Something's not working - Saving

There may be several reasons why your design fails to save, here are some of the things you need to check first:

Internet Connectivity

If you are working on a design and the connection to your local network is lost, you may receive a “Saving has stalled” error message. It could also occur when you have uploaded a large image and attempted to add it to your design.

To help you resolve this, try refreshing your page to remove the error. However, to ensure that any work you have created on your design is not lost before refreshing, please follow the steps below:

1. Copy (Command/Control C) and paste (Command/Control V) any text written in the last 30 seconds to your clipboard.
2. Click the Reload this design button.
3. Edit your design again and force save by going to File and click on Save. This manually saves the design as it appears.
4. Ensure it reads “All changes saved” before re-downloading your design.

In most cases when saving has stalled, you may be unable to retrieve the current file as-is. Unfortunately there is no way to recover any unsaved edits on a design.

Hidden elements outside the canvas in the editor

The design may stall if there is an element outside of the document’s border. If you have previously tried deleting an element by dragging it out of the page, it is possible that the element was not completely deleted.

There are 2 ways you can do to find the hidden element:

1. Try zooming out your page by clicking on the (-) button on the lower right-hand corner of your page, then press CTRL or CMD + A to select all the elements in the design including the hidden ones. Once you find the hidden element, click on it and delete by clicking the Trash bin icon.
2. Try zooming out your page by clicking on the (-) button on the lower right-hand corner of your page, then drag your cursor over the whole document. Once you find the hidden element, select it and use the Trash bin icon to delete it.

Design title exceeds 255 characters

Canva has a limit of 255 characters on the design titles. Exceeding the allowed characters may result to a “Saving has stalled” error.

To avoid this saving error, please make sure to rename your design with a shorter title before reloading. To do this, simple click on the existing title and enter the new one. Click Done to save the changes.

If you have downloaded your design but the latest changes were not retained, it may mean you have logged out or closed your browser while your design was still saving.

Ensure you wait for any changes in your design to be completely saved before closing your browser or making other changes to your design. If saving doesn’t complete, it may mean there was an ongoing issue in Canva. You can check the status of the Canva website for any service interruption, by visiting the Canva status page.

If you are unsure if your design has save prior to downloading or closing your browser, you can force save your design by going to File and clicking on Save.

To ensure your designs are saving, try the following steps below:

1. Check to see the “All changes saved” option appears.

Canva will automatically save your design every few seconds. You’ll know Canva has successfully saved your design when you see the “All changes saved” message appears in the upper left-hand corner of the screen.

2. Logout then log back in.

Go back to your home page, sign out and then log back in to see if the changes have been made to your current design.

If recent edits to your design do not appear, try editing the design again and manually save it by going to File and clicking on Save.

A design may be overwritten when you accidentally click on a layout while working on an active page of a design. This will instantly replace the layout that is currently on that page.

In effect, it overwrites the design that you are working on. To revert back to the previous version of your design:

1. Click the Undo button on the upper left hand side of your editor page or
2. Press Command/CTRL + Z on your keyboard

However, the Undo button will only work if you haven’t closed the design. If you have exited the editor page or refreshed it, all changes to your design will be permanent. At this stage, there is no way to retrieve overwritten designs in Canva.

If your designs are missing from the “All your designs” page in Canva, there may be several possible reasons why you can’t find any of your designs:

• You accidentally created a new account
• You have more than one Canva team
• You are on the wrong team
• You have created a design from the beginners challenge page
• You have deleted a design from the All your designs page

Accidentally created a new account

You may have accidentally created a new account using a different email address by clicking on Sign up from the login page instead of Log in. When you open the All your designs page, you find it empty and assume all your designs are missing in your account.

To find your missing designs, check if you have logged in with the correct email address:

1. Toggle on the account button (a small drop down menu arrow beside your profile name)
2. Click on Account settings.
3. Check your email address under Personal information.

If you have created a duplicate account, you can delete the account by clicking on the red deactivate button at the bottom of the Account Info page.

You have more than one Canva account

Having more than one Canva account might mean you created the design you are looking for in another account. To find your designs, try logging in to your other Canva accounts and check the All your designs page.

You are on the wrong brand or team

If you have a Canva for Work account with multiple brands and you are unable to see your designs, this could mean you are on the wrong brand or team.

To toggle between different teams or brands:

1. Click on the account button, a small drop down menu arrow beside your profile name.Your different brands will appear.
2. Click on the brand you would like to access.
3. Check the All your designs page to see your designs.

You have deleted your design from the All your designs page

You can easily organize your designs by moving them into folders. However, the designs will still be visible in the All your designs page. Deleting your designs from the All your designs page will also delete them from the design folder.

To find deleted designs, simply click on the Trash icon on the left hand side of the menu panel of your homepage.

There may be instances when your design thumbnails aren’t showing in the All your designs page. This may occur when the file size of your design is too large or if your internet connection is spotty.

Thumbnails can take up to 10 minutes to generate on the All your designs page. Please refresh your page after 10 minutes to see the changes to your thumbnails or simply click on it to continue editing.

If the design preview still doesn’t appear, you can try any of the following:

1. Refresh your page by logging out of your account then log back in.
2. Make a copy or duplicate your design and refresh your page.
3. Share your design via email to a personal address then refresh your homepage.
4. Change the design title and save it manually by clicking on File then Save. Refresh the page.
5. Switch your design to Public with the Showing button in the upper right hand corner of your page. Refresh the page.

For tip number 5, you can switch your design back to Private afterwards if you want to keep it private.