opens without it, and saving your brand kit keeps the logo you saved before. It counts toward your workspace's 500 MB of design images. The brand kit isn't available in the demo workspace.

Present your slides and download PowerPoint

Use slides as a deck for a training session or a meeting. Present (in the slide strip, or under Slide when the strip has no room) shows your slides one at a time, starting from the first, at the size you're editing. Where your browser allows it, the slideshow fills the screen; otherwise it fills the designer. Press the Right arrow, Down arrow, Space, Enter or Page Down, or click the slide, to go forward, and the Left arrow, Up arrow, Backspace or Page Up, or a click on the left side of the slide, to go back; Home and End go to the first and last slide. A slide's animation plays when it comes up (exits don't play, so the slide stays on screen); going forward while it plays shows the slide finished first. Turning on reduced motion in your device settings shows every slide without animation. A thin orange line along the bottom shows how far through the slides you are. Press Esc or click Exit to stop: the designer opens on the slide you stopped at.

To add talking points, click Notes in the slide strip (or under Slide when the strip has no room) and type in Notes for slide 1 (up to 2,000 characters for each slide). Each slide keeps its own notes, and they're saved with the design. While you present, press N or click Notes to show the slide's notes over the slide; press N again to hide them. Everyone who can see your screen sees them too.

To use the deck in PowerPoint or Keynote, click Download PowerPoint. You get a .pptx file named after your design, with one slide for each of yours and your notes as speaker notes. Each slide is a picture of your design (the long side at 1,920 pixels or more), so its text and shapes can't be edited there; change them in the designer and download again.

Add a video clip

Open Video in the left toolbar and click Upload a video (or drop an MP4 on the editor), or search Free videos and click one (videos from Pixabay). The search starts a second after you stop typing, or when you press Enter; under the empty box, click a suggestion such as Ocean or City to search for it. Your videos are listed by file name with their length and whether they have sound; free videos are listed as Pixabay video. To see a result move before you add it, rest the pointer on it (or move to it with Tab): a short silent preview plays in its place, outlined, with a thin line along its bottom edge that shows how far it has played. It doesn't play when your device is set to reduce motion. Use an MP4 (H.264) up to 60 seconds, 1920 px on its longest side and 25 MB. The clip is added to the slide and fitted to the page; a design with no length of its own takes the clip's length (up to 15 seconds). Select the clip to see its settings in three groups. Under Timing: Trim start and Trim end (at least half a second apart), Starts at (when it starts playing in the design) and Loop; Fit design to clip (it shows the trimmed length, for example 6 s) sets the design's length to the trimmed clip. Under Sound: Volume (off for a video without sound). Under Look: Corner radius and Flip horizontally. Click Play (the triangle button under the canvas) to watch it: while it plays, the button becomes Stop (a square) and the time played and the length show in place of Length (for example 0:02 / 0:06) with a thin line across the top of the bar, and Length comes back when it stops. Mute turns the sound off while you edit. A slide can have one video, and a design up to 3. Save to post then saves a video with the clip and its sound; a still image or a GIF shows the clip without sound. When you save the design, only the part of the clip it uses is kept. A saved design can hold up to 80 MB of photos, videos and audio; when a design passes that, the Video panel says about how much it holds and what to do (trim or remove a video, or use smaller photos or audio when there's no video) before you click Save design.

Add a soundtrack

Open Video in the left toolbar and click Add audio under Soundtrack. Use your own MP3 or M4A, up to 5 minutes and 10 MB. The soundtrack plays across the whole design, every slide included. Set where it Starts at in the track, its Volume, Fade in and Fade out; Replace audio picks another file and Remove takes it off. A track shorter than the design stops where it ends. Save to post saves a video with the soundtrack mixed with any clip's sound. Use music you have the rights to. Networks with their own music (Instagram and TikTok) may add theirs on top if you pick it in the composer.

Expected result

The image is added to your post as a new attachment and starts uploading, like any image you add. Check the preview for each network before you schedule. Saving to your post doesn't publish anything.

Example

You've selected your Instagram and X accounts. Open Add Media, choose Design, pick a sale template, change the headline to "Weekend sale: 20% off" and click Save to post. A 4:5 image is added to your post.

If a saved design uses video or audio that is unavailable here, it opens in a limited recovery view. Video may appear as a placeholder and audio may be silent. You can inspect the design, but changes cannot be saved; reopen it where the media features and browser support are available. The original saved design stays intact.

Find and manage your saved designs

1. Choose Designs in the left sidebar. At the top, under What are you making today?, click a round button to start something new: Blank design (a blank square), or a network's post size (for example Instagram post or YouTube thumbnail; the pixels show under each name). Further down, pick a template under Start from a template or a category under Browse by category. The designer opens on a blank design at that size, or on that template ready to fill in. If you close it straight away, nothing is asked or saved.
2. To see every template, click Templates at the top (or See all, or a category). Use the category buttons, the size list (All sizes) or Search templates to narrow them; the bar above the templates stays in view as you scroll and shows how many match. Typing in the search on the first view takes you there too. If nothing matches, click Clear search or Show all templates. Home takes you back, and so does your browser's Back button.
3. Under Your designs, the page shows a row of your most recently edited designs, each with a small size icon on its picture, its size and when it was last edited (for example Square · Edited 3 days ago). Click See all for the rest, and to see how many you have out of the workspace's limit (the first view shows it only when you're close to the limit). Click a design to open it. Before your first design, it says Your designs will appear here. with Create a design (a new blank design, like Blank design), Start with a template (opens Templates) and, where the designer offers videos to you, Start a Story design (a new Story and Reel 9:16 design). The designer opens on that design in the same window, with the left sidebar still there.
4. When you're done, click Save design to keep it in your saved designs and go back to Designs. To post it, click Create post: the design is saved too, then the composer opens with the image already attached (every slide, for a carousel), ready to schedule.
5. To leave without saving, click the close button (x) at the top right, or press Esc. If you made changes, you're asked before they're discarded; the same happens if you click another item in the left sidebar or your browser's Back button.
6. To rename or delete a design, point at it (or tab to it) and click the More actions button (three dots) on it, then choose Open, Rename or Delete. You see the button only on designs you're allowed to change (see below). Deleting asks you to confirm and can't be undone.

The Designs page isn't in the demo workspace, and advocates and client users don't see it. Opening a design or starting a new one needs a window at least 1,024 pixels wide; on a narrower screen you can still see, rename and delete designs. Blank design, the sizes and the templates are turned off when the workspace has as many saved designs as it can keep, or the window is too narrow (you can still browse Templates). If the designer has been turned off for your account, or your role in this workspace doesn't include Publish, the page still lists your designs so you can delete them, but you can't open, rename or start designs there, and the start buttons, sizes and templates aren't shown. Without Publish, Designs isn't in your sidebar either.

Limits and permissions

• More sources takes one JPEG or PNG image at a time, up to 25 MB and 12,000 pixels on its longest side. It isn't available in the demo workspace, and Upload, Recent, Media Library, Free Videos, GIFs and Canva aren't offered there (use Upload and Find photos in the designer instead). Images from AI Imaginator use your AI image credits as usual; if you close the designer while an image is being generated, it may still use a credit.
• Find photos isn't available in the demo workspace. GIFs aren't offered there yet. Each time you open the designer you can search up to 60 times and add up to 60 photos; close it and open it again to search more.
• A blur area blurs only the image you save to your post. The saved design keeps the photo under it, so anyone who can edit the design can move the blur away.
• Transparent areas stay transparent only in PNG. JPEG, MP4 and GIF exports make see-through areas white. When a network on your post takes only JPEG, such as Instagram, they're saved as white, and the Make colour transparent settings say so.
• In Add Media, Design appears only in the post composer, not in other places that open Add Media. The Designs page in the left sidebar also opens the designer, on its own page. Designs made there aren't sized for a post's accounts (pick the size in the designer) and don't offer video, GIF, or the AI caption and alt text when you create the post.
• You can't add a still design when your post already has the most images your networks allow; if the post can still take a video or GIF, the designer opens for an animated design instead. You can't add a design at all when a Facebook background is applied or the campaign is locked. The composer tells you why.
• If your post already has a video or GIF, adding the image asks whether to replace it, as it does for any image.
• A workspace can keep up to 200 saved designs and 500 MB of design images. Delete designs you don't need from My designs or the Designs page. A deleted design frees its place among the 200 straight away; the space its images take comes back within about a week of deleting it.
• Workspace owners, admins and editors can rename and delete any saved design. Authors and clients can rename and delete only the designs they created; they can open and use all of them.
• Saved designs aren't available in the demo workspace.
• The Data tab isn't available in the demo workspace. It shows only the numbers your role can see in Analytics, and competitor numbers only when your plan includes competitor analysis.
• Each AI suggestion uses one AI credit from your account's AI Content Wizard allowance; Rewrite all and Translate all use two for the whole design (up to 20 texts and 1,500 characters; longer designs change the first texts that fit). AI works on up to 300 characters of text at a time, and isn't available in the demo workspace. Only text is sent to the AI, never your images: the text you selected or typed, or, for Rewrite all and Translate all, every text in the design (up to 20 texts and 1,500 characters). Design from my post sends your post's text, and the caption and alt text send the design's text.
• Videos are MP4 at the exact size you chose, at most 50 MB, with a silent sound track when your browser can add one. GIFs are at most 720 pixels on the longest side and 15 MB (4 MB for Facebook, 5 MB for X); a large GIF is made smaller automatically.
• Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube, Bluesky and Threads don't take animated GIFs: save a video for them. Videos must be at least 4 seconds for Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, and at least 3 for LinkedIn and TikTok.
• Video and GIF are available when you design from Add Media > Design, outside the demo workspace, when every account on the post is one the designer knows (not Google Business Profile, Mastodon or Telegram yet). A post that only takes videos, such as a YouTube-only post, opens the designer for a video; animate the design, then save it as a video. When you edit an existing image (Edit Media), animated designs are saved as a still image.
• Closing the editor with unsaved changes asks before discarding them.
• To retype curved text, set Curve to 0, edit the text, then curve it again.
• Slides appear only where your post can take several images. Every slide uses the same size; animation, Rewrite all and Translate all work on the slide you're on, and Save to post adds a design with more than one slide as still images (use Video from all slides for one video). If your post can't take that many images (X takes 4, for example), nothing is added and you can download the slides instead. A post that already has a GIF can't take slides; remove the GIF first. A template you use on one slide is fitted to the design's size, so the other slides keep theirs. Carousel templates are listed only where slides are available, in the designer and on the Designs page.
• Up to 10 texts in a design can use Typewriter or Word by word. When you duplicate or paste past that, the copies fade in instead, and Animate everything's Typewriter fades the headline in when the design already has 10.
• Video from all slides runs up to 15 seconds in all, so with more than 3 slides each slide gets less time (1.5 seconds each for 10 slides). Save to post for it appears only where video is available (see above), and the video must still be long enough for your networks; you can always download it.
• A design can have up to 8 brand colours. Colours from this photo finds up to 5 colours; a photo with only a few colours gives fewer.
• A line can't take a gradient. Paste style from a shape without an outline or fill keeps the target's own.
• A design can have up to 10 tables, and each cell holds up to 80 characters. Guides work on the standard sizes, up to 20 across and 20 down on each.
• Find and replace works on texts and table cells. A text can hold up to 2,000 characters and a table cell up to 80.
• Design from my post uses 2 AI credits and Write a caption or Alt text 1 credit together, from the same allowance. They need text: your post's text (up to 1,000 characters) for Design from my post, the design's text for the caption and alt text (up to 20 texts and 1,500 characters across all slides). They aren't available in the demo workspace, outside the post composer, or when you customise the text for each network. The caption fits the smallest limit of the networks on your post (X takes 280 characters, for example), up to 500. Alt text is written from the words in your design, not from the picture, so check it before you post; it isn't written for a video or GIF, or for an image that already has alt text. If AI can't write them, the image is still added and the composer tells you.
• Drawing works in the main size; the editor switches to it when you click Draw. A design can hold about 20 long lines of drawing.

Troubleshooting

• "Your design wasn't saved". The image still went to your post, but the editable design wasn't kept. To keep a design, click Save design and wait for "Design saved to My designs" before you click Save to post.

• "This design was changed somewhere else". Someone saved the same design after you opened it. Close it and open it again from My designs to get the latest version.

• "This image couldn't be added". Your post couldn't take the image when you saved, for example because it filled up or you switched workspace while designing. Click Download to keep the image, then add it later with Upload. Discard throws it away.

• The editor closed and your page changed. If you go back while the editor is open, the editor stays open. When you save, you're offered a download if the post is no longer there.

• "You've used all your AI credits for now, so edit the text yourself or wait for your allowance to reset." Your account has no AI credits left until your allowance resets.

• "You switched workspace in Social Champ, so close the designer and open it again to use AI text." New AI suggestions stop when the composer moves to another workspace, so the credits come from the account you started in. Close the editor and open it again.

• The suggestion appeared as a new text box. You changed or deleted the text while AI was writing, so your newer text was kept and the suggestion was added next to it. Delete whichever you don't want.

• "Media in this design: ... MB of 80 MB." The design is too large to save. Trim a video (only the part a design uses is kept) or remove one; without a video, use smaller photos or audio. Then save again.

• "Media may exceed 80 MB after trimming." The final size depends on which video frames are kept and is checked when you save. Trim or remove media if the save is too large.

• Video isn't offered. The animation is shorter than one of your networks needs, or your browser can't make videos. Make the animation longer with Length, or save a GIF.

• "Choose a JPEG or PNG image." The file you picked in More sources is a GIF, WebP, video or another type the designer can't place. Pick a JPEG or PNG instead.

• "That image couldn't be added, so try another one." The image didn't download or is larger than 25 MB or 12,000 pixels. Pick a smaller image.

• You don't see Design. Check that your window is at least 1024 pixels wide and that you opened Add Media from the post composer.

• "Replace your post text with the caption?" Your post already had text, so the caption wasn't put in. Click Replace to use the caption instead, or ignore the message to keep your text.

• "Your design was added, but AI couldn't write the caption or alt text." The image is in your post without them. Add a caption and alt text yourself, or open the designer again and save with them turned on.

• Design from my post isn't there. It needs text in your post and AI in your account, and it isn't offered when you customise the text for each network.

When saving takes longer

If an upload takes longer than the save wait, the editor keeps the pending save and accepts its eventual result. Keep the editor open while it shows Still saving. Edits made during that save stay unsaved until another save completes. If you continue to a post before the save finishes, check My designs before creating another copy.

Recover an unconfirmed save

If a save is still unconfirmed after five minutes, Save a new copy appears. Check My designs first: the earlier save may have succeeded. To keep a new copy, click Save a new copy, read the duplicate warning, then click Confirm new copy. Nothing is retried automatically. A late success hides the recovery action. A confirmed failure clears Still saving and keeps your edits unsaved.