Publish designs as Brand Templates
Brand Templates help teams stay consistent by giving everyone an on-brand starting point. They make it easy to scale consistency and efficiency across designs, especially for teams and classes where templates are shared for everyone to use.
Adding your Brand Templates to a Brand Kit also improves organisation not just for Canva AI, but for managing your brand assets overall. If you choose to use Canva AI, this connection helps generate designs that more closely match your brand.
Brand Designers and Admins can publish Brand Templates directly from the Share menu, homepage, File menu, or the Make a Copy workflow.
About ownership and access
Brand Templates are owned by the brand (not an individual). You may still see who created a Brand Template, but ownership is managed at the brand level.
You might notice a mix of ownership across your Brand Templates. Some older templates may still show an individual owner, while new Brand Templates you publish may show the brand as the owner. This is expected while we update ownership across Brand Templates.
If you organise Brand Templates in Projects or Team Spaces, access can work differently than other content. Having edit access to a Project or Team Spaces doesn’t always mean you can edit or publish the Brand Template itself.
Looking for help managing templates after publishing? Learn how to Edit Brand Templates or delete Brand Templates.
Tips:
- Understanding your AI usage to learn more about how this feature’s AI usage.
- Prompt like a Pro to learn more about how to get the most out of Generate & refine designs.
We've made improvements to Brand Templates. If you're having trouble locating your Brand Templates, be sure to check this page first.
If you can’t find a Brand Template in a Project or Team Spaces, go to Brand, then select All Brand Templates.
Best practices in setting up Brand Templates
Use these tips to help your Brand Templates scale across your team and work well with Canva AI.
1) Start with a strong brand system
For best results, set up your Brand Kit first (colours, fonts, logos, and guidelines). A more complete Brand Kit helps your team (and Canva AI, if you choose to use it) stay on-brand.
Learn more: https://www.canva.com/work-kits/home
2) Build templates that are easy to reuse
- Use placeholder text to show what content should go where (e.g., “Headline goes here”).
- Use placeholder images instead of empty frames.
- Keep layouts simple and structured so they can adapt to different content.
- Stick to clear layout boundaries and consistent spacing.
3) Use editing locks as guardrails
Locks help protect brand-critical elements from accidental changes by teammates and help preserve key elements when Canva AI generates designs from templates. Consider locking:
- Brand logos
- Brand colours in key areas
- Legal disclaimers or required text
- Layout structures you want to keep consistent
Visit, apply locks to Brand Templates to learn more.
4) Know what works with Canva AI (if you use it)
Most static design types work well with Canva AI, including:
- Presentations
- Instagram posts
- Facebook stories
- Posters
- Business cards
- Invitations
Some formats aren’t supported yet, such as:
- Websites
- Docs
- Sheets
- Videos
Add Brand Templates to Brand Kits
Brand Kits include a dedicated Templates section that shows Brand Templates added to that Brand Kit. Keeping templates in Brand Kits helps your team find them alongside brand colours, fonts, and logos.
If you choose to use Canva AI, Brand Templates in Brand Kits can also help Canva AI generate more on-brand results.
Add Brand Templates to a Brand Kit
Brand Templates added to a Brand Kit appear in the Brand Templates section. This helps your team find approved templates quickly and enables Canva AI to generate on-brand designs.
When publishing a Brand Template:
- Select Share from the top menu.
- Select See all to view more options.
- Select Brand Template.
- Select Add to Brand Kit and choose the Brand Kit.
- Select Publish.
From the Add Brand Templates section in a Brand Kit:
- From the homepage, select Brand.
- Select your Brand Kit.
- Go to the Brand Templates section.
- Select Add icon and choose the Brand Templates you want to include.
From an existing Brand Template:
- From the homepage, select Brand, then Brand Templates.
- Select the (More) menu on the template.
- Select Add to Brand Kit and choose the Brand Kit.
Add Brand Templates to Projects
You can add and organise Brand Templates in Brand Kits or Projects. This helps your team find the right template for each campaign, team, or use case.
- Go to Homepage, then select Brand.
- Select Brand Templates.
- Find the Brand Template you want to add.
- Select More.
- Select Move to folder or Add to folder.
- Select the Project you want to add it to.
About access:
Access from Projects adds to the access already set on the Brand Template (from Share or Publish).
People can get access to a Brand Template:
- from the template’s access settings
- from the Project it’s in
Note: Access from a Project can help people find a Brand Template, but it doesn’t automatically give everyone permission to edit, publish, or delete the Brand Template. Editing and publishing permissions depend on the Brand Template’s access settings and your team role.
Publish Brand Templates
Brand Designers and Admins can publish Brand Templates from several places in Canva depending on where they're working.
Option 1: From the Share button
- Open the design.
- Select Share.
- Select Brand Template.
- If you don’t see it right away, select See all to find Brand Template.
Option 2: From the homepage
- Hover over the design you want to publish.
- Select More.
- Select Save as Template.
Option 3: Inside the editor
- Open the design.
- Select File.
- Select Save as Brand Template.
Option 4: From the Make a Copy flow
- From the homepage, hover over the design you want to publish.
- Select More.
- Select Make a copy
- Select Proceed to publish.
Setting up your Brand Template
After choosing one of the options above, the Publish Brand Template panel will open.
- Add a description for your template to help your team understand its purpose.
- In the Share with section, choose who can access your Brand Template:
- Brand designers and admins only: Only Brand Designers and Admins can access the Brand Template.
- Specific team members: Allows you to select specific people or groups in your team who can use the template.
- Your Team (e.g., Canva Team): Anyone in the team can access the Brand Template.
3. In the Move (optional) section, choose a folder where you want to store your Brand Template.
4. In the Add to Brand Kit (optional) section, select a Brand Kit if you want to add the Brand Template to one.
5. Optionally select:
- Design approval - Designs created from this template require approval.
- Note: This option is only displayed if design approvals have been enabled for specific Brand Templates. SeeDesign approvalarticle for more details.
- Send notification - Notify users about the published Brand Template
6. Select Publish and close.
Published Brand Templates can be accessed from the Brand tab on the homepage.
Any comments and comment history will be deleted once you publish.
Manage access to Brand Templates
Admins and brand designers control who can view or edit each Brand Template. This helps protect brand assets and keeps templates available only to the right people.
In Team Spaces, you may be able to view a Brand Template without having permission to edit or publish it.
Brand Templates are designed for internal team use. If you need to share something externally, create a design from the Brand Template and share that design as view-only.
Update Brand Templates with a safe republish workflow
To help teams avoid using unfinished or inaccurate templates, Brand Template edits don’t automatically go live.
A typical workflow looks like this:
- An admin or brand designer edits a Brand Template.
- Canva saves the changes as a draft.
- Team members continue using the last published version.
- When ready, an admin or brand designer republishes the Brand Template so changes go live.
Organise Brand Templates with tags
Tags help teams find templates faster.
Best practices:
- Use clear tags your team will search for (for example: “social”, “sales”, “event”, “internal”
- Keep tag names consistent across templates.
- Add or update tags when publishing or editing a Brand Template.
Locks as guardrails (including for Canva AI)
Locks help maintain consistency by preventing changes to key elements in a Brand Template (like logos, text styles, and layout structure).
If you choose to use Canva AI:
- Locked elements stay unchanged.
- Brand logos are designed to be preserved by default. Locking them adds extra protection.
- Unlocked elements may be adjusted by Canva AI to fit generated content.
If you need to change locks after publishing:
- Edit the Brand Template.
- Update your locks.
- Republish the Brand Template.
FAQs
Why do I see “Unpublished changes” when I haven’t edited any originals?
Unpublished changes can appear when Canva saves draft work so your team’s in-progress edits, notes, or updates aren’t disrupted. Your last published Brand Templates remain available while drafts are reviewed.
My Brand Templates aren’t showing up like before
Visibility depends on how the Brand Template is shared and who has access. Templates shared via collaboration links may only be visible to admins, brand designers, or users with direct access.
To make templates accessible again:
- Share them with the right people, or
- Store them in a shared team folder (where applicable).
My public Brand Template link no longer works
To help protect brand content, public access to Brand Templates isn’t supported. Only members of your team account can access Brand Templates.
Why do I see Publish as Brand Template" in different places?
Brand Designers and Admins can publish Brand Templates from multiple entry points across Canva, including:
- Share > Brand Template
- Homepage > More (•••) > Save as Template
- File > Save as Brand Template
- Make a Copy > Proceed to publish
The publishing settings remain the same regardless of which entry point is used.
Where did my Brand Template go if it was removed from a Team Spaces?
If a Brand Template is removed from a Team Spaces, it isn’t deleted. You can still find it from Brand on the homepage (in your team’s Brand Templates area). People with the right permissions can then organise it into the appropriate folder or Team Spaces.
Why can’t I edit a Brand Template even though I can edit the Team Spaces?
Brand Templates have their own access rules to help protect brand assets. Even if you can edit a Team Spaces, you may not have permission to edit or publish a Brand Template unless you have the right team role or have been explicitly given access.
Was this helpful?
Helpful
Unhelpful