Gave up on Canva and just use Powerpoint

byOCH3943

711 followers

Updated 4 years ago

So I actually haven't gone through those Canva video training. Thought it might be easy enough without doing so but I found that I wasn't used to the interface to nimbly do what I want to do with the images for my post or social media content.

In time, I do want to try using Canva more since it has been highly recommended by so many people. So some training to attend would be necessary for me to better appreciate what it can do (or not, if any).

But in the absence of that, I was quite happy to figure it out that Powerpoint can give me what I want to do with my images very easily.

I used it primarily for my social media images lately and what I only needed for my images is just:

• To add a background image that I can control the transparency
• Add text to the image
• Add logo to the image and that I can change the shape
• Change the dimension of the image, say for example, to suit the Pinterest recommended sizing.
• Save as JPG or PNG

Add background image and control transparency

To add the background image, and control the transparency, I do the following:

On a blank presentation, you right click and select 'Format Background'. On the right panel as shown above and below, you can then choose the Fill 'Picture or texture fill'. Select 'Insert...' to choose the image that you want to set as the background.

If you want to fade the image, you can then do that with the 'Transparency' feature.

Change Logo Shape and Other Settings

So let's say you create a logo in a square or rectangular form but you want to make it round, below shows the way to do so.

• Insert the Picture of the logo that you have

• Once you have inserted the logo, you can resize it and put it anywhere you prefer. I put it on the bottom right. And once you have done so, right click choose 'Style'
  
  

• You can then choose what style you want. I chose the Oval shape
  
  
• Once you have chosen the shape you prefer, you can then play around with all the other available options quite easily. An example below is where I remove the black color lines. The optons are all together so it is quite no brainer for me to use. I couldn't find it in Canva so I was struggling with trying to use it. But like I said, I haven't yet do any training on Canva so maybe if anyone knows Canva is just as easy to use, please do impart some knowledge to me.
  
  

Change Dimension of the Image

If you want to change the image to a portrait size of 1000 px by 1500 px which is what Pinterest recommends, then do the following

• Click on Design > Slide Size > Custom Slide Size
  
• Set the Slide Orientation to 'Portrait'
• Set the Slides sized for: to 'Custom'
• Set the Width as 10.41 in and Height as 15.62 in which is equivalent to 1000 px by 1500 px. (You can google for a pixel to inch conversion tool to get the size you want)
• The click on Ok
  

• You might be prompted with whether you want to scale to Maximize or Ensure Fit. I would go for Maximize first so that the image won't be squeezed.
  

• If the image doesn't seems to be aligning correctly, you can shift the image left or right using the Offset left or Offset right controls
  

• And what I have got would look like this:
  

How to save as JPG or PNG

In Powerpoint, you can easily save as JPG or PNG. Go to File > Save As and choose the Save as type: to be either of these format instead of pptx.

Conclusion

Is Canva easier to use or perhaps Powerpoint works just as fine? I hope those experienced with Canva can give me some hints. I know Canva has more template for sure, too many in fact. And perhaps sometimes I get lost in it not knowing what to choose.

And there are nice elements and lines that cannot be found in Powerpoint (not that I know of at least.)

Anyway, I hope this may be useful to someone who also prefers to use Powerpoint to do up their images.

Best Regards,