Selecting and changing the text in your photos with Grab Text
Grab Text lets you select and edit text that appears inside photos and images. Open a design, select the image, then use Grab Text in Magic Studio to turn the text into editable text boxes on your design. Available on eligible plans and in supported design types.
- We’ve changed how AI usage limits work in Canva. Learn more about AI access in Canva.
- This feature isn't available in China, Canva Docs, Video, and the Photo Editor outside the Editor.
- Grab Text is available in the following doctypes:
- Social Media
- Document (not Canva Docs; not available there yet)
- Presentation
- Print products
- Websites
- Whiteboards
Use Grab Text
- Select the photo you want to edit.
- From the editor toolbar, select Edit.
- Go to Tools, then select See all.
- Scroll to the bottom and select Grab Text.
- Select the text you’d like to process. You can also select multiple texts by clicking and dragging over them.
- Select Grab.
Grab Texts works best when the text is straight and not skewed. Take the photo from directly overhead so the text looks flat. This reduces perspective distortion. You can also scan the document and upload it to Canva instead.
Undo Grab Text changes
To revert changes, use the undo button or the undo keyboard shortcut. You can also select the Grab Text button to restore the image to its original state.
Select which text to grab and edit
You can select which text to grab. • Text close to your selection might shift or distort. • For best results, grab all text in the image or select text that is close together. • On iOS, selecting specific text is not available yet.
Review Grab Text limitations
- Enhanced text formatting options such as bold, italic, or underlined are not yet available.
- Some text may not be recognized on an image or document.
- We do not support rotated or arched text, languages that do not use the Latin alphabet, or files with more than one page.
- Adjusted transparency can cause grabbed texts to appear strange on images.
- You may see an error while using this feature. Wait a moment, then try again.
- We currently don’t support processing multiple images or pages with a single click.
- Grab Text tries to match the text in the image with a similar font and position it correctly. Sometimes this doesn’t work perfectly. When this happens, select the text and format it to suit your needs.
- Sometimes Grab Text doesn’t recognize a word. When this happens, you can manually erase it from the image with Magic Eraser and add a new text element from the Elements panel.
- Sometimes, Grab Text leaves little artifacts of text in the image. When this happens, you can use Magic Eraser to remove them.
- Sometimes, Grab Text creates made-up text from patterns or line drawings. When this happens, delete the extra text from your design. Grab Text only works with Latin text.
Check available templates
- Social Media
- Document (not Canva Docs)
- Presentation
- Print products
- Websites
- Whiteboards
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