Canva Bulk Create: how to use it, limits, and fixes

Bulk Create is the Canva feature that turns a spreadsheet into many designs. You make one design, connect each column of your data to an element, and Canva makes one design for each row. It is a fast way to make name tags, certificates, social posts, and product cards from a list.

This guide shows where to find Bulk Create, how to use it step by step, its limits, and the fixes for the common problems. The facts about Canva come from the Canva Help Center, checked in October 2026. At the end, I show how to do the same job in Bannerify, and when that is the better choice.

Is Bulk Create free in Canva?

No. Bulk Create is a paid feature. Canva lists it for Canva Pro, Teams, Business, Enterprise, Education, and Nonprofits, on desktop only. So you do not see it on Canva Free or in the mobile app.

Is there a mail merge in Canva?

Yes: Bulk Create is the Canva mail merge. It works like a mail merge in Word. You make one design with placeholders, connect a list of names and details, and get one design for each row. It makes the designs; it does not send them. To email each person their own design, download the designs and send them with your email tool.

Where to find Bulk Create in Canva

There are three ways in:

1. From the editor toolbar. Click the page background, select Edit, then select Bulk create in the side panel.
2. From the Apps tab. In the editor side panel, select Apps, then Bulk create under More from Canva.
3. From a Canva Sheet. Select the cells with your data, then select Actions and Bulk Create.

How to bulk create in Canva, step by step

1. Prepare the design

Bulk Create fills placeholder elements, so add them before you connect the data:

• One text box for each text field, such as the first name and the job title.
• A frame or a grid for each image, from the Elements tab.
• For a design with more than one page, you connect the data on each page.

2. Add your data

Each column is one field, and each row makes one design. You can:

• Upload a CSV or XLSX file. In Google Sheets, use File > Download. In Excel, use File > Save As. If the file has more than one sheet, select the sheet.
• Start from a Canva Sheet, as in the third way above.
• Import from a data app, such as Google Analytics, HubSpot, Statista, or World Bank.
• Type the data in the Bulk Create table. Select Clear table first to remove the sample rows.

3. Connect the data to the design

Select Auto-match fields, and Canva’s AI connects the columns to the elements. Or connect them yourself: drag a field from the side panel onto an element, or select an element and then Connect data. The side panel shows how many fields are connected.

4. Preview

Select Preview to see each row in the design. Check long names, empty cells, and images. You cannot edit in the preview. To fix something, close it and change the data or the connections.

5. Create the designs

Open Advanced options below Continue to choose the output:

• 1 design with multiple pages: one Canva design, with one page for each row.
• Individual designs: one Canva design for each row, in a new folder in Projects.
• Name each page using: name the pages or the files from a column, such as the product name.
• Save in: the folder for the new designs.

Then select the Create button, which shows the number of designs. The results are Canva designs, so you download or share them as you do with any design.

Limits

Two of these limits shape most projects:

• 300 rows. A CSV or XLSX upload takes up to 300 rows. For a longer list, split it into parts of 300 rows, and run Bulk Create once for each part. Canva Sheets have no fixed row limit.
• No image links. Canva treats an image URL in a cell as plain text. Many store and CRM exports give photos as links. To use them, download the images and put each one into its own cell of the XLSX file, or upload them to Canva first.

Common problems and fixes

I can’t find Bulk Create. Check your plan and your device first: the feature needs a paid plan and a desktop. In a Canva Sheet, the option shows when you select at least two rows or columns with content. A selection with gaps does not work.

The image cells show text. The cells hold links, and Canva does not load images from links. Embed the images in the sheet, or pick them from your Canva library.

Auto-match connected the wrong elements. If most connections are wrong, select Connect manually while the analysis runs. That stops the AI, and you connect each field yourself. If only a few are wrong, let it finish and fix those.

A video is frozen in the preview. The preview shows only the first frame. The designs that you create play the video.

Images do not change in the preview. Image changes show in the preview only when the data comes from a linked Canva Sheet. Create the designs to see the images.

Bulk create without Canva

Bulk Create is good for a list that you have once: the attendees of one event, or the graduates of one course. It is less good when the list changes every day, when the images are links, or when another system needs the files, not Canva designs.

We built Bannerify for that work. You make a template once, name the layers that change, and Bannerify makes one image for each set of data. There are two ways to use it.

The Bulk page: a spreadsheet, no code

1. Copy a template from the gallery or make one in the editor. Give the layers that change clear names, such as name or photo.
2. Open Bulk under Generate, choose the template and an API key, and upload a CSV or XLSX file.
3. Check how the columns match the layers. Bannerify matches them by name, and you can change a match.
4. Click Run Sequentially. Each row gets a hosted PNG URL.
5. Export the results as CSV or XLSX. The image URL of each row is in a new column.

An image cell takes a public URL to a PNG, JPEG, WebP, or SVG file, so a product export or a CRM export works as it is. Canva designs do not import into Bannerify, so you make the template once in the Bannerify editor. Bulk generation has the details.

The API: automatic, from your own data

When the data changes all the time, skip the spreadsheet. Your code, or Zapier or n8n, sends the data of each new row, order, or sign-up to the image generation API, and gets the image back:

import { Bannerify } from "bannerify-js"

const bannerify = new Bannerify(process.env.BANNERIFY_API_KEY!)

// Runs for each new attendee, for example in a form webhook.
const { result: imageUrl, error } = await bannerify.createStoredImage("tpl_your_name_tag", {
  modifications: [
    { name: "name", text: attendee.name },
    { name: "company", text: attendee.company },
    { name: "photo", src: attendee.photoUrl },
  ],
})

imageUrl is a hosted PNG, ready for an email, a store, or a social post.

Canva Bulk Create or Bannerify?

Use Canva when the design is the main work: one event, one print run, or a team that already designs in Canva. Use Bannerify when the data changes, comes with image links, or must go into another system, such as an email, a store, or a social scheduler. The full comparison has the prices and the plan limits of both.

Try it

Copy a template from the gallery, upload your spreadsheet on the Bulk page, and get one image for each row. The free plan for one person includes 100 images a month, and Automate is $29 a month for 3,000, or $59 for 10,000. See pricing for the other plans.

Making certificates? The certificate guide has the wording and the sizes, and the free certificate generator makes one without an account.