Create design import job
Starts a new asynchronous job to import an external file as a new design in Canva.
The request format for this endpoint has an application/octet-stream body of bytes,
and the information about the import is provided using an Import-Metadata header.
Supported file types for imports are listed in Design imports overview.
For more information on the workflow for using asynchronous jobs, see API requests and responses. You can check the status and get the results of design import jobs created with this API using the Get design import job API.
HTTP method and URL path
https://api.canva.com /rest /v1 /importsThis operation is rate limited to 20 requests per minute for each user of your integration.
Authentication and authorization
This endpoint requires a valid access token that acts on behalf of a user.
Scopes
The access token must have all the following scopes (permissions):
design:content:write
Header parameters
Content-TypestringIndicates the media type of the information sent in the request. This must be set to application/octet-stream.
For example: Content-Type: application/octet-stream
Import-MetadataDesignImportMetadataMetadata about the design that you include as a header parameter when importing a design.
title_base64stringThe design's title, encoded in Base64.
The maximum length of a design title in Canva (unencoded) is 50 characters.
Base64 encoding allows titles containing emojis and other special
characters to be sent using HTTP headers.
For example, "My Awesome Design 😍" Base64 encoded
is TXkgQXdlc29tZSBEZXNpZ24g8J+YjQ==.
Minimum length: 1
mime_typestringThe MIME type of the file being imported. If not provided, Canva attempts to automatically detect the type of the file.
Body parameters
Binary of the file to import.
Example request
Examples for using the /v1/imports endpoint:
curl --request POST 'https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/imports' \--header 'Authorization: Bearer {token}' \--header 'Content-Type: application/octet-stream' \--header 'Import-Metadata: { "title_base64": "TXkgQXdlc29tZSBEZXNpZ24g8J+YjQ==", "mime_type": "application/pdf" }' \--data-binary '@/path/to/file'
const fetch = require("node-fetch");const fs = require("fs");fetch("https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/imports", {method: "POST",headers: {"Authorization": "Bearer {token}","Content-Length": fs.statSync("/path/to/file").size,"Content-Type": "application/octet-stream","Import-Metadata": JSON.stringify({ "title_base64": "TXkgQXdlc29tZSBEZXNpZ24g8J+YjQ==", "mime_type": "application/pdf" }),},body: fs.createReadStream("/path/to/file"),}).then(async (response) => {const data = await response.json();console.log(data);}).catch(err => console.error(err));
import java.io.IOException;import java.net.URI;import java.net.http.*;import java.nio.file.Paths;public class ApiExample {public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException, InterruptedException {HttpRequest request = HttpRequest.newBuilder().uri(URI.create("https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/imports")).header("Authorization", "Bearer {token}").header("Content-Type", "application/octet-stream").header("Import-Metadata", "{ \"title_base64\": \"TXkgQXdlc29tZSBEZXNpZ24g8J+YjQ==\", \"mime_type\": \"application/pdf\" }").method("POST", HttpRequest.BodyPublishers.ofFile(Paths.get("/path/to/file"))).build();HttpResponse<String> response = HttpClient.newHttpClient().send(request,HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());System.out.println(response.body());}}
import requestsimport jsonheaders = {"Authorization": "Bearer {token}","Content-Type": "application/octet-stream","Import-Metadata": json.dumps({ "title_base64": "TXkgQXdlc29tZSBEZXNpZ24g8J+YjQ==", "mime_type": "application/pdf" })}with open("/path/to/file", "rb") as file:response = requests.post("https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/imports",headers=headers,data=file)print(response.json())
using System.Net.Http;using System.Net.Http.Headers;var client = new HttpClient();var request = new HttpRequestMessage{Method = HttpMethod.Post,RequestUri = new Uri("https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/imports"),Headers ={{ "Authorization", "Bearer {token}" },{ "Import-Metadata", "{ \"title_base64\": \"TXkgQXdlc29tZSBEZXNpZ24g8J+YjQ==\", \"mime_type\": \"application/pdf\" }" },},Content = new StreamContent(File.OpenRead("/path/to/file")){Headers ={ContentType = new MediaTypeHeaderValue("application/octet-stream"),}},};using (var response = await client.SendAsync(request)){response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();var body = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();Console.WriteLine(body);};
package mainimport ("fmt""io""net/http""os")func main() {payload, _ := os.Open("/path/to/file")defer payload.Close()url := "https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/imports"req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", url, payload)req.Header.Add("Authorization", "Bearer {token}")req.Header.Add("Content-Type", "application/octet-stream")req.Header.Add("Import-Metadata", "{ \"title_base64\": \"TXkgQXdlc29tZSBEZXNpZ24g8J+YjQ==\", \"mime_type\": \"application/pdf\" }")res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)defer res.Body.Close()body, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)fmt.Println(string(body))}
$curl = curl_init();curl_setopt_array($curl, array(CURLOPT_URL => "https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/imports",CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "POST",CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => array('Authorization: Bearer {token}','Content-Type: application/octet-stream','Import-Metadata: { "title_base64": "TXkgQXdlc29tZSBEZXNpZ24g8J+YjQ==", "mime_type": "application/pdf" }',),CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => file_get_contents("/path/to/file")));$response = curl_exec($curl);$err = curl_error($curl);curl_close($curl);if (empty($err)) {echo $response;} else {echo "Error: " . $err;}
require 'net/http'require 'uri'url = URI('https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/imports')http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)http.use_ssl = truerequest = Net::HTTP::Post.new(url)request['Authorization'] = 'Bearer {token}'request['Content-Type'] = 'application/octet-stream'request['Import-Metadata'] = '{ "title_base64": "TXkgQXdlc29tZSBEZXNpZ24g8J+YjQ==", "mime_type": "application/pdf" }'request.body = File.read('/path/to/file')response = http.request(request)puts response.read_body
Success response
If successful, the endpoint returns a 200 response with a JSON body with the following parameters:
jobDesignImportJobThe status of the design import job.
idstringThe ID of the design import job.
statusstringThe status of the design import job.
Available values:
failedin_progresssuccess
resultDesignImportJobResultdesignsDesignSummary[]A list of designs imported from the external file. It usually contains one item. Imports with a large number of pages or assets are split into multiple designs.
idstringThe design ID.
urlsDesignLinksA temporary set of URLs for viewing or editing the design.
edit_urlstringA temporary editing URL for the design. This URL is only accessible to the user that made the API request, and is designed to support return navigation workflows.
This is not a permanent URL, it is only valid for 30 days.
view_urlstringA temporary viewing URL for the design. This URL is only accessible to the user that made the API request, and is designed to support return navigation workflows.
This is not a permanent URL, it is only valid for 30 days.
created_atintegerWhen the design was created in Canva, as a Unix timestamp (in seconds since the Unix Epoch).
updated_atintegerWhen the design was last updated in Canva, as a Unix timestamp (in seconds since the Unix Epoch).
titlestringThe design title.
urlstringURL of the design.
thumbnailThumbnailA thumbnail image representing the object.
widthintegerThe width of the thumbnail image in pixels.
heightintegerThe height of the thumbnail image in pixels.
urlstringA URL for retrieving the thumbnail image. This URL expires after 15 minutes. This URL includes a query string that's required for retrieving the thumbnail.
page_countintegerThe total number of pages in the design. Some design types don't have pages (for example, Canva docs).
errorDesignImportErrorIf the import job fails, this object provides details about the error.
codestringA short string about why the import failed. This field can be used to handle errors programmatically.
Available values:
design_creation_throttleddesign_import_throttledduplicate_importinternal_errorinvalid_filefetch_failed
messagestringA human-readable description of what went wrong.
Example responses
In progress job
{"job": {"id": "e08861ae-3b29-45db-8dc1-1fe0bf7f1cc8","status": "in_progress"}}
Successfully completed job
{"job": {"id": "e08861ae-3b29-45db-8dc1-1fe0bf7f1cc8","status": "success","result": {"designs": [{"id": "DAGQm2AkzOk","title": "My Awesome Design","thumbnail": {"width": 376,"height": 531,"url": "https://document-export.canva.com/..."},"urls": {"edit_url": "https://www.canva.com/api/design/...","view_url": "https://www.canva.com/api/design/..."},"created_at": 1726198998,"updated_at": 1726199000}]}}}
Failed job
{"job": {"id": "e08861ae-3b29-45db-8dc1-1fe0bf7f1cc8","status": "failed","error": {"code": "invalid_file","message": "Document couldn't be imported because the file is corrupt."}}}