How to Save on Canva

One of the most frequently asked questions about Canva, is does Canva save automatically for you? The simple answer is Yes, Canva does automatically save and it has a very good auto-save feature.  That means most of the time, when you do something, the software will save it for you.  But that doesn’t mean you don’t need to know how to save on Canva. 

And to help with that, let’s take a look at saving, auto-saving and how it all works.

How to save on Canva

Anytime you want to save your work on Canva, there’s a simple save option in the main menu.  Go to File > Save and you can save everything in the workspace as it is.  

Once you have selected this, the menu vanishes and you will see ‘All changes saved’ in the top bar alongside the menu.  This means you have successfully saved your document on Canva.

If you are using the mobile app, the process is the same.  The only difference is that you use the three dots on the top menu bar to access the file menu.  Then save as normal.

How the autosave works

The great thing is that most of the time, you won’t need to save your work because Canva will do it for you.  The autosave feature runs in the background of the app and usually saves everything you do, as you do it.

Again, that little spot beside the menu lets you know what’s going on.  If there are unsaved changes, it will indicate here.  You don’t see this too often but it can happen.  If it is there, that’s when you can save the document to be sure everything is kept just as you have it.

Autosave malfunctions

Like any app, there can be the occasional hiccup.  One of the main ones I’ve noticed is that if I’m using the desktop app and I lose my internet connection, this can upset the autosave function.

In this case, Canva will add a yellow banner to the top of the screen that tells you the document has been locked to prevent loss of data.  If this happens, most of the time you can then use the save option in the menu to ensure everything is saved.

Save to folder Pro option

There is one more feature to do with saving on Canva if you have the paid Pro account and that’s to save to folder.

Normally when you save on Canva, the file is in the All Your Designs area.  But if you have the Pro subscription, you can create folders and store designs in them.  With this, comes the option to Save to Folder.

When you select this, it will bring up a list of the folders you already have plus the option to make a new one.  You can also save to folders shared with you if this is a shared work project.  You can even search for a folder if you have a few and can’t spot the one you want.

To find the project afterwards, you can go to the folder from the main menu and simply select it to open and start editing again.