Canva digital signage: import your designs and keep every screen in sync

Your marketing team designs in Canva. Now they can send those designs straight to your screens, and fix a typo in Canva without anyone re-uploading anything. Imported designs stay linked, so screens update when the design does.

How it works

1. Connect your Canva account. In Content, the Canva card says Connect Canva. Each person connects their own account, and ScreenTinker sees only the designs that account can see.
2. Add from Canva. Pick a design, choose its pages and a format:
   • Images, one per page: best for menus, posters and slides
   • Video (MP4): the chosen pages as one video, for designs with animation or video
3. Optionally, create a playlist in page order in the same step.

Imported items are ordinary content: tags, folders, scheduling, approvals and version history all apply, and they play offline like any upload.

Keeping designs in sync

• ScreenTinker checks linked designs every 30 minutes. When a design has changed, it exports the linked pages again and replaces the files. Sync now on an item checks straight away.
• A replacement works exactly like Replace file: screens download the new version, history keeps the old one, and if your workspace requires approval the new version waits as a draft until it is approved.
• An unchanged design isn’t exported again.
• If the person who imported a design disconnects or loses access to it, the item keeps its last version and shows last sync failed with the reason.

Set it up

ScreenTinker talks to Canva through a Canva integration, an app you create once in the Canva Developer Portal. Bring your own: it belongs to your organization.

1. In the Canva Developer Portal, create a Connect API integration.
2. Enable the scopes design:meta:read, design:content:read and profile:read.
3. Add the redirect URL that ScreenTinker’s Settings shows (https://your-server/api/canva/callback).
4. An organization owner or admin pastes the client ID and secret into Settings → Canva integration and presses Test. On a self-hosted server, an operator can instead set CANVA_CLIENT_ID and CANVA_CLIENT_SECRET for every organization.
5. Each person presses Connect Canva in Content and imports designs.

The full guide, with troubleshooting, is in docs/canva.md.

Privacy and security

• Canva tokens and the integration secret are stored encrypted. No API response includes them.
• Connecting uses OAuth 2.0 with PKCE, tied to the browser that started it.
• A ScreenTinker API token can’t use someone’s Canva connection; the Canva endpoints accept a signed-in dashboard session only.
• A sync can only change what the importer could change by hand. Media head office plays in a corporate playlist is only updated by someone allowed to change it.

Limits

• Canva renders each export, which takes from a few seconds to a few minutes for a long video.
• Imported items count toward your storage like any upload.
• If you delete a page in Canva that an item is linked to, that item reports the problem and keeps showing its last version.

FAQ

Can I show Canva designs on a TV?

Yes. Connect your Canva account in Content, choose Add from Canva, pick the design and pages, and import them as images or one video. Put them in a playlist for the TV.

Do screens update when I edit the design in Canva?

Yes. Linked designs are checked every 30 minutes, or straight away with Sync now. Changed pages are exported again and screens download the new version. If your workspace requires approval, the new version waits as a draft.

Does everyone share one Canva account?

No. Each person connects their own Canva account and sees only their own designs. The Canva integration itself is set up once for the organization.

Can I import an animated Canva design?

Yes. Choose Video (MP4) when you import, and the pages you pick become one video. Images, one per page, suit static menus, posters and slides.