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Mestra

Quickstart

Go from sign-up to your first set of exported formats. Each step links to the detail.

  1. Start your trial. Go to app.withmestra.com/signup, enter your work email and tick the box for the Terms and Privacy Policy. Wait for the human check, then select Continue. Details: Your free trial.
  2. Confirm your email. Open the link we email you. It works once, within 15 minutes. If sign-in gives you trouble, see Sign in.
  3. Set up your organisation. Enter an Organisation name and Your name, then select Create organisation. Do this within an hour of opening the link. You land on Home with a sample brand, a sample campaign and a pack of common shopping-centre sizes ready to try. If we’re setting up trials by hand, we’ll email you when yours is ready. See Your free trial.
  4. Install the app for your tool. InDesign, Figma or Canva.
  5. Sign in from the app. In InDesign or Figma, select Sign in. Your browser opens; choose your organisation and select Allow. In Canva, an owner links your Canva team once with Link to Mestra, then each person can select Sign in. You need an editor or owner role. Details are on your tool’s install page: InDesign, Figma, Canva.
  6. Add your brand. Go to Setup > Brands and add logos, colours, fonts and rules. See Set up a brand. The plugins still call brands “Centres”.
  7. Check your formats. Go to Setup > Formats. Use the Common shopping-centre sizes pack that’s already added, add Social with Add a pack, or add your own with New format. See Masters, formats and runs.
  8. Create a campaign. Go to Setup > Campaigns > New campaign, choose a Format set and Brands, and add the copy. See Campaigns.
  9. Run it. Open your master and, in the Mestra app, choose the Campaign and tick the Centres (your brands). In Figma, select the master frame first. In Canva, select Read master. Then select Generate formats (InDesign; it asks where to save), Generate {n} formats · {m} centres (Figma) or Generate (Canva). See Run a campaign.
  10. Review the results. A format with a flag shows To check in the web app or Needs a look in the plugins. Fix it in your design, or select Try again if it failed or its review didn’t finish. See Fix a flagged format.
  11. Export and hand off. InDesign saves .indd and PNG files to the folder you chose. In Figma, select Download zip. In Canva, follow the app’s export step, then Review & download. With the library on, you can also use Download all on the run page. See Export and hand off.

Want to practise first? The sample brand and sample campaign let you do a practice run before you add your own brand. Sample formats (up to 40) don’t count towards your trial.

If something goes wrong

Section titled “If something goes wrong”
SymptomFix
Sign-in link didn’t work with “This link has expired or was already used. Ask for a new one.”The link works once, for 15 minutes. Get a new link goes to sign-in, not sign-up. If you are new, start again at app.withmestra.com/signup.
“Your role (viewer) can’t start runs.”Ask an owner to make you an Editor. See Invite your team.
Something elseSee Troubleshooting.

What’s next

Section titled “What’s next”