Urgent: Affinity Publisher Unable to Export to PDF

[Phoenix on Fire]

Hi,

I hope someone can assist me with a frustrating issue I've been trying to resolve for the past 24 hours. Affinity Publisher is refusing to export to PDF, and despite my best efforts, I haven’t been able to find a solution.

Here’s what I’ve tried so far:

• Reduced the file size (though it wasn’t large to begin with).
• Attempted multiple export profiles (PDF for Export, PDF Small File Size—even though it’s unsuitable for my needs, and PDF for Print).
• Turned off GPU processing based on tips from the forum.
• Verified that all images were properly linked and even resized them externally to reduce file demands.
• Restarted my computer.
• Factory reset the software.
• Uninstalled and reinstalled Affinity Publisher three times.
• Switched to the BETA version to see if it would work.

Unfortunately, none of these steps have resolved the issue. The export process proceeds through the interface smoothly but stalls during the actual export. The software doesn’t freeze or lag at this point, but even after letting it run for six hours, there’s no progress. If I cancel the export and try again, the program then freezes entirely and requires a force shutdown.

I’ve attached a screenshot of where it gets stuck, along with a package ZIP file of the original document that first encountered the problem.

This issue is causing me significant delays and lost income, so any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much for your time and support!

Best regards,
Phoenix

Package.zip

[Komatös]

I can confirm the error behaviour on both macOS 15.2 and Windows 11. Publisher also freezes if you cancel the export during the preview phase after a short time. Although the export dialogue is closed, Publisher can no longer be used and can only be ended by forcibly terminating the task.

[Hangman]

Hi @Phoenix on Fire and welcome to the forums,

Your file is failing to export because of the way the colour fills have been applied to the flower and leaf graphics on Pages 5 and 20, i.e.,

The colour fills use scribbled strokes which is not advisable... I've changed the stroke colour here just so you can see the issue...

Some of these will randomly export but most will cause the export to fail. Even though it's going to involve a couple of hours of work, you need to replace these with closed, filled shapes instead, i.e., from the scribbled stroke on the left to the simple, closed filled shape on the right...

If you hide doodle flowers 3.svg on Page 5 and hide all the colour fills used in the leaf graphic on Page 20 your file will export but with both visible the export fails...

If you do this and then still have issues exporting to PDF (digital - small size), PDF (digital - high quality) or PDF (export) uncheck the Tagged PDF option in the Advanced section of the PDF export window and the file should export... This is because of a known bug when this option is enabled affecting certain, but not all files...

Let us know how you get on...

[Phoenix on Fire]

Absolutely! I'll get started on this and report back. Thank you so much!

[Phoenix on Fire]

I just wanted to update that this was exactly the issue and I was able to export. Thank you so much for your help!

[Hangman]

That's absolutely no problem at all... I'm glad everything is now working as expected and that you've been able to successfully export your file, that is really good to hear...