If you’ve ever designed a sign, poster or invitation in Canva and then hit a snag because of print quality issues, you’re not alone. Canva makes it super easy to create eye-catching graphics, but when it comes to printing, how you export your file can make a big difference.
At Gordon Flesch Company, we’ve helped many customers troubleshoot this exact issue. Canva is a fantastic tool, but to get crisp, professional-looking prints, you’ll want to make sure your file is exported correctly.
We’re all about making your printing experience smooth and stress-free. In this article, we’ll walk you through the steps to export your Canva design as a flattened PDF—so your final print looks just as good as it does on screen.
ARTICLE: What Can a Large Format Printer Produce?
When your artwork is completed and you are ready to export, click on the “Download” button in the upper right corner of the Canva page under “Share.”
Under the “File Type” dropdown, select “PDF Print.” This will export a print-ready, high quality PDF.
Flattening a PDF is useful for print files as it helps lessen unexpected changes producing a more accurate print.
Check the Crop Marks and Bleed box. Even if your artwork does not bleed to the edges of the page, it will add crop marks, which will help you to cut to final size. If your artwork has multiple pages, click on the Select Pages dropdown to select which pages you want downloaded. Once you’ve selected which pages you’d like downloaded in your PDF, click the Download button and your print-ready PDF will download.
Please note: If your document does bleed to the edge of the page, you will need to add it in the artwork. For details on how to do this, see below.
Adding Bleed to Your Document
Under File > Settings, select Show Print Bleed. This is going to add an extra border that will appear close to the edges of your design. If you have color going to the edge of your artwork, but there are white gaps around the design edges, you will need to resize or stretch your background color to fully cover them. Once all edges are fully colored, bleed has been successfully added.
Canva is a versatile tool that is excellent at creating simple designs. However, it’s not ideal for professional, high-quality print projects. Canva’s primary focus is to create online visuals. Therefore, the print-ready capabilities and output quality of Canva can be limited. That’s why we recommend the use of professional design software to ensure optimum printing output.
Let’s make printing easy. Reach out to Gordon Flesch Company for expert advice on file prep, printer options and everything in between.
