Adding text in Canva means clicking the Text tab in the left panel, then clicking Add a text box or picking a font combination from the preset list. The text box appears on the canvas with placeholder content. Click inside it and type. That is the whole operation: no hidden menu, no shortcut required.
The top toolbar changes when a text box is selected. Every formatting control lives there: font dropdown, size slider, color picker, alignment buttons, bold/italic/underline toggles, case button, spacing controls, and the Effects button. You do not need to open a separate panel for most changes. The steps here mirror the workflow a user follows: font family first, then size, then color.
Adding a text box and typing content
Open the Text tab on the left side of the Canva editor. The tab includes preset font combinations and a plain Add a text box button. Click either to place a new text element on the canvas. The text box appears with sample text selected. Type immediately to replace it.
Canva does not limit the number of text boxes on a single design. Each box remains independent until you group or layer it with other elements. To move a text box, click and drag it anywhere on the canvas. To resize it, drag any corner handle. The text inside reflows automatically as the box width changes.
A title and a subtitle should live in separate text boxes. That way you can format each independently without affecting the other.
Changing font, size, color, and alignment
Picking a font
Highlight the text you want to change. In the top toolbar, click the font dropdown to see the list of available typefaces. Scroll or type a name to find a specific one. Fonts are grouped by style: sans serif, serif, script, display, and handwritten.
Adjusting size
Highlight the text and click the font size number in the toolbar. Drag the slider up or down, or type a specific number. The preview updates in real time. For fine control, type a value that does not appear on the slider, such as 37.
Setting color
Text color changes by highlighting the text and clicking the A icon with a color bar underneath it. The color picker opens with the current palette. Click a swatch to apply it, or paste a hex code for a precise brand color. Canva remembers the last several colors you used and shows them at the top of the picker.
Aligning text
Alignment options sit next to the color picker in the toolbar. Left, center, right, and justify are each one click. The alignment applies to all text inside the selected text box, not just the highlighted portion.
Using text effects: shadow, curve, and more
Applying an effect
Highlight the text and click the Effects button in the top toolbar. As of 2025, Canva offers Shadow, Lift, Hollow, Splice, Echo, Glitch, Curve, Neon, and Background. The effect applies immediately and can be adjusted with sliders that appear below the effect name.
Curving text
The Curve effect bends text along a circular path. Drag the slider to increase or decrease the curvature. At the far left the text is straight. As you move right, the arc tightens until the text forms a near-circle. Use a mild curve for badges and logos, a tighter curve for circular stamps or round labels.
Controlling spacing
Letter spacing and line spacing live behind the Spacing button in the top toolbar. Click it to reveal two sliders: one for character spacing and one for line height. Widening letter spacing makes text easier to read at small sizes and is common on modern title treatments. Tightening it can fit more words into a fixed-width container.
Duplicating and deleting text elements
Duplicating a text box
Select a text element and press Ctrl+D on Windows or Cmd+D on Mac. Canva places the copy slightly offset from the source so you can see both. Alternatively, hold the Alt key (Option on Mac) and drag the text box. The source stays in place while a copy moves with your cursor.
Duplication is faster than copying and pasting when you want to keep formatting intact. The duplicate inherits every property: font, size, color, effects, spacing, and alignment. Change the copy and you preserve the source as a reference.
Deleting a text box
To delete a text element, select it and press the Delete or Backspace key. Canva does not ask for confirmation. If you delete the wrong box, use Ctrl+Z or Cmd+Z to undo. The undo history goes back dozens of actions, so a mistaken deletion is not permanent.
Rotating and transforming text
Rotating text
Select the text box. A rotation handle appears above the top-center resize handle. It looks like a circular arrow. Drag it left or right to rotate the text. Hold the Shift key while dragging to snap the rotation to 45-degree increments. This makes it easy to set text at 0, 45, or 90 degrees without guessing.
To reset rotation, double-click the rotation handle or set the angle to 0 in the position panel if it is open. The bounding box rotates with the text, so resize handles remain aligned to the rotated orientation, not the original axis.
Styling with bold, italic, and case
Bold, italic, and underline are available as B, I, and U buttons in the toolbar. These work on highlighted text only, not the entire box. The case button, labeled with an uppercase A icon, toggles the selected text to all uppercase and back. This is useful for headlines and section labels where consistent capitalization matters.
Setting a default font for new text
Using the Brand Kit
Canva Pro and Canva for Teams subscribers can set a typeface that every new text box inherits. Open the Brand Kit tab in the left panel. Navigate to the Brand Fonts section. Assign a font to Headlines and another to Paragraphs. After saving, any new text box you add will use these typefaces instead of Canva's standard choices.
This feature is gated. Free accounts do not see the Brand Fonts section. As of mid-2024, the Brand Kit required a paid plan. Plan names and feature availability may have changed since then, but the mechanism has not: a paid account sets brand fonts, a free account uses Canva's built-in selections.
Overriding the default
Setting a default eliminates the repetitive step of changing the font family on every new text box. For teams producing on-brand materials, it also prevents someone from accidentally using a brand-inappropriate typeface. The Brand Kit does not lock font choices. Users can still override the predefined selection for individual text boxes by highlighting text and picking a different font from the dropdown.
