V2: Save or export document to V1-format?

[Michael Tietz]

I guess this will be a topic for many Users who are collaborating with other Affinity users still on V1. I have both versions of the Affinity suite, and am a bit hesitant to edit v1-documents because of the incompatibility with v1-apps. Is there any way to somehow "save as" or "export" v2-documents from the v2-app to the v1-document-format, perhaps with a friendly warning that one might lose some new features? 

Otherwise this would be a weird situation, Designer can open Illustrator files from all versions (which Illustrator cannot do), but cannot export into its very own format of the predecessor...

Btw: Copying from V2 and paste it into V1 seems to work, even the controls for a cog shape still works.

[Callum]

Hi Michael,

There is no way to save a V2 file as a V1 compatible file I'm afraid.

Thanks
C

[Michael Tietz]

I am sure you could fix that with the first update for V2

[R C-R]

7 hours ago, Michael Tietz said:

I am sure you could fix that with the first update for V2

How? There are many features in V2 that V1 does not support, so how would you expect that to work -- just omit anything V1 can't handle or what?

[lacerto]

Obsolete.

[IPv6]

29 minutes ago, lacerto said:

 Perhaps a kind of PDF encapsulation would be possible within native Affinity version formats

Seems the best we have now is PSD... it is ok except layer links and advanced adjustments are not supported

[JazzTwitJohn]

Not allowing save as v1 format does seem like an omission that will hamper the Affinity community working with each other.  

[albis0s]

Лол, тогда я не буду использовать 2 версию. На моём iPad стоит v1 и я не могу экспортировать с компьютерной v2. Это тупо

[Grayhem]

Yes please +1 

Save as version 1

[Smart Inspiration]

I got V1. And I loved it.
I jumped onto V2 when it came out, allowing me to use the latest version on my Mac, my Windows desktop and my iPad, thinking I was making a great move forwards.

Then I discovered some of the people I know only have v1, and didn't make that leap, and quite simply aren't going to, because of their customers, friends etc.

After all, not everyone is a graphic designer, happy to spend on the latest software. I'm certainly not!
(And if I was in the V1 Camp, I'd be doing my best to discourage people thinking of going to V2, only to be left behind!)

Without some form of backward compatible export, I either have to keep files in V2 and then recreate them using V1, copying across the layers into new documents, or I have to try to put it into an interim non-Affinity format like a PSD, with even more compatibility issues than V2 to V1, which seems counter-intuitive when we all want to live in the world of Affinity!

Backward compatibility is something we all take for granted. Of course V1 files may not support all of the V1 features. Of course some things might be lost in the export. But backwards compatibility is something that not having, splits the world of Affinity users into 2 camps. V1's and V2's, and there's no easy way of sharing or collaborating.

Why ever would a company that rivals Adobe for having a wonderful graphical package choose to alienate existing customers, or restrict new customers in such a terrible way?
Please please please can we encourage Affinity to create a v1 exporter, so that we can share our V2 love with those left behind, and help support V1 users for continuing with the product until it's right for them to invest in the benefits that V2 can bring.

I can see 2 clear ways forward, both of which would show a united front for Affinity software:

1. An export from V2 to V1 compatible files
2. The ability for V1 to open V2 files in read only mode, to then be able to extract/copy the layers into new files.

Let us find a way for Affinity users to unite, share resources, and all grow together.

[3Dshark]

If Affinity Designer can import an IDML file, so I'm pretty certain it should be possible to reverse the process and export an IDML file too. There will always be new features which aren't exactly rendered as they should be, but it would be a good halfway-house.

https://affinity.help/publisher/en-US.lproj/index.html?page=pages/GetStarted/importDocument.html?title=Importing documents

 

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, 3Dshark said:

If Affinity Designer can import an IDML file,

I don't think that Designer can do that. Isn't iDML import limited to Publisher?

[ateleman]

Hi ! I run a lab with 15 people and everyone has Affinity Photo version 1 on their  laptops. Now a new person has joined and we've installed version 2 on his computer. Are you seriously saying that he will not be able to share his files with the other 15 people in my lab??? There really needs be a way to export a version that is backwards-compatible. This is a game-stopper if I need to update all 15 licenses in my group every time a new version comes out. I guess a solution is an export function that strips the new features from the file...

[XU3E]

As @ateleman mentioned my case is similar. I have raised a concern some time ago, without any reasonable response. So here we are. I have many v1 files and many computers with v1 installed without possibility upgrade and no interoperability between v1 and v2... This was and still is a main reason why i can not recommend v2 and will not buy a new licenses till this is resolved somehow.

[XU3E]

Solution to this problem (for Publisher only) would be IDML export. If there is IDML import, implementation of export should not be so hard, should be? 

Another solution for that would be PSD or PDF export that will be compatible to exchange data. But PSD break publisher file by pages to many PSD files and text is rasterised even with changed settings. PSD was not really mentioned for this kind of interoperability anyway. So rather not for Publisher.

PDF is not perfect too. Mainly because text is weirdly separated all the time i tried it. Even with simple text layouts. Also there is many compatibility issues with other features. Not sure why. Editability should be consistent.

So IDML export seems to be the best solution. Any plans for that?

[MikeyT]

@Callum

this is incredibly unhelpful, I am regretting my purchase of V2 now because I cannot collaborate with colleagues and volunteers on V1.  You seem to assume creative people all work in big firms where they upgrade en masse.  This is a big disincentive to upgrade...

[R C-R]

39 minutes ago, MikeyT said:

this is incredibly unhelpful, I am regretting my purchase of V2 now because I cannot collaborate with colleagues and volunteers on V1.  

As annoying & unhelpful as it is, since V2 supports quite a few new features that V1 cannot, it isn't possible to add a fully functional option to save a file created or edited in V2 to save it in the V1 format.

What this means is to collaborate with V1 users you have to do all the work in V1; otherwise the V1 users won't be able to understand how certain tasks were accomplished, much less be able to open the files.

 While understandably that is quite inconvenient & annoying, it is certainly doable because the V1 & V2 apps both can be installed & used side by side.

[DesignNorth]

Wow. I just came across this issue. I upgraded to V2 on my laptop only, as I had V1 on my main iMac. I can't upgrade Publisher there for a specific reason. So most of my work is in V1 on the iMac. Now I have a customer (amateur designer!) who sent me his layout in V2 that I cannot open or alter. Do I have to rebuild his design. It sucks that I cannot even tell him to save it as a previous version. 

[walt.farrell]

20 minutes ago, DesignNorth said:

Wow. I just came across this issue. I upgraded to V2 on my laptop only, as I had V1 on my main iMac. I can't upgrade Publisher there for a specific reason. So most of my work is in V1 on the iMac. Now I have a customer (amateur designer!) who sent me his layout in V2 that I cannot open or alter. Do I have to rebuild his design. It sucks that I cannot even tell him to save it as a previous version. 

Why not use the V2 on your laptop? Or have I misunderstood your configuration?

[NotMyFault]

8 hours ago, DesignNorth said:

I can't upgrade Publisher there for a specific reason.

You can use both V1 and V2 in parallel on the same device. Can you elaborate the reason?

[Elise Kleve]

Stupid update. Saving as to a lower version of the app is something that should be implemented to newer versions.

Even Adobe allows saving for classic CC versions and they are an even greedier company in the first place.

Autodesk lets user save as for previous 3 generations of the app.

[Elise Kleve]

Better avoid Affinity apps. I just copy and pasted all of my 1-page designs to Adobe Illustrator from Affinity apps. Now I don't even have to worry about compatibility.

George Carlin mentioned this type of business bee-es as something to be ignored as it's bad for 'ya

[Michael Tietz]

37 minutes ago, Elise Kleve said:

Better avoid Affinity apps. I just copy and pasted all of my 1-page designs to Adobe Illustrator from Affinity apps.

Well, thats a harsh measure and not an option for myself as I will never go back to Adobe.

Anyone tried a free app like inkscape or something similar, if there is a conversion path? Maybe it's enough to export a editable PDF and reimport it into V1?

I tried Corel Draw, which was the ultimate format monster back in the days of apps like QuarkXPress, unfortunately with no success. As I already wrote: most of the features are preserved when using copy and paste from v2 to v1. 

I hoped someone external would write a conversion/export plugin, that would be nice!

[NotMyFault]

Breaking „save as“ compatibility to older version is an extremely bad design decision (for users).

but it is similar to VHS: the cheapest system / app wins, the better technology (at higher cost or price) will loose on the market.