Website DNS settings

This guide helps you connect your domain to Canva by updating DNS records. You’ll copy the records from Canva, add them to your domain host, and wait for the update to finish.

When we browse the internet, we use website domain names like canva.com. But our browsers use Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. The Domain Name System (DNS) converts the domain names we use into IP addresses. This helps your browser locate the right website.

Updating your domain’s DNS settings on your domain host’s website ensures your visitors won’t get lost.

Think of DNS as a guide to your website. When you change DNS records, browsers need time to find the new location. This update process is called DNS propagation.

A subdomain is a part of your main domain. In the example, your domain name is the complete address of your building (website). As you organise your building, you create sections or departments. In the domain world, these sections, which are still part of the main building, are called subdomains.

If you have example.com as your main domain for an education website, you can have courses.example.com as a subdomain for the subjects you offer. By using subdomains, you create a structure for your website, making it easy for visitors to find specific information.

Your domain host, domain provider, or registrar is where you purchased your domain, like GoDaddy or Namecheap.

Sometimes we set up your DNS settings for you. This happens when you log in to your domain host to connect an existing domain or purchase a new domain in Canva.

Otherwise, here’s how you can edit your DNS records.

Here are ways to do that:

• Go to your domain host account and search for your domain name. It could be under My Products > Web Domains, or on the homepage. This will depend on your host! See the screenshots in this section for a generic example.
• You can also search and follow online resources on managing DNS records for your specific domain host.

For our example, here’s how our settings looked before editing:

1. To connect with Canva, edit the A record attached to a name of “@”.
   • Use a value of “103.169.142.0”
   • You can leave the TTL field as its default value.
2. Repeat this for each of the records we provided you.

If you’ve exited the Canva editor and can’t see the records to copy, go to your Domain settings in Canva. Select Manage next to your domain name to view the records.

After adding all the records, this is how the page looks like for our example:

Use a small TTL value if possible, or leave it as the default value your provider sets.

Check your domain’s connection status. Go to Settings >

1. Make sure the Current value field matches the Expected value field.
2. If a record fails to connect, go to your domain host and make sure to add the correct values, and remove any conflicting records.
3. If you recently edited the values in your domain host, check again after a few hours. Updates may take 72 hours to process. See the explanation in the DNS propagation section.

We’ll keep trying to connect your domain and email you once it’s live.

There are many different domain hosts like GoDaddy and Namecheap, and they each have their way of updating DNS records, so this process can be tricky.

Verifying your domain usually only takes a few hours, but in some cases, it can take up to 72 hours. This is because of DNS Propagation (or the time it takes for the changes to spread throughout the Internet). During this time, different systems update DNS settings at their own pace. Some wait on others first, which can cause delays.

If the status on your Canva Domain settings page still shows as “Pending” after 72 hours, see the article My domain DNS records are still pending. It lists steps you can try.

Your domain may be having trouble connecting due to unsupported CAA records.

To fix this, please either:

1. Remove all CAA records on your domain.
   1. If you’re connecting a domain with multiple parts (e.g. part1.part2.part3.com), please ensure you remove all CAA records related to each part. e.g. part2.part3.com and part3.com.
   2. Once you’ve done this, wait some time for DNS Propagation, and then try again. If the problem persists, try Step 2.
2. Add the two following CAA records, with the details below:
   1. name: @ (or empty), which goes on the root domain
   2. name: www 1. Flag: 0 2. Tag: issue 3. Value: pki.goog 4. TTL: 600 (or "Auto", or 3600)

Note: For Step 2 to work, make sure to remove any CAA records with a flag value other than 0.

CAA records are a type of DNS record that determine whether SSL certificates can protect the domain.

Canva requires your domain to have an SSL certificate for security reasons.

By following the steps above, Canva is able to issue an SSL certificate.

It’s possible that A, AAAA, and CNAME records may be interfering with your connection to Canva. You’ll probably need to delete them in order for your domain to work with Canva.

In some cases, your DNS settings might include a Redirect record, URL redirect service, or Redirect URL feature. This is a tool some hosts use to forward visitors from one web address to another. It often sets a hidden A or CNAME record. To connect to Canva, you’ll need to turn this off or remove it.

If you're managing your DNS records with Cloudflare, make sure that you turn off proxy records for any records we've instructed you to set.

The toggle and cloud will turn grey to show it’s off.

Turn Cloudflare proxy off

The orange cloud indicates that the proxy record is turned on.

1. Select Edit.

2. Select the orange toggle under Proxy status to turn it off.

3. The toggle and the cloud will turn grey indicating that it’s been turned off.

4. The grey cloud indicates that the proxy record is turned off.

Learn more in Understanding Cloudflare proxy records.