How to Make a Background Transparent in Canva (Fast & Easy)

Whether you’re a blogger, social media enthusiast, or person who runs a business, graphic design will be an essential ingredient for your success.

One trick that every graphic designer needs to know is how to make a transparent background to give a graphic versatility. 

Canva is a powerful design platform that makes it simple for the design novice, so let’s get started and learn how to make a background transparent in Canva.

How to Make a Background Transparent in Canva

Making a background transparent in Canva is only possible if you have a Canva Pro account.

You can update your free Canva user account to a Canva Pro subscription, or sign up to give Canva Pro a trial.

Canva offers a free trial for 30 days. Cancel the trial before the 30 days are up and you won’t be billed.

Why Make Backgrounds Transparent

You might be wondering why you would want to make a transparent background – after all, you’re not making stickers.

Here are our top reasons for making a background transparent.

1. A transparent background removes distractions and helps accentuate the other details of an image.

2. Images with transparent backgrounds can be layered on top of each other.

3. The background behind the subject can be replaced with new backgrounds. This can be useful if you have a logo, for example.

4. A transparent background can direct the viewer’s focus to an integral part of the image.

5.  Most images have colored backgrounds, therefore a transparent background will stand out creating visual intrigue.

So, let’s look at the steps to make a transparent background in Canva.

• New to Canva? Learn the basics in this Canva guide for beginners

Open the Image

Locate and open your image in the Canva workspace.

If your image is already stored as a Project, click on the “Projects” button located in the left-hand menu panel.

Find your image and click on it to open it in your Canva workspace.

Create Transparent Background

When your image is open in the Canva workspace, you can delete the existing background.

Click on the image or part of the image which you want to make transparent. 

Above the workspace click on the “Edit photo” button.

When clicked, a panel will pop out to the left of your workspace.

Click on “Effects” to open up the effects tools. 

Select “BG Remover” from the options under “Tools”.

Once the BG Remover has been activated, click on the background behind the active image.

The existing background will be removed and the image will now have a transparent background. 

• Read more: How do you draw over something in Canva?

Download the Image with Transparent Background

To download and save your image with a transparent background, you have two options.

The first option is to head to “File” at the left of the top menu bar, and the second option is to click on the “Share” button on the right-hand side in the top menu bar.

For either option, select “Download” from the drop-down menu that appears.

When you click “Download” a pop-up window will appear on the right of your Canva workspace.

To download and keep the image background transparent, make sure the PNG format is selected beside “File Type”.

PNG files will retain the existing transparent background.

JPGs, PDFs, and other file types will automatically include a white background when saving the file which will be inseparable when the file is opened again.

Tick the box beside “Transparent Background”.

Then, hit the “Download” button.

Unfortunately, as mentioned above, you will not be able to download a transparent background image unless you upgrade to Canva Pro.

• Read more: How do you change the background color of text in Canva?

How Do I Make an Image Transparent in Canva?

Graphic design trends come and go, but some techniques will always be timeless.

Making the top layer of an image transparent will always be a useful and interesting way to blend layers.

Using Canva, you can make one of the layers of a design transparent without affecting the background or the rest of the image.

Start by opening your image in the Canva workspace.

Activate the design element or layer you wish to make transparent by clicking on it. 

When the design element is activated it will be surrounded by a purple outline.

In the menu bar above your workspace, click on the fading chequered square to the right side of the “Position” button.

When the chequered square is clicked, a transparency slider will appear.

Slide the transparency slider left or right to increase or decrease the transparency of the design element.

When the transparency is set low you will see the layers behind.

You can use this transparency technique to fade photos, add texture or create spooky ghostly effects to images.