20+ Hidden Canva Features You Must Try to Believe

If you’re using Canva, you may be wondering how to boost your productivity and efficiency with hidden Canva features designed for that purpose.

How to get Canva Pro for free

Where other design platforms can cost an arm and a leg for a monthly or annual membership, (with only a few key, specialized graphic design features) Canva Pro is different. It’s unique in that it is an all-in-one graphic design powerhouse that is completely web-based.

A common I get asked a lot is, “Is it better than Photoshop?” and the short answer is no, but really it depends on your skill level. If you’re new to graphic design, you’ll get more bang for your buck by choosing Canva Pro and I’d say it’s worth paying for.

You see, designing in Canva Pro is incredibly easy with little to no graphic design skills and there isn’t much of a learning curve to get started.

I find the entire platform extremely user-friendly and intuitive to use. There are tons of handy Canva keyboard shortcuts, Canva keywords for elements, and hidden Canva features to create professional designs of all kinds fairly quickly and easily.

From various social media graphics like Pinterest images or Instagram posts and story graphics to business cards, PDFs, resumes, presentations, and so much more.

What’s more, there are all kinds of Canva font pairings to use to create easy-to-read, professional designs.

If that wasn’t enough, Canva Pro users also gain access to over 60+ million stock images and videos to use in their designs. Yep, you read that right, 60+ MILLION.

If you aren’t designing in Canva Pro yet, this is a great opportunity for new users to try Canva Pro free for 30 days.

Hidden Canva features

Wondering how to use Canva effectively and efficiently? I don’t know about you, but I’m always on the lookout for time-saving techniques to get my work done faster and make life easier. Naturally, I had to undercover all of the best Canva has to offer in terms of time-saving hacks.

Tucked within Canva Pro, there are numerous hidden Canva features, tips, and tricks that can be used while designing in Canva.

Canva Color Palette Generator

I’m embarrassed about how long I went without knowing about the Canva Color Palette Generator. Let’s just say, I’ve been using Canva for years and only discovered this free tool for creating eye-catching designs rather recently.

This incredible tool generates Canva color palette ideas and inspiration for use in your next design. Best of all, it’s completely free. No Canva Pro account is required. How cool is that?

How to use Canva Color Palette Generator

So how does it work?

You have two options — either upload your image if you already have a design aesthetic in mind or if you’re starting from scratch or are looking for inspiration, you can use the “try demo image” option.

After you decide on which option to use, the Canva Color Palette Generator will present you with four color combinations that work beautifully together, as well as, their hex codes to use while designing in Canva.

Canva color palette ideas

Remember when I said I was embarrassed to have learned about the Canva Color Palette Generator only recently? I take that back.

I only learned about all of these inspiring Canva color palette ideas and the Canva color wheel this afternoon while researching this list of hidden Canva features and I’m so glad I did.

I can already see myself using this awesome feature while planning and designing in Canva and have even used some of their ideas in my list of Canva color palettes inspired by nature.

Canva tidy up feature

Have you ever spent way too much time trying to evenly space several elements? Now you don’t have to! The Canva tidy up feature is here to make your life so much easier from here on out and it’s one of my favorite hidden Canva features.

The tidy up tool comes in handy all the time. I’m embarrassed to say, it took me years of using Canva before I discovered it.

From within a design, simply highlight several elements, like text, for example. Navigate to “Position” on the right-hand side of your design dashboard and select “Tidy up” under the “Space evenly” section.

You now have perfect, evenly spaced elements in less than a minute!

This tool is especially useful if you’re using lots of Canva elements in your designs.

Canva version history

Save yourself a ton of time by using the Canva version history while designing in Canva Pro! I’ll be honest with you — I wasted many, many hours when I first started designing in Canva because I didn’t know about this Canva hidden feature.

Every time I made a mistake or experimented with different Canva styles, I’d repeatedly hit undo over and over again. If only I had taken the time to learn how to use Canva effectively, I would have saved myself a lot of painstaking hours by just using the Canva version history.

Canva magic resize

This Canva hidden feature is hiding in plain sight within your Canva Pro dashboard. While designing in Canva, simply click on the “Resize” tab and resize to your heart’s content!

You can use the Canva magic resize tool to resize all kinds of social media posts from Facebook to Instagram Stories. Plus posters, resumes, flyers, and more.

Canva brand kit

This is one of those hidden Canva features that isn’t talked about very often, but it’s one of the greatest Canva Pro features that exist!

This time-saving tool helps you organize your brand’s aesthetic and identity by allowing you to save your Canva brand kit colors, fonts, and logos all in one convenient place.

Best of all, when designing in Canva, you can easily navigate to your brand kit on the dashboard’s Canva brand kit tab to access all of your brand’s Canva styles.

Canva background remover

This is one Canva hidden feature I use in most of my designs. The Canva background remover tool makes it super simple to remove the background of objects in images while you’re designing in Canva Pro.

Sometimes, however, it either will remove too little or too much from the background of your object. But have no fear! There’s a built-in feature that allows you to add or subtract portions of the image that were mistakenly removed or missed while the Canva background remover was processing.

To use the Canva background remover effectively, be sure to use clear images that aren’t overcrowded with objects or hard to tell apart from each other.

 

Canva Smartmockups

The Canva smartmockups app allows users to generate custom, eye-catching product mockups using iPhone, iPad, desktop, laptop computer screens, and so much more. And guess what? There are over 8,000 to choose from!

How do Canva smartmockups work? It’s so easy. Simply navigate to the “Effects” tab while you have an image selected. From there, select the Canva Smartmockups app from the list of options and choose your favorite to get started making awesome mockups for your business’s products.

Alternatively, you can also find a link to smartmockups on the Canva homepage here.

 

Canva shadow effects

Same as Canva Smartmockups, the Canva shadow effect can be found under the “Effects” tab while designing in Canva Pro.

This is a newer hidden Canva feature, but one that many designers and content creators have been anxiously awaiting.

The Canva shadow effect allows users to add a blurred shadow to many objects and images giving them depth and a more realistic look. Previously, you could only use a feature such as this in Photoshop, so I’m excited to finally see it in Canva Pro!

 

Canva lock elements

Save yourself a ton of time by using the Canva lock elements tool. This Canva hidden feature is so easy to use, that you’ll be surprised you never knew about it!

While designing in Canva, simply select the tiny lock in the right-hand corner of your design dashboard. With it enabled, you’ll be able to move unlocked elements around without disrupting elements you want to stay in place.

This is especially handy when you have multiple design elements and would only like to change the position or color of an element in the middle layer.

 

Canva curved text generator

Here’s another awesome time-saving Canva hidden feature for you to try! If you’ve ever asked yourself, “Does Canva have a curved text tool?” Up until recently, the answer would have been no.

The Canva curved text generator is a new addition to Canva Pro and one that many designers have been hoping they’d add. What’s more, the Canva curved text generator now allows you to use the other text effect tools simultaneously to create endless design possibilities.

Canva styles

Canva styles are a great resource for designing in Canva Pro. If you, like myself, sometimes have a tough time deciding on font pairings and color palette ideas, then you’ll want to check out the Canva styles tab within your design dashboard.

Not only will you find your custom Canva brand kit fonts and colors within the Canva elements tab, but also font pairings and color palette ideas that are currently trending on the platform.

Canva styles are a wonderful way to become inspired by what’s trending among other designers and who knows, you may find an aesthetic that’s out of your comfort zone, but end up loving it!

This is especially useful if you’re like me and create Canva templates. Want to try it yourself?

Simply go to “file” within your Canva dashboard and select, “find and replace text” or use the quick Canva keyboard shortcut, control + “F”.