Upload asset

Upload a new asset to the user's Projects.

You can upload media assets to a user’s content library using the assets/upload endpoint. When specifying an asset that already exists, it renames the asset.

The request format for this endpoint is an application/octet-stream body of bytes. Attach information about the upload using an Upload-Metadata header.

POST https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/assets/upload

This endpoint requires a valid access token that acts on behalf of a user. The token must have the following scopes (permissions):

  • asset:write

For more information, see Scopes.

Authorization: Bearer {token}

Content-Type: application/octet-stream

Upload-Metadata: {Upload-Metadata}

#namestring
Required

The name of the asset. The maximum length of this property is 50 characters.

#parent_folder_idstring
Required

The ID of the parent folder where the asset will be uploaded.

#tagsstring[]
Optional

The user-facing tags attached to the asset. Users can also add these tags to their uploaded assets, and they can search their uploaded assets in the Canva UI by searching for these tags. For information on how users use tags, see the Canva Help Center page on asset tags. Maximum length 50 tags. Each tag has a maximum length of 50 characters.

Binary of the asset to upload.

Examples for using the /v1/assets/upload endpoint:

curl --request POST 'https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/assets/upload' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer {token}' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/octet-stream' \
--header 'Upload-Metadata: { "name": "My Awesome Upload", "parent_folder_id": "FG5IFBpY3M", "tags": ["go to market","holiday","adventure"] }' \
--data-binary '@/path/to/file'
sh

If successful, the endpoint returns a 200 response with a JSON body with the following parameters:

#assetAsset

The asset object, which contains metadata about the asset.

Properties of asset
#idstring

The ID of the asset.

#namestring

The name of the asset.

#tagsstring[]

The user-facing tags attached to the asset. Users can add these tags to their uploaded assets, and they can search their uploaded assets in the Canva UI by searching for these tags. For information on how users use tags, see the Canva Help Center page on asset tags.

#import_statusImportStatus

The import status of the asset.

Properties of import_status
#statestring

State of the import job for an uploaded asset. This can be one of the following:

  • FAILED
  • IN_PROGRESS
  • SUCCESS
#errorImportError
Optional

If the import fails, this object provides details about the error.

Properties of error
#codestring

A short string indicating why the upload failed. This field can be used to handle errors programmatically. This can be one of the following:

  • FILE_TOO_BIG
  • IMPORT_FAILED
#messagestring

A human-readable description of what went wrong.

#created_atinteger

When the asset was added to Canva, as a Unix timestamp (in seconds since the Unix Epoch).

#updated_atinteger

When the asset was last updated in Canva, as a Unix timestamp (in seconds since the Unix Epoch).

#thumbnailThumbnail
Optional

A thumbnail image representing the object.

Properties of thumbnail
#widthinteger

The width of the thumbnail image in pixels.

#heightinteger

The height of the thumbnail image in pixels.

#urlstring

A URL for retrieving the thumbnail image. This URL expires after 15 minutes. This URL includes a query string that's required for retrieving the thumbnail.

{
"asset": {
"id": "Msd59349ff",
"name": "My Awesome Upload",
"tags": [
"image",
"holiday",
"best day ever"
],
"import_status": {
"state": "SUCCESS"
},
"created_at": 1377396000,
"updated_at": 1692928800,
"thumbnail": {
"width": 595,
"height": 335,
"url": "https://document-export.canva.com/Vczz9/zF9vzVtdADc/2/thumbnail/0001.png?<query-string>"
}
}
}
json