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Creating a slideshow doesn’t need to be a stressful process. Whether you’re designing slides for a school project, or preparing a slide deck for an executive meeting, Canva offers a way to make your ideas look their best- even without intensive design experience.

The service is free-to-use and equipped with a huge repository of templates, designs, and elements. These resources paired with an intuitive drag-and-drop interface lets you take your presentation game to the next level with ease. 

In this guide, we’ll walk through how to create a Canva slideshow from the beginning. We’ll cover how to choose the best template, customize your design, and curate a slide deck that presents your message in the best light.

 

Step 1: Get Situated with Canva

  • Head to canva.com and log in or create a free account.
  • Click on “Create a Design” and type “presentation,” choose the format and size that works best for you (16:9 is standard).
  • Here’s what that looks like:

Step 2: Initial Customization

  • You should instantly see templates recommended to you. Browse through them or search up keywords related to your presentation’s purpose to find even more options. 
  • Click on any design to preview it, and select the one you feel works the best.
  • Once you select a template, click on the first slide and find a solid circle filled with a document color (ex: if the template is blue, the circle should be the exact shade of blue). From here, click through the document colors to adjust to your liking. 
  • It should look something like this:

Step 3: Start your Presentation

  • The left sidebar has plenty of tools for text, elements, and more. To access the full set of available features, click on the icon of the tool and let the left sidebar expand.
  • Adjust the size, colors, and other attributes of such elements with the bar located near the top of the slide. 
  • Input your own graphics/images through the “Uploads” function.

 

Step 4: Helpful Tools in Canva

  • Text Customization: Use the “Styles” tab to further customize your text by adjusting the font, size, pairings, and colors. This creates unity across your slides. 
  • Grid and Frames: Grid layouts from the “Elements” function serve as tools to align elements on your presentation appropriately. 
  • Here’s what changing styles could look like on your end:


Creating a presentation in Canva is intuitive once you understand the basics. From choosing the right template to further adjusting the color scheme to your design, it offers an unparalleled level of customization with convenience. Regardless of if you’re pitching a business to investors or presenting to your peers, Canva provides everything required to build impactful slideshows that paint your message the best.

If you have any questions or need help getting started, feel free to email us at info@learningcomputer.com—we’re happy to help!

Read more on Canva and other presentation softwares here: 

About the Author:

This article was written by Ashwin Channashetti. He can be reached at LinkedIn.