October 19, 2025

By: 
Anna Dobbert

Hot Take: Canva Secretly Wants to Be a Video Editing Platform

Canva video editing update

A subtle little update has wormed its way into Canva. As someone who uses the platform day in and day out, I can assure you it did not go unnoticed by me. Let me preface this by saying I know I am picky, and I know I rag on Canva all the time, but my honest observations and feedback truly come from a place of love. 

Here’s the gist...the automatic layout when editing an Instagram Story (also known as “Your Story”) used to function like any other design. But now, Canva automatically characterizes Story designs like it does for videos, automatically setting the view to the “Duration” view instead of displaying the normal slide view. Also, each element automatically shows its “Timing” when selected. 

Admittedly, these settings are easy enough to undo by simply toggling “Duration” and selecting “Hide Element Timing” on the timeline. But the problem lies in the fact that I have to make those layout adjustments every single time I create a design. Even refreshing the page requires me to rework the settings to get a layout that shows me the features I want to see (like page number, for example) and that prevents the interface from jumping around and constantly showing me the duration of the design’s elements. The need to repeatedly make those two tiny toggles results in time lost and lots of frustration.

Canva’s Trying to Be Something It’s Not (Not Yet Anyway)

It’s no surprise that Canva wants a slice of TikTok’s, CapCut’s, and Instagram’s editing pie. Video content is more popular than ever, and it most certainly will continue to grow. But have you ever tried to edit a video in Canva? 

It is a MISERABLE experience. There is a notable lack of control over where and when you cut. It’s difficult to see and time different elements when using the “Timing” feature. Also, Canva’s servers seem to have a hard time handling any type of video files. The foundation just isn’t there to make it a functional, practical tool for video editing. 

Platforms like Canva and CapCut are what I call “plug-and-play” tools. They have volumes of premade templates for plugging in your images, text, or videos and creating content that looks decent enough to post. That being said, they will never be able to replicate the caliber of work you can put out with professional tools. Just last week, someone commented on a TikTok of mine asking how to recreate the same effect on CapCut. Despite my best effort to explain how I accomplished it using Photoshop and Premiere Pro, I knew that wouldn’t really help her because her plug-and-play tool just doesn’t have the same depth of capabilities. The truth is: video editing is a very technical craft. Making professional, high-quality video content requires learning how to use a pro tool—and, like CapCut, Canva simply doesn’t cut it (for now!).

Stop the Madness!

I think Canva’s continual unveiling of new features is in stark contrast to other software platforms. We don’t see the same degree and frequency of functional changes rolled out to Excel Sheets or Adobe Photoshop. With Canva, I find myself regularly having to relearn my workflow. It’s becoming exhausting!

And so, I respectfully request…

Dear Canva, 

Please stop automatically formatting my Instagram Stories as videos.

Sincerely, 

A weary designer who’s tired of having to perpetually toggle my design settings

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