Hoping to join Google, Microsoft and Adobe, Canva today announced a suite of tools that expands its product to cover all media creation and collaboration needs of teams. A slightly longer blog post details the biggest change to the platform in almost a decade. These new tools were first shown at the recent global event Canva Create. From docs that work like Google Docs, to new slideshow tools, whiteboards, and even his website on his Canva, they've been heating up, so take a look!
Canva Docs
Canva Docs aren't meant to replace Google's word processor per se, but as mentioned above, they're meant to be design-centric tools. Apart from that, Docs is intended as a place to create project plans, to-do lists, itineraries, strategy documents, etc. in the context of creative projects. This is how I currently use Google Docs, but Canva as a company seems to see Google as an option to interact on their behalf for creative work. Barriers or not, having your own branded word processor keeps things in-house. Of course, this is the goal. Oh, and you can even collaborate with your team in real time and have named cursors appear on your screen.
A unique catch of their version is that you can drag and drop 100 million videos, GIFs, photos, or illustrations from the sidebar onto your body. Google has something similar to the Discover button on the bottom right of the docs, but it's also missing here. As a Canva user, I see this as a way for companies to get you to subscribe to premium services or buy assets for $1 each. , with a variety and interesting things to choose from, you can see how useful this can be for those who don't use Photoshop.
It's called 'Docs to Decks' and with one click you can magically turn your Canva docs into a slideshow. This seems like a neat trick that Google tries to figure out. Personally, I've never found this to be an issue, but it also seems like a niche feature since I don't use documents in a way that requires them to be presented in bite-sized chunks.
Canva site
Tired of using Google Sites, Wix, and Weebly? Why not give Canva Sites a try? The company shows in the video below how you can create a simple, profitable, mobile-friendly website in just minutes. is showing. Just click Website in the template builder header on your home page and you're ready to go.
Choose from hundreds of ready-made templates. This is much richer than what most WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors offer. Need a product landing page, a team resource hub for work, or an art portfolio?
Canva Sites seems quick and easy to set up for these use cases. We recommend you at least try it! You can also get a free domain, but this one is from Canva. While not as attractive as a top-level domain, it does have built-in analytics that you can use to see who is interacting with your Canva Has-built website, social media posts, documents, or anything else.
The most notable thing about Canva sites is that you can transform documents, presentations and even PDFs into responsive websites. The more I think about it, the more this company does some pretty innovative things with their tools, so owning a word processor shouldn't be too difficult.
Canvas Whiteboard
Another major tool announced is the Canva Whiteboard. Essentially, this gives you and your team an empty real-time collaboration space where you can drag and drop assets, draw or type, add information, and collaborate more freely. Paper is the best way to capture ideas and solve problems. Whiteboard apps are growing in popularity due to their flexible, unstructured nature. The feature of this whiteboard is that it provides an "infinite canvas".
Other tools
Canva Video used to be able to create video bumpers, animations, and more for YouTube videos, but in his Worksuite announcement today, Canva says it's adding a one-click rotoscoping tool. That's right - remove the background behind your motion video subject without expensive tools or software. I've always said that web browsers will take off, and here we see it come true!
A new set of animation controls also let you adjust the type, speed, style, or direction of your video animation. In short, this becomes a full-fledged video editing tool. Finally, new presentation transitions to blend slides and the ability to edit presentations as videos will be available.
Overall, it's a little surprising that Canva mixes all these forms of media and allows users to traverse and edit them without boundaries. Google Canvas and Microsoft Loop try to emulate this kind of infinite creation, but thanks to all that's shown here today, Canva seems light years ahead of both. I feel like it! Read on for all the other features we didn't cover in today's Canva blog. Let us know in the comments if any of Canva's tools interest you more than ever.