Canva For Dummies Cheat Sheet

This Canva For Dummies Cheat Sheet complements the Canva For Dummies book (by author Jesse Stay) and is full of handy, time-saving ideas for streamlining interaction with the Canva design platform. A busy entrepreneur, teacher — or aspiring designer of any kind — can find that time is a most valuable asset. Canva’s design tools and shortcuts can help create stunning visuals and multiple projects in minutes, without the assistance of a graphic design professional. This Cheat Sheet offers essential advice and shortcuts to maximize efficiency on Canva and deliver professional designs.

How to save time designing in Canva

Canva offers a variety of tools and shortcuts for streamlining design efforts. Check out the ideas in this article for Canva time-saving techniques.

Quick Canva keyboard shortcuts

Boost Canva design productivity by incorporating the time-saving keyboard shortcuts (shown in the table) while working.

Handy Canva keyboard shortcuts

Create instant Canva designs by using pre-made templates

Get the most out of Canva pre-made templates, which offer these advantages:

• Choose from over 500,000 templates by searching for a project type (social media post, presentation, or flyer, for example) on the Canva platform.
• Customize colors, fonts, and images in the existing template to match brand and message requirements. Starting with a template saves hours of design time when compared to starting from scratch.
• Use Canva’s Brand Kit feature to store brand elements (colors, fonts, logos, and so on) for instant application across all templates.

Shortcut: Find a template  and use Ctrl–D (Cmd–D on Mac) to duplicate elements for faster customizations.

Photo editing on the fly with Magic Eraser

Speed up photo editing and easily remove unwanted objects from images by using Canva’s Magic Eraser.

1. Click on an image that’s open in the Canva editor and select the Edit button from the toolbar above the image.
2. Choose the Magic Eraser box under Magic Studio in the left sidebar that appears, brush over the area of the unwanted object, and watch it disappear.

Shortcut: Use Ctrl–E (Cmd–E on Mac) after selecting an image to quickly open a drop-down of the image editing features.

Organizing designs for efficiency

Canva offers the capability to create folders in which to store Canva designs, customized templates, and other content and assets.

• Create folders for different projects and project types (for example, Instagram Campaign or Product Launch).
• Quickly access saved designs for easy updates and future use.

How to use Canva for social media

The Canva design interface is perfect for helping to create and publish social media content. Canva offers tools for streamlining a post’s design for various social media platforms, duplicating designs, and automating social media publications.

Magic Resize for multi-platform designs

Create designs once and resize them for multiple platforms instantly:

1. Design the original post (for example, an Instagram post).
2. Click the Resize button in the top left of the Canva editor.
3. Select the platforms needed (for example, Facebook, LinkedIn, or X) from the resulting list in the drop-down menu.
4. Click the Resize This Design button at the bottom of the Resize drop-down menu, and Canva automatically adjusts dimensions for each platform.

Bulk Create for quick campaigns

When creating multiple Canva designs with slight variations (for example, ads with varied taglines), follow these steps:

1. Create the main design.
2. Click the Apps icon from the left navigation bar and then click Bulk Create in the resulting sidebar.
3. Upload a spreadsheet that contains the variations (for example, different text or product images).

Canva automatically generates separate designs for each row of data.

Automate social media postings

Canva’s Content Planner has the capability for scheduling posts directly from Canva. Follow these steps:

1. After creating a design, click the Share button, click the See All option at the bottom of the drop-down, and then search for schedule in the search bar at the top of the drop-down.
2. Choose the date and time for publishing the post in the resulting Schedule pop-up, click the Next button, and pick the platform (Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn, for example).

Schedule posts weeks in advance to streamline a social media content publication calendar.

How to add a pro touch in Canva

Canva offers pro-level capabilities for business users, organizations with serious design requirements, and even educational institutions and non-profits.

Design consistency with Brand Kit

Create a cohesive brand identity by using Canva’s Brand Kit feature to

• Upload organizational logos, select brand colors, and save specific fonts.
• Apply the brand kit to any new template with one click for instant consistency across all designs.

Design like a pro with Canva Pro

Using Canva’s free version is great, but upgrading to Canva Pro unlocks essential features for business owners and advanced users. Take advantage of

• Unlimited storage for designs
• Access to premium templates and stock photos
• Magic Resize and Content Planner to streamline workflow
• Brand Kit for cohesive branding across all projects

Ideas to extend the Canva experience

Take advantage of Canva’s AI integration and team capabilities:

• Experiment with AI tools: For example, use Magic Write to generate social media content, such as image captions or blog post intros.
• Leverage collaboration: Share designs with a Canva team and gather feedback and ideas for design improvement for real-time collaboration.