If you design in Canva and print on a Roland BN2, you may have experienced frustration when you pull your file into VersaWorks and the colors look nothing like what you designed.
Your design is beautiful in Canva. Then VersaWorks shows the PDF preview and you're wondering if your file is corrupted or if the colors did not export correctly.
Why your Canva colors look wrong in VersaWorks
What's happening is when you import your Canva PDF into VersaWorks, VersaWorks applies a default color profile to your file. That profile is trying to "help" by color-correcting your design to look a certain way on your Roland printer.
So when VersaWorks opens your file and shows you a washed-out, oversaturated preview - it's because VersaWorks has overridden your color choices with its own profile.
Good news: you can tell it to stop - at least when it prints. The preview will still look wrong.
Make sure you're exporting from Canva correctly
Before we talk about the VersaWorks fix, you want to make sure your Canva export is set up right. Bad export settings just make color problems worse.
Make sure your Canva design is set up to the exact size you want to print (so you don't have to scale) and t that the layout and colors are exactly as you want them.
In Canva, click Share > Download. Then:
- File type: PDF Print (it literally says "best for printer")
- Color profile: CMYK (Roland uses CMYK ink, so match it)
- Select pages to export
Click Done and Canva will process the PDF. Large banner files take a minute or two to download, so be patient.
Quick note on cut lines: If your project needs cut lines, export as a PNG instead and add cut lines in Affinity Designer or your program of choice. For full-width banners that print edge to edge (like mine), you don't need cut lines at all - just export as PDF.
Import into VersaWorks (and brace yourself)
Open VersaWorks, and in the job queue click the plus button to add a new job. Navigate to the PDF you downloaded.
The file will load and the colors will look different from what you designed in Canva and exported in your PDF.
The one setting that fixes everything
Right-click on the job name in VersaWorks and select Edit Design > Settings. This opens the job settings window.
Go to Color Management and check the box to Preserve Primary Colors.
That's it.
Remember, the preview in VersaWorks still won't look right. But when the file actually prints, the colors will match what you designed in Canva. This setting tells VersaWorks to use your colors instead of applying a generic profile to them.
If you want to go deeper on color accuracy in VersaWorks, I have a full VersaWorks color management tutorial that covers more detailed settings beyond this one.
Pro Tip: Always run a 10% test print first
Before you commit to a full 5-foot banner to print, scale your job down to 10% and print a small test version. This lets you confirm the colors are coming out right without wasting 5 feet of material and a bunch of Roland ink.
Once the 10% test looks right, bump it back to 100% and print the full banner. This is a habit I'd recommend for any new design, not just Canva imports.
Color management is just one piece of job settings
Preserve Primary Colors is buried inside the Job Settings panel - and that panel controls most VersaWorks settings for the specific job. In Job Settings you can also adjust layout and spacing when you're running multiple copies, print quality, and even cut force overrides. Clip and tile to crop wasted whitespace from your file is also found in there and so are the sheet cutting and heater controls.
The Job Settings panel an be overwhelming. But there are about five settings you should focus on for every single print job you send. There's a new Silhouette U video that walks through exactly which ones matter and which ones to ignore.Watch the VersaWorks 7 Job Settings tutorial on Silhouette U.
Bonus tip - ignore the low ink warning
When you get to the print screen, VersaWorks will show you the ink status. If it says you need to replace cartridges - ignore it. The Roland BN2 low ink warning is WAY premature and you can keep printing for days past that warning without any quality issues.
I have a full breakdown on that in my Roland BN2 low ink warning video - spoiler: I printed 25 feet of banner material after my low ink warning came on and never replaced the cartridges.
Roland BN2-20A links and resources
Here are the Roland BN2 products I use and recommend:
And if you want one-on-one same-day Roland support, Silhouette U has you covered. Use code YOUTUBE for 50% off your first payment.
Have you been struggling with Canva files printing wrong on your Roland? Did the Preserve Primary Colors fix work for you? Let me know in the comments!
Note: This post may contain affiliate links. By clicking on them and purchasing products through my links, I receive a small commission. That's what helps fund Silhouette School so I can keep buying new Silhouette-related products to show you how to get the most out of your machine!
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