Canva Accessibility Features in 2026

Today’s blog post explores Canva’s NEW accessibility features showing they finally support more inclusive design workflows. I’m happy to walk through these new built-in tools that now help designers identify and fix accessibility issues directly within the platform.

Video Guide

Built-in Accessibility Checker

Canva now places accessibility tools under the File menu, making them easy to find and use. The Accessibility Checker scans designs and highlights key issues that affect usability.

It evaluates:

Design features, such as color contrast and alt text
Text semantics, such as headings and reading order
Motion, such as flickering or blinking

This feature gives designers a quick way to review accessibility without leaving Canva. It works well as a first pass before exporting content.

Alt Text and Image Descriptions

Canva now allows you to manage alt text directly within the editor. Designers can describe images or mark them as decorative.

You can:

The AI feature helps speed up workflows, especially in designs with many images.

However, on export to PDF, we found our decorative images still required alt text, which shows that this feature does not always carry through correctly.

Applying Text Semantics

Canva now supports semantic structure by allowing you to assign heading levels to text. Designers can label content such as titles as Heading 1 and organize information in a logical hierarchy.

This improves accessibility because screen readers rely on headings to navigate content. It also brings Canva closer to traditional document tools that already support structured content.

Canva did not allow us to manipulate reading order manually. This creates a gap between how content looks and how assistive technologies interpret it.

However, on export to PDF, we found that all elements had tags and the reading order was correct.

Motion Option

Canva includes a Reduce Motion setting that likely limits animations, flickering or flashing within a design. This feature helps users who experience discomfort with motion effects.

Export to Accessible PDF

Export files as ‘PDF Standard’ to retain accessibility features. As mentioned, all our content was tagged and in the correct reading order.

However, the export process showed these poor results:

Headings were split into multiple tags, requiring tag edits
Decorative images still required alt text. Since these were marked as decorative, the tags should have not come through. Designers would have to artifact the tags post export.

Key Takeaway

Canva has made meaningful progress by integrating accessibility tools directly into its design environment. Designers can now address alt text, heading structure, and test for color contrast earlier in the process. Some tagging limitations remain, so additional review and edits will be required after export.

Let me be your champion for inclusion. I offer tailored solutions (and self-paced courses!) to ensure your documents meet and exceed compliance expectations. For more detailed insights, tutorials, and in-depth discussions on accessibility and related topics, don’t forget to check out my YouTube channel: The Accessibility Guy on YouTube. Subscribe for regular updates!