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I am considering purchasing the Affinity suite now, but one of the crucial features I expect to come, hopefully soon, is the Scripting feature discussed on the forums. Can you make any assertions whether this will be available with the purchase of the current V2 Universal License or whether this may release only in a new major version? Thank you

Are there any plans to add scripting support? I notice there is no Applescript library at all but am interested to know if there are plans to add Applescript or perhaps Javascript support. Virtually everything we do as far as creating PDFs, packaging, placing images and text, formatting, proofing, sending pages to print etc is done via script. Tagged text goes hand-in-hand with scripting so I think this needs to also be supported.

Hi, I can't find answers to this question on the affinity website, so I'd appreciate any guidance. I'm a developer using Affinity Designer for artwork creation for a game. I have a bunch of assets, and I need to separate out the various named layers in the assets into different files for 1x, 2x and 3x, so they can be layered back together in the game. I also need to do some simple operations on export, like applying filters, setting fill colours...etc. The thought of sitting down and performing the monotonous task of hiding layers, setting properties and clicking export for potentially hundreds of files is daunting, and I'd like to avoid a manual task wherever possible. Obviously my initial thought as a developer is that surely this is scriptable - I should be able to write a simple Python script (or AppleScript), that could automate the process quite easily. I had a quick search around the .app bundle on MacOS, and couldn't find the the sdef Scripting Definitions file, so I guess AppleScript is not supported, but I can't imagine a professional app like this wouldn't support something like Python? Is there a scripting API that will allow to me to execute simple editing and export steps on a batch of layers? If there is, could someone point me in the direction of the documentation? Thanks! -Matt

Hi, Newbie here. Wish to purchase software, but before I make the jump, can you help me out with what the scripting options are. I think I read in the forum, scripting was talked about 4 years ago. I am wandering what progress has been made on this front. It comes across, as there still might not be any scripting integration. If there are plans to introduce then a timeline and what language etc, would help, to help me decide my purchase. Many thanks

Hi, coming from Photoshop, there are a lot of cases where scripting is helpful. Still hoping to see that in the future, there is this case that I had in Photoshop solved in different ways that I did not find a solution for in Affinity: I need to batch export layers. So I have a mildly complex setup of a composition, with a few layers that change in every exported image. Could be for example a few font layers that are available in different languages, so instead of manually switching layers and saving a new export each time, this could be solved by a script or a batch that switches through different layer states and saves afterwards (both works in photoshop). Photoshop even has a feature called save "Image Assets from Layers" which does something similar but much easier: by just naming the layer with a .png or .jpg at the end. Now: In Affinity neither Macros, not Scripting (not available), nor slices (not saving the rest of the composition), nor layer states (no batch processing for that), nor ... is capable of helping here. Having just bought V2 because layer states (as layer comps in PS) are now available, I am disappointed that the main reason I upgraded is not even possible. So the layer states are almost useless ... Will there be something soon to enable efficient workflows? Or is there a way already? How about a doc for writing a plugin? Thanks hOSHI

First, I'd like to say that I'm excited to try out the new features in Publisher. I am super about the new notes options. That held me back from using Publisher in anything but personal projects because I do a lot of long document publishing. Just a note. I still bought v1 and would have still bought v2 to encourage competition with Adobe, and I realize that Adobe has had many more years to develop their software. However, Serif doesn't have to develop every feature requested by users!!! I suggest (and I'm not the first) that Serif offer an API to programmers to provide scripts and plug-ins to extend the functionality of Publisher (and obviously the other apps). This would be huge and would also create a new ecosystem around the software and brand loyalty. No company has ALL the resources necessary to address every user's demands and should be expected to. So, what I think Serif should do is open up the software to coders to offer (at a cost to the consumer... or as freeware if they desire) extended functionality. This is not only a huge opportunity for coders, but also for Serif, too. This is my suggestion and I was hoping v2 would have had this. I haven't found it in the features. So, I reopen the discussion here and urge Affinity to consider this for the near-term. Yours, Nico

Hi, I was wondering if there is scripting or macro support in AD2? ? At the moment, I use AHK to achieve some form of automation, but it's not always reliable. So I am wondering if there is scripting available in AD2 and if not, why not?

v2 is a nice update. Unfortunately, palette docking on macs still hasn't been addressed. While the windows version allows two or more columns of palettes to be docked side by side, in macOS only one column is possible. I much prefer the tidyness of docked palettes, and really can't stand the floting ones Would be nice if finally, after so many years, someone took the time to fix this. Would be interesting to know how Serif thinks about scripting. From the perspective of tech savvy users it opens up so many possibilities. Is it ever coming?

Affinity V2 does not currently have scripting support but it's something our developers are working towards, as mentioned here and demonstrated here.

Hi guys, I think Affinity is the future of design software. The one thing keeping me from switching from Adobe to Affinity is the scripting/automation feature. I have a bunch of scripts running in Photoshop and Illustrator and can't think about switching to Affinity and doing things manually again. You probably got this request earlier, but I'm just signaling the importance of automation/scripting in design software I hope this feature will appear soon All the best from Poland, Sebastian from Keyshorts

Hello, 1.) In MS Word you can link Figure titles into the text and table of figures, so when you delete a figure all the other figure numbers update everywhere: the figure title, the figure number in the paragrah and the figure number in the figures table. In the same way, when you insert figures, the rest update teh numbering. How can I do this in Affinity Publisher? 2.)Also, on a related note, the book I'm creating will have docens of "examples in design" so the book layout will have an example per page, or spread. I manged to automate the heading of each example with a Numbering Style and adding the text "example". However, do to the nature of the book developement often I have to move spreads or pages to a different location so Example 25 becomes example 10, and example 10 becomes 11 (with the rest of the examples adding one number): please see file attached. 3). the other problem with this is the paragraph that references other example numbers, so when I move the pages I need to re read and find where the refereces to examples are wrong in the text to make them match the Numbered Items. Points 1, 2 and 3 are a kind of a compbination of the same problem. Any ideas on how to do the magic? PS: there is this post in the forum talking about how to automate with merging of documents, but I coun't find anything else related to my problem. I'll be happy creating a simple script, but I have no idea where to start. Josue test.afpub

When I'm done working with a photo I usually do a couple of exports: one at full size, for printing or sale; and one at a reduced pixel size and quality to post online. Each time, I have to adjust size and quality in the Export dialog. Does AP offer any way to 'automate' a repetitious series of tasks like these? Some sort of scripting?

Hi ! Trying to make the change from inkscape to Designer, I was puzzled by the disappearance of the "object exchange" tool, which to me sounds like one of the simplest possible tools to implement given access to the API (copy object one position (x,y); write position (x2, y2) from the second object as position for object one; write the copied (x,y) back as object 2 position). Since it is a priori such an easy function to write, is there any rationale for not including it? This issue is made significantly worse by the lack of API reference and tools for custom scripting / integration with other softwares. Such exposed APIs are what made the success of many "open-source" projects such as Blender, Inkscape, vscode and many others: your software cannot be missing features if the users can add them for themselves. Please consider such a move, which would be in everyone's best interest and would make your software suited for larger scale professional applications. Best regards

Hi! I have a matter I simply don't know how to approach. Here's the thing I wish to achieve: I have a couple hundred affinity files named "Page_001.afphoto", "Page_002.afphoto"... and so forth. Inside, there are a couple of layers. In the same folder, I have .png files named "Page_001.png"... etc. I would like to perform the following opeation: 1) Open file "Page_001.afphoto" 2) Paste "Page_001.png" into the file, second layer from the bottom 3) Export the file as .png into a different folder (to avoid overwiriting the original files). 4) repeat for every other file... "Page_002.afphoto"... and so forth. Is this doable with AP or do i have to resort with some command-line open source programs? Thanks!

I love it if there was a way to script affinity products. JavaScript or Lua or anything really. Ideally all features would be scriptable so I could use Affinity to generate stuff or build actions or load/export a bunch of files. I don't need personally need a UI to get started though I'm sure some folks would love an Actions palette

Scripting Support I know there are already several threads on this, but I just wanted to bring it up again, because Adobe raised the price on CC again. It is now $80/month/user. Affinity is $50/app with no recurring charges.. not even factoring in discounts for volume licensing both Photo and Designer. My company's 2-year savings with Affinity at the current price would be well over $100k. More important than the savings, it get us out of Adobe having a knife to our throats, where we have to pay them any amount of money they decide to charge us, or go out of business. There have got to be a lot of professional users in my situation - I'm pretty sure Affinity has all the necessary tools except for scripting support... I haven't evaluated it in a while, maybe Spot Color support. But I know that aside from scripting, it is very close to being a professional replacement for Photoshop/Illustrator. This isn't just a request for scripting support - it's a suggestion for how to finance it. Sell an "affinity Enterprise" edition for a lot more. Maybe $400 instead of $50. As features age, every couple of years, you could roll the enterprise features down to the other version. Use that to recoup the costs of implementing scripting. I'm not suggesting sending all new features to the "Enterprise" edition, but send everything for prepress or other "professional-only" or "predominantly professional" features there - updates to scripting, PDFX, spot colors, multichannel, trapping, bleeds, crop marks, batch processing... maybe color management. If we just had scripting support, we'd buy a few copies, get to work rewriting all the Adobe parts of our scripts for Affinity, and then buy at least 60 licenses, even at $400. And I've got to think it's not just us. Digital printers, screen printers, flexo printers, offset press... there are a ton of professionals out there who are sick of Adobe holding a knife to their throats who would love any viable alternative. Who only need Photoshop and Illustrator, not the dozen other CC apps. Maybe some day when Affinity apps are more feature-complete and feature-stable, merge the two versions. I'm just suggesting this as a way to fund the resources necessary for immediate scripting development, so you can start cracking the professional market open faster. I know the programming language choice for scripting has been argued here before. It would be fantastic if you could support Applescript on MacOS. But you'll want the scripting support to work on Windows too, and I understand not wanting to have to implement multiple languages. (Although Adobe does maintain 6 methods of extensibility in Photoshop - DOM (Document Object Model) scripting via 1. Javascript, 2. Applescript, and 3. Visual Basic, 4. Javascript Scripting via Action Manager code, 5. Plug-ins, and 6. Actions with conditionals.) So if you aren't going to target multiple languages / paradigms, then probably either Python or Javascript. You'll get a lot of passionate arguments for and against either. Applescript can run Javascript and Python, and can be extended with OSAXen. (Open Scripting Architecture eXtension). So while it wouldn't be the full Applescript experience, if scripting were implemented in Javascript or Python, a developer could write an OSAX that provides Applescript terms that invoke all the scripting commands, which would extend all the automation abilities to Applescript without forcing a traditional prepress automation Applescript-er to learn another language. Of course, it would be fantastic if you want to just roll out scripting support without any higher-priced tiers or anything. But it's been a few years now, and I'm just trying to brainstorm a way to get this implemented faster. Lots of real professionals wouldn't hesitate to drop $400 once on Affinity if it got them out of $960/yr of Adobe. And the typical home-user or small company doing photos or web graphics wouldn't miss the features they don't have. Thanks for your consideration.

Hi Guys My workflow has changed dramatically since I started using Affinity Photo some 4 odd years ago. Also I havent been around here in a long time. As a result, I've been forced to return to PS because of the streamlined scripted workflow. I'd like to return to Affinity Photo, but that won't be possible until such time that scripting is supported. This has been asked for several times over the years, but so far seems there has been no movement in this regard. Any news?

Hi, Is there any news on scripting support in the affinity product range? It would be awesome we could write scripts, use it in a Enfocus Switch workflow and/or use it as engines on webportals, build automated marketing solutions and incude it in redactional workflows. It could replace expensive solutions like Adobe Indesign server. Please take a look at this... Thanks

Is it possible to launch the software via a script and have the software execute some batch processing and save the results? I'm new so I may have missed it. Basically not using the UI to select files and operations, but have that sent in via command line (or some form of a file that indicates the batch commands).

Hey guys! Is in your plans allowing programmers to control the affinity programs with code? Like commands/actions in Python, C# or Javascript? Preferibly Python or C#. So we programmers can develop commands/actions that people can install or run to execute certain tasks. I need a definitive answer to this, to see if it's worth waiting for it, or a definitive NO! Thank you!

Oh, sorry, it was meant for Afffinity Photo. But looks like I can't delete / move topic. --- Hello! First of all, thank you very much for great software. I used Photoshop for years, but lately it became impossible to use for digital painting. I searched long time for something that could replace Photoshop, tried many, but only your software was good enough so I started to use it for digital painting on daily basis, and it is great. Most important, it's fast enough and I hope it will stay this way, cause back in the days Photoshop was best thing on market and they failed it - I hope you won't follow them, I really do. One thing that is missing is some scripting support, cause I use to export hundreds of images for web games, that needs to follow some naming concention, or apply set of filters / transformations few hundred timed and that's when scripting comes in handy. It would be great to have it.

Hello, In AP, is it possible to script an “action” like new layer creation or loading a 3d lut to a new layer? Photoshop allows this and can be used as a way to integrate with other applications. If this allowed, is there any documentation on this? Regards, Frank

/me logs in once in a blue moon to find out if scripting support has been agreed, or started, or even implemented in beta yet, etc. I live in hope. Cas

Simple scripting language (like basic/c) modify image. i know there is procedural texture but my ideas dont work becouse this kind is impossible if r is bigger g than result pixel is white anyother times is black. is only examle one thing what is lacking spliting to HSL channels like Paintshop Pro. which allows do creative things. your program very good fixing and scaling photos but super creative side is lacking. of course i i can use zomeother tools but some these programs are pricey and transfering files to such program and form such program takes time.

Hi! In my previous more adobe-based workflow - I had a great system set up where I could generate front-panel graphics for our products using a bunch of scripts and SVG import pipelines. I would then manually touch them up and print them on to aluminium. Most of the SVGs dealing with fonts/texts are however broken when importing to affinity designer. Besides waiting for better SVG support - Is there a scriptable way of inserting texts/labels in to an affinity designer file?