To make a digital business card in Canva, start from a business card template, edit it, then share it in a format that keeps your links working: publish it as a free Canva website, or download it as a PDF. Add a QR code from Canva’s built-in QR tool so people can open the card from your phone screen or a printed copy. What Canva won’t give you is a Save Contact button, so the person you meet still has to type your number in by hand.
What you need
- A free Canva account.
- Your details: name, job title, company, phone, email, and one or two links. If you’re still deciding, see what to put on a digital business card.
- Optionally, a logo or headshot.
- Your phone, to test the QR code.
Step 1: Design the card
- Search Canva for “business card” and pick a template. For a card people will mostly see on a phone, a portrait layout reads better than the standard landscape print size.
- Replace the sample text with your details. Write the phone number in full international format, with the country code, so it works for people abroad.
- Upload your logo or photo and set your brand colors.
- Leave an empty square, at least a few centimetres wide, where the QR code will go.
Step 2: Make the links clickable
A Canva design is a picture until you choose a format that keeps links. Canva’s hyperlink help page is blunt about it: “Hyperlinks will not work on PNGs, JPGs, MP4s, etc., or when you post your design on social media.” Links stay clickable “by downloading your design as a PDF or by presenting it,” and flattened PDFs don’t count.
To add a link, select the text or element, choose More on the floating toolbar, choose Link, paste the address and press Enter. Do this for your email (mailto:), phone (tel:), website and LinkedIn.
Step 3: Publish it as a free website
A PDF works as an email attachment. For a link you can share anywhere, publish the design as a website instead.
According to Canva’s publishing guide, websites are available on Canva Free, Pro, Teams and Education. The steps:
- In the editor, select Publish website.
- Check the Site address (URL) and edit the Subpath if you want something like your name in the link.
- Open Settings and turn on Resize on mobile.
- Select Continue to publish, then Publish.
Two details catch people out. The free .canva.site address only works for designs made from a Website template; a business card or Link in Bio design publishes to a canva.link address, so resize the design to a Website template if you want the other one. And on the Free plan, a “Designed with Canva” footer appears at the bottom of the site and can’t be removed without Canva Pro. Free accounts can have up to five live websites on the free domain.
You can edit the site after it’s live and republish, so the same link shows your new details.
Step 4: Add a QR code
Canva’s QR code guide describes two tools, “Static QR Codes for a quick, fixed link, and Dynamic QR codes for a link you can update later and track.”
- In the editor, select Apps and search “QR code” (or search “QR code” in Elements).
- Pick Static QR codes.
- Paste your published website link into the URL field.
- Optionally change the colors and margin, then select Save.
Pick the static code and point it at a link you control. Static codes have no Canva logo, and their link “can’t be changed after creation.” That doesn’t matter when the code points at your published site: you change the site, not the code. Dynamic codes can be edited, but Canva says they “include the Canva logo by default” on Free, Pro and Education, and the scan Insights are only on Business, Enterprise and Nonprofit. You also can’t convert one type into the other later.
Follow Canva’s sizing advice: “Use QR codes no smaller than 2 x 2 cm (0.79 x 0.79 in),” leave blank space around the code of at least four times the width of a single module, and avoid transparent backgrounds. Its note that “shorter links scan more reliably” is another reason to point the code at a short site address.
Step 5: Test it
Scan the code with an Android phone and an iPhone. Google’s help page says “You need Android 9 or higher to scan QR codes with your device’s built-in camera” (Google Account Help). On iPhone, Apple’s instruction is to “hold your device so that the QR code appears, then tap the link to open the content” (Apple Support).
Then tap every link on the published card: phone, email, website. A tel: link with a missing country code is the most common mistake.
The limitation: Canva can’t save you to Contacts
When someone opens a Canva-only card, they see your details, but there’s no button that drops you into their phone’s Contacts. None of the Canva help pages on QR codes, websites or links mentions a contact file. So a busy person at a trade show takes a screenshot, and your number sits in their camera roll instead of their address book.
One-tap saving needs a vCard file. vCard is the format RFC 6350 defines “for representing and exchanging a variety of information about individuals,” and it’s what phones open as a new contact. If you want to know what’s inside one, read what a vCard file is.
You have two practical options:
- Keep Canva for the design and add a hosted card for the contact. Put your Canva design on printed cards or slides, but point the QR code at a hosted digital card instead of a Canva site. QRCard’s Free plan, for example, gives you one card at a link like
qrcard.in/c/yourname, a QR download and a Save Contact button that hands over a vCard 3.0 file to iPhone or Android Contacts. The viewer needs no app. You edit the card once and the same link and QR code show the new details. - Stay fully in Canva and accept that people will save you by hand. That’s fine if you mostly share the card with people who already know you.
If you’re weighing up tools before you start, my guide on how to create a digital business card for free compares the hosted route with a do-it-yourself vCard QR code. And for a printed card with a code on the back, see how to make a QR code for your business card.
FAQ
Can I make a digital business card in Canva for free?
Yes. The templates, the static QR code tool and website publishing are all on the Free plan. Free websites carry a “Designed with Canva” footer, and Free accounts can have up to five live sites on the free domain.
Are links clickable in a Canva business card?
Only in a PDF download (not a flattened one), when presenting, or on a published Canva website. Canva says hyperlinks don’t work in PNG or JPG files or in designs posted to social media.
Should I use a static or dynamic QR code from Canva?
Static, if you point it at a link you control. Static codes have no Canva logo but can’t be edited. Dynamic codes can be edited, but on Free and Pro they include the Canva logo and scan Insights need a Business plan or higher.
Can a Canva card save my details to someone’s Contacts?
Not by itself. None of the Canva help pages on QR codes, websites or links mention a contact file. For one-tap saving you need a vCard (.vcf) file, which a hosted digital card can generate.