Help Center

DesignExporter connects to Canva through their official API. When you click Connect Canva, you're redirected to Canva's authorization page where you grant DesignExporter read access to your designs.

We only request the permissions needed to list and export your designs. We cannot edit, delete, or modify any of your Canva content. Your Canva login credentials are never shared with us. Authentication is handled entirely by Canva using OAuth 2.0.

Once connected, you can browse all your Canva designs directly in the DesignExporter dashboard. Your connection stays active until you disconnect it from your account settings.

1. Browse your designs - Your Canva designs appear in a grid. Use the search bar to find specific designs or scroll through all of them.
2. Select designs - Click on designs to select them. You can select individual designs or use the "Select All" option to grab everything visible.
3. Choose your format - Pick from PNG, JPG, PDF, PPTX, GIF, or MP4. Each page of multi-page designs is exported individually.
4. Start the export - Click "Export Selected" and we handle the rest. Your designs are exported from Canva, packaged into a ZIP file, and uploaded for download.
5. Download - When your export is ready (usually within a few minutes), you'll get an email with a download link. You can also download directly from the Exports page.

In Canva, a design (sometimes called a "project") is the top-level item. Think of it as a file. A design can contain one or many pages. For example, a social media post is usually 1 page, but a presentation might have 50 pages.

When you export, DesignExporter counts and processes at the design level. If you select 10 designs, that's 10 exports, regardless of how many pages each design has. However, the number of files you get back depends on the format and page count:

• PNG / JPG / GIF - One file per page. A 10-page design = 10 files.
• PDF - One file per design. A 10-page design = 1 PDF with all pages.
• PPTX - One file per design. All pages in a single PowerPoint file.
• MP4 - One video file per design.

DesignExporter lets you control how your exported files are named using a naming pattern. You can combine tokens like {title}, {folder}, {date}, and more to build filenames like Marketing_Instagram-Post_2026-02-17.png.

Our workaround: Smart text detection. For multi-page designs (like certificates, name badges, or personalized cards), we scan each page using text recognition and detect the unique text on it. If page 1 says “Sarah Johnson” and page 2 says “Mike Chen”, your files are automatically named Sarah_Johnson.png and Mike_Chen.png instead of page1.png and page2.png.

Smart text detection is available on Starter and Pro plans. Use the {name} token in your naming pattern to enable it. After export, you'll get a review screen where you can see what was detected and edit any filenames before downloading.

On the Free plan, multi-page designs are numbered automatically (page1, page2, etc.). You can still review and rename files manually on the review screen after export.

Canva's API limits export requests to 20 designs per minute per user. This limit is per design, not per page, so exporting a design with 500 pages counts as 1 of your 20. DesignExporter automatically manages this limit so you never hit errors.

In practice, each design takes about 3–10 seconds to export depending on complexity and page count. Large presentations with many pages take longer because Canva has to render every page before the export is ready to download.

3x faster exports (Pro): Free and Starter plans process one design at a time. Pro plans process up to 3 designs in parallel. Think of it like a restaurant kitchen: ordering one meal at a time means waiting for each plate before ordering the next. With Pro, you're ordering 3 at once. The kitchen works on all 3 simultaneously and they come out together. The result: a batch that takes 60 minutes on Free finishes in roughly 20 minutes on Pro.

Exports run in the background. Once you hit Export, you don't need to babysit the process. Go do something else. We'll email you when your download is ready. Large exports save you time because the work happens on our servers, not yours.

After an export completes, your ZIP file is stored securely and a download link is generated. Download links are available on your Exports page and sent to your email.

Download links on your Exports page stay active based on your plan: 7 days (Free), 14 days (Starter), or 90 days (Pro). After expiration, the file is deleted from our servers. You can always re-export the same designs to generate a fresh link.

Email links are valid for 7 days on all plans. If your plan includes a longer retention period (Starter or Pro), use the download button on your Exports page instead, which stays active for the full duration. You can also use the “Resend email” button in your export details to get a fresh 7-day email link at any time.

Every ZIP download includes an export index, a small CSV file located in the _export-info folder at the top of the ZIP. It's a spreadsheet-friendly summary of everything in the export.

Each row in the index contains:

• File Name - the exported filename
• Design Title - the original Canva design name
• Folder - which Canva folder the design came from
• Page - page number (for multi-page designs)
• Format - the export format (PNG, PDF, etc.)
• Canva Link - a direct link back to the design in Canva
• Export Date - when the export was created

Open it in Excel, Google Sheets, or any spreadsheet app. It's handy for cataloging assets, cross-referencing file names with the original Canva designs, or keeping a record of what was exported.

When a sync runs, here's what happens step by step:

1. List all designs - We call the Canva API to get a full list of every design you own. For accounts with thousands of designs, this takes about 30–60 seconds.
2. Compare with previous syncs - We check each design against our records. If a design has already been synced and hasn't been modified since, it's skipped. Only new or updated designs are processed.
3. Export from Canva - Each design that needs syncing is exported from Canva in your chosen image format (PNG or JPG). Videos are automatically exported as MP4. Multi-page designs produce one file per page.
4. Upload to Dropbox - The exported file is uploaded to your Dropbox, placed in the appropriate folder based on your organization setting.
5. Record the sync - We save a record of the synced design so we know not to re-export it next time (unless it's been updated in Canva).

To set up Cloud Sync, go to your Account page and find the Cloud Sync section. Click Connect Dropbox to authorize DesignExporter to create files in your Dropbox.

We create a dedicated Apps/DesignExporter folder in your Dropbox. All synced designs are stored inside this folder. We do not access any other files in your Dropbox.

After connecting, you can configure your preferred export format and folder organization before starting your first backup.

Your first sync backs up every design in your Canva account to Dropbox. Click Start First Backup on your Account page and we handle the rest. You can close the page and come back later. The sync runs on our servers.

While a sync is running, you'll see a live progress bar on your Account page showing how many designs have been processed, along with a log of any skipped or failed designs.

If you have more than 500 designs, the first backup will take multiple days. Canva limits exports to 500 per day (see daily export limit). When the limit is reached, the sync pauses automatically. With daily auto-sync enabled, it picks up where it left off the next day with no action needed from you. You can also click Sync Now manually after midnight UTC to resume immediately.

Canva's API enforces a limit of 500 design exports per user per day. This is counted per design, not per page. A single design with 500 pages still counts as just one export. This limit is set by Canva, not DesignExporter, and applies equally to all Canva plans (Free, Pro, Teams, and Enterprise). The limit resets at midnight UTC every day.

This limit applies to all Canva exports, both manual bulk exports (from the DesignExporter dashboard) and automatic cloud sync backups share the same 500/day pool. For example, if you manually export 200 designs and then run a cloud sync, the sync will only be able to export 300 more before hitting the limit.

When your sync or export hits this limit, DesignExporter stops automatically and records how many designs were synced. Your sync log will show a message like: "Canva's daily export limit (500/day) reached. 487 designs synced. Remaining designs will continue after midnight UTC."

This is not an error. It's normal behavior for accounts with more than 500 designs. The sync will automatically resume the next day if daily auto-sync is enabled. Already-synced designs are never re-exported, so each day picks up exactly where the previous day left off.

After the initial backup is complete, the daily limit is rarely an issue. Daily syncs only process new or updated designs since the last sync. Unless you create 500+ designs in a single day, you'll never hit the limit again.

With the Daily auto-sync toggle enabled (on by default), DesignExporter automatically checks for new and updated designs once per day (after midnight UTC). This ensures your Canva catalog stays backed up to Dropbox without you having to do anything.

Auto-syncs are scheduled to run after midnight UTC each day, aligning with Canva's daily export limit reset. This means if your sync hits the 500/day limit, the next batch starts as soon as Canva's limit resets, with no unnecessary waiting. Your Account page shows an estimated time for the next auto-sync.

You can disable auto-sync from the toggle on your Account page if you prefer to sync manually. You can still click Sync Now at any time regardless of the toggle setting.

Cloud Sync lets you choose an image format for your designs: PNG (lossless quality) or JPG (smaller file size). You can change this at any time from your Account page. If you choose JPG, you can also adjust the quality level.

Videos: Video designs can't be exported as images. When DesignExporter encounters a video design, it automatically exports it as MP4 (1080p resolution). No configuration needed. Videos are detected and handled automatically.

Presentations: Multi-page designs (like presentations) are exported as one image file per page in your chosen format. A 20-slide presentation becomes 20 PNG or JPG files in your Dropbox.

Some Canva design types can't be exported through the Canva API and will be automatically skipped during sync:

• Canva Docs - document-style designs that Canva can't render as images
• Canva Websites - multi-page website designs published through Canva
• Other unsupported types - any design that Canva's export API can't process

Skipped designs appear in your sync log with a message explaining why they were skipped. They do not count as failures and do not affect your sync status. They're permanently marked as skipped so they won't be retried on future syncs.

You can see how many designs were skipped in your sync history on the Account page.

All synced designs are stored inside the Apps/DesignExporter folder in your Dropbox. This folder is created automatically, and DesignExporter only has access to this folder. We cannot see or modify anything else in your Dropbox.

You can choose how designs are organized within this folder:

You can change your folder structure setting at any time. Note that changing it only affects future syncs. Designs already in your Dropbox won't be moved.

Synced designs count toward your Dropbox storage quota. If your Dropbox runs out of space during a sync, DesignExporter will stop and show a clear error message. Designs synced before the storage limit was reached remain in your Dropbox.

How much space do I need? This depends on the number and complexity of your designs. As a rough guide, PNG files average 1–5 MB per page, JPG files are about half that, and MP4 videos range from 5–50 MB depending on length. An account with 1,000 designs might use 2–10 GB.

While a sync is in progress, you can cancel it by clicking the Cancel Sync button on your Account page. The sync will stop within about 30 seconds (after finishing the current design).

Any designs that were already synced before cancellation remain in your Dropbox and are recorded as synced. The next time you run a sync, those designs won't be re-processed unless they've been updated in Canva.

Annual billing is available at a discount: Starter at $12.50/mo ($150/year) and Pro at $24/mo ($288/year). See the pricing page for full details.

The Free plan gives you 10 lifetime exports. This is not a monthly limit. It's a total allowance across the lifetime of your account. Once you've exported 10 designs, you'll need to upgrade to continue exporting.

This is designed to let you try DesignExporter and see if it fits your workflow before committing to a paid plan.

Billing is handled through Stripe. From your Account page, click Manage Billing to:

• Update your payment method
• View and download invoices
• Switch between monthly and annual billing
• Cancel your subscription

If you cancel, you retain access to your current plan features until the end of your billing period. After that, your account reverts to the Free plan.

When your plan reverts to Free:

• Existing download links stay active until their original expiry date
• Your export history is preserved
• Cloud sync (Dropbox) is automatically disconnected
• Saved naming presets are hidden but restored if you re-upgrade
• You get 10 lifetime exports on the Free plan