now files exported as pdf by affinity designer not import on Corel draw and other pdf editor, also preview is blank always when export

[AMB RAJ]

Print 8-6-23 A for Print.pdf

Edited June 9, 2023 by AMB RAJ

[Hangman]

Hi @AMB RAJ and welcome to the forums,

I'm having no issues opening your pdf in other apps and pdf viewers. I don't have CorelDraw to test with but your pdf opens in Affinity Designer and every single pdf viewer I can think of.

What actually happens when you try to open your pdf in CorelDraw?

On a likely unrelated side note, are you aware that you have three different blacks defined in your file?

[AMB RAJ]

I am not aware of 3 different blacks , how to find out 

[AMB RAJ]

Ok I understand that colour should be same , but when new software convert old legacy document may be it happened

[AMB RAJ]

What's the reason that preview is not generated while export PDF files in V2 ?

[AMB RAJ]

See that

[Hangman]

Hi @AMB RAJ,

The lack of a preview in the Export window is caused by a known bug... when the preview zoom percentage is below a certain value (around 10%) the document doesn't display and you only see the checkerboard pattern.

If you change the file format to a raster-based one, e.g., jpeg or png you then have the ability to zoom into the preview where you will see the file displayed correctly.

Serif has removed the option to zoom vector-based files in the Export preview window and this is subsequently, currently causing no preview to display at all when you have large document sizes displayed at a small zoom percentage but hopefully, this will be fixed in a later release.

Are you able to upload your Affinity Designer file so we can take a look at what might be causing the CorelDraw issue? It sounds as though there is something on one or more of the layers which CorelDraw doesn't like...

 

[MickRose]

Hi @AMB RAJ I couldn't open the pdf in CorelDra version 19 - I get an error message. I can open it in Acrobat. I then printed to a PDF printer from Acrobat and the resulting PDF file opened okay in CorelDraw.

[Hangman]

52 minutes ago, AMB RAJ said:

Ok I understand that colour should be same , but when new software convert old legacy document may be it happened

I don't believe that is the case here since the document uses a K100 black along with two specific Pantone Blacks which would have been specified in the original document.

[AMB RAJ]

Hi MickRose , earlier when we export file in V1 it open in all apps but now it needs some improvement ,hope solution will be provided ASAP

[stokerg]

Hi @AMB RAJ,

I also don't have access to CorelDraw 5 but i think your error could be caused by the 'Allow Advanced Features' tick box at the bottom of the Export To PDF window in Affinity.  If go back to Export>PDF and scroll to the bottom and untick that box, are able to open that exported PDF in CorelDraw?

[Ron P.]

I have CorelDraw 2017, and when I try to open AMB RAJ's file I get the error message "File is corrupt".

Opening the file in AD 2.1, I changed the PDF Export to PDF/X4 and unticked the box beside Allow Advanced Features. I was then able to open the file in CorelDraw.

[R C-R]

5 hours ago, Hangman said:

If you change the file format to a raster-based one, e.g., jpeg or png you then have the ability to zoom into the preview where you will see the file displayed correctly.

In earlier versions of AD I could use the keyboard shortcuts with CMD (like CMD+0 or CMD+plus) to change the zoom preview size but in AD 2.1.0 that no longer works, regardless of the export file format I have chosen. So assuming you are using 2.1.0 how are you able to do the zooming?

EDIT: this is weird. Sometimes even when I hold down CMD to type say CMD+0, that changes the first value in the export size dialog to zero, as if CMD was not being held down. Once in the last 8 or so tries, when exporting to JPEG, the keyboard zoom shortcuts worked; the other 7 or so tries & just got an error beep. It never worked with PNG or any of the other export formats I tried.

[Hangman]

Hi @R C-R,

You could indeed, but the second bug that currently exists with the Export window in all Affinity v 2.1.0 apps is that when choosing any raster export file format the width field takes focus in the dialog window which means using Cmd +/- changes the value in the width text entry box to either a plus or a minus or a combination of the two.

The one exception to this is exporting to a PSD file because there are no W and H entry boxes which means Cmd +/- works for that particular file format.

The workaround for all other raster-based file formats is to use Alt (Option) mouse scroll (with a magic mouse at least) which bypasses any keyboard commands and allows you to zoom in and out...

[R C-R]

1 minute ago, Hangman said:

You could indeed, but the second bug that currently exists with the Export window in all Affinity v 2.1.0 apps is that when choosing any raster export file format the width field takes focus in the dialog window which means using Cmd +/- changes the value in the width text entry box to either a plus or a minus or a combination of the two.

Except that for me once in 8 tries CMD +/- did work, but only for a JPEG export. Like I said, very weird.

2 minutes ago, Hangman said:

The workaround for all other raster-based file formats is to use Alt (Option) mouse scroll (with a magic mouse at least) which bypasses any keyboard commands and allows you to zoom in and out...

Yeah, that seems to work for me, even though I am using a trackball with a scroll wheel function rather than a magic mouse.

To fix this, I think one thing they need to do is enable the View > Zoom menu items when the Export dialog window has the focus, but in any case using CMD plus a keystroke should not ignore that the CMD key is down & just enter the numeric value in whatever field has the focus. No Mac app should ever do that, right?

[Hangman]

18 minutes ago, R C-R said:

Except that for me once in 8 tries CMD +/- did work, but only for a JPEG export. Like I said, very weird.

For me, it doesn't work at all exporting to any raster file formats even when tabbing to a different field because regardless of the field Cmd +/- still places an entry in the box with focus and it's not possible not to have focus in the dialog window in one or other boxes...

I think perhaps a couple of nice additions to the export dialog window would be...

• A hide preview checkbox (as it really isn't always required and quite often slows the export process down despite an actual preview not being required to export a file)
• Plus and Minus buttons (or a Navigator style slider) below the preview on the dialog window itself to zoom in and out, hidden if the preview is hidden

BTW, the zoom keyboard shortcuts do work in the export dialog window, Cmd 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 8 and 9 though these aren't so helpful unless you want to zoom in quite close and they also work for vector file formats but are perhaps of little use...

[R C-R]

16 minutes ago, Hangman said:

For me, it doesn't work at all exporting to any raster file formats even when tabbing to a different field because regardless of the field Cmd +/- still places an entry in the box with focus and it's not possible not to have focus in the dialog window in one or other boxes...

Even if it never works for you, do you agree that CMD+a number or +/- should never enter that value in a numeric field? Where else in the UI of the Affinity or any other Mac app does that happen? IOW, CMD is used to enter commands, not values, right?

16 minutes ago, Hangman said:

I think perhaps a couple of nice additions to the export dialog window would be...

• A hide preview checkbox (as it really isn't always required and quite often slows the export process down despite an actual preview not being required to export a file)
• Plus and Minus buttons below the preview on the dialog window itself to zoom in and out, hidden if the preview is hidden

Agree on the first. For the second, I think it would suffice to enable the keyboard shortcuts -- there is no ambiguity because the Export dialog window always has the focus & we are trying to enter a menu command, not a field number. But failing that, maybe instead of 2 buttons, a secondary "Preview" popup menu in the dialog with all the relevant zoom level settings & perhaps also the show/hide preview option?

EDIT: Hey, I just discovered a very simple way to work around the field entry bug to make the various CMD options work like they should. Just collapse the Files Settings section of the Export dialog window (so there are no visible fields) & then the keyboard shortcuts all will work like they should.

[walt.farrell]

6 hours ago, Hangman said:

Serif has removed the option to zoom vector-based files in the Export preview window and this is subsequently, currently causing no preview to display at all when you have large document sizes displayed at a small zoom percentage but hopefully, this will be fixed in a later release.

I think all the Zoom issues discussed in this thread are Mac-only issues, just for the record. They all seem to work fine on Windows.

[R C-R]

4 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

I think all the Zoom issues discussed in this thread are Mac-only issues, just for the record. They all seem to work fine on Windows.

Probably true, since it basically seems to be an issue with how V2 ignores that the CMD key is held down when a numeric field has the focus. Nowhere else in the UI (of Affinity or any other Mac app I checked) does CMD + a number or other character just ignore CMD & enter the numeric value or its equivalent.

So for example, if say Stroke Width has the focus & I type CMD+1 it changes the zoom level rather than entering 1 in the width field.

[Hangman]

17 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

I think all the Zoom issues discussed in this thread are Mac-only issues, just for the record. They all seem to work fine on Windows.

I believe this is indeed the case, though is zoom currently enabled or disabled for vector file formats in the export preview window?

[walt.farrell]

8 minutes ago, Hangman said:

I believe this is indeed the case, though is zoom currently enabled or disabled for vector file formats in the export preview window?

Works for me with the Vector file formats.

[Hangman]

8 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Works for me with the Vector file formats.

Which is classified as a bug in v2...

[R C-R]

4 minutes ago, Hangman said:

I believe this is indeed the case, though is zoom currently enabled or disabled for vector file formats in the export preview window?

Just to further illustrate how messed up this is in the Mac versions, if I choose the SVG export format & try my trick of hiding the Files Settings section, CMD+/- & all the applicable CMD+ a number keyboard shortcuts do work .. but the Alt/Option scroll wheel trick that works for the raster formats does not.

Also just saw this:

45 minutes ago, Hangman said:

BTW, the zoom keyboard shortcuts do work in the export dialog window, Cmd 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 8 and 9 though these aren't so helpful unless you want to zoom in quite close and they also work for vector file formats but are perhaps of little use...

They only work for me if I have managed to remove the focus from the Size fields, which I can do if I toggle the visibility of the File Settings section off & back on again. This persists until I quit the app, but once I relaunch it I have to do that again; otherwise, the Width field has the focus again & the commands do not work.

Buggy!

[R C-R]

6 minutes ago, Hangman said:

Which is classified as a bug in v2...

Which is weird because the explanation that it is because "vectors can draw differently dependent on their intended final use" suggests that the available built in & user created SVG presets & basically all the Advanced options for SVG exports are all but useless because they can't predict how those files will be displayed depending on how they are used in some other app or context.

Besides, can't the same be said for the raster export formats? For instance, how can we be sure that a JPEG will be displayed the same in every browser app, zoom level, etc.?

But maybe more to the point, on my Mac if I select SVG for even somewhat complex, multilayer Affinity format files with a mix of vector, text, & pixel objects, using CMD+1, CMD+/-, & so on works quite smoothly with no apparent lag & as best as I can tell, is an accurate preview of how it will look in every other app I tried this with.

This makes no sense to me.

[Hangman]

23 minutes ago, R C-R said:

Just to further illustrate how messed up this is in the Mac versions, if I choose the SVG export format & try my trick of hiding the Files Settings section, CMD+/- & all the applicable CMD+ a number keyboard shortcuts do work .. but the Alt/Option scroll wheel trick that works for the raster formats does not.

Interesting, I'd not considered that but, yes, zoom using Cmd+/- works for all file formats when the File Settings section is closed, well spotted, though the Alt/Option scroll wheel only works for the raster formats regarless of whether the File Settings section is open or closed...

34 minutes ago, R C-R said:

They only work for me if I have managed to remove the focus from the Size fields, which I can do if I toggle the visibility of the File Settings section off & back on again.

Agree, though I somehow managed to get it working before without knowing this trick and now I can no longer replicate the sequence of events to make that work...

Anyways, buggy, reported, logged and hopefully fixed in an upcoming release...