Do you plan on implementing .psd .ai .indd saving option?

[nils01]

First of, 

I love the suit and i'd like to work with it full time but due to me having to share .indd files etc. with others all the time I'm not able to do that, since you do not have the option to save files as an adobe format. Because adobe will propably never implement a support for affinity files, can you implement the ability to export in adobe native files? It would propably be the last step for many people to fully switch to your products because then we are able to collaborate with people that use adobe software.

 

Thank you in advance for any answers :)

[Dan C]

Hi @nils01,

Welcome to the Affinity Forums

Thanks for your kind feedback!

I can confirm that the Affinity apps can already export to the Adobe formats .PSD or .PDF, using File > Export, however we cannot save to the .Ai or .INDD formats, as these are proprietary formats that Adobe do not release a specification for, unlike .PDF / .PSD which is documented in one form or another.

For Affinity to support these filetypes, Adobe would need to release a public specification for them, so it is out of our control - my apologies.

I hope this clears things up.

[nils01]

14 minutes ago, Dan C said:

Hi @nils01,

Welcome to the Affinity Forums

Thanks for your kind feedback!

I can confirm that the Affinity apps can already export to the Adobe formats .PSD or .PDF, using File > Export, however we cannot save to the .Ai or .INDD formats, as these are proprietary formats that Adobe do not release a specification for, unlike .PDF / .PSD which is documented in one form or another.

For Affinity to support these filetypes, Adobe would need to release a public specification for them, so it is out of our control - my apologies.

I hope this clears things up.

Hey,

thanks for the reply. That's totally logic but very unfortunate  

I'll propably stick to ID for my collaborative editorial thingies then and for other stuff I'll use affinity :)

[JacekA]

Hi,

I can understand that, but then why are there .indd conversion tools (e.g. PDF2ID, Markzware) on the market?

Edited December 11, 2022 by JacekA
add

[loukash]

18 minutes ago, JacekA said:

why are there .indd conversion tools (e.g. PDF2ID) on the market?

You mean that one trick pony that costs more than an Affinity Universal License…?
Think again.  

PDF2ID as not an *.indd conversion tool. It's a PDF conversion tool. ID cannot actually read PDF at all, it can only place them. Hence there's a plugin market for such tools. You could also use AI to open a PDF and copy/paste the content into an ID document as native paths, images and text. (Been there done that back in the day, many times.)

Enter Affinity which can open PDF natively thanks to the built-in PDFLib. No pricey one trick pony required. Obviously it's not as sophisticated as PDF2ID, but it does its job pretty well, depending on the PDF version and structure it has to crack open.

So in this case we're comparing apples to … ponies.  

[JacekA]

This means, that PDF2ID developed only PDF import and the conversion to ID format (because how else can it be displayed after the conversion action?) was done by Adobe specialists?

And Markzware also 'only' reads and does not convert anything.

 The market is cruel. Pony eats apples. For Affinity not to be eaten (by Adobe) it has to be like a poisoned apple. 😕

[dcr]

The paid version of OmniMarkz will convert .indd, .qxp and .pdf files to .idml files which can be opened in QuarkXpress, InDesign or Affinity Publisher.  I haven't used OmniMarkz, but I've used ID2Q and/or IDMarkz to convert .indd files to .idml files to be opened in QuarkXpress so I know it converts the files.  Affinity Publisher (1.8 and later?) can open .idml files too.  So, if you just need to convert .indd files to .idml, all you need is IDMarkz.  If you need to convert QuarkXPress files to .idml, then you need QXPMarkz.  If you need both, probably OmniMarkz is the better deal.  If you're using Affinity Publisher or QuarkXPress, there's probably not much need to convert PDF to .idml when you can just import the PDF and have it converted to native objects.

Maybe someday Markzware will figure out how to convert Publisher files to IDML so we'd have that option as well.

[JacekA]

39 minutes ago, dcr said:

...but I've used ID2Q and/or IDMarkz to convert .indd files to .idml file...

Thanks for confirming what I'm talking about. It means, that it is possible to convert the .indd format by third-party programs.

 

So here's what the author of the thread wrote:

On 11/9/2022 at 8:32 PM, nils01 said:

I love the suit and i'd like to work with it full time but due to me having to share .indd files etc. with others all the time I'm not able to do that, since you do not have the option to save files as an adobe format. Because adobe will propably never implement a support for affinity files, can you implement the ability to export in adobe native files? It would propably be the last step for many people to fully switch to your products because then we are able to collaborate with people that use adobe software.

... may happen someday. Let's hope it's not too late, because Adobe doesn't like competition and if it buys Serif, we're the only ones who will lose out. I think, that the introduction of export to .indd or at least to .idml, is now the most important thing for the Anffinity kit to take a big step forward in popularity.

[loukash]

1 hour ago, dcr said:

if you just need to convert .indd files to .idml, all you need is IDMarkz

Exactly, that's the one you need.
One of Markzware employees is in fact posting here on the Affinity forums every now and then: 
forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/profile/111068-eddie-aguirre

16 minutes ago, JacekA said:

it is possible to convert the .indd format by third-party programs

Likely because the Markzware company cooperates with Adobe. It's not necessarily a competitor, unlike Serif.

17 minutes ago, JacekA said:

Adobe doesn't like competition and if it buys Serif

My gut feeling tells me that an alien cat species invasion and conquest of the Earth is more probable than that scenario… 

[dcr]

Both .indd and .idml are proprietary formats.  There used to be a book/PDF (IDML Cookbook) that Adobe had on their site that explained the .idml format.  That was back when CS6 was current and I don't know if they ever updated it.  Can't be found now on Adobe's site, but can be found elsewhere on the web.

The .idml format is basically XML so that should be not terribly difficult for programmers familiar with XML to sort out and make work with their own applications, as Serif and Quark have both done.

The .indd format would be harder to figure out.  I would guess that if you have the same file in .indd and .idml, one might be able to figure it out.  And, the more files for comparison, the better.  Still, it wouldn't be as easy to "read" as XML.

Anyway, I would tend to think that if you can figure out how to import an .idml file, it should be possible to figure out how to export it as well.  Then again, there are apps that can open .ai files but not export .ai files.  So, I don't know there.

[loukash]

40 minutes ago, dcr said:

if you can figure out how to import an .idml file, it should be possible to figure out how to export it as well.

Yep. It's human readable code:

I would expect that the lack of IDML export from Affinity is a strategic business decision. I also vaguely remember seeing staff posts where they explained something in the sense that it would be a complex task for their small team, and that they have other priorities to solve first. To which I can only agree, personally…

[PaoloT]

Not exporting to .idml or .indd seems to cut Publisher out of any professional workflow, and relegate it to home use. I'm surprised compatibility with dominant file formats is not considered top priority in a software that wants to be pro. I don't know, maybe I'm just not figuring it, but – are there cases in which a professional workflow can be implemented without file compatibility?

Paolo

 

[loukash]

53 minutes ago, PaoloT said:

Not exporting to .idml or .indd seems to cut Publisher out of any professional workflow

You mean, much like QXP is excluded from "any professional workflow" because it cannot export IDML either…?  

[PaoloT]

50 minutes ago, loukash said:

You mean, much like QXP is excluded from "any professional workflow" because it cannot export IDML either…? 

QXP still exists as a residual quote, because of the many publishers who have used it for decades and don't want to change. Affinity has not the same advantage. Neither of them is the tool a freelance can use to collaborate with others. But QXP can simply ignore it, Publisher is not in a position to do it.

Paolo

 

[dcr]

There are also third-party tools available to convert QuarkXPress files to .idml files.

If anyone knows of any third-party tools that will convert an Affinity Publisher file to .idml, let us know what they are.

[loukash]

8 hours ago, dcr said:

third-party tools that will convert an Affinity Publisher file to .idml

PDF is the exchange format of choice here.
Since InDesign is still incapable to open PDF, you need PDF2ID, as mentioned above.

[JacekA]

9 hours ago, loukash said:

PDF is the exchange format of choice here.
Since InDesign is still incapable to open PDF, you need PDF2ID, as mentioned above.

You contribute to many threads about exporting to .indd or .idml. You are very active in this and you are in opposition everywhere. Either you don't understand us or you have a different purpose.

Your answer above illustrates your lack of understanding of what we are talking about.

[loukash]

2 minutes ago, JacekA said:

you are in opposition everywhere

Not at all. Sometimes I could use IDML export just as well.
But I'm a realist. I'm not holding my breath that Serif will act on this anytime soon. In fact, multiple staff comments so far indicated that they have no such plans in any forseeable future.

[Atlas Games Webmaster]

+1 export to IDML. It's imperative for professional book publishing. I can't get rid of my InDesign subscription until this happens.