How to send a Canva invitation by text

Download your Canva design as a PNG or JPG, then attach it to a text that includes your RSVP link. Here's how to do that for a whole guest list, and what doesn't work.

Download the finished design from Canva as an image (PNG or JPG), then send that image in a text with a short message and an RSVP link. For a few people you can do this from your phone's photo library. For a whole guest list, upload the image once to a texting tool and send it so each guest gets their own text.

One thing up front, so you don't go looking for it: Text My Event doesn't connect to Canva or import Canva designs. You bring the design over as an image file. That takes about a minute.

Step 1: Download the design from Canva as an image

In Canva, open your invitation and use the Download option. Choose PNG or JPG as the file type. Canva's menus change from time to time, so if you can't find it, search Canva's help center for "download".

A few tips:

• Pick PNG or JPG, not PDF. Text messages carry images, not PDFs. Text My Event accepts JPEG, PNG, GIF, and MP4 files.
• One page per image. If your design has a front and back, download each page as its own image, or put the important details on one page.
• Design for a phone screen. A portrait card reads better in a text thread than a wide banner. Keep the date, time, and place large enough to read without zooming.
• Put the text in the message too. Some phones show a picture smaller, or as a link. Repeat the key details in the text itself so nobody has to squint at the image.

Step 2 (a few guests): send it from your phone

Save the downloaded image to your phone, start a text to one person, attach the image from your photo library, and add a line with the details and how to RSVP. Repeat for each guest. If you add everyone to one message, you'll probably start a group chat, which shares everyone's number. Our guide to sending a mass text individually covers why that's worth avoiding.

Step 2 (a whole guest list): attach it in Text My Event

1. Create your event and add guests, then confirm that they agreed to get texts about it. The step-by-step guide walks through this with screenshots.
2. Publish an RSVP form under RSVPs so you have an {RSVP link} to include.
3. Write the message under Messages. Choose Add media and pick the PNG or JPG you downloaded from Canva. You can attach it from the RSVP form's Message tab with Add image, too.
4. Add the details and the link in the text, using {First name} so each guest's copy is addressed to them.
5. Send a test to your own phone, then send it or schedule it.

Each guest gets their own text with the image, so nobody sees anyone else's number, and replies come back only to you.

How the image reaches guests

Picture messages have a much smaller size limit than an image straight out of Canva. When you attach an image, Text My Event makes a text-sized copy automatically. If it can't make one for a particular file, it tells you, and some guests get a link to the image instead of the picture itself. That's one more reason to put the date, time, and place in the message text.

Or build the card in Text My Event instead

If you haven't designed anything yet, you can skip the export step. The invitation studio has ready-made cards for birthdays, showers, weddings, and more. You edit the wording, fonts, colors, and layout, and the card is texted to guests as a picture along with a link to the invitation page. You can't upload a Canva file into the studio, so pick one route:

• Already have a Canva design you love? Download it as an image and attach it to your text.
• Starting from scratch? Use the studio so the design and the sending live in one place.

For a picture of the full flow from first text to RSVP, see text invitations.