This is a guest post by one of our blog writers, Katherine Miller.
Introduction
Canva is a design website that helps you create amazing classroom resources with ease. There are so many ways to use Canva in your classroom. Check them out by visiting our recent blog post: 25+ Ways to Use Canva to Create Teaching Resources
Once you start creating in Canva, it is sure to become a tool you can find even more uses for! In order to help increase the ease at which you can use all of the tools within Canva, we have put together this list of our top keyboard shortcuts.
Why take the time to learn shortcuts?
Keyboard shortcuts are important because they can save you time and increase your productivity. Sure, a shortcut may only save you a few seconds at a time but when you use them frequently those seconds quickly add up to minutes and hours. Most people are pretty big fans of other popular shortcuts like WiFi, remote controls, microwaves, fast food, and taking actual shortcuts in their vehicle for some of the same reasons.
The best thing about keyboard shortcuts is there is a fairly common system used throughout many applications. This means the time you spend learning them for one program can easily be transferred to many others as well. I can see those minutes and hours adding up all ready! And what teacher isn’t a fan of more time?
Everyday Shortcuts
Canva uses many of those common shortcuts. These shortcuts can be used in any type of resource you may be creating. You may even find yourself using them multiple times in every resource too.
Command/Ctrl + c to copy any item
Command/Ctrl + v to paste anything that has been copied
Command/Ctrl + z to undo the last editing you did
Command/Ctrl + y to redo the last editing you did
Command/Ctrl + b to bold any text
Command/Ctrl + i to italicize any text
Command/Ctrl + u to underline any text
Tab to quickly move to the next text box in your design
Shift + Tab to quickly move BACK one text box
The ESC key can always be used to deselect anything you need.
Shortcuts for Productivity
Canva has some additional shortcuts that can be used to increase your productivity beyond the most common ones especially when you are creating teaching resources. These shortcuts can help to duplicate, group and move items that you may need many copies of like when you are creating worksheets or flashcards for your students.
You can select all elements on the page by using Command/Ctrl + A. This allows you to group everything on the page to move it around at the same time. You can use Command/Ctrl + D to duplicate selected items to make as many copies of them as you need.
If you want items to always be grouped, you can do that by using Command/Ctrl + G. This would permanently keep them together. You can toggle to select the elements to group by pressing Shift + / . Of course, you can always ungroup them by using Command/Ctrl + Shift + G.
Shortcuts for Design
As you are designing in Canva, elements, like pictures, borders, and text, often get layered on top of one another. It can become challenging to select just one of them especially if it is buried beneath many other things! You can use keyboard shortcuts to easily move each element forward and backward. In Canva, you do this by using the bracket keys. The bracket keys will allow you to select the next (or previous) element on your page and move it to the front to make any changes needed. You can also use this shortcut to quickly send elements to the back of your design too.
This shortcut works by clicking on an object then pressing:
Command/Ctrl + [ or ] to arrange element backward and forward
Command/Ctrl + alt/option + [ or ] to send elements all the way to the back
or front
You may also find that you need to precisely move elements in your design. You can do this by using the arrow keys. For example, you can select an item and press:
Arrow keys to move elements 1 pixel at a time in any direction
Shift + arrow keys to move items 10 pixels at a time
When you are designing, it may also be helpful to adjust font sizes by one point at a time to get a perfect fit. This is done by pressing:
Shift + Command/Ctrl + , to decrease the font by one point
Shift + Command/Ctrl + . to increase the font by one point
Are you ready for more time saving shortcuts in Canva?
You can visit the Canva Support Website to view the infographic about additional shortcuts to help in creating your own unique classroom materials at Canva Keyboard Shortcuts
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About the Writer
Katherine (Katie) Miller holds a Bachelor of Music in Education degree from Otterbein University (Westerville, OH) and a Master’s of Educational Leadership from Antioch McGregor Midwest (Yellow Springs, OH). She has 14 years of professional musical experience as a music educator and performer.
She is currently employed by the School District of Waukesha in Waukesha, WI where she teaches K-5 General Music and serves as a district model tech classroom.You can connect with Katherine Miller on Twitter: @K8TMiller and on Instagram: @k8tmusicmiller
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2 Comments
This is great. Now I have easier ways to work with Canva. Thanks for sharing
You’re welcome!