How to Highlight Words in Canva

Updated on:

May 11, 2026

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Use this interactive demo to learn how to add a highlight effect to words in your Canva design.

Quick summary

Canva's text highlight feature lets you apply a colored background effect to any word or phrase using the built-in Effects panel. You can fully customize the highlight's color, roundness, spread, and transparency directly inside the Canva editor.

Steps

Open an existing design in Canva.
Click the text box containing the words you want to highlight.
Select Effects from the toolbar at the top of the workspace.
The text effects panel will open on the left side of your workspace.
Scroll down in the effects panel and click the Background button.
Your text will be highlighted, and three sliders plus a color options box will appear below the Background button.
Adjust the sliders to customize the highlight's roundness, spread, and transparency.
To change the highlight color, click the color box.
In the color options panel, click any color to apply it to the highlighted area instantly.
Click Share to save your design with the highlighted text.

📌 Why this matters

Highlighting words in Canva is a powerful way to draw attention to key information in presentations, social media graphics, and marketing materials. Using Canva's built-in Background text effect, designers can apply fully customizable highlight colors without needing any external tools or advanced design skills. This feature helps content creators improve readability and visual hierarchy by making critical words stand out instantly. Whether you're building branded slides or eye-catching posts, text highlighting in Canva gives you precise control over color, roundness, spread, and transparency in just a few clicks.

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