10 Canva Features Most People Don't Use (But Should)
Most people use Canva the same way: find a template, change the text, download. That works. But it's the slowest way to use Canva.
These 10 features — some buried in menus, some right on the homepage — dramatically speed up the process. Some are free. Some require Pro. I'll tell you which is which.
1. Brand Kit (Pro)
What it is: A saved collection of your brand colours, fonts, and logos. Once set up, every new design starts with your brand automatically applied.
Why it matters: Without Brand Kit, you manually re-enter your hex codes every time. With Brand Kit, your colours are one click away in any design.
How to set it up: Click "Brand" in the left sidebar → "Create a Brand Kit" → upload your logo, add your hex codes, set your brand fonts.
After setup: in any design, click the colour picker and your brand colours appear at the top. Click on text and your brand fonts are the default options.
This is the single feature that most justifies upgrading to Canva Pro.
2. Magic Resize (Pro)
What it is: Resize any design to a new format with one click — maintaining proportions and repositioning elements automatically.
Why it matters: You design a LinkedIn post. You want the same content as an Instagram Story, a Facebook post, and a Twitter/X image. Without Magic Resize: open three new designs, recreate the layout manually. With Magic Resize: one click, four formats.
How to use it: Open any design → click "Resize" in the top toolbar → select all the formats you want → click "Copy & Resize."
Canva creates separate copies in each format. You'll need to check and adjust each one — Magic Resize isn't perfect with complex layouts — but it saves significant time.
3. Background Remover (Pro)
What it is: AI-powered background removal from any image. Upload a photo, click one button, background is gone.
How to use it: Upload your image to a design → click on the image → click "Edit Image" in the toolbar → select "Background Remover."
Where this is genuinely useful: Product photos (remove background to put products on white or brand-coloured backgrounds). Profile photos (put yourself on a branded background for social media). Team photos for presentations.
The quality is good for most business uses. For complex backgrounds with lots of detail at the edges, professional tools like Photoshop or remove.bg do better.
4. Content Planner (Free)
What it is: A built-in social media scheduling tool inside Canva. Design a post and schedule it to publish directly to Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or Twitter/X without leaving Canva.
Why it matters: Removes the step of downloading, opening a separate scheduling tool, uploading, and scheduling. Design-to-publish in one place.
How to access it: Click the grid icon in the left sidebar (or navigate to canva.com/content-planner).
Limitations: It connects to personal Instagram accounts. For Instagram business accounts, you schedule to a Facebook Page. The analytics are basic — for deeper analytics, use platform-native insights.
5. Bulk Create (Pro)
What it is: Generate multiple versions of a design from a data source (Google Sheet or CSV). 100 personalised certificates, event badges, or social media cards in one operation.
How to use it: Create your design template → add a variable text element (e.g., "[Name]") → click Apps in the left sidebar → search "Bulk Create" → connect your Google Sheet or upload a CSV → match your columns to your variable elements → click Generate.
Real use cases: Event name badges, personalised certificates, batch social media cards with different stats or quotes. What used to require Photoshop scripts now takes 5 minutes.
6. Canva AI (Magic Write) (Free and Pro)
What it is: AI text generation built into Canva. Useful for writing social captions, headlines, presentation bullets, and other short-form copy directly in your design.
How to use it: In any text element → right-click → "Magic Write." Or in presentation slides, click the magic wand icon.
Best use: Generating first drafts of captions and headlines you then edit. Not for long-form content — use a proper AI tool for that.
7. Presentation Presenter Mode (Free)
What it is: A full-screen presentation mode with speaker notes, a timer, and the ability to present live or record your presentation with your camera.
How to use it: Design your presentation → click "Present" in the top right → select "Presenter View" or "Record."
Record mode lets you record your screen and webcam simultaneously. The output is a video you can share or publish — useful for asynchronous presentations to clients.
8. Design Grids and Frames (Free)
What it is: Grid layouts and frames that let you snap multiple images together cleanly, and shape frames (circles, rounded rectangles, speech bubbles) that clip images to any shape.
How to use: Click "Elements" in the left sidebar → search "Grids" for multi-photo layouts → search "Frames" for clip shapes.
Best use: Photo collages, profile picture frames with your brand, putting product photos in clean grid layouts.
9. Canva Apps (Free and Pro)
What it is: A growing app marketplace inside Canva. Includes tools like Mockups (put your design on product mockups), QR Code generator, and integrations with tools like HubSpot, Mailchimp, and Slack.
How to access: Click "Apps" in the left sidebar.
The Mockups app is particularly useful: select a mockup (phone, mug, t-shirt, laptop), and Canva places your design onto it automatically. Free for basic mockups.
10. Shared Templates (Pro)
What it is: Create a template from any of your designs and share it with your team. Anyone can use the template to create new designs without being able to edit the original.
Why it matters for small businesses: If you work with a VA, social media manager, or contractor, you can give them on-brand templates to work from. They can't break the template — they just make copies and customise the copy.
How to set it up: Design your template → click the share button → select "Template link" → share the link.
Where to Start
If you're on the free plan: start with Content Planner (Feature 4) and Frames (Feature 8). Both are free and immediately speed up your social media workflow.
If you're considering Pro: Brand Kit (Feature 1) is the primary reason to upgrade. If you create content regularly, it pays for itself in saved time within the first week.
Watch the Demos
I demonstrated all 10 features live in Canva on the Automate Lane YouTube channel: Automate Lane on YouTube
Automate Lane covers practical tools for small business content creation. Subscribe for weekly guides.
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