How To Resize Canvas in Affinity Designer

In Affinity Designer you can easily resize a canvas to the size that you need. This is especially useful in situations when you need to change the size of a project that is already open. You may want to resize to a smaller canvas area or increase the size to add more elements. In our tutorial today you will learn the basics of how to resize the canvas in Affinity Designer.



For this example, we will use this Succulents illustration bundle but we have many more sublimation designs to choose from.

Step 1 - Open Document Setup Panel

The canvas size is adjusted in the Document Setup panel. The panel allows you control over the adjustments so you can more accurately resize.

Let's begin by creating a document in Affinity Designer. Then, import or place your project into it. You can go to File > Open or drag and drop your image into Affinity Designer.

Make sure that you are in the Designer Persona and that your project is not selected. Then, pick the Move Tool (V) and click the Document Setup button.

Step 2 - Change the Canvas Dimensions

In the new window that appears, you can adjust the canvas size. Do this by changing the width and height values in the Dimensions area.

There is a small padlock icon between the width and height boxes. If you want to maintain the aspect ratio of your canvas, keep the padlock locked.

If you don’t want to keep the aspect ratio while changing dimensions, click on the padlock to open it. Once you are happy with the dimensions, you can click Ok.

Now, the resized canvas will be adjusted and appear in your design space.

In Affinity Designer when you resize the canvas, it is a non-destructive action. You are not cropping your project but only changing the canvas size. You will be able to select and edit your project like normal.

If you wish to crop your vector objects, you can use the Vector Crop Tool instead. You can even cut and crop using shapes.

Affinity Designer makes it a simple and quick process to resize the canvas. It is a great option that keeps your workflow running effortlessly. You can adjust the size whenever needed without interrupting or restarting your project.