How to Use Canva Templates

Canva is a fully functional graphic design tool that allows you to create invitations, flyers, social media graphics, and more all in one platform. To make designing even easier, regardless of your skill level, Canva gives you access to various design templates and the option to create and customize your own.

Use and Customize a Canva Template

The Canva Home screen shows you all of your designs from the past, including designs shared with you, and access to the Trash for deleting old designs you no longer need. Also, on the Home page, you'll find all available Canva templates for creating new designs.

1. To get started, use the template slider to scroll through the available templates until you find one that fits your design needs. Or, to search for a template, use the search bar at the top of your Home page.

   

2. Once you locate a template you wish to use, select it to open the design screen.

   

   Personalize your design by selecting Custom Dimensions, located on the left side of the Home screen, and choose a width and height for your design.

3. From here, you can get started customizing and creating. On the left side of your screen, select Templates. You'll see a menu of other design templates you can choose from to jumpstart your design. To use one of these options, drag and drop it onto your blank template.

   

4. To change any of the elements in the design, select them to open the toolbar at the top of your design screen. You can delete elements, change their color, font, etc.

   

5. Once you're satisfied with your design, download it or select Home in the upper left corner of your screen to navigate back to your Home page.

   

Create Your Own Canva Design Templates

You can create your own if existing templates don't meet your needs. Having a template when writing a social media post each week is helpful instead of recreating it each time. Or, you might want to create different versions of your logo for later use.

Whatever the case, before you create your templates from an existing design, you'll need to create a Canva folder to store them in.

1. To create your Canva folder, navigate to the Home screen and select Folders from the menu on the left.

   

2. Click Create New on the far right side of your screen. Enter a folder name and choose whether or not you want to share your folder with anyone else.

   Give your folder a name that's easy to understand to keep your designs organized. You can even create multiple folders for templates, such as "Social Media Templates" or "Blog Templates."

   

3. Select Create Folder. This will open your new folder and show you a list of all your folders on the left side of your screen.

   

   Decided you want to share your template folder with others after all? Select Share in the top right of your folder's main screen.

4. Locate the design you wish to use as a future template from your list on the Home page, then drag and drop it into the folder on the left side of your screen. Open your new folder, and your design will be ready to go.

   You can also select the ellipses on your design, then select Move to Folder.

5. When you're ready to create a template from the design, select it to open the design's info window. On the right side, select Use As Template, and Canva will open the design as a copy. You can now make any necessary changes.

   

   Make sure to rename your new design. Select the field to the right of Upgrade in the toolbar at the top of the design screen.

Make a Simple Copy of a Canva Design

If you wish to copy an existing design without creating a template, it's easy to do from the Home screen.

Locate the design you wish to copy, select the ellipses in the corner of the image, then select Make a Copy. Canva will duplicate the design without opening a new design screen.

Types of Canva Templates

Some of the template options Canva offers to individuals and freelancers include:

• Logos
• Posters
• Flyers
• Social media posts
• Presentations
• Cards and invitations
• A4 documents and letterheads
• Menus
• Brochures