How to Flip an Image in Canva (Desktop & Mobile)

To flip an image in Canva, click the image, click Flip in the toolbar above the editor, and choose Flip horizontal or Flip vertical. On the mobile app, the Flip button is in the toolbar below the editor — swipe left to find it. If the button is missing, the image is probably inside a frame, a grid or a group.

How to flip an image in Canva on desktop

These steps work in the Canva website and the desktop app for Windows and Mac:

1. Open your design and click the image you want to flip.
2. Click Flip in the toolbar above the editor.
3. Choose Flip horizontal to mirror it sideways, or Flip vertical to turn it upside down.

The change is applied instantly. If you want both directions, click Flip again and pick the other option. Flipping horizontally and then vertically gives you the same result as rotating the picture 180°.

You can flip photos, videos and most graphics from the Elements tab this way. Each element is flipped on its own, so the rest of the page stays exactly where it is.

How to flip an image in the Canva mobile app

The iPhone, iPad and Android apps use the same tool, but the button lives in a different place:

1. Open your design and tap the image you want to flip.
2. In the toolbar below the editor, swipe left until you see Flip, then tap it.
3. Tap Flip horizontal or Flip vertical.

The toolbar only shows a few buttons at a time on a small screen, which is why most people miss Flip on their first try. Keep swiping — it sits among the editing options such as Crop and Position.

Desktop vs mobile at a glance

	Desktop (web and app)	Mobile app
Select the image	Click it	Tap it
Where Flip is	Toolbar above the editor	Toolbar below the editor (swipe left)
Options	Flip horizontal, Flip vertical	Flip horizontal, Flip vertical
Undo	Ctrl + Z / ⌘ + Z	Undo arrow at the top of the screen

Horizontal or vertical: which flip do you need?

• Flip horizontal mirrors the image left to right. Use it to make a person face into your layout instead of off the edge, to fix a mirrored selfie, or to balance a design where everything is weighted to one side.
• Flip vertical mirrors the image top to bottom. It is useful for water reflections, symmetrical patterns and playful upside-down effects.

Remember that a horizontal flip also reverses any text or logos inside the photo. If the picture contains a sign or a brand name, check that it still looks right after flipping.

Why can’t I flip an image in Canva?

According to Canva’s help center, you can’t flip text, charts, empty grids, frames, shapes or grouped elements. When you select one of those, the Flip button simply doesn’t appear. Here is how to get around each case.

The image is inside a frame or grid

Frames and grids can’t be flipped, and clicking the photo inside them selects the frame. Depending on your version of Canva, you can drag the photo out of the frame, flip it, and drop it back in. The easier fix is to flip the photo before you place it in the frame.

The image is part of a group

Templates often group a photo with text or shapes. Select the group and click Ungroup in the floating toolbar, flip the image on its own, then select the elements again and click Group if you want them locked together.

You want to flip text or a shape

Canva doesn’t mirror text boxes or shapes directly. A common workaround is to right-click the element, choose Download selection, save it as a PNG, upload that PNG back to Canva and flip it like any other image. Keep the original text box somewhere off the page in case you need to edit the wording later.

The element is locked

Locked elements can’t be changed. Select the element, click Unlock in the floating toolbar, and then try flipping again.

How to flip an entire Canva design

Canva flips individual elements, not whole pages. Selecting everything doesn’t help either, because text, shapes and frames on the page will be skipped.

If you need the full design mirrored — for example to print an iron-on transfer — download the page as a PNG or JPG first, then flip the downloaded file. That way every element, including text, is mirrored together, and your editable design in Canva stays untouched.

A faster way to flip a photo for Canva

If you just need the picture flipped, our free image flipper does it in one click without uploading anything. Drop in your photo, choose horizontal or vertical, and download the result — then upload the flipped file to Canva.

This is handy when:

• the photo is going into a frame or grid, where Canva’s Flip button isn’t available;
• you want to flip a finished design you downloaded from Canva, text and all;
• you have several photos to flip and would rather do them in one batch than one element at a time;
• you’d rather not upload a private photo to another service just to mirror it.

The tool runs entirely in your browser on desktop, iPhone and Android, keeps the original resolution, and lets you save as PNG, JPG or WebP.