Ingmar808

Thanks Lagarto – you got it in one. I am a magazine designer, and open ads in PS on a daily basis, using CROP TO BOUNDING BOX so nothing is missing. Then flatten, convert to CMYK, save as JPG, and close – all of which I have programmed as my F1 action - one keypress and I'm done! This JPG is then used in Quark or InDesign to make the final PDFs for print – and I have found this method to be 100% reliable. Placing PDFs, even those from high end agencies / major clients, straight into Quark or ID is just asking for trouble. I am testing Affinity as I would love to get away from Adobe and their obscene price gouging. Affinity seems great in many ways, but having to reveal / 'uncrop' to see the complete image with bleed, every time, is a bit nuts. I have made a quick macro to automate this, and it works OK – just need to do more tests with it. But it'll never be as good as simply seeing everything properly in the first place. Also, the SAVE / EXPORT / CLOSE part of my routine cannot be included in the macro, and AFAIK I can't assign it to a shortcut key. Maybe that's something else Affinity could look at?

See my answer to Lagarto below. I have done this for years, it's part of the job. So you're suggesting I use either a vector app or a page layout program to make a CMYK JPG? Really? No, I haven't a clue what I'm doing – just getting away with it for decades. Ah great – the helpful bit! Thanks.

Thanks, that helps.

Sorry if this is a noob question, but I have searched the FAQ, honest. On the left is a PDF - complete with bleed and marks. When I open this PDF in Affinity Photo (in order to flatten it and make a CMYK JPG), the bleed area has gone. How do I get AF to open PDFs without this cropping? Thanks, any help appreciated...