How to Upload Fonts to Canva {+ Video}

In this post, you’re going to master Canva Fonts.

Specifically, you’ll learn:

• Why your font choice matters.
• Where to find free (and paid) fonts.
• How to download fonts to your computer.
• How to Upload your fonts to Canva.
• How to Test Your New Canva Fonts.

So fire up that computer.

It’s time to get your font on.

Too Busy to Read?

Supplies You Need

• A paid Canva Pro account.
• A computer.
• An internet connection.

Why You Need to Upload Fonts

Canva already comes with a ton of free fonts.

But here’s the problem:

You might not find the font you’re looking for.

So what do you do?

You need to seek out free (or paid) fonts on the internet — they come in the form of .zip files — that you download to your computer.

And they are easier to work with than you think…

1. Find Custom Fonts

If you’re just beginning your quest for the perfect font, you’ll want to choose a font style that matches your brand and your industry.

First, I recommend you decide on a heading font — the larger text in your marketing materials, website, and logos — and start simple by learning the major font style types.

Once you have a general idea of the style you like, you’ll want to look for a secondary font, that pairs with your heading, that will be used in your body text or subheadings.

(You can use a free tool like Font Pair to help you find the perfect pairing.)

But where can you download these fonts that you can actually use?

Here are the best free (and paid) font resources:

• Google Fonts
• Font Freak
• Font Space
• Font Squirrel
• DaFont
• 1001 Free Fonts
• Adobe Fonts (paid)
• Fonts.com (paid)
• Fontfabric (paid)
• TheHungryJPEG (paid)

This is important:

Make sure to take your time choosing your fonts, since your choice can have a significant effect on conversions and your customer’s overall experience.

So you have your font picked out. Now what?

You need to download (i.e. save) it to your computer before you can upload it to Canva.

That’s coming up next.

2. How To Download Your New Font(s)

Once you find a new font you like, it’s time to download it to your own computer.

Before we dive in, here are some key points to keep in mind:

• You can either download free or paid packages from external websites.
• The font files are packaged in .zip files.
• You typically need to ‘extract’ or unzip these files in order to upload them to an app, like Canva.
• Extracting/unzipping will reveal the individual font files in the .zip folder.
• These font files come in different formats, but ideally, you want .otf (OpenType) files, since they come with all the design extras (the swirly lines and curves you are looking for).

Make sense?

It’s not that hard, but let’s prove it, and walk through the download process with the most popular web font resource of all, Google Fonts.

How to Download a Google Font

Want to know why Google Fonts is so great?

You can download any font to your computer, use it anywhere (including offline), all for free.

To download a Google font:

• Go here.
• Scroll the displayed fonts or use the search bar to find something specific.
• Click on a font name to open its family page.
• Click Download family at the top-right of the screen.
• Save the .zip folder to your desktop (or move it from downloads folder to your desktop for easy access).

It’s as easy as that.

If you purchase custom fonts from any other site, you’ll follow a very similar process — you’ll search, select, then download to your computer.

But we’re not done yet:

We need to prepare our font file for Canva.

3. Prepare Your Font Files for Upload

Your font downloads come in a .zip file — one compressed folder, full of your individual font files.

But we need to free (i.e. unzip) those font files so they can go on their date with Canva.

Here’s how:

1. Unzip the .zip folder by right-clicking on it, and select Extract or Open With (a new unzipped folder will be saved in the same location as your .zip, like your desktop).
2. Click/Open your new unzipped folder and review all the font files, each one representing a different font weight. For example, bold, italic, etc.
3. Delete any of the font weight files you don’t think you’ll need (this will save space and keep things clean).
4. Remember where this folder is located on your computer and move on to step #4.

4. Upload Fonts to Canva

Now for the best part.Now for the best part.

Let’s put the new fonts into our favorite tool:

1. Sign in to your Canva Pro account.
2. Click Brand Kit on the left.
3. To the right you’ll see the ‘Brand fonts ‘ column — scroll down and click Upload a Font.
4. Locate the unzipped font folder on your computer (the one where all your font files live).
5. Then select up to 20 font files to upload at a time.
6. Repeat the upload process in 20 font file increments (if you have that many files).
7. Go back to your Brand Kit page, and confirm all your fonts are uploaded to the ‘Uploaded Fonts’ column.
8. Use the trash icon, to delete any fonts that are very similar or any that you don’t think you’ll use (to once again save space.)

That’s it!

You’ve successfully uploaded custom fonts to Canva. Well done. 👋

A Note on Using the Canva App

I’ve tried to upload font files to the Canva app on my phone… and it doesn’t work.

Unfortunately, all the font files (which were saved in the Google Drive app), appeared greyed-out, when I attempted to load them.

I assume Canva will resolve this soon, but for now, you need to use Canva on desktop.

5. Testing Your New Fonts in Canva

Before we wrap up, how about we put your new fonts into action?

Let’s create a quick new design to see what the fonts look like.

(After all our hard work, I think we deserve it. 😉).

Here are some quick steps to test your fonts:

1. Log in to Canva.
2. In the top-right, click the Create a design button > + Custom dimensions.
3. Enter any Canvas dimensions you want and hit the Create new design button.
4. With your blank Canvas open, click the T key on your keyboard to add a text box.
5. Click on the font drop-down menu in the top toolbar.
6. A list of fonts will display and you should see your new uploaded fonts towards the top of the list.
7. Select your uploaded font and start typing your textbox.
8. Play around with the font styling options in the top toolbar to give the font a thorough test drive — you really want to make sure the font displays as expected on-screen
9. If you don’t like how the font looks, go ahead and delete it from your Brand Kit page. If you like it, you’re all done!

Wrapping Up

So that’s how you find, download, and upload a font to Canva.

Now you have all the skills to create your own chalkboards and add your own unique font style to your designs!

Adding fonts is not that hard, and I’m here if you have any questions.

Or you can check out the FAQs below for quick answers, or better yet, let me know your favorite fonts in the comments below!

Canva Font FAQs

Want some extra guidance? Check out these helpful answers.