10 Time-Saving Canva Tips
Overview
If you’re spending too much time in Canva tweaking designs or searching for files, this training will show you how to work smarter, not harder. You’ll learn 10 practical time-saving tips, from using templates and brand kits to organizing your workspace and leveraging features like Magic Resize and keyboard shortcuts.
By the end, you’ll have the strategies you need to streamline your workflow, create designs more efficiently, and spend less time in Canva—so you can focus on what really matters in your business.
Resources
Canva Training Transcript
Canva is an incredibly powerful tool for designing marketing assets, social media posts, lead magnets, presentations, and so much more — but because it’s so robust, it’s also easy to lose track of time experimenting with endless fonts, tweaking layouts, or getting caught up in the sheer volume of creative options.
And basically to just fall into a creative rabbit hole.
As amazing as Canva is, I don’t actually want you spending all your time in it. My goal today is to help you use Canva more mindfully and efficiently, because I want you to be able to get in, create what you need, and get back to the other important things on your to-do list.
1. Templates
Let’s start with one of the easiest ways to speed up your design process: templates.
Canva provides thousands of professionally designed templates for everything from social media posts and presentations to workbooks, lead magnets, and beyond. These templates give you a head start, allowing you to bypass the blank canvas stage and focus on customizing designs to fit your needs.
To find templates, you can go the template library from the home screen or you can search for a specific type of project. For example, you might search for “Instagram post” or “presentation.” Then you can also save time by using the template library’s filters to narrow down your template results by style or other parameters.
Something to always keep in mind is to choose a template that’s already somewhat in line with the general look and feel of your brand. If your business’s visual branding aesthetic is light and airy, don’t start with a dark and moody template with heavy, bold fonts. If your business’s visual branding uses a lot of clean, solid colour backgrounds, it’s probably best to not start with a design that relies on a ton of funky shapes because once those shapes are deleted, you will lose the look and feel that you were attracted to in the first place.
Templates are all about efficiency, so taking a moment to select the right one up front can save you a lot of effort later. And speaking of branding, let’s move into the next tip.
2. Brand Kit
Your Brand Kit is like your Canva headquarters for consistent branding. It stores your brand colours, fonts, logos and other brand imagery in one place so you can access them quickly while designing. If you’ve ever wasted time hunting for hex codes or trying to remember which font you used last time, the Brand Kit is the solution you’ve been looking for.
When working in the Canva editor, your Brand Kit integrates directly into the design tools. For example, when customizing a template, you can swap out the default colours with your brand colours through the colour selection tool. Fonts can also be applied just as easily, helping you keep your designs consistent while saving valuable time.
And you can find your brand logos and imagery through the Brand option in the object panel.
If you haven’t set up your Brand Kit yet, I encourage you to do it as soon as possible, as it’s definitely a foundational tool for creating faster, more professional designs.
And a heads up that the brand kit is a premium feature that is only available on Canva’s Pro or Teams plans, so if you’re on Canva’s free plan and you’d like to try it out for no cost, you can do that by visiting BrendaCadman.com/pro.
And a little tip: if you set up your Brand Kit during the trial and decide *not* to upgrade once the trial ends, your Brand Kit will be saved in the background. That means if you choose to upgrade again in the future, your Brand Kit will still be there waiting for you.
3. Brand Templates
After setting up your Brand Kit, the next step to save time is to create reusable brand templates for your most common design needs.
Think about the projects you create frequently, for example social media post designs, client proposals, presentations, or whatever it is. Creating brand templates for these will save you hours in the long run.
To save a brand template, you simply create your design as you normally would, but instead of saving it as a design, you’re going to come up here to the Share button, and you’re going to look for the Brand Template option. You might see it among the options here, or you may need to locate it under the section titled “See All.”
You’ll choose where you want to save the brand template, and then you can publish it.
The next time you go to open that design, you’ll see that it has a template label on it, and when you click on it, you’ll be prompted to create a copy of the template rather than opening the original design.
So let’s look at an example of how you might use this to save time.
Imagine you’re frequently giving presentations. By designing a slide deck brand template with all the layouts you typically use, like title slides, bullet points, call-to-action slides, and so on, you’ll have a ready-to-use resource every time.
So instead of starting from scratch, you can duplicate the template, delete the slides you don’t need, and start customizing.
Brand templates are also incredibly helpful for tasks like creating client proposals. Instead of reusing an old design and risking mistakes like leaving in a previous client’s name or project details, you can start fresh with a professional, pre-set template that’s ready to customize. It’s a simple way to stay consistent and avoid potential slip-ups.
Like the Brand Kit, brand templates are a Canva Pro feature, but if you’re creating designs regularly, this feature is well worth the investment for the time and peace of mind it offers.
4. Get Organized
A cluttered Canva workspace is a huge time-waster, and the more projects you create, the harder it becomes to find what you need. If you’re spending minutes (or even hours) scrolling through designs, hunting for a specific image you uploaded, or trying to remember which template you used last time, it’s time to get organized.
By setting up a folder system and using Canva’s organizing tools effectively, you can reclaim that wasted time so you can focus on designing, not searching.
Think of your folder system as the foundation of an efficient Canva workspace. Group your designs into logical categories that work for your business. For example, you could create folders for client projects, social media, presentations, or lead magnets. Use descriptive names for each folder and for all of your designs, so you can locate what you need at a glance.
One of Canva’s most underrated features for time-saving is bulk organizing. You can select multiple items at once and move them to the correct folder or delete outdated designs in just a few clicks.
By taking the time to set up and maintain an organized system, you’ll save countless hours in the future. Imagine being able to locate the exact design or asset you need within seconds instead of scrolling endlessly. Plus, an organized workspace reduces frustration, so you can approach your projects with a clear mind and focus.
If organizing your Canva account feels overwhelming, be sure to check out my free Canva Organization Roadmap which will provide a step-by-step guide to help you kickstart the creation of your own Canva filing system.
5. Save Your Favourite Elements
Speaking of folders, another great way to save time in Canva is by organizing your favourite stock library elements into custom folders. You may already know that you can star elements and have them automatically added to the Starred Content folder, but you can’t impose any additional organization within that folder, so it can quickly become a dumping ground of graphics, photos and templates.
Instead, create your own custom folders to organize those elements, and then the next time you find an element in Canva’s object panel that you know you’ll want to reuse, click on the three dots in the top-right corner of the element thumbnail and then select “Add to Folder.” Canva will prompt you to browse your existing folders or create a new one. Choose the desired folder, and the element will be saved there for future use.
Then when you want to access a saved element, go to your Projects section in the design editor and navigate to the relevant folder where the element is stored. And then you can add it directly to your design.
By taking a few extra seconds to save frequently used elements to folders, you’ll save time and reduce frustration in the long run. This is especially helpful if you consistently use the same icons, graphics, or illustrations across multiple designs. Whether it’s for a recurring campaign or to maintain brand consistency, having your favourite elements easily accessible makes designing faster and more enjoyable.
6. Magic Resize
One of the easiest ways to save time in Canva is by using the Magic Resize tool. When you’ve created a design for one platform but need it for another (for example, if you wanted to turn an Instagram post into a Pinterest pin), Magic Resize makes the process quick and reasonably effortless. Instead of manually adjusting dimensions and rearranging elements, this tool lets Canva do most of the work for you in seconds. Yes, you may need to re-adjust some of the design components but Canva will handle a lot of the initial heavy lifting for you.
If you haven’t used the Magic Resize feature before, you’ll find the Resize button in the top toolbar. Specify all the sizes you need, or even custom dimensions, and click Apply.
Canva will automatically generate copies of your design in the new sizes, preserving as much of your layout as possible. You should only need to make minor adjustments to polish up the new versions.
Though you’re more likely to need to make manual revisions if you’re resizing to a completely different orientation, for example from a really wide design to a really tall design.
This tool is available for Canva Pro and Teams users, and if you’re regularly repurposing content across multiple platforms, it’s a great feature for saving time and maintaining consistency in your designs.
If you are still on a free Canva plan, don’t forget that you can give Pro a try for free by going to BrendaCadman.com/pro
7. Keyboard Shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts may seem small, but they’re a powerful way to save time by cutting down on repetitive clicks. They eliminate the need to navigate through menus, helping you work more efficiently and stay in the flow of your design process.
For example, you can use Cmd-C on a Mac or Ctrl-C on a windows keyboard to copy, Cmd-V or Ctrl-V to paste, Cmd-D or Ctrl-D to duplicate elements, and Cmd-G or Ctrl-G to group selected items.
Shortcuts like pressing the letter T on your keyboard to add a textbox, R to add a rectangle, or C to add a circle save you from scrolling through the left-hand object panel.
One lesser-known shortcut is the one that opens the Layers panel, and I use this one probably as much or more than the copying shortcut.
To open your Layers panel more quickly, you can use Option-1 on a Mac or Alt-1 on Windows. However, I should note that this shortcut only works if you’ve selected an element on your page first.
Layers are crucial for managing more complex designs with overlapping elements, making this shortcut a huge time-saver when organizing layouts.
By incorporating even just a few of these shortcuts into your workflow, you can shave valuable seconds off every action.. and those seconds add up quickly.
To help you make the most of these shortcuts, I’ve created a Canva Keyboard Shortcuts Cheat Sheet that you can download for free. It’s a handy reference that you can keep nearby as you work, so you’ll never need to memorize them all.
8. Change All Feature
The ‘Change All’ feature can be a big time-saver when you need to make global changes to your design. For instance, imagine you’ve created a presentation using an old brand colour and decide mid-project that you want to update everything to your new brand colour. Instead of changing each element manually, you can use the ‘Change All’ tool to update every instance of that colour in one step.
To use this feature, click on an element with the colour or font you want to change, then select the colour or font picker. Canva will give you the option to “Change All,” and every matching element will be updated automatically.
It’s important to use this feature carefully because it applies changes across your entire design and you’ll want to be cautious that you don’t update an element unintentionally. I’d suggest you always review your design afterward to ensure no unintended changes were made.
9. Tidy Up
Alignment and spacing are key to professional-looking designs, and Canva’s Tidy Up feature helps you achieve that effortlessly. This tool becomes available when you select at least three components on your design page, such as text boxes or shapes.
Here’s how to use it: Select the items you want to align, then right-click and go to the Space Evenly menu, where you’ll find the Tidy Up option. Clicking it will automatically align and evenly space the selected items, saving you from the tedious process of adjusting them manually.
Tidy Up is especially useful for creating evenly spaced lists, grids, or rows of elements like icons or checkboxes. Not only does it save time, but it also ensures your designs look polished and professional.
10. Copy/Paste
Which brings us to our final tip for this training: copy/paste.
Canva’s copy and paste functionality is more versatile than many people realize. There are four main ways you can use it to save time:
You can copy and paste elements on a single design page, enabling you to quickly duplicate text boxes, images, or other elements without manually re-adding them.
You can copy and paste elements between pages within the same design, for example, if I wanted to have a textbox or another element appear in exactly the same spot on every page.
And you can also copy and paste elements between pages of different designs. To do this, you can open two designs in separate tabs, select the element you want to copy from one design, and then use Cmd-C on a Mac or Ctrl-C on Windows to copy it. Then switch to the other design and use Cmd-V or Ctrl-V to paste.
But the copy and paste functionality that many people don’t realize exists is the ability to copy and paste entire pages or sets of pages between different designs. This can be an enormous time-saver. Open both of your designs in Grid View, select the pages you want to copy, and use Cmd-C or Ctrl-C to copy them.
Then switch to the other design and with it also in Grid View, you can go ahead and paste the pages in using your paste shortcut. This method allows you to reuse layouts and entire projects with minimal effort.
Wrap Up
And there you have it! 10 practical tips to help you save time and work more efficiently in Canva.
Each of these tips, whether basic or advanced, is designed to make your workflow smoother and faster, and my hope is that you’ve found at least one tip you can start using today. Remember, the goal is not just to save time — it’s to give you more freedom to focus on the work that truly matters.
One of the key themes we touched on today was organization as a foundational way to save time in Canva. If your Canva account feels cluttered and you’re constantly searching for designs, uploads, or templates, that lack of organization is likely costing you more time than you realize.
For those who are ready to tackle their Canva clutter once and for all, I’d like to invite you to check out *Clean Up My Canva*, a step-by-step program designed to help you create an effective Canva filing system.
You can work through the course at your own pace, and with lifetime access (including any future updates to the content) you’ll always have it as a resource to refer back to whenever you need it.
To learn more, you can go to BrendaCadman.com/cleanupmycanva