To keep supported artwork vector-based, enable Allow advanced features and check Rasterize. Choosing Nothing prevents export rasterization but omits unsupported elements. Affinity Export Settings explains this boundary.

This guide covers exporting vector artwork from the current Affinity desktop app on a Mac. The task is to retain supported shapes, curves, gradients, and text in a PDF while identifying anything that requires redesign or raster output. Menu paths below follow the current Affinity Help Center.

What does Affinity actually promise to preserve?

Affinity’s PDF export settings offer three rasterization policies. The choice determines how the exporter handles unsupported design elements; it does not make every Affinity feature representable as PDF vectors. Export Settings documents these options:

Rasterize setting Documented behavior When to use it
Nothing Prevents rasterization during export; unsupported elements are omitted. When avoiding new rasterization is essential and you can check for missing content.
Unsupported properties Rasterizes unsupported elements. When preserving appearance matters and some raster content is acceptable.
Everything Rasterizes all design elements. When a rasterized PDF is the intended output.

For a strict vector deliverable, Nothing is therefore a constraint, not an automatic repair. If an element disappears, the supported route is to remove or rebuild the incompatible construction, then export again. Keeping its exact appearance may instead require accepting raster content.

Also inspect the source artwork. Affinity documents that manually rasterizing Shape, Curve, and Text layers creates pixel layers; filters and retouch brushes in Pixel Studio can also trigger automatic rasterization. An export setting cannot restore the original vector construction from those pixels. Return to an intact vector source or rebuild the affected object. Rasterizing describes these conversions.

Which PDF export settings should you use on a Mac?

Start with a saved copy of the editable document. Choose a preset first, then adjust its settings so that you know which final configuration you are testing.

Open the full Export dialog

On the File menu, choose Export > Export. Select a PDF preset on the left. The current dialog places common options in File and additional options in Advanced on the right. Export dialog documents this desktop workflow.

Check Area before investigating missing artwork. Use Whole document for the complete single-page document or all artboards, or the appropriate page option for a page-based document. Selection Only excludes other overlapping layers, whereas Selection Area includes overlapping content. A restricted export area can explain an omission independently of rasterization. Export dialog explains these choices.

Check the preset’s rasterization policy

Avoid PDF (flatten) for this task: Affinity’s preset comparison lists its rasterization policy as Everything. The other listed PDF presets start with Unsupported properties, so selecting a preset with “high quality” or “export” in its name does not establish an entirely vector result. Compare PDF export presets lists the defaults.

Choose Rasterize: Nothing when the requirement is to prevent new rasterization, then inspect for omissions. Choose Unsupported properties when a mixed vector-and-raster PDF is acceptable and you need unsupported elements retained through rasterization.

Enable Allow advanced features

Enable Allow advanced features for PDF export. Affinity documents that this exports PDF-supported design features as vectors. Its examples include stretched artistic text, stroked text, linear and radial gradients, and non-solid transparencies. With the option disabled, affected features may be rasterized or converted to curves. Export Settings defines this behavior.

Check the option explicitly. The preset table lists it as disabled for both digital presets and PDF (for export), while PDF (for print) enables it. A preset name alone does not tell you whether the option is active. Compare PDF export presets provides the comparison.

There is a downstream limitation: Affinity warns that another application may rasterize or incorrectly render these advanced features when importing the PDF, or report an import error. If the file will be opened for editing elsewhere, include that application in your final check. Export Settings explicitly notes this limitation.

Treat fonts and PDF layers as separate choices

For text, Embed fonts: All Fonts embeds the fonts used in the document. Text as Curves converts text into curve geometry. Use the latter when outlined lettering is appropriate for the deliverable; it changes the representation of the text rather than solving unrelated rasterization problems. Export Settings documents both options.

Similarly, Include layers controls whether created layers are included as PDF layers; Affinity specifies that only named layers are exported as PDF layers. This setting has a different purpose from Rasterize. A missing PDF layer entry is not enough to conclude that the artwork became pixels. Export Settings describes the layer contract.

How can you identify what is causing rasterization?

Use a controlled comparison before changing several settings at once. The following diagnostic sequence is derived from Affinity’s documented export policies; it is a troubleshooting method, not a promise that every construction has a vector equivalent.

  1. Create a neutral control document. Add a solid rectangle, a simple curve, and a short text label such as “Sample A.” Export using your intended PDF compatibility, with Allow advanced features enabled and Rasterize: Nothing.
  2. Export the problem artwork twice. Keep the export area, compatibility, fonts, and other settings identical. Change only Rasterize, producing one file with Unsupported properties and another with Nothing.
  3. Compare the complete artwork. Look for missing fills, effects, lettering, or entire objects. An element present in the first export but absent in the second is a useful candidate for an unsupported construction.
  4. Simplify one candidate at a time. In the document copy, remove a suspected effect or adjustment, or replace a complex appearance with simpler shapes. Export again with the same settings.
  5. Check the intended destination. Compare the saved PDF in a viewer with its appearance after import into the application that will use it. Affinity’s warning about advanced-feature imports means those are separate checkpoints.

For example, suppose an illustrative badge contains a circle, a linear gradient, and an applied effect. If the effect disappears in the Nothing export, first compare exports with that effect disabled while keeping the circle and gradient unchanged. If the gradient changes instead, check Allow advanced features before rebuilding it. This example describes a test to perform, not a measured result.

Affinity marks layers with applied effects using an FX icon beside the layer name. Select the layer and open its effects through the Layers panel to inspect the construction. That gives you a concrete starting point when isolating an appearance that changes during export. Applying layer effects documents the indicator and controls.

If the required appearance still depends on an unsupported element, choose between simplifying the design for vector output and retaining that element as raster content. For example, a simple offset silhouette might be rebuilt as a separate filled shape if that appearance is acceptable. Such a redesign changes the artwork; it should not be presented as an exact conversion of an arbitrary effect.

Why do placed PDFs need a separate check?

A placed PDF has its own handling rules. Affinity displays a bitmap preview of a placed PDF while you edit the document, so a pixelated on-canvas preview does not by itself establish that the exported PDF has been rasterized. The context toolbar’s Passthrough setting defaults to passing the PDF through for exact reproduction when possible; otherwise, Affinity uses Interpret. Placing content explains this distinction.

Select the placed PDF and inspect that setting. Editing an embedded PDF converts it to an Affinity document and loses PDF Passthrough. Changing which layers of a placed PDF are visible also switches its handling to Interpret. If preservation of the original PDF is the task, account for those changes before adjusting export resolution. Placing content documents both boundaries.

Run a targeted preflight check for placed PDFs. On the Preflight panel, use Check Now; review the active profile’s PDF passthrough checks if necessary. Affinity lists rasterization warnings for placed PDFs with applied image adjustments, effects, or transparency, as well as incompatible PDF versions, incompatible object colors, and unsupported page boxes. Preflight documents these conditions.

Use the warning to choose the correction: remove an applied treatment if it is unnecessary, select a compatible export version when the destination permits it, or correct the source PDF. Do not assume that enabling Allow advanced features overrides these separately documented passthrough conditions.

Preflight also distinguishes a color difference from incompatibility: its documentation includes a message stating that a placed PDF with object colors different from the document color space can still pass through. Diagnose the specific warning rather than treating every difference as a rasterization trigger. Preflight provides that distinction.

Will higher DPI or disabling compression preserve vectors?

Raster DPI sets the resolution of effects that will be rasterized. Downsample images controls raster-image downsampling, while Allow JPEG compression controls compression of rasterized elements. These settings affect raster output; they do not expand the set of design features exported as vectors. Export Settings defines their roles.

If raster content is acceptable, adjust those settings to suit the intended output and inspect the result at its final size. If the requirement is entirely vector artwork, return to the unsupported construction. Increasing DPI cannot satisfy that requirement, and disabling JPEG compression cannot turn existing pixels into paths.

Once the PDF contains all required artwork, inspect it in its intended viewing or editing application. Check both appearance and, where necessary, object structure: a sharp-looking page alone does not establish that every element is vector geometry. Save the successful export settings as a custom preset through Preferences > Create Preset in the Export dialog, as documented in Export dialog. Keep the editable source so future changes can be checked against the same export boundary.

Sources