Once your Canva workspace starts to grow, you may find yourself wondering what to do with older designs you don’t need every day, but aren’t ready to delete. While Canva doesn’t have a built-in archive feature, it’s easy to create your own. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to set up an Archive folder, structure it effectively, and maintain it so your main workspace stays clear and manageable.
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Transcript
Once you’ve been organizing your Canva workspace for a while, a natural question comes up: What do I do with older designs that I don’t need every day but don’t want to delete? Canva doesn’t have a built-in “Archive” function, but it’s incredibly easy to create your own version of one.
The simplest approach is to create an Archive folder. You can call it Archive, or Old Designs, or whatever name feels intuitive to you. I’ve even seen someone use “Attic,” which I thought was clever. Personally, I call mine xArchive, simply because adding an “x” at the beginning pushes it to the very end of my folder list when I sort alphabetically. It keeps it out of the way but still easy to access when I need it.
Once that folder exists, you can move older designs, folders and media into it as you wrap up projects, finish seasonal content, or complete client work. Think of it as moving something out of your main workspace and into a quieter, less distracting corner… still available, just not front-and-center anymore.
If you handle a lot of projects over long periods, you can take this a step further by adding a simple structure inside your Archive folder. Some people like organizing their Archive by year, which is a straightforward way to keep older work grouped without it mixing with your active designs.
Another approach is to mirror some of your top-level categories within the Archive. For example, if you have an active Clients folder at the top level, you might also have a Clients folder inside your Archive. That gives you a clear, designated place to move older client projects once they’re wrapped up, without losing that contextual structure. It keeps your main Clients folder focused on current work, while still preserving past projects in an organized way.
The key to making an Archive folder useful is maintenance. Try to build a habit of periodically reviewing your active folders and moving older designs into the Archive so your day-to-day workspace stays clear. It doesn’t have to be a big undertaking to do this, just a quick tidy-up as part of your normal routine.
And just as importantly: the Archive isn’t meant to be a permanent storage unit for everything. Every so often, give it a quick clean-out and delete anything you genuinely no longer need. Some designs deserve to be archived, but others can (and should) be purged completely so they’re not taking up mental or digital space. Archiving is helpful, but decluttering still matters.
The goal is to keep your Canva workspace feeling light, manageable, and easy to navigate. An Archive folder gives you a home for older designs, and a little ongoing maintenance keeps the whole system running smoothly.
