How to add a QR code to Canva, Word, Google Docs or InDesign

You're designing a flyer, a menu or an invitation, and it needs a QR code. Make the code on ovbq first, download the right file, and place it in your design at the size the checker gave you. Here's which file to use in each tool, and how to keep the code scannable.

First, make the code

1. Make your code on our home page. It's free, with no account.
2. Decide now: fixed or editable. A fixed code can't change after printing. An editable code can point to a new page later, so choose it for anything that stays up. Free accounts include 2.
3. Enter where it will be scanned and the print width, so the checker can tell you the smallest safe size.
4. Download a PNG (made at 300 pixels per inch for your width) or a vector SVG, PDF or EPS, as the table shows.

Canva

1. In the editor's side panel, open the Uploads tab and choose Upload files.
2. Pick your PNG, then click it in the side panel to add it to the design.
3. Resize it by a corner, never a side, so it isn't stretched. Make it at least the width the checker gave you.

Canva accepts PNG files under 50 MB. It also takes SVG files, but with strict rules (under 3 MB, saved as SVG 1.1), so the PNG is the simpler choice. A PDF uploaded to Canva becomes a picture on its own page, so don't use the PDF here.

Word and PowerPoint

1. Choose Insert, then Pictures, then This Device.
2. Pick your SVG or PNG, then choose Insert.
3. On the Picture Format tab, in the Size group, type the width you want. Keep Lock aspect ratio on, so the code isn't stretched.

SVG works in Microsoft 365 and in Office 2019, 2021 and 2024. In older versions, use the PNG. EPS files can no longer be inserted into Office documents.

Google Docs

1. Choose Insert, then Image, then Upload from computer.
2. Pick your PNG and choose Open.
3. Drag a corner to resize it, or set its size under Image options.

Use the PNG. Google's help for Sheets says SVG isn't supported, and Docs gives no other list.

InDesign 2020 or later

1. Choose File, then Place, and pick the SVG.
2. Click to place it. Select the graphic with the Direct Selection tool, then check Scale in the Control or Transform panel shows 100%, so it keeps the width you entered on ovbq.
3. Don't scale it smaller than the checker's width.

Keep it scannable, in any tool

• Keep the plain border around the code. Don't crop it or put text on it.
• Don't recolor it in the design tool. Change colors on ovbq, where the checker blocks colors that are too faint.
• Don't stretch it, or shrink it below the checker's width.
• Print a proof and scan it before you print many.

QR code not working after you placed it? The usual causes are a cropped border, a code shrunk too small, new colors, or a busy background behind it. See why a QR code won't scan.

Related: Which file to use · How big to print a QR code

Download selected account artwork

Connections offers a PNG or SVG download for a saved code you own. Upload the file to your design yourself; this is a download, not an automatic Canva upload or a connected account. Later appearance changes do not update copies already in your design.

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