How to Use and Access Alternate Characters & Ligatures in Canva

Many premium fonts include alternate characters (also called glyphs) and ligatures that add more style and personality to your text. If you’re using Canva for your designs, you can absolutely access and use them — here’s how.

1. Upload Your Font to Canva

Before you can use alternates and ligatures, make sure your font is uploaded to Canva.

• Go to Brand > Brand Kit

• Click Manage Uploaded Fonts

• Choose Add New and upload your font file (OTF/TTF)

• Once uploaded, the font will appear in your font list in Canva

2. Create Your Design in Canva

• Open a new design or an existing project

• Select the font you uploaded from your font list

• Now you’re ready to insert alternate characters and ligatures

3. Insert Alternate Characters and Ligatures

There are two main ways to do this in Canva:

Method 1: From the Font’s Character Map (Purchased Font Website)

• Go to the website where you purchased your font.

• Open the Character Map/Character Set provided with the font.

• Click the alternate character or ligature you want to use — it will copy automatically.

• Paste it directly into your Canva text box.

Method 2: Using Font Book (Mac) or Character Map (Windows)

• Open your font in Font Book (Mac) or Character Map (Windows).

Final Thoughts

That’s it! 🎉 Now you know how to bring alternate characters and ligatures into your Canva projects. Even though Canva doesn’t have a built-in glyphs panel, you can still use these creative font features by copying and pasting them from your font’s character map or system tools.

With this little trick, your Canva designs can stand out with beautiful swashes, alternates, and ligatures — perfect for logos, invitations, posters, and more.

👉 Happy designing, and let your creativity flow! ✨