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Canva has two similar features grids and frames that you can use to create your designs. A grid is a type of frame, but not all frames are considered grids. In this guide I will show you how to use the grids feature in Canva.
What is a Grid in Canva?
A grid acts as a placeholder for an image or color. You can easily add an image to a grid and the image will take the shape of the grid or frame. With grids and frames you can also add a color instead of an image.
How to add a grid to your design
Select the elements tab from the left hand menu and type in “Grid” in the search bar. Canva will display their grid options. The first option is a basic grid which is a rectangle. When you click on it, it will fill the space of your canvas as the background layer. You can also click and drag to add it as a rectangle which you can easily resize and change the proportions.
How to add an image to your grid
After you have positioned the grid in your design you can add an image to it. In the elements tab search for an image. When you click on an image it will be added to your canvas, but not automatically added to your grid. In order to have it added to your grid click on the image and drag it over your grid.
Double click on the image in your grid which will bring up the transform controls where you can zoom in or out and reposition the image. Just click on “Done” once you have your image positioned where you want it.
You can use full images or images with a transparent background. When you add an image with a transparent background behind the image will show your current background color.
Deleting your image from the grid
If you decide that you want a different image you can easily select a new image and just drag and drop it over the grid. The new image will replace the old image in the grid.
If you want to delete the image and leave the grid as a placeholder click on the trash icon which will give you the option to delete image or delete grid. In this case you would want to leave the grid and just delete the image.
Also if you click on the image in the grid and hit the delete key (mac) or backspace key (PC) it will delete the image out of the grid.
Adding a color to your grid
With grids you don’t have to just use an image you can also select a color. In the top part of the canvas you will see the color picker icon. Click and select your color and it will be added to your grid.
Note: once you add a color to a grid and you hit the delete button it will just delete the object. You do not have the option to remove the color and leave the grid in place.
Adding a video to your grid
With grids you can also add a video. When you click on the video in the grid it will bring up the video settings in the top menu so you can adjust the time and other elements of your video. If you want to delete the video click on the trash icon and it will give you the option to delete video or delete grid.
Layout grid options
I commonly just use the single grid, but there are many different layout grids to choose from. With the layout grids you can add multiple images to the different grid frames. In the top menu when you click on “Spacing” you can adjust how much negative space is between each grid and whether you want the grids to be closer or further away from each other.
Using frames in Canva
Grids are a special type of frame, but you can also find frames in different shapes that behave similarly to grids. In the left hand menu under elements search for “Frame” to find more options.
One of my favorite frames to use is the computer mock up frame. This is good if you are promoting a course or training.
I have put together a free Canva template that contains some of my favorite Canva frames. One downfall to Canva is sometimes it is not the easiest to find a specific element you are looking for. Especially if you don’t know the right keyword to search. I bookmark this document and will bring it up if I want to use a specific frame that I like. Just click to copy the frame (Cmd/Ctrl + C) and then paste it into your new document (Cmd/Ctrl + V).
Check out these other tutorials on Canva:
