Canva

Canva designs come into Living Page as a PDF, on every plan. The download takes a minute; the settings below are the difference between a crisp, clickable document and a flat picture of one.

Download the PDF

In your design, click Share → Download.
Set File type to PDF.
Choose the preset:
- Digital (called PDF Standard in older versions of Canva) for a smaller file. Canva exports images at 96 dpi with this preset.
- Print (PDF Print in older versions) for sharper photos. Canva exports at 300 dpi, so the file is much bigger.
Choose All pages.
Open Advanced Settings and make sure Flatten PDF is off.
Click Download.

Which preset? Start with Digital. If photos look soft when you zoom in, download again with Print, and leave crop marks and bleed off (see below). Anything over 50 MB needs the size guide.

Crop marks and bleed

These are for a printer. On screen, crop marks show up as lines in the corners of every page, and bleed puts a strip of background around the edge. Leave both off when downloading for Living Page. If you already have a print file with them, download again without.

Links

Canva keeps links in a PDF download, as long as it isn’t flattened. One known exception from Canva’s help: links on text with the Lift or Neon effect don’t work in downloaded PDFs. Remove the effect from linked text, or draw the link in Living Page instead (paid plans).

Click a link in the downloaded PDF before uploading. If it opens there, it will work in the reader.

Multi-page designs and spreads

Each page of your Canva design becomes one page in Living Page, and the reader pairs them into spreads itself, so design single pages, not two-page spreads. If you designed a brochure as wide spreads, see Spreads vs single pages.

Make page 1 the front cover. It always shows alone, like a book.