What is the difference between exporting a file or saving it as ...

[ansdesigns]

Hi,

Pardon my ignorance, I am knew to Affinity and picture editing, can you please tell me which options is more recommended or are they to be used in different circumstances?

Many thanks and best wishes,

Fabricio

[markw]

Hello Fabricio
Save As…  will let you choose a new file name and destination to save to. But the file type will only be readable by one of Affinity’s apps, currently; Affinity Photo or Designer.
All layers, filters, adjustments etc… will be retained and can be worked with again should you wish too at a later date.

Export…  will let you export a flattened final image that can be opened in other image viewers/editors, in the usual file types; e.g. jpeg, png, tiff, etc…
In addition to these image formats you can also export in Photoshop’s .psd format.

Like Affinity’s own format, layers, adjustments, etc… will be retained. However files exported as .psd may not open and look exactly as they did in Affinity if they contain adjustments, filters, effects, etc… that can not be stored in the .psd format or otherwise found in the other app that is opening them.

And for files containing vector objects, exporting as .svg, .eps and .pdf can be used if you wish to work with their contents in another app.

[ansdesigns]

Hello Fabricio

Save As…  will let you choose a new file name and destination to save to. But the file type will only be readable by one of Affinity’s apps, currently; Affinity Photo or Designer.

All layers, filters, adjustments etc… will be retained and can be worked with again should you wish too at a later date.

 

Export…  will let you export a flattened final image that can be opened in other image viewers/editors, in the usual file types; e.g. jpeg, png, tiff, etc…

In addition to these image formats you can also export in Photoshop’s .psd format.

Like Affinity’s own format, layers, adjustments, etc… will be retained. However files exported as .psd may not open and look exactly as they did in Affinity if they contain adjustments, filters, effects, etc… that can not be stored in the .psd format or otherwise found in the other app that is opening them.

And for files containing vector objects, exporting as .svg, .eps and .pdf can be used if you wish to work with their contents in another app.

Perfect, many thanks for your very clear explanation!

[Siegfried]

I have a follow up question to this. I opened a tiff file, did some edits and exported in order to overwrite the existing tiff. When I wanted to close Affinity I got asked if I want to "Save" the file I just exported. Is there a way to avoid this pop-up?

Thanks

[Pšenda]

No. Export is export, master document remained unsaved after edits.

Why you exported? Opening TIFF/PNG/JPEG is only enough to save after editing. It just comes up with all the native format benefits (layers, masks, live filters, history).

[Siegfried]

Hello Psenda,

thank you for your reply. Are you saying I could just:

- open the tiff

- edit it

- click "Save" and the edits get saved to the tiff. I understood that save will create an 'afoto" file

[Pšenda]

9 minutes ago, Siegfried said:

click "Save" and the edits get saved to the tiff.

Yes. 

[Pšenda]

12 minutes ago, Siegfried said:

I understood that save will create an 'afoto" file

See note on the help. 

https://affinity.help/photo/English.lproj/pages/GetStarted/save.html

TIFF is "Image file type".

[R C-R]

2 hours ago, Siegfried said:

Are you saying I could just:

- open the tiff

- edit it

- click "Save" and the edits get saved to the tiff. I understood that save will create an 'afoto" file

That depends on if your edits add anything that is unique to the native Affinity file format. For example, I added a rounded rectangle to a simple one layer tiff format file, so it now has 2 layers. When I click "Save" I get this notice:

The first option, "Save with layers," saves the file in tiff format, but adds a private tag that 'tags' that added layer as an Affinity rounded rectangle shape. Affinity apps read that tag so if you open the tiff file saved with that option the layer will still be a rounded rectangle shape. Other apps ignore the private Affinity tag & just treat it as an ordinary shape or part of a single layer raster image, depending on their capabilities. "Save As" saves a new version of the file in the native Affinity file format.

[Siegfried]

Thank you guys