Bring a design you already have into SnapShark
Export your design as a PowerPoint (.pptx) or Photoshop (.psd) file and upload it. Every text box comes across as an editable layer, the artwork comes across as images, and the whole thing becomes a template you can fill from a form or the API.
Layer by layer, not a flat picture
These files carry every element with its exact geometry, so the import reads the real positions instead of guessing at them.
Text stays text
Position, font, size, colour, alignment and letter spacing are preserved. Edit the wording any time — or turn it into a variable and fill it per render.
Artwork becomes layers
Frames, seals, signatures and logos are extracted as images. Small elements like a signature stay their own layer, so you can swap them per certificate.
Decoration gets tidied
A border can arrive as sixteen pieces. By default they merge into one background layer, so the layer list only shows what you actually edit.
Getting the file out of your design tool
Canva
.pptx- 1Open the design and click Share in the top right.
- 2Choose Download, then set File type to PPTX (listed as PowerPoint).
- 3If the design has several pages, pick the one page you want — a template is one canvas.
- 4Download, then upload the file in SnapShark.
Canva can only export PPTX from a design you can open, including templates you found in Canva. Downloading as PNG or PDF instead gives you a flat picture with no editable text.
PowerPoint, Google Slides, Keynote
.pptx- 1PowerPoint: File → Save as and keep the .pptx format.
- 2Google Slides: File → Download → Microsoft PowerPoint (.pptx).
- 3Keynote: File → Export To → PowerPoint.
- 4Upload the file in SnapShark.
Free .pptx certificate and poster templates are everywhere online — any of them can become a SnapShark template this way.
Photoshop
.psd- 1Keep your text as live text layers — don't rasterise or flatten them.
- 2Give the layers meaningful names (“recipient”, “signature”): they become the variable names.
- 3File → Save as and keep the .psd format, up to 80 MB.
- 4Upload the file in SnapShark.
Layer effects (drop shadows, gradient overlays, strokes) live outside the pixels, so they don't come across. If an effect matters, flatten that one layer in Photoshop before saving.
Figma and Illustrator
workaround- 1Neither exports .pptx or .psd directly.
- 2Export the artwork as a PNG, then build the template in the SnapShark editor and place the PNG as the background.
- 3Or paste the design into a slide (Keynote, PowerPoint, Google Slides), add the text there and export that as .pptx.
Native Figma support is on our list — tell us if you need it.
Uploading and finishing the template
- 1Open New Template in the sidebar (or on My Templates) and choose Import design.
- 2Drop the .pptx or .psd file into the dialog. Leave Merge decoration into one background on unless you want every decorative piece as its own layer.
- 3The template opens in the editor. Text layers are listed by name; click one to change its wording, font or colour.
- 4Decide which layers are variables. A layer marked dynamic shows up in the generate form and the API as layername.text — that is what you fill per certificate.
- 5Save. From there you can generate one at a time, in bulk from a spreadsheet, or through the API.
About fonts
If the design uses a Google font, the import keeps it exactly. Commercial fonts (the kind bundled with a design tool) can't be redistributed, so a close match is used instead and the import tells you which ones were swapped. You can upload the real font file under Settings → Custom Fonts and switch the layer back to it.
Too many layers?
Select the pieces you never edit — shift-click to take several at once — and hit Merge to background in the toolbar above the canvas. They are painted into the background image and leave the list: the design looks identical, the list gets shorter.
Only the first page
A template is a single canvas, so multi-page files import their first page. Export the pages you need separately and import them one by one.
Already have the design? You're one upload away.
Import it once, then generate as many personalized versions as you need.