Hidden designs in Canva can be confusing, especially since they don’t live in a dedicated “hidden” folder. This tutorial explains what actually happens when you hide a shared design, why hidden files disappear from your workspace, and how to bring a hidden design back when you need it again.
Resources Mentioned
- Free Trial of Canva Pro (Affiliate Link)
Transcript
If you’ve ever hidden a shared design in Canva and later wondered where it went—or how to get it back—you’re definitely not the only one. This question comes up a lot, so let’s walk through how this actually works.
First, a quick refresher: hiding a shared design is essentially the closest thing Canva allows to “deleting” a file that you don’t own. When someone shares a design with you, you’re getting access to their file, not your own copy. And because of that, Canva can’t let you permanently delete it. Imagine the headache if people could accidentally delete someone else’s designs.
And just to be clear, this is different from opening a template link, which creates your own separate copy of a design. In that case, you own the file and can delete it whenever you want. But with shared designs, you’re working inside the owner’s file.
So instead, Canva gives you the ability to hide a shared design from your workspace. Hiding it removes the shortcut from your Recents, your Projects tab, and your search results. The original file still exists, it’s just no longer visible in your account.
Now here’s the part that surprises a lot of people.
There is no list inside Canva where you can see your hidden designs.
Once you hide a shared design, it essentially disappears from your view. Canva treats it almost as though you’ve removed your access point. So you won’t find it in a “hidden” section, because one doesn’t exist.
So how do you get it back?
To make it show up again, you’ll need to open the design link again so Canva can re-add it to your account. You can do that in a few different ways:
- Open the original design link from an email or message
- Find it in your browser history
- Ask the owner to re-send the link
As soon as you view the design again, Canva restores it to your Recents, your Projects area, and your search results.
There is one important caveat:
If the owner has removed your access to the design (or to the shared folder it lives in) you won’t be able to open the link anymore. And in that case, you wouldn’t be able to see the design even if you hadn’t hidden it. Hiding doesn’t remove your permissions; it just removes the shortcut from your account. The owner controls your access.
It’s not a perfect system, but it is helpful for managing that often overwhelming “shared with you” section and keeping your workspace a bit tidier.
