We are big fans of Canva around here. I’m in it daily, doing one thing or another – creating business documents, getting my Instagram posts and stories ready for the week, building out custom client templates for their various marketing needs, and creating new customizable templates for my template shop.

I’m an Adobe Creative Suite girl too, don’t get me wrong. But the minimalist interface and simple functionality of Canva save me oodles of time on some of my more everyday design tasks. And if you know me at all, you know I’m all about finding easier, more efficient ways of doing things. I’m a solopreneur after all – our time unfortunately does not grow on trees, amiright?

So today I’m sharing with you all of my top tips and little known tricks for getting the most out of Canva. They’ll help you create beautiful, professional designs quicker and easier so you can get that project checked off your list in no time.

Canva Tip 1: Use Grid View to organize your document

Grid View allows you to quickly see all of your pages at a glance. This was a Canva game changer for me, because I’m a big picture kinda gal and I love seeing everything at once.

You can access it in the bottom right corner of your document screen.  Once in Grid View, you can select one page or multiple pages and move them to another position in your document by dragging and dropping them. You can also easily duplicate one page or multiple pages, add new pages in between other pages in your document, and delete pages you no longer need.

Want to go back to single page view? Just double click on one of your pages, or select the X in the bottom right corner.

Canva Tip 2: Add Rulers to your screen for better layouts

If you’re a spacing freak like me, you probably like to make sure that you’re keeping similar margins on your pages or keeping even space between elements. This is where the Rulers are super handy. Access them by clicking File in the left corner of your document and Show Rulers. You can then shift elements around on the page, using the Rulers as your guide.

Canva Tip 3: Use the Position tab to achieve exact spacing and alignment

Maintaining consistent spacing and alignment in the pages of your document can give it a polished, professional look. Canva makes it simple to do so with just a couple clicks.

In relation to other elements on the page – if you have multiple elements on a page and you want to make sure there is equal spacing between them, you can select all of them (hold Shift and click each one individually or click and drag to select them) and go to the Position panel in the top toolbar, then under Space Evenly, choose the direction in which you want them spaced (vertically or horizontally).

To make sure the elements are aligned to each other, you can select the alignment you want in this panel as well.

In relation to the page – if you want to align elements to the page (for example, maybe you want to have an image show up in the center of the page), select a single element and go up to the Position panel to select your preferred alignment.

PRO TIP – you can only select one element to align to the page at a time. If you select multiple elements, it will default to aligning them to each other. To align a group of elements to the page, you need to group them together first and then select your alignment. You can then ungroup if needed.

Canva Tip 4: Group elements together to keep consistent spacing between them.

Grouping is also a great way to maintain spacing between different elements on a page, particularly with text boxes. Text boxes automatically expand in Canva as you add lines of text to them. If you group them with another element, it will maintain consistent spacing with that element, even as the text box expands.

Canva Tip 5: Use frames and photo grids to easily swap photos in and out of your document

Frames and photo grids are easily one of my favorite Canva tips because they make it so darn easy to add and swap out photos in your document. Frames and grids can be accessed in the Elements panel on your left toolbar and you have tons of premade options to choose from. Once you select your Grid or Frame and size it the way you want on your page, adding photos to it is a breeze.

1. Drag a photo or video from either the Photos tab or the Uploads tab of your left toolbar and drop it over the frame or grid space you want it to occupy.
2. Readjust or resize it within the frame or grid by double clicking on the photo and moving it around to your liking.
3. To move the image to a different grid or frame, just right click on the image, scroll down and select Detach Image to pop it out of it’s current grid or frame, then drag and drop to the preferred space.
4. If you’re using a grid with multiple photos in it and you want to update the spacing between them, just select the Spacing option in the top toolbar and adjust to your liking.

Canva Tip 6: Easily duplicate font and shape styles with the Paint Roller tool

This is also super handy Canva tip, especially if I’m updating the formatting of text and changing the letter spacing or line height. Instead of going in and manually adjusting that for every header and subheader, you just need to select the text box with the formatting you want to copy, go up to the top toolbar and select your Paint Roller tool. Then click on the text box where you want to paste the formatting and you’re done!

Canva Tip 7: Change your colors once and then Change All

If you download a premade template to save you some time (like one of ours!) and you want to update the colors, a really easy way to do this is select an element, update the color to a color you want, then go down to the bottom of your colors panel on the left and click the box that says Change All. It automatically updates all shapes in the old color to the new color. This works for the colors of your fonts as well!

Canva Tip 8: Build up your Likes folder for easy reference

Often when I’m working in Canva, I find shapes or illustrations or photos that I like that I want to remember for future projects. You can save those elements to your Likes by hovering over them, clicking the ellipse that pops up and selecting Add to Likes.  They will then show up on your likes panel.

Canva Tip 9: Use Copy/Paste to easily position elements in the exact spot on another page

Want to copy and paste an element from one page onto another page? Canva automatically pastes it in exactly the same spot, which is especially awesome for different design elements that appear on every page, like page numbers or footers.

Canva Tip 10: Get Canva Pro for additional time-saving features

It’s without a doubt the best $12 we spend every month.  Not only can you set your font styles and color palettes so you don’t need to re-add them for every project, but you also get access to a much wider selection of fonts, illustrations, and stock photos.

Here’s to crushing your next Canva project in a fraction of the time!

Looking for more Canva tips?  Pop over to our Canva tutorial page for additional time-saving hacks!