How to Show Ruler in Canva

Updated on:

May 11, 2026

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Use this interactive demo to learn how to enable rulers and guides in your Canva design.

Quick summary

The Canva ruler feature lets you display pixel-based measurement guides along the top and side of your design canvas. You can show or hide rulers instantly via the File menu's Settings option or by pressing the Shift+R keyboard shortcut.

Steps

Open an existing design in Canva.
Click on 'File' in the top left corner of the screen.
Select 'Settings' from the File menu, then click 'Show rulers and guides' — alternatively, press Shift+R to toggle rulers on instantly.
Confirm that rulers showing dimensions in pixels now appear along the top and side of your design.
To hide rulers, click 'Show rulers and guides' again to toggle them off.

📌 Why this matters

Canva's built-in ruler and guides feature gives designers precise control over element placement and spacing directly within the browser-based editor. By displaying pixel-accurate measurements along the top and side of the canvas, users can align objects, maintain consistent margins, and produce pixel-perfect layouts without switching to an external tool. This makes Canva a viable option for both casual creators and professional designers who need reliable spatial accuracy in their graphic design workflow. Enabling rulers takes only seconds via the File menu or the Shift+R shortcut, lowering the barrier to more structured, professional-quality design output.

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