We’ve all found images online that we wanted to pull into Design Space but the “save image as” option isn’t always available. In this tutorial I’ll show how how you can take any image from anywhere online and upload it into Cricut Design Space. This simple way to upload images into Design Space works with both a Windows PC and a Mac. The steps are just a little different for each.
How to upload Images into Design Space with a Windows PC
If you have a PC with Windows then you have a “Snipping Tool”. This isn’t something everyone knows about but it’s there and it’s AMAZING! You can use the Snipping Tool to take a full screen shot of whatever is on your screen your you can draw a box around only the part of the screen you want to save as an image. Here’s how it works:
Step One
Head down to the bottom left of your screen and type “Snipping Tool” into the search box.
Step Two
Open the “Snipping Tool”
Step Three
Select “New” and your cursor will turn into a crosshair. Use the crosshair to draw a box around whatever you want to save as an image.
Step Four
Once you have your image outlined click “File” and then click “Save As”. Name your image and save it to your desktop or anywhere you will be able to find it.
How to upload images into Design Space with a Mac
If you have a Mac then you don’t have the Snipping Tool but you have something just as good. You have the “Grab” feature. The “Grab” feature works just the same as the Snipping Tool. You can save a full screen or just a selection. Here’s how it works.
Step One
Go to the “Finder” then “Applications” and then “Utilities” (or use the keyboard shortcut Command + Shift + 4).
Step Two
Click on the “Grab” feature. Once it opens, select “Capture”.
Step Three
From the menu select “Selection”. From here you’ll be able to draw a square around what you want to save as an image.
Step Four
Once you have your image outlined click the little red circle at the top and save your image.
A word of caution BEFORE you upload images into Design Space
Just because you CAN upload any image you find online into Cricut Design Space doesn’t mean you SHOULD! About 90% of the images you find online will be protected by copyright or trademark laws. This means you can get into big trouble if you’re using them for monetary gain. If you find a clip art image or SVG that you just simply love and want to use it in a project you plan on selling…just go buy the image. Someone worked hard to create it and it’s really not fair (or legal) for you to use it for free.
With that being said, there are still tons of things you can legally and ethically use the Snipping Tool or Grab feature for. One of the most popular reasons for this is if you create something in a program like Word or your Notepad and need to transfer it into Design Space. These tool s also work really well when creating knockout designs in Design Space. Check out this tutorial for how to do that.
How to upload your Snipped or Grabbed image into Design Space
Now that you know how to save any image you want as a JPEG or PNG image you’ll want to upload the image into design space. Check out this tutorial for how to do that or just watch the video below. It goes over how to save the image using the Snipping Tool and how to upload that image into Design Space.
