Have you ever downloaded a PDF and noticed that the links are clickable? “How on earth did they do that?!” you may have said to yourself (if it was out loud, it’s ok. I won’t tell anyone.) Well, it’s super easy, and you don’t even need a fancy PDF program like Adobe Acrobat. You can add hyperlinks right in Canva!
The first thing you need to know is that this only works for PDFs. It doesn’t work for JPGs or PNGs. You can not make a clickable link in an image like that. If you’ve seen a picture on FaceBook and clicked it and it went directly to a website, it was probably an ad that was set up that way, it wasn’t the image itself.
Adding clickable links to PDFs has so many useful applications. A few of my personal favorites are:
- Linking to your website or other resources in the PDF downloads that you give to your newsletter subscribers and social media fans
- Adding links to your website and social media accounts on your resume
- Linking to more information in your client contracts
- Including a purchase link at the end of your portfolio
And it only takes a few seconds! Watch how to do it here:
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I haven’t tried it, but if you make the URL that you link to start with “mailto:” so that it is like “mailto:info@bizbff.com” then I think it will make the user’s email program open up with that address in the to line.
That normally works! (In most programs) But it doesn’t in Canva yet. (I’ve tried, and then checked their help articles to be sure I wasn’t missing something. But they say that it doesn’t have the capability to do mailto: links yet.)
have you found a solution to this yet? I’m trying to do it and haven’t been able to 🙁
Canva still doesn’t support this feature yet 😕
The only problem is this doesn’t make the specific words clickable, it makes the entire text box, which is terribly annoying if you want to put multiple links in the same text box
YES! That is annoying! Same with trying to change the font of just one word. I’m hopeful that this is something they improve in the future!
It appears that Canva has removed the hyperlink feature for free users. (I don’t have premium, so I can’t say what it’s like on the other side).
Hi Grace! I just checked and it is still available on the free version of Canva! I use the free version 🙂 If you are using the phone app, it looks like the hyperlink feature is not available on the app–probably because hyperlinks only work for PDFs and presentations. You can always start a design on the app and then pop on to your computer to add the link and download!
Is there any way to avoid the link opening in the same tab? I can’t see an option to open it in a new tab
I haven’t seen that option yet in Canva, but they are very open to suggestions for improvement! You can contact them at https://support.canva.com/suggest-a-feature/
Hi Emily,
So, if you want to do put multiple hyperlinks in a document, you have to create a separate text box for each website you want to link?
Yes, exactly!
Hey Emily! I’m noticing that my links are correct when editing but once my doc is downloaded to a PDF, it’s only allowing one hyperlink per page. I read that the hyperlinks must be in separate textboxes to fix the issue. I spent hours making this update and even after doing so, the links are still not working properly once my eBook is converted to a PDF (only seems to be connecting to one hyperlink per page! ;( Thanks for guidance!!!
Hi Biz BFF,
I made a document in Canva.
I downloaded it as a pdf.
Yet my links still come up as just a black box.
Yaaaeeeee!
I got it to work.
Don’t use the hyperlink option on the left-hand side.
Use the link option on the right-hand top corner.
YAY! I’m so glad you got it to work!
Can you Post on Facebook? If not how can yo do this? Thanks!
You can post on facebook, but links are only clickable on a pdf… so it’s not going to show up as an image that you click and it takes you to a page. Usually when you see this on facebook, someone is sharing a link and facebook pulls up an image from that website!
I can get this to work when I download it and open it, but when I send it to someone the links don’t work. Any suggestions?
Hmmm are you sending the downloaded PDF or are you sending a link to your Canva design? If you send it as a PDF the links should work just like they work when you open it on your computer! (It’s possible that their PDF reader is blocking links as a safety measure though–something they can control in their settings/preferences) If you’re sending them a link to your Canva design, then it probably won’t work the way you want!
I am sending it as a PDF.
My guess is that the person receiving the pdf has it their safety settings to block links! So that’s something they’d have to adjust in the settings or preferences for their pdf reader!
So I added 2 links, both links work when I open the pdf on my computer. But when I try to do it on an iphone 8, only 1 of the links work. The other one, I have to hold on it for a second or 2 and then it opens up in one of those weird pop up type of boxes. My concern is that, usually when people see a link, they’re just going to try to click on it, not necessarily hold it for a second or 2.
Has this issue come up before? Any ideas on a fix?
Hmmm I haven’t heard anyone else bring it up, but it’s quite possibly an issue! Sounds like it might be an issue more with the iphone’s pdf reader, though!
I need articles about clickable infographic and infographic zoom
That’s not something you can do in Canva yet!
is there any way to make email addresses hyperlinked?
Canva doesn’t support that feature yet 🙁 I really wish they would get on that!
IS THERE ANY WAY TO TO LINK TO AN ANCHOR ON ANOTHER PAGE OF THE PDF? THX
Not that I’ve found in Canva. :/ that would be super cool if they could make that work, though!
Hi, actually I wanted to know that how can I create a click-to-call link in PDF created in canva. I want that, if anyone want to call me so they can directly click on the phone number given in the PDF and it will connect them to their Dial Pad. Please help me in this or please mention any external website which can help me to create a Click-to-call link.
Unfortunately, Canva doesn’t support click-to-call or click-to-email links yet!
IM TRYING TO POST A IMAGE WITH A CALL TO ACTION I SAVED IT AS A PDF WITH THE REDIRECT LINK BUT
FB DID NOT RECOGONIZE IT. IT WILL JUST BRING UP THE IMAGE FB DOES NOT RECOGONIZE IT . IT BRINGS IT UP AS A PICTURE . I MADE A LANDING PAGE HOPING IT WOULD WORK. CAN YOU GIVE ME ANY IDEAS.
Hi Patrick! Ahh yes, Facebook won’t let you upload a PDF as an image… :/ The only way to have people click an image and have it go to a web page is to do it as a paid ad, which is a bummer!
Emily, I have no problem creating an infographic in Canva to upload onto my Weebly Website. On opening my website, I can click on the link with no problem. My question is in regard to whether that link is a dofollow or a nofollow link. When I inspect the code, I see it is a nofollow link. Is there a way I can make it a DOfollow link?
Hi Gwen! Your follow/no follow settings for any link you put on your site will be in Weebly!
HI there, I am trying to add a YouTube video link but cannot get it to work. Any suggestions as to why it’s not clickable once I download the pdf? It worked for regular sites but not the YouTube videos… thanks in advance!
Hmmm! I’m not sure why that would be… I’d check the settings on the YouTube video first to see if there’s a setting that doesn’t allow that particular video to be linked or something? Or perhaps there’s a setting in your PDF reader that’s blocking YouTube… That’s a long shot, but brainstorming anything it could be! I’ll give it a try myself and report back, too.
Hey! Thanks for the tips. I’ve been able to successfully create a Canva bio link. I tested it out and had a few people tell me they get a notification (message window) pop up when they click on some of my links in the Canva bio telling them they’re “about to leave Canva” and says “(website link) is an external website that isn’t affiliated with Canva.”
HOW DO I GET RID OF THAT??? I just want the user experience to be “click, click, bang they’re there” instead of alerting them that they’re leaving Canva and even gives them an option to report?!
Hi Karen! Ooo this is a GREAT question! It sounds like you may be sharing your design using Canva’s “share” button so the people viewing it are going to Canva to view it? If that’s the case, Try downloading the design as a PDF and sending the actual PDF to people… then they should be able to click the links and just go there!
Let me know if that works or if something else is going on!
Very beautifully written post. Thank you very much.