Canva exported at 300 DPI.
IngramSpark still rejected it.
Canva's "300 DPI" PDF export rasterises at ~96 DPI internally before upscaling — the metadata says 300, the actual pixels are 96. That's the #1 reason Canva covers fail IngramSpark, KDP, and B&N Press pre-flight. BookReady auto-detects Canva exports and shows you the exact fix.
↓ Free check · 11 platform checks · Canva auto-detect · auto-fix $9
Check my Canva cover →
If you designed your book cover in Canva and got rejected at upload, you're not alone — it's the single most common cause of IngramSpark rejections we see. The Canva help docs tell you to export at "PDF Print, 300 DPI". You did exactly that. The file still fails. Here's what's actually happening.
The Canva 300 DPI trap: Canva's renderer (Skia) rasterises every element to a 96 DPI bitmap before generating the PDF. When you pick "300 DPI" in the export dialog, Canva upscales that 96 DPI bitmap by ~3× — the file metadata says 300, but IngramSpark's pre-flight check reads the embedded image stream and sees 96. The only real fix is to rebuild the canvas at 3× the target size so Canva's 96 DPI rasterisation lands at the correct final resolution.
What BookReady catches on Canva covers
11 checks, with Canva-specific fix copy when we detect a Canva export.
!
Canva origin auto-detect
We read the PDF's Producer/Creator metadata. If it's a Canva export, we surface Canva-specific fix instructions instead of the generic "increase DPI" advice that you've already tried.
✓
Per-image DPI (exactly what IngramSpark checks)
We read the actual pixel dimensions of every embedded image, divide by the rendered size, and flag any image under 300 DPI. This is the exact check IngramSpark's pre-flight runs.
✓
RGB → CMYK conversion (Canva exports RGB, IngramSpark requires CMYK)
Canva has no CMYK export option. Our Ghostscript pipeline auto-converts the colourspace and embeds the correct ICC profile for the platform you're targeting.
✓
Font embedding
Canva's "Use my font" feature can produce PDFs with subsetted-but-not-embedded fonts. We detect missing embeds and auto-embed when we can.
✓
Bleed (0.125") and full-wrap dimensions
Canva doesn't speak "bleed". You picked a custom size that's probably close but rarely exact for your trim + spine + paper combo. We compare your file dimensions to the expected full wrap and tell you what to set in Canva.
✓
Spine width vs. page count
We calculate the exact spine for your page count and paper stock, then compare to the spine in your file. If it's off by more than 1/16", your back-cover text will land on the spine.
✓
Barcode area clearance
IngramSpark wants the bottom-right of the back cover clear for the barcode. We measure the empty zone and flag if your background image bleeds into it.
Stop guessing why Canva files fail
Upload your Canva PDF.
Get your answer in 60 seconds.
11 checks · IngramSpark, KDP, B&N Press, Draft2Digital · free check · auto-fix $9
Check my Canva PDF for free →
No account needed · Files deleted after 24 hours · Auto-fix download $9