Are you struggling with cropping images in Canva? You're not alone. Many users find themselves frustrated when trying to adjust the dimensions of an image to fit their design perfectly. But fear not! In this blog post, we'll explore various methods for cropping images and elements in Canva, ensuring that you can achieve the desired result effortlessly. Be that turning a landscape image into a portrait image or vice versa, or maybe you only want to show parts of an image.

How to Crop an Image in Canva

There are a few cropping tool options in Canva, and cropping an image in Canva might seem daunting at first, but it's quite simple.

There are four main ways to crop an image in Canva, as well as a way to crop elements. Let me walk you through each of the options in Canva and see which one works best for you.

I have also made a video on cropping images in Canva on my YouTube channel.

Manual Cropping or Free Form Cropping in Canva

The easiest way to crop an image is by manually adjusting its dimensions. Select the image on your design and then drag the crop handles from the corners, bottom, top, and side handles to crop the image to your desired size. Ideal if you only want to show part of the photo in a design.

Screen shot of how to crop an Image using corner and side handles in Canva

If you drag using the corner handles of the image, its size can be increased or decreased, but it will keep the same aspect ratio.

However, holding down the shift key and dragging it from the corner of an image will not keep the same aspect ratio as the image; instead, you can adjust the width and height of the image by dragging the corner around.

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Setting Specific Dimensions

If you need more control and want to set specific dimensions for an image in Canva, you can use the image editing options in the position menu. This menu option allows you to specify the width and height of the image, allowing for precise cropping according to your design requirements.

Screen shot of Position Menu Cropping in Canva

Click and select your image on your design and click "Position" on the top menu. This opens up the Arrange and Layers panel. You will want to select the Arrange tab.

Under the advanced section of this menu, you can now type in specific height and width dimensions for the image, and the image will be cropped accordingly.

If you want to keep the same aspect ratio, you can click on the lock icon, and this will automatically adjust the height or width to keep the same aspect ratio.

Now the image is the size you want it to be, you can double-click on the image and drag it around inside the window until your image shows the selection you want it to.

Edit Photo and Smart Crop Feature in Canva

If you want a specific aspect ratio for your image, this is the best copping option for Canva.

After adding your image to your design and with your image selected, click the "Edit Photo" feature to access advanced cropping options.

This will open up a new image editing panel for you. Select the Crop tab for the cropping options.

The first item on this menu is Smart Crop. If you click this, the image will be cropped using A.I. and suggest what crop it thinks is best. Although I think this feature is not the best, it can certainly give you an idea of what part of the image works best.

Under the smart crop option is the Aspect Ratio. Click on any of these, and your image will be cropped accordingly. Be that a 1:1 or 4:5 crop for Instagram or maybe a 9:16 for sharing to a social media story. But I have got a better way to use this option for you next.

The last option in this section is to rotate your image. This is not rotating the image itself, but more rotating the image inside the crop.

Cropping Images for Social Media Using Canva

This method is ideal if you have an image you want to crop for social media like Instagram or Facebook. This method allows you to apply a crop quickly and then download your image for sharing on social media.

Steps for Editing Images on Canva for Social Media

On the Canva Homepage, click on Projects and then Folders
Add a New folder and name it (I call mine social media Images)
Open the folder and upload your images to Canva
Go through and name your images (this will help you find them later)
Click on an image you want to edit, and it will pop up in a window
Crop and edit the image however you want to using the crop options
Click Save. You can either save it to Canva or Download it. (I Save it to Canva and then download it)

If you save the edited image to Canva, it will be saved in the same folder, and you will add "edited" to the file name. This is handy and will mean you can add this edited image to a design in the future if you want to.

Downloading an Edited Image in Canva

If you want to now download the final image, click on the three dots in the top right hand corner of the image and select download.

Whichever option you choose, you will now have the perfect cropped image for your Inastagram, blog or YouTube thumbnails.

Did you know you can schedule Canva Designs to your Instagram from within Canva.

How to Crop Elements in Canva

With your design open, add the required element from the Elements Tab. Once the element is selected, click the Crop Button on the top menu bar.

You can now drag and crop any element by dragging the corner of the cropping tool.

Screenshot of cropping an Element in Canva

Expert Tips on Cropping in Canva:

Experiment with different cropping techniques to find the method that works best for your needs.
Take advantage of Canva's auto-rotate feature to ensure your images are perfectly aligned.
Don't hesitate to explore additional features within Canva's editing tools to enhance your design further.

From The Community:

This question came from the community, where I was asked:

"I've been working with this for almost a year. Why can I not crop an image in the way that I want and adjust the height separately and the width separately? Can you please explain that to me? It's such a simple function. Why can't I figure this out like in MS Word? It's so simple and breezy in Canva. It's impossible. I'm so frustrated. I wanna throw my laptop across the room. I'm so sick of trying to figure this out. So please help me, I'm desperate." - A frustrated Canva user.

If you have any questions for me on how to do something in Canva, let me know in the comments of my YouTube Channel or over on Instagram

Simple Steps on How to Crop an Image and Photos in Canva