📹️ How To Design With Canva

Create striking visual designs for your social media posts with the help of SmarterQueue's Canva Integration, right from within the Post Editor.

Keep in mind that you will need a Canva account to use this integration, so if you don't already have one, you can easily create one.

Video Walkthrough

How To Create A New Canva Design From Within SmarterQueue

Using great visuals with your social media posts is the best way to catch the eye of your audience in today's quick-moving world. 📷

SmarterQueue allows you to easily create gorgeous visual designs and add them to your posts using Canva.

1. To get started, create your Post in the Post Editor: choose a Category, select the Social Profile(s) you want to post to, and add your text.

2. Then select the ' Media' icon.

3. The 'Add Media' popup will appear. Select ' Design With Canva'.

NOTE: make sure that you're already logged into Canva.com in the browser you're using with SmarterQueue, to successfully connect to and use Canva in the Post Editor.

4. You will need to select a Canva Template, to make sure you're creating your new design around the image size specifications of the platform you're posting to.

5. Once you make your selection, Canva's design editor will be launched automatically in a pop-up in SmarterQueue with the appropriate dimensions.

6. Use Canva’s extensive library of templates, photos, design elements, graphics, and text, to create your amazing design.

NOTE: Check out Canva's tutorials at Designing with Canva for some great ideas on how to create the best visuals.

7. Once you're done creating and naming your design, simply click on ' Add to Post' from the upper-right corner of the Canva pop-up.

8. Your design will be added to your social media post, so all you need to do is finish up your post-editing and publishing steps 💪

NOTE: All designs that you creat in the Canva pop-up in the SmarterQueue Post Editor will only be available via SmarterQueue. While you won't be able to find them at Canva.com, they will be saved to ' My Media' and will be accessible to add to future posts.

How To Edit And Reuse Canva Designs Created Within SmarterQueue

Once you've created and used a Canva design in SmarterQueue, you will be able to find it and reuse it.

1. Create your post in the Post Editor, select the 'Media' icon, and then the 'My Media' option.

2. This will open your own personal media library of images you've used when creating social media posts. You will be able to find and select the Canva design that you've created previously.

💡 Quick tip: If you have too much content in your media library, you can easily sort it by origin and select Canva, to only see your Canva designs.

3. Selecting the image will give you the option of adding it to the post right away or editing it in Canva to make any changes you might want.

NOTE: If you choose to edit the design before using it, both versions of the image (initial and edited) will be available to use again from ' My Media' moving forward. That said, any future editing attempts will always open the newest version (you will not be able to open and edit the initial version of the image in the Canva pop-up again, but simply use it as it was saved).

3a. If you want to simply use the image as it was saved, select ' Add to Post'.

3b. If you want to make edits to the design before using it, select ' Edit in Canva', to open the Canva pop-up, make the desired updates, and select 'Add to Post'.

4. Your design will be added to your social media post, so all you need to do is finish up your post-editing and publishing steps 💪

How To Add Existing Designs From Canva To Your SmarterQueue Posts

If you already have designs created at Canva.com, you can easily open them via the Canva pop-up within SmarterQueue and add them to your post.

1. Create your post in the Post Editor, select the 'Media' icon, and then the 'Design with Canva' option.

2. You will need to select a Canva Template to determine the image size specifications. Make sure to select a format that matches the design you'll be importing from your existing Canva designs.

For this example, we're selecting a tall image format, for an Instagram Story.

3. You will need to navigate to your designs within the Canva pop-up to select the one you want to add to your post.

NOTE: Keep in mind to select a similar image format and size to the design you're planning to use. Otherwise, the imported design will be adapted to the selected format and the result might not always work best for your post.

4. If your selected design doesn't fit perfectly (size or content-wise), you can make edits to adapt it to your needs for the post you're working on.

NOTE: Any edits you make via SmarterQueue will be used for publishing and will be reflected in the saved version of the design in the 'My Media' section for future use. You will also be able to edit that design again in SmarterQueue, but no edits will get saved at Canva.com.

5. Once you're ready to import, simply click on ' Add to Post' from the upper-right corner of the Canva pop-up and have the design added to your social media post.

How To Edit A Queued Post With A Canva Design

If you've recently added a post to the Queue and you need to edit the Canva design you've used for it you can easily update it.

1. Find the post that you want to edit in your Queue and click on the 'pencil' icon to edit it.

2. Select the image within the Post Editor.

3. Select ' Edit in Canva' to open the Canva pop-up right inside the Post Editor.

4. Make all the edits that you need for the design and then select 'Add to Post'.

5. The new design will be added to your post next to the old one. Make sure to remove the old design by clicking on the 'X' in its upper-right corner, then finish up your post-editing and publishing steps 💪

NOTE: Both designs (initial and edited) will be available to use again from 'My Media' moving forward:

If the initial design was created within the Canva pop-up in SmarterQueue, then trying to edit either one of the designs again in the future will always open the latest saved version.

If the initial design was created at Canva.com, then none of the edits you've made will be visible in Canva when checking your design (the initial design will be intact).

Common Questions

1. Why is my Canva design different when I try to edit?

When using an existing design for a new post, you have the option to open it in the Canva pop-up to update it for your current social media publishing needs.

When you make edits, the new, updated version becomes the only version that will be available for future edits, while the initial version will only be usable 'as-is' and will be found in SmarterQueue in 'My Media'.

Let's look at a quick example:

We have 3 different images in the Canva section of 'My Media':

We initially created the original design "1" (in blue) and used it for a post.
Then we scheduled a second post, for which we opened the original design and made some edits, ending up with the edited design "2" (in green).
After that, we scheduled a third post, for which we opened the design again and made additional edits, ending up with the edited design "3" (in red).

All three designs are available in 'My Media' and can be used for future posts at any time.

That said, if we select the initial or second version of the design we will see a message letting us know that the design has changed since it was first saved:

We can add either image to the post without issue, but if we choose 'Edit in Canva', the Canva pop-up will open the latest saved version instead:

2. Why are some of my designs missing in Canva.com?

If you create a Canva image via the Canva pop-up in SmarterQueue, it will not show up when you go to Canva.com, or when you open the Canva pop-up in SmarterQueue again in the future.

That image will however always be available for reuse within SmarterQueue in 'My Media', and you will also have the option to make edits to it before reusing it (keeping in mind that once edited, only the latest version will ever be available for edits moving forward).

The same applies to edits that you make to existing designs saved at Canva.com while using the Canva pop-up in SmarterQueue.

The new version of your image will be used in SmarterQueue and saved in 'My Media', but your edits will not show up on Canva.com, where you will find the initial version of the image before the edits were made.

3. Why are my designs being distorted when importing to SmarterQueue?

When opening the Canva design editor in SmarterQueue, you are prompted to choose a Canva template before picking one of your existing Canva designs - this is a mandatory step in how the Canva integration works.

If your existing Canva design isn't the same size as the template you chose via SmarterQueue, your design will be cropped, and need re-arranging.

If you have a Canva design in mind when creating your social media post, make sure to pick the template that matches your design size.

While Canva.com lets Canva Pro users update the template sizes for their designs, you won't be able to do this in the Canva pop-up in SmarterQueue.

4. Why can't I use my Video designs from Canva.com?

At this time, the Canva integration with SmarterQueue doesn't import video content from Canva.com.

Any selected video content will be imported as a static image.

5. Why is the back button not working?

The Canva integration makes using the back button in your browser a little difficult.

Depending on the browser you're using, it may take one or more extra clicks to go back to the previous page after opening Canva multiple times, or you may not be able to go back to the previous page at all, no matter how many times you click the back button.

We recommend that you use the menu links within SmarterQueue to navigate instead of the back button.

6. Why can't I see my Brand Kit in the Canva pop-up?

Due to a limitation in the Canva API, your Brand Kit (styles/colors/fonts) will not be available when using the Canva pop-up in SmarterQueue.

That said, you can still use your own styles/colors/fonts natively on Canva.com to create the amazing designs needed for your social media posts. Once they're ready to go, simply import them via the Canva pop-up in SmarterQueue from within the Post Editor.

Once you've opened the Canva pop-up in SmarterQueue, go to Folders.

Inside your Folders, click on All your designs.

Once inside, you'll be able to see all designs that you've created on Canva.com. 💪🏻