How to Highlight Text in Canva: the Background Effect, Highlight Color in Docs, and a Shape Behind Text

Learning how to highlight in Canva starts with knowing which kind of design you are in. In a design such as a poster, slide or social post, the tool is the Background text effect, which puts a color band behind a text box. In a Canva Doc, a Highlight color control marks the exact words you select, much like a word processor. And anywhere, you can place a colored shape behind your text and send it to the back. This guide gives Canva's own steps for each on desktop and mobile, taken from the Canva Help Center, plus removal steps, a worked example and the mistakes that make highlights look wrong.

How to highlight in Canva: which method to use

The three methods answer different needs. Pick by what you are making and how much of the text should be marked.

Highlight text with the Background effect

Background is a text effect, so it lives under Effects, not under the color tools.

Canva's Help Center article on how to enhance text with effects lists Background among its text effects, with others such as Glow, Echo, Outline and Splice. Here are its desktop steps:

1. Select the text box

   Click the text box you want to mark. Canva's steps start from the text box, not from a selection of words.

2. Open Effects

   Click Effects on the toolbar. A side panel opens with the effects.

3. Choose Background

   Select Background in the side panel.

4. Adjust it

   Drag the sliders or type a value. Canva describes the controls for its effects as intensity, color, direction and transparency.

5. Change the color

   Select the color pot next to Effects on the toolbar, or use the color option in the side panel. Canva says both give the same color controls.

To take the effect off on desktop, select the text and choose Remove effect at the bottom of the panel while the effect is active.

On the Canva mobile app

Canva's mobile steps follow the same path with taps:

1. Select the text box you want to edit.
2. Scroll through the toolbar and select Effects.
3. Scroll through the effects and choose Background.
4. Tap the effect again to open its customization options, then drag the sliders or enter values.
5. To remove it, select None.

For selecting text on a small screen in other apps, the tips in the guide to highlighting text on a phone apply as well.

Highlight selected words in Canva Docs

Canva Docs has a real highlighter that marks only the words you select. Canva's article on how to add and edit text gives the steps for documents:

1. Select the words

   Click and drag the cursor over the words or phrases you want to mark.

2. Click the Highlighter icon

   On the editor toolbar, click the Highlighter icon (Highlight color).

3. Pick a color

   Choose a preset, or click the + icon (See all) to open the color panel with more shades. The text is highlighted as soon as you click a color.

4. Add your own color

   Select the rainbow tile (Add a new color) and pick from the Color picker. Pick a color samples a color from your screen.

5. Remove it

   Select the highlighted words and choose the No color tile in the color panel.

On mobile, Canva's steps are the same with taps: tap and drag over the words, tap the Highlighter icon on the editor toolbar, and tap a color. Tap No color to remove it, and use the Eyedropper to sample a color from your design.

This is the method to use for notes and reading guides you build in Canva. If the document will be edited in a word processor afterward, highlighting in Google Docs works the same way and keeps the marks as text formatting.

Highlight with a shape behind text

When you want one word in a headline marked, a band at an angle, or a highlight that does not follow the text box edges, use a shape. Canva's article on how to add and edit shapes says shapes are available on Free, Pro, Teams, Enterprise, Education and Nonprofits plans.

1. Add a shape

   From the editor side panel, select Elements. Under Browse categories, select Shapes, search if you like, and select a shape such as a rectangle.

2. Color and size it

   With the shape selected, choose the color tile on the toolbar for a solid color or gradient. Drag the corner handles to scale it evenly, or the side pill handles to stretch it into a band.

3. Move it behind the text

   Canva's article on how to group, layer and align elements explains that elements sit in layers, with front layers on top. Select the shape, click Position on the toolbar, and choose Backward or To back until the text sits on top.

4. Group the pair

   Select the shape and the text (hold Shift and click), then select Group on the floating toolbar, or press Command+G on a Mac or Ctrl+G on Windows. Now they move together.

On mobile, tap the shape, then tap Position on the toolbar below the editor (swipe through the toolbar if you do not see it) and choose the layer option. To select two elements, tap and hold one until a menu appears, tap Select Multiple, then tap the other.

A third route is to type inside the shape. Canva's shapes article says you can double-click a shape and start typing, and adjust the gap between text and edge with the Padding slider under Advanced settings.

A worked example: a study poster

Here is a plan for marking up a one-page revision poster. The text is written for this example.

• The headline. Select the headline text box, open Effects and choose Background, then pick a pale yellow and lower the transparency setting until the band sits softly behind the words.
• One key word. To mark only "Bread" in the body, add a rectangle from Elements > Shapes, color it light green, stretch it to the width of the word, send it Backward behind the body text, and group the two.
• The handout version. In a Canva Doc of the same notes, drag across "rights and representation" and click the Highlighter icon. Only those words are marked.

The result uses each tool for the job it is built for. A fixed meaning for each color, as in the color-code system for study highlights, keeps the poster readable.

Pitfalls when highlighting in Canva

• Expecting Background to mark one word. Canva's steps start from the text box, not from a word selection. For one word, use a shape or a separate text box.
• A shape on top of the text. If the band hides your words, the shape is in front. Use Position and choose Backward or To back.
• A shape that drifts. Ungrouped, the shape stays put when you move the text. Group them once the layout is right.
• Gradients that look wrong after export. Canva advises applying the effect before a gradient, and exporting text with effects and gradients as PNG or JPG, because PDF and SVG may not show the gradient correctly.
• Links that stop working. Canva has a separate help article for hyperlinks on text with effects that do not work. Check links after adding Background.

Tips for clean Canva highlights

• Keep contrast high. A dark band under dark text is unreadable. Pale colors behind dark text are safer.
• Use one highlight style per design. Mixing bands, shapes and effects on one page looks busy.
• Reuse the color. Canva's effect color and highlight color both accept a custom color, so you can match the same shade every time.
• Compare with slides software. If you build the same deck in PowerPoint, the PowerPoint and Google Slides highlighting guide covers its Text Highlight Color.

To highlight in Canva, match the tool to the place: the Background effect for a text box in a design, Highlight color for selected words in a Canva Doc, and a shape sent behind the text for anything in between. Each has its own removal step, and grouping keeps a shape with its words. For the same job in other apps, see the rest of the highlighting guides.