Need help? - Saving

There may be several reasons why a design fails to save. Here are some of the things you need to check first:

Internet Connectivity

When working on a design and the connection to a local network is lost, you may receive a “Saving has stalled” error message. It could also occur when there’s a large uploaded image added to a design.

Ensure the internet connection is stable. Refreshing the page should remove the error. Double check that any changes to designs are not lost before doing so. You can do this by following 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 the design again and force save by going to File then click 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 an element was deleted by dragging it out of the page, it’s possible that the element didn’t completely delete.

There are two ways to find the hidden element:

1. Try zooming out the page by clicking on the (-) button from the lower right corner of the page, then press Control /Command + A to select all the elements in the design including the hidden ones. Once the hidden element is found, click on it and delete by clicking the Trash icon.
2. Try zooming out of the page by clicking on the (-) button from the lower right corner of the page, then drag your cursor over the whole document. Once the hidden element is found, select it and use the Trash icon to delete it.

If the downloaded design’s latest changes were not saved, it may mean the account was logged out or the browser was closed while the design was still saving.

Be sure to wait for any changes in the design to be completely saved before closing the browser or making any further changes. If saving doesn’t complete, it may mean there was an ongoing issue in Canva. Check the status of the Canva website for any service interruption, by visiting the Canva status page.

If unsure the design saved prior to downloading or closing the browser, you can force save it by going to File and clicking on Save.

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

1. Check to see the “All changes saved” option appears.
   Canva will automatically save the design every few seconds. You’ll know Canva has successfully saved a design when the “All changes saved” message appears in the upper left corner of the screen.
   
2. Log out then log back in.
   Go back to the homepage, sign out and then log back in to see if the changes have been made to your current design.

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

There may be instances when design thumbnails aren’t showing in the All your designs page. This may occur when the file size of a design is too large or if the internet connection is spotty. Don’t worry though, you can still edit and download designs even though thumbnails aren’t updating.

Thumbnails can take up to 10 minutes to generate on the All your designs page. Refresh your page after 10 minutes to see the changes to your thumbnails.

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

1. Refresh the page by logging out of the account then log back in.
2. Make a copy or duplicate a design and refresh the page.
3. Share the 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 the design to Public with the Showing button in the upper right corner of the editor. Refresh the page.

For tip number 5, you can switch your design back to Private afterward if you’d like to limit access later.