how to share a presentation on canvas

How to Share a Canva Presentation with Someone

Canva is a popular graphic design platform that makes it easy for anyone to create stunning presentations, even without prior design experience. With its drag-and-drop interface, premade templates, and huge library of fonts, images, and graphics, you can put together a polished presentation in no time.

Step 1: Open Your Presentation in Canva

First, log in to your Canva account and open the presentation you want to share. You can access all your designs right from your Canva homepage.

Step 2: Click on the “Share” Button

This menu contains all the options for sharing your Canva presentation, from creating a simple view-only link to enabling real-time collaboration capabilities.

Step 3: Get a Shareable Link

Once you create the link, copy it and send it out to people via email, chat, social media posts, or however else you want recipients to access it.

Step 4: Set Link Permissions (Optional)

To update permissions, click the dropdown next to “Anyone with the link” and choose a different option before copying the link to share.

Step 5: Share Via Email

From the sharing menu, select “Share Via Email.” Then enter the email addresses you want to share it with.

You can choose to send it as an attachment, a view-only link, or an editable link if you want recipients to collaborate. Customize permission settings here too.

Step 6: Share to Social Media

For wider sharing, you can post your Canva presentation directly to your social media profiles.

From the sharing menu, choose “Share to Social Media.” Select the platform you want to share it on like Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Step 7: Invite Collaborators

To invite collaborators, open the sharing menu and select “Invite Collaborators.” Enter the name, email address or Canva username of anyone you want to invite.

Step 8: Share Your Presenter View

To start the presenter view, click the “Present” button in the top right corner of the editor. Then select “Presenter View” to open your slides in a new tab.

Step 9: Export and Share the File

For recipients without Canva access, you can export your presentation and share the file.

From the sharing menu, choose “Download.” Select whether you want to export as a PDF, Powerpoint, or PNG file. You can also add speaker notes and animations.

Step 10: Create a Public Viewing Link

From the sharing menu, select “Public View Link” then click “Create View Link.” This generates a unique URL for the published design.

Now put these steps into action and start spreading your amazing Canva presentation creations! Let us know in the comments if you have any other questions.

About The Author

Vegaslide staff, related posts, how to draw on canva presentation, how to add background to canva presentation, how create canva presentation, how to download canva slide.

How to Use Canva Presentations

Make visually appealing presentations that'll stand out among others using Canva.

Canva, a graphic design platform, is gaining a lot of traction as a design tool. Its basic premise – it’s just as easy to use for non-designers. You don’t need to be an expert in graphic designing to use Canva, and that is one of the main reasons behind its popularity.

With design becoming one of the hottest commodities for just about every field, Canva makes it accessible to everyone. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a marketer, influencer, or a blogger, you can use Canva to make fetching content for social media, posters, graphics, design your own business cards even. If you’ve got even a little eye for design, Canva can help you cut down on the costs of hiring professional designers.

But did you know you can also use it to make just as engaging and stimulating presentations? Whether you want to make presentations for a professional environment or personal use (like a birthday surprise), Canva Presentations have got you covered. Let’s dive right into it!

Getting Started

Canva offers a web app you can immediately start using on your desktop without having to download anything. Unfortunately, the web app is your only option as there is no desktop app. So you need an internet connection to work with Canva as it stores all your work on its servers.

Canva also has a mobile app for iPhone and Android, which you can use on the go. But when getting started, using the web app is the best course of action.

Go to canva.com and create a free account. Click the ‘Sign Up’ button to create a new account.

You can sign up with your Google account, Facebook account, or your email address.

Canva has a freemium structure, so you can use it for free with limited features or get a Pro or Enterprise subscription for complete access. It also offers a 30-day free trial to its Pro features, so you can try it out before deciding whether you want to convert to a paid user.

Now, from the Canva home page, click the ‘Presentations’ button under the Design anything banner. If you can’t find the option, you can also search for ‘Presentation’ from the search bar.

There are plenty of size options to choose from when creating a presentation. Let’s stick with the standard size ‘1920 x 1080 px’ here.

One of the things that makes Canva so easy to use for everyone is the sheer number of templates. The assortment of templates in existence ensures that you’ll find something to match your needs. But if not, you can also start with a blank slate and create your presentation from scratch.

For this guide, we are selecting a template for the presentation. Before selecting a template, you can see what it has to offer by clicking the three-dot menu and selecting ‘Preview this template’.

Click ‘Use this template’ to select the template if you like it or go back and select another.

Editing the Presentation

The template will load into the editing interface. Canva has an eerily easy editing interface. Let’s navigate the interface first. Below the slide is the thumbnail view where you can see all the slides in thumbnails side by side.

To turn off the thumbnail view, click the on/ off toggle (arrow).

Click the grid view button to switch views.

The grid view is helpful when there are a lot of slides in your presentation. Using grid view, you can get an overview of them all. You can also rearrange the slides by dragging and dropping slides into a new position. Click the ‘Grid View’ button again to switch back.

Click the ‘Notes’ option to add notes to the presentation that you can use for reference while presenting.

The name of the presentation can be edited from the top-most toolbar.

Now, on the left is the toolbar that houses all the tools for editing the design elements in the presentation.

When you’re using a template, almost all of the elements can be selected and edited. You can delete an element, change color, font (for text). To select an element, hover over it. The part of that element will be highlighted in blue. Click it to select it.

Another toolbar will appear above the slide with editing options specific to the element you have selected. Depending on the element, you can change it’s color, font, font size.

When you click the color option, a palette for document colors will appear above, followed by available default colors. For free users, only limited color options are available. If you have a Brand Kit (available only for Canva Pro users), that palette will also appear here.

Click on the ‘Elements’ option on the left toolbar to add elements like photos, videos, graphics, audio, charts, etc. to your presentation.

To add photos, videos, or audio from your computer, click the ‘Uploads’ button. Then, click the ‘Upload media’ button to select content. Any media you previously uploaded will also be available here.

You can also add animations to individual elements or the entire page. Select an element and click the ‘Animate’ button.

‘Element animations’ will open. To switch to page animations, click the ‘Page Animations’ tab.

Presenting your Presentation

Once your presentation is complete comes the main part – presenting it. Canva offers a lot of options for your finished presentation. You can present it right from Canva or publish or download it for various platforms.

To publish it elsewhere or download it, click the ‘three-dot’ menu on the top-right corner.

A list of options will appear. You can download it onto your computer, or as a PowerPoint presentation, share a link to the presentation, publish it as a website, embed it on your website, and much more. You can also record it while presenting with a voiceover.

To present straight from Canva, click the ‘Present’ button.

Click the drop-down menu below ‘Type’ and select how you want to present it.

There are three options to choose from: ‘Standard’ – where you present at your own pace, ‘Autoplay’ – where the presentation advances automatically, and ‘Presenter View’ – where you can view your notes and upcoming slides, but the rest of the people cannot. Presenter View is best used when you’re presenting on a projector.

After selecting the type, click the ‘Present’ button.

Bonus Tips for your Presentation

While presenting the presentation on Canva, you can add special effects to enhance the performance with some keyboard shortcuts. All you need to do is press the associated key with each effect to bring it into action. Press the same key to stop it. You can also press multiple keys to add 2 or more special effects. With these effects, your presentation is bound to stand out to your audience and be memorable.

Drumroll : Add a drumroll before a slide by pressing the key ‘D’ before a big reveal.

Confetti : Add a shower of confetti to celebrate something with the key ‘C’ .

Countdown : Add a countdown from ‘1-9’ by pressing one of the keys.

Quiet : Bring a 🤫 emoji to screen to hush your audience with the ‘Q’ key.

Bubbles : Press down the ‘O’ key to bring bubbles on the screen.

Blur : Build tension and add drama to the atmosphere by blurring the screen with the key ‘B’.

Presentations are a huge part of professional life, whether you’re presenting to your clients, doing a webinar, promoting your brand, to name a few. With Canva, you can make presentations that’ll leave a long-lasting impact but won’t take long to make.

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How to Create Presentations in Canva

Parth Shah is an evergreen freelance writer covering how-tos, app guides, comparisons, listicles, and troubleshooting guides on Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, and smart TV platforms. He has over five years of experience and has covered 1,500+ articles on GuidingTech and Android Police. In his free time, you will see him binge-watching Netflix shows, reading books, and traveling.

Afam has been a content writer with Guiding Tech Media since August 2023. However, his experience in tech writing dates back to 2018, when he worked as a freelance writer for Make Tech Easier. Over the years, he has grown a reputation for publishing quality guides, reviews, tips, and explainer articles. His work is featured on top websites, including Technical Ustad, Windows Report, and Next of Windows. He has training as a Microsoft Certified Professional and has covered more Microsoft-related guides on these platforms.

• You can easily customize templates, add graphics, and animate slides without needing extensive design skills.
• Canva’s collaboration features allow for real-time editing and sharing of presentations.
• Canva provides various export options, including PDF, PPTX, MP4, and image formats.

How to Create Canva Presentations

To create Canva presentations, you must follow a few steps. We break them down into the headings below.

Pick Up an Aspect Ratio and Template

Pick a relevant aspect ratio for your presentation. If it’s a traditional PPT, go with a 16:9 aspect ratio. If you plan to show your PPT on mobile, use the 9:16 aspect ratio. Tablet users can start with a 4:3 aspect ratio. Canva also offers some ready-to-use templates to get started. We highly recommend starting with a template to save some time.

Step 1: On the left pane, click Templates .

Step 2: Choose a template from the options or search for one using the search field.

Step 3: Click Customize this template once satisfied with your choice.

Note: You can filter templates via style, theme, feature, and color. For example, you can check company, marketing, corporate, marketing, school, and other templates. Under templates, you also find an option to create instant presentations. You can enter a prompt and check Canva’s suggestions to get started.

Customize a Page With Editing Features

Once you select a template, you can add all pages to your presentations and customize other pages.

Step 1: To select a page for customization, click on it at the bottom of the interface.

Step 2: At the bottom of the interface, click the three-dot icon for a page and select any of the available options.

Step 3: When you click on a page, Canva lets you change every aspect of the template with different text styles, filters, and image editing tools. You can change color, tweak transparency, copy style, and more.

We suggest editing tools to customize your Canva presentation and add personal touches.

Add Graphics, Stickers, and Images

Your presentation will not seem attractive without graphics, stickers, images, and videos. Unlike Google Slides or PowerPoint, you don’t need to import media files to Canva to complete your slides. You can easily add relevant elements from the sidebar.

Step 1: Open a slide in your Canva presentation.

Step 2: Select Elements from the sidebar. You can add graphics, icons, stickers, tables, videos, and more.

Step 3: You can explore the AI image generator and turn your creative ideas into images and videos with a single click.

You can add simple descriptions and even turn generated images into videos. Canva also offers a long list of graphics packs in several categories. The possibilities are endless here. It’s up to you to make a compelling slide using useful tools.

Tweak Page Animation

Once you create a page, tweak its animation to smoothly transition between pages.

Step 1: Select a slide in Canva.

Step 2: Click Animate at the top.

Step 3: Check Basic , Exaggerate , Photo Movement , and other animation types from the left sidebar.

You can also tweak the animation intensity, which is great.

Add Presenter Notes

Do you plan to present your Canva PPT on a video conference? You can add notes to each slide so they appear during the Presenter view (more on that later).

Step 1: When you create a PPT, select a slide and hit Notes at the bottom.

Step 2: Enter the notes you want to remember or discuss during a video meeting.

Collaborate and Edit in Real Time

Like Google Slides and Microsoft PowerPoint, Canva lets you share and edit a presentation in real-time. You can take your colleagues’ input and create a share-worthy presentation quickly.

Step 1: When you are done making changes to your presentation, click Share at the top.

Step 2: Enter people, groups, or your team. Expand the collaboration link menu and select Anyone with the link .

Step 3: Expand the permission menu and select Can edit .

You can also share a link with view or comment-only permission. Select the Copy link and share it with your co-workers.

Enable Presenter View or Download and Share Your Presentation

Presenter view is a thoughtful touch from Canva to give presentations over a Google Meet or Teams call.

Step 1: Open a presentation in Canva and select Present at the top.

Step 2: Click Presenter View and check two windows opening up on your computer.

One window shows your presentation with notes open on the sidebar. Another window displays the current slide you are sharing with others over a call.

As expected, Canva offers several options for sharing and exporting your presentation. When you complete your presentation, click Share in the top-right corner and expand Download .

You can convert a presentation to PDF, PPTX (Microsoft PowerPoint compatible), MP4, JPG, PNG and SVG formats. Check our dedicated post if you wish to print your Canva presentation .

1. Can you customize a PowerPoint presentation (.PPTX) in Canva?

Yes, you can customize a PowerPoint presentation (PPTX) in Canva. You will need to upload the presentation, edit it, customize your slides, and then download it.

2. Can you edit a Canva presentation in the Microsoft PowerPoint?

Yes, you can edit a Canva presentation using Microsoft PowerPoint. You will need to download it from Canva, open it in Microsoft PowerPoint, edit the presentation, and save your changes.

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Last updated on 27 August, 2024

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How to Use Canva to Create and Give Presentations

Canva makes it easy to edit text, make GIFs , and create content for social media like Instagram . But Canva also makes it easy to create presentations and if you are in a hurry and forgot your PC, Canva allows you to give that presentation using your smartphone. Here is how you can create and give presentations using Canva while on the move.

Table of Contents

Create Presentation Using Canva Templates

One of the things that make Canva so much easier to use is templates. They offer free and paid templates for almost all sorts of content that you may think of. We will be using a free template to create a presentation on Canva’s web app.

1. Open Canva in your browser and search for Presentation in the search bar.

2. You will be taken to the presentation templates page . You can filter by category or just scroll through until you find something that catches your eye or meets the criteria. You can also click on the empty frame with +sign to create a new presentation from scratch but that would be time-consuming.

Note: Templates with a golden crown icon are paid templates.

3. Click on any template and you will see a pop-up menu with more details about the template. Click on Customize this template to begin making your template. Click on the star icon to bookmark it for later perusal.

4. Now, in the left sidebar, you will find all the slides in the presentation. When you select a slide, you will be able to edit it on the right side. Each element can be edited or removed including text, image, and various elements. It is easy to add, edit, and format text .

5. You can choose from a variety of apps from the marketplace to make your work easier including AI apps like Dall-E. Simply click on Apps in the left sidebar and choose the one that you want to use.

6. You can also draw on slides or use stock images from sources like Pixabay and Pexels without having to leave Canva.

7. To add a slide, click on the plus icon at the bottom. You can also right-click on the existing slide and select Duplicate page to create an identical new slide that will retain the formatting and layout of the first slide. So all you have to do is change the text and some elements.

When you are happy with the presentation, you have a couple of options. Let’s have a look at them in the below sections.

Give a Presentation Using Canva

There are two ways to do it. You can present a presentation made in Canva using both the web app and the Android or iPhone app.

Give Canva Presentation on PC

1. Go to Canva homepage and click on Projects in the left sidebar.

2. Click on the presentation that you want to give to open it.

3. Click on the Present button in the upper right corner. You will see three options to present.

• Present full screen – this will begin a full-screen presentation for everyone to see.
• Presenter view – this presents the slides that you have created along with notes that you may have.
• Autoplay – this will let you set a timer so that once you begin the presentation on Canva, slides will change after the chosen time (in seconds) automatically.

4. Once you selected a form of presentation, click on the Present button to begin.

Have you heard of Adobe Spark? We did an in-depth comparison between Canva and Spark . Find out who won and why.

Give Canva Presentation on Mobile

If you are working remotely or traveling and don’t have your laptop on you, Canva allows you to give presentations directly from mobile.

By Sharing Presentation Link

Open the Canva app and go to the Projects tab. Now open the presentation and then select the Presentation menu (TV icon).

If you are casting your mobile screen on a bigger screen, this will work beautifully.

Using Phone as Remote to Give Presentations

This is one neat trick up Canva’s sleeve. You would have noticed how presenters on stage have a small remote in their hands that they use to change slides. You don’t need anything but your smartphone to give presentations saved on Canva now. And it is quite easy.

1. Open the presentation on your web or mobile Canva app. Here we are using the web app. Click on the Present button to begin the presentation.

2. Select an option depending on how you want to present. We discussed the three options above. Now click on Present button.

3. Once the presentation begins, click on the meatballs menu (three-dot icons) at the bottom right corner of the screen and select Share remote control option.

4. Either scan the QR code or Copy the link and paste it on your mobile browser. Any browser will do.

5. You can now control the presentation and slide movements right from your mobile browser. Here is how it looks. Tap on the left or right button to move slides.

Presenting, Canva!

Canva not only makes creating presentations easy thanks to the wide variety or free and paid templates, but it also offers intuitive ways to present your slides. But that’s not all that Canva can do. We use Canva to create featured images, resize images , make background transparent , and so much more.

Gaurav Bidasaria

Gaurav is an editor here at TechWiser but also contributes as a writer. He has more than 10 years of experience as a writer and has written how-to guides, comparisons, listicles, and in-depth explainers on Windows, Android, web, and cloud apps, and the Apple ecosystem. He loves tinkering with new gadgets and learning about new happenings in the tech world. He has previously worked on Guiding Tech, Make Tech Easier, and other prominent tech blogs and has over 1000+ articles that have been read over 50 million times.

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Upload and share video in Canvas with Kaltura

On this page:

Upload videos to My Media

Publish videos to the media gallery in bulk, enable and disable comments and moderation, add video from my media to the media gallery, upload videos directly to the media gallery, approve pending uploads in moderated galleries.

• Organize content in Canvas with channel playlists

Use the Embed Kaltura Media tool in the Canvas Rich Content Editor

Kaltura 's integration with Canvas consists of three primary tools that make it possible to upload and share video, audio, and image files within any Canvas class:

• My Media is a searchable repository for viewing and managing your personal media content.
• Media Gallery is a searchable gallery of media content assigned to one or more courses.
• Embed Kaltura Media is a tool in the Canvas Rich Content Editor for embedding Kaltura content wherever the editor is available.

For more, see the Kaltura Video App for Canvas User Guide .

Use My Media

Your My Media repository gives you direct access to your personal media collection, including both unpublished and published content. When you upload content to My Media, you can then publish it to multiple classes at once or embed it within the Canvas Rich Content Editor (RCE) .

To upload a video to My Media:

In the Canvas global navigation menu, choose Kaltura: My Media .

If prompted to authorize Canvas to access your Kaltura account, choose Authorize .

• On the "My Media" screen, open the Add New menu and select Media Upload .
• Select Choose a File to Upload , locate the file on your computer, and then select it. Kaltura will display a green progress bar as the file uploads.
• On the "Upload Media" page, confirm or update the display name ("Name") for the uploaded field and optionally enter a description and tags.
• Choose Save .
• By default, the video is private and can only be viewed by you. To publish to the Media Gallery in one or more Canvas courses, choose Published . Kaltura will show a list of courses you are enrolled in. Check the desired classes and choose Save .

Your My Media repository provides access to the video, audio, and image files you've uploaded to Kaltura via the tools in Canvas, as well as the Kaltura web application, MediaSpace. In My Media, you can select multiple files and publish all of them to the Media Gallery in one or more classes.

To publish in bulk:

• On the "My Media" screen, use the sort, filter, and search options at the top to locate the items you want to publish.
• For each item you want to publish, check the box to the left of the thumbnail to select it. After selecting all the items you want to publish, open the Actions menu and choose Publish .
• Kaltura will show you a list of courses you are enrolled in. Check the desired classes and choose Save . The files will now appear in the Media Gallery for the courses you selected. Note: If you select many courses, files belonging to courses that appear later in the alphabet may not be published to the My Media gallery.

Use the Media Gallery

Every course site in Canvas has its own Media Gallery. Anyone in the class can upload and/or publish files to the Media Gallery, as well as add comments to files. If needed, instructors can disable commenting and turn on a moderation feature, which then requires files to be approved by an instructor before they are visible to the entire class.

To enable or disable comments and/or moderation:

• In the course navigation menu of your Canvas course, choose Kaltura: Media Gallery . Note: If Kaltura: Media Gallery is not available in the course navigation menu, an instructor will need to add it via Settings > Navigation . For more, see How do I manage Course Navigation links?
• On the "Media Gallery" screen, open the Actions menu and choose Edit .
• On the "Edit Media Gallery" screen, check the boxes in the "Options" section to enable moderation ( Moderate content... ) and/or comments ( Enable comments... ).

You can add any media that you've uploaded to My Media to a course Media Gallery. To add media to the Media Gallery:

• On the "Media Gallery" screen, choose Add Media .
• On the "Add Media" screen, use the sort, filter, and search options at the top of the screen to locate the item(s) you want to add to the current gallery.

A blue progress bar will display. When all items have been added, you will be returned to the main "Media Gallery" page.

To upload videos directly to a course Media Gallery:

• In the course navigation menu of your Canvas course, choose Kaltura: Media Gallery . Note: If the Kaltura: Media Gallery is not available in the course navigation menu, an instructor will need to add it via Settings > Navigation . For more, see How do I manage Course Navigation links?
• On the "Add Media" screen, open the Add New menu and choose Media Upload .

If moderation is enabled in your Media Gallery, student contributions to the Gallery must be approved by an instructor or TA. To approve pending files:

• On the moderation page, select each thumbnail to view the file. Choose Approve to add the file to the Media Gallery or Reject to reject and remove it. You can also remove or reject files in bulk by checking the boxes to the left of each thumbnail and then choosing Approve or Reject at the top of the screen.

You can embed Kaltura video, audio, and image files in any Canvas tool that uses the Rich Content Editor, such as Pages, Assignments, Quizzes, and so on.

To embed a Kaltura file:

• In Canvas, open the tool and item where you want to embed the Kaltura media.
• Place your cursor where you want the embedded file to appear.

• To select from My Media, choose My Media at the upper left, locate the item from the list, open the Select menu next to the item, and select the desired size for the embedded object.
• To select from the class Media Gallery, choose Media Gallery at the upper left, locate the item from the list, open the Select menu next to the item, and select the desired size for the embedded object.
• Open the Add New menu and select Media Upload .
• Choose Back to browse and embed .
• Locate the file you just uploaded in My Media. It should be at the top of the list.
• Open the Select menu next to the item, and select the desired size for the embedded object.
• You'll be returned to the editor and a preview of your file will appear. Note: The size of the preview may not be indicative of the size of the video once the content has been saved.
• If you wish, continue to edit the page. Remember to save or submit it when you are finished.

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This is document aoor in the Knowledge Base. Last modified on 2024-05-08 14:25:33 .

Home Blog Design How to Use Canva and PowerPoint for Presentations

How to Use Canva and PowerPoint for Presentations

Creating the perfect presentation design is a challenge that speakers often aim to achieve, only to find themselves lacking graphic design knowledge. Although high-tier options like Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator help users worldwide to put their ideas into pixels, the reality is they are not user-friendly interfaces for people outside the graphic design industry, namely business professionals, marketers, and educators. Hence, the need to find an alternative for making powerful graphics to use in our presentations – and here’s where Canva comes into the picture.

This web-based graphic design tool has quickly become the preferred choice of teachers, social media influencers, and small business owners due to its free-tier plans and pro plans at a convenient subscription-based fee. 

In this article, we will see how to use Canva presentation in PowerPoint and how to export Canva to PPT, to create visually appealing presentations.

Table of Contents

Canva vs. Microsoft PowerPoint: Pros and Cons for Presenters

Designing with canva, how to export a canva presentation to powerpoint, how to use canva-made graphics in powerpoint, final words.

Although presenters often see Canva as an alternative to PowerPoint, the reality is that they differ in one single aspect: Canva is a graphic design tool, whereas PowerPoint is a presentation design software. Some of the tools available in PowerPoint are not there in Canva, and vice versa.

Going into more technical aspects, here are the Pros and Cons of working with either software as a presenter.

Pros of Canva as a Presentation Tool

User-friendly interface.

Canva’s drag-and-drop feature makes it easy for non-designers to create presentations by using its library of shapes, graphics, text styles, and other resources.

Wide Range of Templates

It offers a vast library of Canva templates, which can be easily customized in their online editor, saving time on design. There’s a con associated with this point, which we shall discuss later.

Magic Studio for Canva was released mid-Q3 this year with the idea of powering designs with AI tools. This tool is available in Canva search features and in the editor at the bottom right corner, which features the list options:

• AI text generation
• Suggested graphics to match your design
• Suggested photos to match your design

Collaboration Feature

Allows multiple users to simultaneously work on the same presentation, which is great for small team projects. Compared with PowerPoint, it does not require all users to be Premium to collaborate online.

Web-Based Platform

Being an online platform, it allows users to work from any device with Internet access without needing software installation. This particularly helps users with legacy computers who cannot install current versions of Microsoft Office. 

Integrated Stock Library

Provides access to a broad selection of stock photos, illustrations, and icons within the platform. Just like with the Canva templates, there’s also a con to this point.

Customization Options

Users can upload images and fonts, enabling brand consistency across presentations. Note: The upload fonts feature is only available for Canva Pro users.

Photo Editing and Animation Features

Canva lets users tweak their graphics with simple-to-use controls. These options help us to adjust opacity, apply photo filters, add animation effects, add bevels and shadows, and more.

Cross-Platform Compatibility

Can export presentations to various formats (as a PDF document, as a video presentation in MP4 format, or even as images), making them viewable on different devices and platforms. The export options allow us to post directly into social media, create printables, post to the web, etc. While some export formats require an upgrade to a Canva Pro subscription (like the ability to export to SVG format), the basic export features are enough for simple presentations and beginners.

Cons of Canva as a Presentation Tool

Limited offline functionality.

Requires an internet connection for full functionality, which can be a limitation in areas with poor connectivity, for business people working on an airline flight, while using Airplane mode, or for people traveling in other zones without Internet access.

Fewer Animation and Transition Options

Unlike PowerPoint, the available options for animations and transitions are limited. Users can find this reiterative, which may be unappealing to using these effects in our presentations. 

Premium Content

Although the Canva library is extensive in terms of assets, the reality is that most of these elements are only available for premium users. This applies to templates, shapes, images (mostly), and exporting options. Resizing the graphics you create in Canva to repurpose your design is only available to premium users.

Template Overuse

Popular templates can be overused, making presentations look similar to many others. This is of particular interest to business professionals, as people tend to easily associate some designs as being made with Canva.

Design Decisions

Unlike using a PowerPoint template , you have to work your way with Canva content, as the PPT templates tend to be quite generic and do not offer tools for data representation. Consequently, you have to know how and where to introduce those elements on your own rather than working with a presentation template that already assigned the space for such graphics.

Lack of Advanced Multimedia Integration

Integrating complex multimedia elements like videos is not as seamless as in some desktop applications. You won’t find options to link to source elements; you need to upload the content to your personal Canva library and manually add the resource to the slide. Presenters can also lose third-party integrations via plugins for some multimedia resources.

Pros of PowerPoint as a Presentation Tool

Widespread use and familiarity.

PowerPoint is the leading market tool for presentations, making most audiences and presenters are familiar with it at a basic operational level. This can help us to outsource technical issues quickly rather than aiming to use web-based interfaces to share Canva-created content.

Offline Access

PowerPoint can be used offline, which is ideal for people traveling, areas where the Internet connection is unreliable, or simply because we want to focus on creating the slides rather than facing distractions via the Internet.

Integration with Other Microsoft Office Tools

Seamlessly integrates with other Microsoft products like Excel and Word, making it easy to import data and documents. This is ideal for creating complex graphics for data representation, where the content can be synced, importing databases, working with Gantt Charts in software like Microsoft Project, and more.

Also, Microsoft PowerPoint has the same text editing capabilities as Microsoft Word – a striking contrast with Canva’s limited features.

Templates and Design Options

This is PowerPoint’s forte: the capability of using third-party presentation templates, like the ones provided by SlideModel . Users can buy pre-designed slide decks from professional vendors and ease the need to make design-related decisions. On top of that, Microsoft already includes some basic templates with its 365 subscription.

Advanced Features

Offers a broad range of features, including detailed animations and transitions, which can enhance presentations. For example, the ability to work with SVG graphics allows presentation designers to make pixel-perfect presentations without losing image quality. This is available to all users, unlike Canva, which requires a subscription to unlock certain elements.

Multimedia Capabilities

Supports embedding of various multimedia elements like audio, video, and images directly into presentations. You can use hyperlinks to embed content or work with third-party plugins for specific tasks.

Extensive Support and Resources

As a long-established tool, users can find tutorials everywhere, support communities, and additional resources available online.

Cons of PowerPoint for Presenters

Some features can be complex to use, and the interface may be overwhelming for new users. In particular, this is linked to editing PowerPoint Shapes and graphs, working with Slide Master , applying advanced animation effects and so on.

Unlike Canva or Google Slides, PowerPoint requires purchasing Office 365 or a standalone license.

Heavy Files

PowerPoint files, especially those with multimedia content, can become large and difficult to share via email. As a side effect, those heavy files can be complicated to handle in computers that lack sufficient RAM and processing power. Moreover, they require significant free disk space on your PC.

Time-Consuming

Creating a high-quality presentation with custom animations and graphics can be time-consuming. That’s the reason why we highly recommend users work their way with PowerPoint templates, and mix and match designs to create a unique slide deck .

Learning Curve

Users need to invest time in learning the software to fully utilize its advanced features. This applies to both acquiring the knowledge and practicing the skills you learned. And still, for some users, it feels frustrating not to achieve results relatively quickly. 

In this section, we will learn how to use Canva to create graphics for a product presentation. The idea is to create placeholder graphics containing images of a product; then, we will export that content to continue creating our presentation in PowerPoint.

After creating our Canva account, we find ourselves at the Home screen. Go to Templates, and you will see something similar to this UI. 

We can go straight to the Presentations (16:9) option or use the search bar to locate the template we want. In this case, we will opt for that scenario and search “Product.”

The images that show a little crown at the low right corner are premium templates, which means we cannot use them with a free account. We will pick a template that fits the needs of our presentation by clicking over it. At the contextual window that opens, select Customize this template .

The Canva builder may take a bit to load, especially if your internet connection is slow. You will find yourself with a window like this one, opened at the Design tab, which offers alternatives for other templates similar to the one you chose.

The Styles tab allows us to quickly change the layout, altering color themes and fonts. Sometimes, that can suit our needs immediately; sometimes, it requires extra work to customize to our preferences.

We can click on any element in this design and customize its content. Depending on the element type, the options are available for us. For this presentation, we will change the text and images, and alter font color at the button to make it stand out.

Next, it’s time to replace the images. We can drag and drop the image into Canva, or we can go to the Uploads button and add the content from there.

In this case, we’re using DALL-E-generated images for this product presentation, you can also use illustrations, photos, videos, or Midjourney illustrations . Once the images are uploaded, drag and drop them to replace the images in the placeholder areas. To complete this design, we removed the shape that came with the template – you can add a new shape by going to Elements > Graphics .

Learning how to use Canva for PowerPoint is pretty straightforward. Download your Canva design as a PowerPoint presentation, which you can do by accessing your design and going to the top-right corner to locate the button Share . Click on it, and then click on Download .

Under File Type , we will select PPTX , as it’s PowerPoint’s native format. Click on Download , and wait for the process of downloading the file to be completed. Depending on the graphic assets included, it can take a while.

At this point, don’t be surprised if you’ll be prompted to upgrade your Canva plan (if you don’t have a premium account). The reason is that Canva will charge you for exporting what they call premium graphics, and since most of the Canva presentation templates use premium graphics, this will be a limitation when exporting your Canva slides to PowerPoint. 

A simple workaround is removing the premium graphics before exporting from Canva to PowerPoint. Although, take in mind this may affect the overall design of your presentation.

As you can see below, the PowerPoint file is entirely editable. Something to consider is that unless you have the font installed on your computer, PowerPoint will reassign to a generic font.

Remember the design we created before? Well, it’s time to use that image as part of a marketing deck presentation , which will represent a social media post to be used by the marketing team to promote the brand.

The first step is to download the design we created as PNG. We can close Canva after that.

We opened our PPT template, which is the Annual Marketing Plan PowerPoint Template , and customized the PowerPoint theme colors . Go to Insert > Pictures > This Device .

Select the image we created in Canva and upload it here. We will add some image shadow effects via Shape Format, and a textbox below that describes what the image is about.

And that’s how easily we can use graphics from Canva in our PowerPoint presentations. Remember, it’s best to work with PNG images rather than JPG to reduce file size and preserve image quality.

You can invite others to collaborate on your design by sharing a link to the editable design or by adding them via email as team members on your Canva account.

Canva uses standard cloud storage security measures to protect your data, but like any online platform, it’s important to use a strong password and follow good security practices.

There are two methods for this. You can upload a PPT template into Canva via the Canva Homepage by clicking on Projects , and then go to the Uploads folder. Drag and drop or click on Upload, as we’ve seen before. Once imported, you must click on that file to open it in the Canva editor. The second method is on the editor: go to the Uploads button and upload your PPT file as if it were an image or another media asset.

Yes, you can use SlideModel presentation templates in Canva. As a SlideModel subscriber, you can download .pptx files to import into Canva presentations. This way, you can enjoy the creative slide templates and graphics provided by SlideModel in your Canva presentations

Unfortunately, no, as Canva doesn’t have the same toolset to enable editing functions. That also applies to changing color, so we highly recommend you work with a final PPT file before switching to Canva.

Objects like charts, SmartArt, 3D objects, and WordArt aren’t supported in Canva and won’t be rendered if you upload a slide that contains them.

Yes, all users can download Canva presentations to PPTX format. In case the original Canva design isn’t a presentation file, like a banner or social media post, you won’t be able to resize for that output unless you have a premium account.

Yes, the file must be smaller than 70 MB, and you can import up to 300 slides.

Canva and PowerPoint can collaborate as complementary tools to help presenters overcome the limitations of each individual tool. It takes a while to create your desired workflow, but once that’s accomplished, you can elevate the quality of your PowerPoint or Google Slides presentations with Canva. 

We don’t advise using Canva as an alternative to PowerPoint as the current state-of-the-art indicates it won’t support data representation or other PowerPoint stellar tools that make part of most PPT templates. 

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Design, Microsoft PowerPoint Filed under Design

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