Feature request for Affinity Publisher - PDF export options

[TomJr]

When exporting to PDF, can we get an option for exporting single pages from a multi-page document, without having to export page by page? Right now options are "all pages" or "current page", but not "single pages".

Thanks!

[GarryP]

What other option(s) would you like for exporting a single page?

[Pšenda]

35 minutes ago, GarryP said:

What other option(s) would you like for exporting a single page?

Perhaps it's about exporting a multi-page document that is being exported page by page into separate files.

etc.

[TomJr]

See below, that's what I'd like to see.

3 hours ago, Pšenda said:

exporting a multi-page document that is being exported page by page into separate files.

 

[Old Bruce]

1 hour ago, TomJr said:

See below, that's what I'd like to see.

I don't disagree that this would be a good addition but until it is implemented what you can do if you also own Designer is; Export from Publisher to a PDF single pages document, open that PDF file in Designer (all pages) and then use the Designer Export Persona to export each page as a PDF. Make sure to use the same PDF format in Designer. It is but a moments work.

[TomJr]

@Old Bruce

Generally, that's a good workaround. However, when I tested the files to include crops and other press marks, the resulting artboards only gave me the live area (what the client would see after they were cut).

How do you get around that? If I have to expand every artboard to accommodate the crops/bleeds, then it would take more time than I'm willing to spend on it, especially if there are dozens of pages.

[Old Bruce]

27 minutes ago, TomJr said:

Generally, that's a good workaround. However, when I tested the files to include crops and other press marks, the resulting artboards only gave me the live area (what the client would see after they were cut).

Hmmm...

You'll have to Export a PDF from Publisher as Pages with all printer's marks etc.

Open that PDF in Publisher. Go to Document Setup and increase the size of the Pages by enough to show the items ( a few centimetres might do it) and then export as a PDF. This time you don't need Bleed or Printers marks.

Now, open in Designer and go to the Export Persona.

[TomJr]

@Old Bruce,

Well, quite the workaround, but it does work. I really do hope Affinity fixes this, along with a number of other things to bring it closer to par with InDesign, as it's my desire to part with Adobe for good at some point. Back in the day, both QuarkXPress and Adobe PageMaker had this functionality as well, so I don't think I'm being unreasonable in my request.

I've been in this business doing prepress, production and design for over 30 years, and vendors all have their own idiosyncrasies and requirements for their equipment. I need to adjust my workflow for them, not the other way around. That's one reason why I've never had anything I've ever done NOT print.

One note. Before I open the PDF in Publisher, I open the PDF in Acrobat, note the Document size in the Document Properties section, and apply that to the Document size in Publisher. Then I follow your directions from there.

Thanks!
 

[prophet]

Another workflow could be to use a 3rd party app to split the PDF after export. I use the free PDFsam Basic which has plenty of options.

[TomJr]

@prophet: I'll make a note of it, thanks for the resource, I will experiment with it! The free version seems to only be free for 14 days.

If you're on a Mac, using Preview can work too::

1. Open your PDF in the Preview app.
2. Open the thumbnail view and select the page or pages you would like to separate.
3. Drag and drop the pages to your desktop or to another folder.

One concern I had with the @Old Bruce workaround (although VERY appreciated) is that the PDF goes through several generations of creation. It may be fine, but my experience dictates that the setting for each generation must be the same in terms of font embedding, color spaces, etc. In other words, much more likely to make a mistake with too many steps. This method from Preview might be my best workaround for now.