4 Steps to Resize Designs in Canva for Free

Canva is a powerful online design tool that allows users to easily create stunning graphics. However, one limitation of the free version is that it doesn’t include a built-in resize feature. Luckily, there is a simple workaround that lets you change the dimensions of your designs without upgrading to a paid Canva plan.

In this article, we’ll walk through the step-by-step process of resizing designs in Canva for free. With a little effort, you can adapt your existing graphics to any size you need.

Why Resize Your Canva Designs?

There are many reasons you may want to resize a design you created in Canva:

• Repurposing graphics for different social media platforms that have varying optimal image sizes
• Adapting a design originally made for print to a standard digital size
• Creating multiple versions of an image to test different crops or layouts

Whatever your goal, resizing gives you flexibility with your Canva designs. And with this simple method, you can do it for free.

Step 1: Create a New Design with Custom Dimensions

The first step is to create a new blank design in Canva with the dimensions you want your final resized graphic to be.

To do this:

1. From the Canva homepage, click the Custom dimensions button at the top

2. Enter the width and height of your desired size

• You can use pixels (px), inches (in), millimeters (mm) or centimeters (cm)
• For example, a standard Instagram post is 1080 x 1080 px

3. Click Create new design to open your new blank canvas

Step 2: Copy All Elements from Your Original Design

With your new canvas open, go back to the original design you want to resize. Select and copy all the elements so you can paste them into the new design.

Follow these steps:

1. In your original design, click on any element to select it

2. Press Ctrl+A (Windows) or Cmd+A (Mac) on your keyboard to select everything on the page

• Alternatively, drag your mouse to draw a box around all elements

3. Press Ctrl+C (Windows) or Cmd+C (Mac) to copy the selected elements

Everything is now copied to your clipboard, ready to paste into your new canvas.

Step 3: Paste and Position Elements in the New Canvas

Head back to the blank canvas you created in Step 1. Paste in the elements you just copied and reposition them to fit the new dimensions.

1. Click on the blank canvas to make sure it’s selected
2. Press Ctrl+V (Windows) or Cmd+V (Mac) to paste the copied elements
3. Click and drag the corners of the pasted element group to resize it to fit the new dimensions
4. Rearrange or resize individual elements as needed
5. If your original design had a background image or color, you’ll need to add that back in separately, as it won’t copy over with the other elements

Take time to refine your newly resized design and make sure everything looks right in the new dimensions. You may need to adjust font sizes, move elements around, or even remove some things to make it work.

Step 4: Download Your Resized Design

Once you’re happy with how your design looks in the new size, download it so you can use it outside of Canva.

1. Click the Download button at the top of the editor

2. Choose your desired file type (PNG, JPG, PDF)

• For online use, PNG or JPG are usually best
• For print, choose PDF

3. Click Download and choose where to save the file on your computer

That’s it! You’ve now got your Canva design in a new size, without needing to pay for a premium account.

Conclusion

Resizing designs in Canva is possible, even without a Pro subscription. By creating a custom sized blank canvas and copying and pasting your original elements into it, you can easily change the dimensions of your graphics.

The key steps are:

1. Create a new design with your desired custom dimensions
2. Copy all elements from the original design
3. Paste elements into the new canvas and reposition them to fit
4. Download the resized design

While this method takes a few extra steps compared to the simple resizing tool in Canva Pro, it gets the job done for free. With a bit of practice, you’ll be whipping up graphics in any size you need.

So next time you need to adapt a design for a new use, give this resizing workaround a try. Your Canva creations will be more versatile than ever.