Exporting

[Margaret Whitcombe]

I'm a sewer and use PDF patterns via Adobe, the sewing world has now caught up with tech now and we are projecting our patterns via our projectors.  I have quite a few patterns from a certain company where the outline of the pattern is hard to see.  I have pulled a pattern through affinity (very new to this software) and edited last night (made the lines thicker to see and colour coded all the pieces on the pattern) but today I've tried the same pattern and adjusted to a different size (grandchildren different ages) so I can do the same as above but when I go to export it tells me it cannot be exported....I have tried other patterns and it seems they are all following and giving me problems exporting them....any advise please.

[Pšenda]

Your document is template (*.aftemplate). Try SaveAs to *.afdesign, and export. Or problem with locked file? Try copy all Layers to New document.

[Move Along People]

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[walt.farrell]

I am surprised at the .aftemplate file showing as [Locked], though. I thought that only Serif could produce locked native Affinity files.

[Margaret Whitcombe]

14 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

I am surprised at the .aftemplate file showing as [Locked], though. I thought that only Serif could produce locked native Affinity files.

 

[Margaret Whitcombe]

I'm sorry I don't understand what a .aftermplate is I've only had the software a few days...I have tried the same pattern several times and the first one i did worked fine (first pic) then when I went back into it to edit and different size of the same pattern it's now locked (Second pic)....it cannot be the patterns as I chosen random ones from a verity of company's so quite clearly I must have touched something in the software without realising....I've even un installed and re installed but that makes no difference.  I've tried getting help via messenger  with affinity but been waiting for over an hour to be put thought to the tech people ?  Can you tell me if I'm using it correct what I do is 

1. New Doc then choose A4

2. Open the file I wish to edit 

[Margaret Whitcombe]

no it's nothing that the company has done with the patterns...I've selected over patterns and once I've edited them they also lock and I still cannot export them

[walt.farrell]

21 minutes ago, Margaret Whitcombe said:

no it's nothing that the company has done with the patterns...I've selected over patterns and once I've edited them they also lock and I still cannot export them

Can you give us a pointer to one of the items you're having trouble with on their website?

[Xzenor]

Also. the Print Screen or PRT SCRN button on your keyboard makes a copy of the screen.
Pressing CTRL + V where you type your reply will paste that screenshot there.

Might come in handy..

 

There's also Windows-key + Shift + S. Whichever is more convenient to you.

[Alfred]

39 minutes ago, Xzenor said:

Also. the Print Screen or PRT SCRN button on your keyboard makes a copy of the screen.
Pressing CTRL + V where you type your reply will paste that screenshot there.

Might come in handy..

 

There's also Windows-key + Shift + S. Whichever is more convenient to you.

There are also Windows utilities such as the Snipping Tool and Snip & Sketch, either of which will give you images that have small file sizes and are easy to annotate — and they’ll be much clearer than any screenshot you can produce by pointing a digital camera at the screen.

[Margaret Whitcombe]

Sorry guys very new to this forum and don't know my way around yet...good advise what you've given me but still have the problem above

[Xzenor]

Just guessing here... but is your trial still valid? I mean.. there's a 90 day trial going on now but if you requested the trial before that then it's not 90 days.

You said you have opened and exported other documents. Can you still export one of those documents or are they locked now as well?

[Alfred]

6 hours ago, Margaret Whitcombe said:

Can you tell me if I'm using it correct what I do is 

1. New Doc then choose A4

2. Open the file I wish to edit 

If you only wish to edit an existing file there’s no need to create a new A4 document beforehand.

1 hour ago, walt.farrell said:

Can you give us a pointer to one of the items you're having trouble with on their website?

It would be really helpful if you could do as Walt requested.

[Margaret Whitcombe]

all locked now and I have the purchased the program...I'll sort more info tomorrow....thank you all for your help

[Xzenor]

1 minute ago, Margaret Whitcombe said:

and I have the purchased the program.

 

You may 'have' it.. but this one is still registered with a trial key.

[walt.farrell]

43 minutes ago, Margaret Whitcombe said:

Sorry guys very new to this forum and don't know my way around yet...good advise what you've given me but still have the problem above

From your screenshots above, it appears that you started with a PDF file whose creator has restricted what you can do with it. That is why, after you Open the PDF, you can see [Locked] in the title of the tab you're editing it in. When you have such a restricted PDF, Affinity wil respect the file creator's wishes. It will not allow you to Save or Export the file.

Also in that screenshot, we can see a tab whose title says "<some name>.aftemplate [Locked]" which is the one that surprised me earlier. The answer to that one, I think, is that you used File > Export as Template at some point. While FIle > Save and File > Save As are completely disabled (grayed out) when you open a PDF that has restrictions,

• File > Export is not grayed out, but will be rejected if you try it; and
• File > Export as Template is not grayed out, and will be allowed if you try it. However, it will end up with an .aftemplate file that is [Locked] if you reopen it.

A [Locked] file, whether PDF or .aftemplate (or other native Affinity format) cannot be saved, exported, or (I think) printed. Doing so would violate the original creator's restrictions.

 

[Jowday]

24 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

From your screenshots above, it appears that you started with a PDF file whose creator has restricted what you can do with it. That is why, after you Open the PDF, you can see [Locked] in the title of the tab you're editing it in. When you have such a restricted PDF, Affinity wil respect the file creator's wishes. It will not allow you to Save or Export the file.

Also in that screenshot, we can see a tab whose title says "<some name>.aftemplate [Locked]" which is the one that surprised me earlier. The answer to that one, I think, is that you used File > Export as Template at some point. While FIle > Save and File > Save As are completely disabled (grayed out) when you open a PDF that has restrictions,

• File > Export is not grayed out, but will be rejected if you try it; and
• File > Export as Template is not grayed out, and will be allowed if you try it. However, it will end up with an .aftemplate file that is [Locked] if you reopen it.

A [Locked] file, whether PDF or .aftemplate (or other native Affinity format) cannot be saved, exported, or (I think) printed. Doing so would violate the original creator's restrictions.

 

What Walt said.

And to Serif - with a bit of this information in the dialog than"This file does not allow exporting" the issue could be understood and resolved by the customer without a round trip to the forums. Either a bit more information or like when timelapse export is disabled due to missing codecs - a dialog with a link to a webpage with a more thorough explanation and tips if available.

[Xzenor]

2 minutes ago, Jowday said:

or like when timelapse export is disabled due to missing codecs....

What? That exists? Can you link me to some more info on that?

Quote

a dialog with a link to a webpage with a more thorough explanation and tips if available.

Hard no here.. Have you ever experienced microsoft error links?

• 404 - this page does not exist
• this page has moved

Bad idea. When they update the website they have to take care of all those links. it's a PITA and prone to error. An extensive help seems more useful. It's already pretty good so please let'm build on that.

[walt.farrell]

12 minutes ago, Xzenor said:

What? That exists? Can you link me to some more info on that?

It's part of the 1.9 beta,  soon to be officially released.

[Jowday]

9 hours ago, Xzenor said:

What? That exists? Can you link me to some more info on that?

Hard no here.. Have you ever experienced microsoft error links?

• 404 - this page does not exist
• this page has moved

Bad idea. When they update the website they have to take care of all those links. it's a PITA and prone to error. An extensive help seems more useful. It's already pretty good so please let'm build on that.

This is easy to deal with in a professional setup - at work we automated all this and test for it and teams collaborate and coordinate  - but just example.

It is vital that the user interface generates as few support requests as possible and as few interruptions in the workflow.

Try to place a password locked PDF in Affinity ... 

[Fixx]

I was also surprised when I placed a PDF with restrictions to Designer. Behaved normally but when I tried to copy or export stuff – no go. I think it would make sense if Designer would warn when opening that PDF has restrictions and thus is not really usable.

[walt.farrell]

2 hours ago, Fixx said:

I was also surprised when I placed a PDF with restrictions to Designer. Behaved normally but when I tried to copy or export stuff – no go. I think it would make sense if Designer would warn when opening that PDF has restrictions and thus is not really usable.

When I try to Place a restricted PDF in either 1.8 or 1.9 the application refuses, and tells me I cannot embed a restricted PDF. (Also happens in 1.9 if I try to Link it.)

I am only allowed to Open a restricted PDF.

[Xzenor]

Same here.. I made a restricted pdf and when importing it in Affinity I had to provide a password.

[Pšenda]

1 hour ago, walt.farrell said:

I am only allowed to Open a restricted PDF.

Yes, but "Opening" a file is the beginning of work and editing for this file for most users, and Affinity should warn the user when opening a protected file that the file can only be read, not edited and saved.

[walt.farrell]

18 minutes ago, Xzenor said:

Same here.. I made a restricted pdf and when importing it in Affinity I had to provide a password.

There are at least two forms of protection/restriction:

1. A password for opening the file at all. This is supported by Affinity for Open, but not for Place (and so Place is rejected).
2. A password for bypassing content restrictions. Affinity as far as I can tell never prompts for this password. I am not sure to what extent the restrictions are enforced when Opening the file. The file cannot be Placed.