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 /imports
This operation is rate limited to 20 requests per minute for each user of your integration.
Authentication
This endpoint requires a valid access token that acts on behalf of a user. The token must have the following scopes (permissions):
design:content:write
For more information, see Scopes.
Header parameters
Content-Type
string
Indicates 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-Metadata
DesignImportMetadata
Metadata about the design that you include as a header parameter when importing a design.
Properties of Import-Metadata
title_base64
string
The 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==
.
mime_type
string
The 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:
job
DesignImportJob
The status of the design import job.
Properties of job
id
string
The ID of the design import job.
status
string
The status of the design import job. This can be one of the following:
failed
in_progress
success
result
DesignImportJobResult
Properties of result
designs
DesignSummary[]
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.
Properties of designs
id
string
The design ID.
urls
DesignLinks
A temporary set of URLs for viewing or editing the design.
Properties of urls
edit_url
string
A temporary editing URL for the design.
This is not a permanent URL, it is only valid for 30 days.
view_url
string
A temporary viewing URL for the design.
This is not a permanent URL, it is only valid for 30 days.
created_at
integer
When the design was created in Canva, as a Unix timestamp (in seconds since the Unix Epoch).
updated_at
integer
When the design was last updated in Canva, as a Unix timestamp (in seconds since the Unix Epoch).
title
string
The design title.
url
string
URL of the design.
thumbnail
Thumbnail
A thumbnail image representing the object.
Properties of thumbnail
width
integer
The width of the thumbnail image in pixels.
height
integer
The height of the thumbnail image in pixels.
url
string
A 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_count
integer
The total number of pages in the design. Some design types don't have pages (for example, Canva docs).
error
DesignImportError
If the import job fails, this object provides details about the error.
Properties of error
code
string
A short string about why the import failed. This field can be used to handle errors programmatically. This can be one of the following:
design_creation_throttled
design_import_throttled
duplicate_import
internal_error
invalid_file
fetch_failed
message
string
A 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."}}}