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How Do I Rearrange in Canva?

Published in Canva Design Organization 4 mins read

Rearranging content in Canva is intuitive and primarily relies on drag and drop functionality, allowing you to easily organize pages, elements, and layers within your designs. Whether you're restructuring a multi-page document or fine-tuning the layout of a single design, Canva offers straightforward methods for efficient rearrangement.

Rearranging Pages in Canva

One of the most common rearrangement tasks is organizing the order of your design pages. This is particularly useful for presentations, multi-page documents, or reports.

To rearrange pages, simply drag and drop them.

Here's how to do it:

  • Access Page View:
    • Click on the "Grid view" icon (four squares) located at the bottom-right corner of the Canva editor. This will display all your design pages as thumbnails.
    • Alternatively, you can scroll through your pages and rearrange them directly if your design has fewer pages.
  • Drag and Drop: Once in grid view, click and hold on the page thumbnail you wish to move.
  • Reposition: Drag the page to its desired new position. A blue line will indicate where the page will be inserted.
  • Release: Release your mouse button, and the page will snap into its new order.

Practical Tips for Page Management

  • Duplicating Pages: In grid view, hover over a page thumbnail and click the duplicate icon to create a copy, which can then be rearranged.
  • Deleting Pages: Use the trash can icon in grid view to remove unwanted pages before finalizing your order.

Rearranging Elements on a Page

Beyond pages, you'll frequently need to rearrange individual elements within a single design page, such as text boxes, images, shapes, or icons.

  • Select the Element: Click on the element you wish to move. A bounding box will appear around it.
  • Drag and Drop: Click and hold inside the bounding box, then drag the element to its new position on the canvas.
  • Fine Adjustments: For precise movements, select the element and use your keyboard's arrow keys to nudge it incrementally.

Rearranging Layers (Ordering Elements)

Canva designs are built with layers, meaning elements are stacked on top of each other. Rearranging layers involves changing this stacking order (e.g., bringing an image in front of a text box or sending a background element behind everything else).

Using the Position Tool

  1. Select an Element: Click on the element whose layer order you want to change.
  2. Access Position: Click the "Position" button in the editor toolbar, usually found near the top right.
  3. Choose Layering Option:
    • Bring Forward: Moves the selected element one layer up.
    • Bring to Front: Moves the selected element to the very top layer.
    • Send Backward: Moves the selected element one layer down.
    • Send to Back: Moves the selected element to the very bottom layer.

Example Scenarios

Rearrangement Type Action When to Use
Pages Drag and drop in Grid View. Reordering slides in a presentation, sections in a report.
Elements on Page Select and drag; use arrow keys for fine-tuning. Adjusting the layout of text, images, and graphics.
Layers (Position) Select element, click "Position," choose Send/Bring. Ensuring text is visible over an image, placing elements behind others.

Tips for Efficient Layering

  • Selecting Overlapping Elements: If elements are heavily overlapped, you can often right-click an area and choose "Select layer" or repeatedly click to cycle through overlapping elements.
  • Grouping Elements: Group related elements (select multiple, then click "Group" in the toolbar) so they move and rearrange together as one unit. This prevents elements from getting out of sync.
  • Alignment Tools: Within the "Position" menu, you'll also find alignment tools (e.g., "Align to page," "Tidy up") which can help automatically distribute and align selected elements for a cleaner look after rearranging.

By mastering these simple rearrangement techniques, you can maintain a highly organized and polished design workflow in Canva.