Future save

[BettyLoop]

Hi,

 I‘m about to switch from Adobe CS to the Affinity suite. One major reason this should work well is that I can actually import my InDesign/Illustrator/PSD files so I‘m not loosing my portfolio.

In which way does Affinity allow the same? If I were to switch away from Affinity, what file format keeps all my work importable into other software? I‘m not talking just flat image files or pdfs, but layers and as much info as possible. Or is this another highjacking situation, like in the old days with Microsoft‘s .doc? Is there a .docx equivalent to guard against lock-in?

Thanks.

[Joachim_L]

9 hours ago, BettyLoop said:

In which way does Affinity allow the same?

Welcome to the Affinity forums @BettyLoop!

Unfortunately there is no ultimate exchange format for later use. What file format should this be anyway? The usual file formats are more (AI) or less (PSD) closed source. PSD is not a real option, as there is no feature parity and editable text is not preserved. TIF with Affinity layers opens as flat in e.g. PS. PDF for vector would be the best option (not SVG).

[BettyLoop]

Thanks for helping! Honestly, I have no clue about PDF’s downsides. There surely must be some, or open source software like GIMP and Inkscape (or indeed Affinity) wouldn’t have invented their own formats. Do you know what gets lost when saving to pdf instead of Affinity’s native format?

[Joachim_L]

7 minutes ago, BettyLoop said:

Do you know what gets lost when saving to pdf instead of Affinity’s native format?

At first thought I would say any text / object style information, images scaled in a picture frame lose the now invisible parts, palettes tbc. Even everything is prepared fine for export, you cannot be sure that future application (whatever their name is) opens the PDF for editing like the original Affinity document.

[MEB]

Hi @BettyLoop,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
I'm afraid there's no such format. Only the native file format will keep everything editable as you suspected. PDF was designed to keep document's format not as an exchange format. If you export to PDF you will loose any live Adjustments, Filters, Layers FX, text blocks might be broken, some elements might become rasterised due to use of transparencies or specific blend modes etc etc.

[BettyLoop]

Agreed!

Thanks to everybody for their input.

[Bourquin Florian]

Any idea why we can't save as .ai?

[Joachim_L]

1 hour ago, Bourquin Florian said:

Any idea why we can't save as .ai?

Welcome to the Affinity forums @Bourquin Florian!

AI is a locked / proprietary format from Adobe. I guess saving as AI (if possible) would mean a lot of license fees. The Affinities can read AI, but only the PDF part of it.

[Bourquin Florian]

3 hours ago, Joachim_L said:

Welcome to the Affinity forums @Bourquin Florian!

AI is a locked / proprietary format from Adobe. I guess saving as AI (if possible) would mean a lot of license fees. The Affinities can read AI, but only the PDF part of it.

Hello @Joachim_L Thanks
I understand. It makes it more complicate to share files with people that are using different software.
Do you have any recommendations on which extensions are better? I know it'd depend on the types of documents. Which ext will allow to keep all the layers and details?

[Joachim_L]

23 minutes ago, Bourquin Florian said:

Which ext will allow to keep all the layers and details?

Personally I would recommend PDF.

[MEB]

Hi @Bourquin Florian,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
If you need to exchange files/data with other people using Illustrator its probably better to use Illustrator as well. Although PDF's will keep some data editable/intact there's also others that will be lost/rasterised when exporting to PDF namely live Adjustments, Layers FX, some blend modes/transparency etc.