To keep Affinity artwork editable through PDF, name your layers, enable Include layers, and avoid rasterizing the entire design. Reopen the PDF to check both its structure and its objects; keep the native Affinity file for continued editing.

This guide covers exporting artwork from the current Affinity desktop app on Mac and opening that PDF for further editing. Affinity’s documentation makes editability conditional on how the PDF was created: retained text and vectors can remain editable, while flattened or rasterized content imports as images. The steps below use the current app’s menu names. Importing PDF documents

What does a layered PDF actually preserve?

Treat layer organization and object editability as two separate requirements. Include layers controls whether named Affinity layers are included as PDF layers. Rasterize controls whether design elements become pixels. Enabling the first setting does not cancel the second. Affinity’s preset table illustrates this clearly: PDF (flatten) includes layers but sets Rasterize to Everything. Export Settings, Compare PDF export presets

For a useful editing handoff, therefore, check three things: whether the named layers survive, whether shapes remain editable vectors, and whether text remains editable text. A PDF that looks correct has passed only the appearance check. Affinity documents the export controls individually; those controls should not be read as a promise that every native document feature or editing relationship will survive a PDF round trip.

Keep your original Affinity document as the working master. Opening a PDF creates a new Affinity document, and subsequent edits are saved to a new .af file. Producing another PDF requires exporting again. Plan around that conversion rather than repeatedly using PDF as your only working file. Importing PDF documents

Prepare named layers before exporting

Organize the artwork into clearly named container layers. Affinity distinguishes containers, which can hold vector objects and pixel layers, from individual shapes, curves, text objects, and other layer types. This gives you a deliberate structure to inspect after import. About layers

For example, a simple geometric illustration might use three containers named Background, Shapes, and Labels. These are illustrative names, not required names or a tested sample file.

  1. Choose Vector > New Container Layer, or click Container Layer on the Layers panel.
  2. Drag an existing object’s layer entry over the container’s name and drop it to make the object a child.
  3. Double-click the container’s label and enter a meaningful name.
  4. Repeat for the other sections of your artwork, then save your working document.

These creation, nesting, and naming actions are documented in Affinity’s Creating layers and Renaming layers help pages.

Naming is consequential: Affinity explicitly states that unnamed layers are not exported as PDF layers. Do not assume that merely seeing an item in the Layers panel satisfies the PDF layer requirement. Give the containers you need explicit names, then enable their inclusion during export. Export Settings

Hidden content needs separate attention. Include invisible layers has a specific documented scope: it includes hidden layers at the top hierarchical level when they contain child layers that are not themselves hidden. It is not documented as an unrestricted export of every hidden item at every nesting depth. If a hidden alternative matters to the handoff, check that its structure fits this condition and verify it in the exported file. Export Settings

Export a PDF that retains useful editing content

Open File > Export > Export. Select a PDF preset on the left, inspect its settings on the right, and check the Area before exporting. For artwork with artboards, Whole document includes all artboards; selecting a named artboard limits the output to that artboard. An incorrect area can exclude content before layer settings become relevant. Export dialog

PDF (for export) is a reasonable starting point for this task: its documented defaults include layers, use Unsupported properties for rasterization, and disable image downsampling. However, it leaves both invisible-layer inclusion and advanced features disabled, so inspect those settings explicitly. A preset name alone does not establish the finished file’s editability. Compare PDF export presets

Setting Choice for an editing handoff Documented limitation
Include layers Enable Unnamed layers are not exported as PDF layers.
Include invisible layers Enable when needed Applies to the specified hidden top-level layers with non-hidden children.
Rasterize Start with Unsupported properties Unsupported elements still become raster content.
Embed fonts Choose All Fonts when retaining text Embedding supports display; inspect missing-font handling when reopening.
Allow advanced features Decide using a destination-app test Supported features can export as vectors, but another app may render or import them incorrectly.

These recommendations follow Affinity’s documented Export Settings. They aim to retain useful content without assuming that every feature has an editable PDF equivalent.

Choose rasterization deliberately

Affinity offers three Rasterize choices. Everything rasterizes all design elements. Unsupported properties rasterizes only unsupported elements. Nothing prevents rasterization, but unsupported elements are then omitted from the exported file. Consequently, Nothing is unsuitable as a blanket “preserve everything editable” setting: content can disappear. Export Settings

Start with Unsupported properties, then inspect the specific objects you need to edit later. If an essential element becomes an image, revise that element in the native document or continue editing the native file. Increasing raster resolution may improve the appearance of rasterized effects, but it does not change the documented conversion into raster content.

Handle advanced features and text separately

Allow advanced features exports PDF-supported features as vectors, including stretched artistic text, stroked text, linear and radial gradients, and non-solid transparencies. With the option disabled, these features may be rasterized or converted to curves. Affinity also warns that enabling it can cause rasterization, incorrect rendering, or an import error in another app. Test the features your artwork actually uses in the intended destination. Export Settings

If wording must remain editable, avoid Embed fonts > Text as Curves, which converts text into curves. All Fonts embeds the document’s fonts for display, but reopening still requires attention to Affinity’s missing-font options. Shape editability and text editability are different checks. Export Settings, Importing PDF documents

Once the settings are ready, select Ask for Location, click Export, name the PDF, choose its destination, and click Save. You can enable Show in Finder to locate the result immediately. Export dialog

Reopen the PDF and test four editing requirements

Use File > Open, select the exported PDF, and inspect the PDF Options dialog. Choose the pages you need. Enable Favor editable text over fidelity when easier text editing takes priority over exact design reproduction; Group lines of text into text frames can combine separate lines to aid text flow. Neither setting is documented as recovering text or vectors already rasterized during export. Importing PDF documents

Resolve missing fonts deliberately. Affinity warns that if you enable Replace missing fonts during import, you cannot later swap those fonts through Font Manager. Leave that option unchecked if you intend to handle the missing fonts later. Importing PDF documents

Use the following acceptance check on the reopened file. This is a diagnostic sequence derived from the documented controls, not a claim that a particular export has been tested.

  1. Organization: Inspect the Layers panel for the named sections you intended to transfer. Check any required hidden alternative separately.
  2. Vector editing: Select a representative shape and try changing its fill or editing its path. Being able to move an image does not establish that its original shapes survived.
  3. Text editing: Change a short label, then inspect its font, spacing, and line breaks. Confirm that you are editing characters rather than moving outlined letters.
  4. Appearance: Compare gradients, transparency, overlaps, and any advanced features with the native original.

If organization fails, revisit explicit layer names and Include layers. If objects arrive as images, inspect Rasterize and the relevant feature’s PDF support. If text is outlined, inspect Text as Curves and advanced-feature handling. If text remains editable but its layout changes, revisit import options and fonts. These checks follow the distinct export and import behaviors documented by Affinity. Export Settings, Importing PDF documents

What if you placed the PDF inside another document?

A placed PDF follows a different workflow from a PDF opened as a new editable document. Affinity’s Passthrough setting is intended for exact reproduction, with a bitmap preview displayed while you edit the parent document. The preview alone therefore does not establish that the PDF was flattened. Placing content

When a placed PDF contains layers, select it and use the context toolbar’s Layers setting to control their visibility. Changing that visibility automatically switches PDF Passthrough to Interpret. This is a visibility control for the placed content, not the same operation as opening the PDF to work on its individual objects. Placing content

Affinity also documents a conversion boundary: editing an embedded PDF converts it into an Affinity document, discards the original embedded file data, and loses PDF Passthrough. Linked documents cannot be edited directly within the parent Affinity document. For the object-editing task covered here, opening the PDF through File > Open provides the documented import-options workflow. Placing content

Preserve the native master, export named layers with deliberate rasterization and text settings, and test the edits you actually need in the destination app. When PDF conversion cannot retain an essential editing feature, return to the native Affinity document for that work and generate a fresh PDF afterward.

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