Why is My Hyperlink Not Working on Canva

In this guide, you will learn why your hyperlink is not working and how to fix them in Canva.

Reasons Why Your Hyperlink Is Not Working

Your hyperlink may not work on Canva due to the location where you are testing the hyperlink, which is how Canva works.

It could be due to an incorrect or incomplete web address. Or maybe your internet just decided to be uncooperative for a moment.

Here are some possibilities of why your hyperlink is not working in Canva, in more detail, and how you get a hyperlink to work in Canva.

Reason 1: The link may be typed incorrectly or incomplete

Check your link, are the words spelled correctly? For website URLs, you can simply type the link without “http://” or “https://” in the search box.

But including either one will ensure that it works well. Next, check if you added a domain such as “.com”, “.org”.

As for email addresses, you can hyperlink an email in Canva by simply typing in the email address. There is no need to add the text “mailto:” before the email address. An email address is obvious because it has the “@” included.

Canva will be able to detect that you’ve typed in an email address and it will automatically include the “mailto:” infront of it.

If you think you’ve done this and tried to click the email hyperlink but it doesn’t work, you will have to check if you’ve typed in something else by mistake.

Check your email address, did you add a name and “@” before the domain name or just the domain name? If it’s just the domain name, the hyperlink will redirect you to a webpage instead of an email provider.

Reason 2: You are testing the link on your Canva design

After adding the correct hyperlink to Canva, do you find yourself trying to click on it on your Canva design? If you are, you will find that there’s no reaction to your hyperlink and it can seem like it doesn’t work.

Hyperlinks do not work on Canva designs or on the Canva documents where you can edit your designs. The hyperlinks can only work either in a PDF file exported or published from Canva or while on presenter view.

For you to publish your design, select the “Share” button on the top right-hand corner of the Canva desktop app.

Here, you can choose to publish your design in the presenter view for the hyperlink to work. Select the button that says “Present”. Then, select “Standard” under the “Type” options and select “Present”.

A full-screen view of your design will replace the Canva app. If you bring your cursor over the hyperlink element, your cursor will change into a hand icon. Click on your hyperlink and it should redirect you to your desired location.

If you don’t wish to publish your design in presenting mode, you can export it as a PDF file. In this case, select “Download” and select “PDF Standard” in the file type options dropdown menu. Then, select the “Download” button.

Next, save your Canva PDF design to a folder on your desktop. You can open it up and test your hyperlink by clicking on it.

Reason 3: You are testing the link on the video file published from Canva

The hyperlinks created on Canva are not clickable in the exported video files like mp4. You can add hyperlinks in the Canva video designs, but you can only click on them while on the presenter view.

If you’d like to create hyperlinks at various parts of the video or maybe a call-to-action button at the end of the video, you can do this by hosting your video on video hosting platforms.

Video hosts and players like Youtube, Wistia, and Vimeo can help you do that.

Reason 4: The link you have added may be broken

Although the URL is a valid link, the hyperlinked location may not be working. This could be due to the website being down due to server issues, or because the page has been moved or removed.

If it is a website that you own, check with your host server on what you can do to bring it back live again. Otherwise, you may have to check with the owner or change the link to something else that works well.

Reason 5: The link may be blocked by Canva

Some websites are blocked by Canva for security or other reasons. In this case, the hyperlink will not work. Not all websites are legitimate and safe to browse.

If Canva suspects that the link you are clicking to redirect to another website is not safe, you will see messages like these: “You are about to leave Canva”, or “Warning: Deceptive site ahead”.

Some websites are malicious, or created by cybercriminals who intentionally install codes or virus to steal information such as credit card details.

Once you access these websites and click on any links in them, malware will be installed in your device and start scraping data. These can lead you to visit even more malicious sites or spread to other devices from your device.

If you wish to know more about sites that Canva will block you from, do check out their Terms of Use.

Reason 6: problem with your internet connection

If your internet connection is unstable or slow, it could affect the hyperlink. You could see that the loading is taking a long time and although you may be redirected to another browser, nothing shows up.

You can test your internet connection by opening up another web browser and try logging in to any other website like Gmail, Facebook, or even check your internet speed.

If you are not able to load these pages, chances are your internet connection is on downtime.

In this case, try resetting your router by switching it off for a few minutes and turning it back on again. Or check with your ISP (Internet Service Provider) if they can help you with the issue.

How Do You Know If Your Hyperlink Works On Canva?

Have you figured out why is your hyperlink not working on Canva? If you have checked these possibilities and the hyperlink is still not working, it may be helpful to try using a different web browser or device to see if that resolves the issue.

If you are adding the hyperlink in the Canva browser or desktop app and typed something that is not like a URL, Canva doesn’t inform you with any notification.

The only notice is a thin red border around the search panel to warn you that what you’ve typed isn’t a valid link.

Make sure there is no red border around it before you publish your Canva design with the hyperlink.

As for adding a hyperlink in the Canva mobile app, it tells you that you have typed in an invalid link if your hyperlink doesn’t work.

With this notice, you don’t have to keep having to export or publish your design to know if your hyperlink works or not.