Canva announces Docs, its stylish new word processing tool

Graphic design platform Canva unveiled its new collaborative word processing tool Docs at the inaugural Canva Create event this week. Canva Docs aims to stylishly take on white-collar stalwarts such as Google Docs, and is the latest addition to the company's suite of design tools that have been newly repackaged into a Visual Worksuite.

Like its competitors, Canva Docs will allow multiple users to collaborate on the same document at once, so you'll be able to anxiously watch your editor mark up your article in real time. Canva Docs also has spell check and supports languages other than English, including ones that use non-Latin characters.

However, the most significant features distinguishing Canva Docs link back to the company's emphasis on visual design.

The word processor will offer a selection of format templates for users to choose from, and Canva's Docs to Decks feature will be able to automatically reformat a document into a presentation for you. You'll be able to edit it afterwards of course, but it should take care of a lot of the work for you.

Canva Docs will also allow users to embed other Canva projects into their documents, such as presentations, videos, and even digital whiteboards. Canva launched its new Whiteboards tool last month, a Miro competitor which enables users to collaborate remotely on an infinite workspace. These projects can be placed directly into a Canva document, as well as opened and edited right from within Docs.

Docs joins Canva's current tools, which have now been collected together and called a Visual Worksuite. Credit: Canva

While Canva Docs was the biggest announcement at the Canva Create event, the company is introducing several new features to its current suite of products as well. This includes adding Canva's background removal tool to its video editor, implementing remote control for Presentations, and the integration of templates from data visualisation platform Flourish, which was acquired by Canva earlier this year. 

Canva's diversified product suite — which includes its website creator and developer marketplaces — couldn't come soon enough, with competitor Adobe announcing its $20 billion acquisition of online collaborative design tool Figma this week.

Unfortunately, Canva Docs isn't available just yet, with release expected later this year. Users hoping to try it out before then just have to join the beta access wait list and cross their fingers.