How To Import and Edit SVG Files with Affinity Designer
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.พ. 2025
- In this tutorial I'll be demonstrating how you can import and edit SVG files (and other vector formats) with Affinity Designer. This works differently in Affinity than it does in Inkscape and Illustrator because Affinity imports files as embedded documents. Because of this, you won't be able to edit the vector properties of the file without releasing them to individual layers first, which can be frustrating.
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Intro song: "In Da Mood" by Combustibles, used with written permission
If you don't have an "Edit Document" button you can also double-click the layer
thanks but double clicking doesn't work either... my svg has only one layer, maybe that's why it doesn't open it up to edit...?
nope, even a multi layer SVG does not seem to be editable
Simply select the move tool and double tap on the image, that will open the document for those using affinity designer for iPad.
I wish there were more tutorials for Affinity Designer on iPad. Cheers
Bless you, thank you.
I'm on a laptop though, and that doesn't work. I still can't get the 'edit document' option at the top of the screen :-(
Yessss! Finally, I found the solution. You just earned my subscription and I just ordered you AD Master Class. I did an Affinity Designer course on Udemy, but I missed all about importing and handling vectorized files. THANKS!
Also, you can try this: place the vector file, cut it, go to the Edit menu -> Paste Special -> select Paste as-> image / x-inkscape-svg or scalable vector graphic -> Go to the Layers menu -> ungroup all. And, I think that is all
For me, on windows in 2022, it was PDF format (which works the same).
Thank You! releasing the embedded layer wasn't working for me. I was able to do all but the last step "release". Your method worked! super simple and I was able to choose pdf which was editable.
Using iPad pro I "cut" the SVG layer, then "paste" it back, and it appeared with nodes to play with💚 Thank you all!💋
This worked for me, thanks
Check out my master class where I explain how every tool and feature works in Affinity Designer: logosbynick.com/affinity-designer/
Do you have updates on Affinity Designer 2 in your class? Because I am brand new at this and what you are doing here I cannot find on Affinity Designer 2. Not many tutorials on this updated version for someone who knows nothing about it. So frustrating to learn.
Hi Nick, thanks for this video. Just took Affinity Designer for a 7-day spin and realised that I can't open/import SVG. After watching your video I think I will keep AD. Keep posting good videos!!
Fabulous!- you just made a frustrated beginner very happy. Thank you for posting.
THANK YOU!! This was exactly what I needed in a easy and well explained video.
Wow thank you !! I only spent 5 hours trying to work this out last night .....Thanks Nick x
Thank you so much for this video! I was going crazy! I think I need to take your master class!
Thanks, Nick! You did say you were going to start doing Affinity tutes. I ran across this one accidentally. Going to sign up for your Designer Master Class when I finish Affinity Revolution's. Your style of teaching is simple, succinct and easy to follow.
I'm using Affinity 2, and having this issue. but there's no "edit document" selection up the top like you have. It's really irritating me because it's holding up my work. I make SVG files in the old affinity (when it was still DrawPlus) and have no issues opening and exporting. Then in Affinity 2 it's not allowing me to actually work with the SVG and i can't figure out what to do. I've tried ungrouping and all sorts of other things, it's still not working.
Try double-clicking the layer icon of the SVG. That should do the same thing as "Edit Document".
Same here ...not getting the edit document. Doubled clicked the layer icon too. Any luck on this?
@@gocatapultar hey, nope no luck still. I even went to the affinity thread on Reddit and no one there is understanding me either. Double click DOES NOT work for me, no matter what I do. I double click the SVG, nothing. Double click it in the layers panel, nothing. I don’t have any options to edit or release it. I am at a total loss. I spent 2 hours going through every single freaking option in the program and reading the user guide, can’t figure out what the issue is.
@@mizzysparrots4874 Ok...very frustrating. I will try to message them on FB. If I get an answer, ill pass it along.
@@gocatapultar please do, I’m glad I’m not the only one with this issue. I have thousands of SVGs that I’ve made and I’m trying to port them into my asset library on affinity 2 and I can’t! I’m pulling my hair out over it. I hope they didn’t somehow forget to add the SVG edit options in this new version 🥹
Omg I LOVE YOU!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS VIDEO! I FELT LIKE I WAS LOSING MY MIND!
Great video, amazing help, I was scatching my head for ages, then I found you video and it worked - YEAH!!! thanks for a great video
Thnx Allot Sir!👊
I didn't even know this was a thing...till it was🫣
Thanks. I needed this tutorial.
I like your video it's exactly what I need, but I can't see how to do this on the iPad. Is there a way to do it on the ipad?
Argh… I cant seem to find Edit Doc & Release on the ipad version. Thats the reason I hesitate to take the course as it is fully taught only on the desktop, with no cross reference for ipad users. So it is hard for me to tell which exercises I can follow completely.
You are a great teacher. Am just disappointed when I cant take on the task, after getting excited that there is a tutorial on it!
Thank you Nick, always good info, hey I'm in your Masters Class and was wondering if there is a way to use the search feature, say I'm trying to get tutorials on Shadowing... I'd like to just get a quick list of all the tuts demonstrating shadowing techniques. I can't find a search button on the interface.
this video s great buti makes me wonder if i'll ever learn it all. i really like Affinity.
I have now been helped to shore. cheers
That is brilliant! I use Concepts for drawing (Ipad and Android Tablet), and Concepts is fantastic, since it automaticaly and real-time converts all the strokes as vectors, no need to vectorize as separate step, and immediately within Concepts you can finetune your vectors. Unlike with Procreate which is just a simple (raster) bitmap/pixel drawing app. So, now I can easily import my Comcepts vector hand-drawn graphics SVGs into AD and complete the project there. Thank You again.
I've just given it a try, and I had a quite complex Concepts drawing, I exported into SVG and imported into AD (Windows), and it worked excellently. I have Ryzen 4600H/GTX1660Ti/32G laptop, and AD works flawlessly with these huge SVG imports. I can zoom in-out modify like a charm. On the other hand, Inkcscape is brutally slow. I opened the same SVG, and Inkscape is totally unusable. So, for vector graphics Concepts + Affinity are excellent combo. Affinity is not available on Android, so Concepts is the tool for drawing vector art on Android.
Firstly, thank you for the video. It was quick, clear and concise.
I have version 1.9.3 and neither this version works, nor double clicking, nor cutting and pasting special. Is there a recent fix for this issue?
YOUR OTHER CHANNEL IS SO HELPFUL SINCE I CAN'T AFFORD THE ADOBE PRODUCTS HOPE YOU MAKE MORE GIMP VIDEOS
Thank you for solving this problem for me. Greatly appreciated!
Can you edit PNG files too
Is there a video on how to remove the color but not the lines of a vector image? I want to create a coloring book page so I need the lines but not the colors. I just purchased affinity designer 2 so it is all new to me at this point. I bought it for this one thing but can't seem to figure it out.
Exactly what I needed. You're the best!
great video - just what I needed - thank you
OMG, thank you!
Thank you for your tutorials
Is it possible to do that with the app? I’m not able to find an “edit document” button in the iPad app.
GENIUS! THANKS!! 😄
Thank you for sharing your solution.
Thank you!!! This was driving me mad 😂
so helpful !thank you !
Thank you very much, I was going crazy with this problem
New to Affinity and your channel... I will look for more affinity videos... if this helped me, it can help anyone! Lol thanks for the video! 😁😁
So useful ! Thanks a lot ! 😍
thank youu you saved my life...!
Nick I thought this was an interesting video since I just ran into this exact thing this past week but in V2 of Designer. In V2 it doesn't seem to work as you describe it. Was wondering if you could put out a video addressing this same thing in V2. Thanks!!
Nick & Phil, I have the Same Issues, also using V2.3.1, I go through all the steps >, File Place, Edit Doc, opened in other file, select Release but all items are still as ONE embedded item? I will say that at least for me, once I place the image, I CAN alter the Nodes, before Edit Doc. FYI my file, was bit-map traced in Inkscape (not being able to do so in AD), saved as SVG & brought into AD, but can not release it?? Hope there's an update for V2 or an explanation of WHAT I'm doing incorrectly. TY
When I do this the edit document window does not show up. I can't find that anywhere.
Really helpful man!!!
Can you tell me how to get the edit document button on my affinity designer, I do not have that button. Thank You
Thank you so much man I was so frustrated
short and helpful. Thanks
Thank you so much for this video. You solve my problem at 1:47. Thanks again.
Woah...this was suuuuuuuper useful! Thank you so much!!!
So very helpful.Thank you.
Doesn't help me. I can see each of the vectors on the list on the right but not on the screen. They are not on my canvas. Can't work with them they are invisible - any ideas.
quick and clear! thank you so much for sharing!
which version of Designer are you using ?? /i'm using 2.0.3 and it does not show the "edit document" in the context toolbar!!!
Hello,
My affinity is not giving me the option to use the release. Do you know why?
Hi, I am trying to open an SVG from Kittl. I have an older version of affinity design as I haven't upgraded. this method is unfortunately not working.
Nick how can I save svg elements I’ve bought off Creative Fabrica into my assets studio in AD?
Great video ...how can you edit fonts that come on eps version...thank you
just double click the picture layer and click on the object, you should be about to edit
I need svg’s for fusion 360. How do I do that ? All the ones I’ve seen are black and white.
what if a png file I want to edit? the svg file changed after import and don't get it why! there is a word in it with a unique font and that completely changed :(
BIG THANK YOU!!! ❤❤❤❤
How do I turn that into a svg for fusion 360. No colors. Just outlines?
You can also cut the vector from Inkscape and paste it into Affinity Designer. It has not given me problems
Thank you a lot! :)
This didn't solve my issue. I bought several SVGs from Etsy thinking I could use them in Affinity Designer in other designs. But when I follow the directions in this video and click on edit document the edited document is still one layer with no individual sublayers. This is true with every SVG from Etsy that I have imported. Very frustrating. Trying to follow your directions, but its like they aren't divided into layers. Any ideas how to break them into layers in affinity designer.
Is there a way to do this in Affinity Publisher? I didn't buy Designer, and for me there is no Edit Document button, just a Replace Document button
Hi, Not working. I have a SVG with different colours. Tried to do this way but no changes. No Nodes, cant change
Sometimes mine are completely blank. I can see the files in the layers section but nothing is on the screen.
how do i make this to take a logo into fusion 360?
Pretty neat. Thank you.
I am having trouble with the instructions to do this on my iPad. Please help
Thank you. Can you please share how to do this on iPad. I can’t find ‘expand’ 😞😢😞
Damn, life saver!!!
I was able to just edit document, then copy the parts. No release needed (it was greyed out anyway) AD 2.3.1
thanks for the video. Sadly it didn´t work for me neither, all the layers are still black. Can´t see anaything. :(
You are a lifesaver!
This was very helpful, but I have one problem. The vector file has color, as your does, but when I paste into the document, it pastes as grayscale--the color is completely gone. What am I doing wrong?
Would this work on imported third party software designs like say from Storyblocks?
When I choose File...Place my only option is .txt file
hi! very grate job. please help how to open/edit cdr coralDraw files in affinity designer.
thank you!
I have Affinity Designer on iPad, so I can’t right click how do I do that part on iPad?
This did not work for me, I am trying to edit PNG and tried this technique and did not work.
Thanks you bro...want to ask save EPS Affinity, can you sell it on Freepik or Shutterstok.?
I don't see why not. You'll have to check with the specs of the site. You can certainly export as EPS with Affinity though.
@@DesignMadeSimple Yes, you can, but are the projects made safe and can be edited again by the buyer, and how is this eps in Affinity Designer?
thanks a lot
Nick..., is this your second channel..?
Sure is
Thank you......
This is not working anymore with the 1.9 update. The 'Edit document' button is not visible anymore. Does anyone have any solution?
After the update all you have to do now is double-click the object (when it's placed on your canvas) and it'll open up in the edit document dialog. Hope you don't mind me pinning this in case anyone else runs into the same problem.
@@DesignMadeSimple Not at all! Although the double-click didn't work for me. I had to cut out the svg and then under Edit - paste special, I could define it as a Scalable Vector Graphic and now everthing works fine and the file is editable! Thanks for your videos and effort! Keep it up!
Basically the way Maro Too mentioned before...I'm not taking any credits
How do you cut out the svg? I downloaded from Vexels it didnt give me a file option to download in. Its ai
@@jaytjed there's no paste special available in my version?? thoughtS?
My issue is that Affinity doesn't seem to honor Inkscape's document size.
This is probably due to the document's DPI. Inkscape's native DPI is 96, Affinity's is 72. So if you export your work from Inkscape as an SVG with a DPI of 72, it should open with the right size.
It doesn't work with the V2, double clicking doesn't work either.
this don't work for me ...I tried to download sag file and they all jpeg .plus I don't have the edit document and when I choose place it don't work ,it only works by directly dragging into affinity
It's possible that you SVG document contains raster elements.
thnks
Why do we need to import svg into Affinity designer? Why can't we just update them in inkscape which anyway free and opensource? Could affinity designer do any better with svg compared to inkscape?
For example, Inkscape does not allow us to save the file with output to Cmyk.
Sweet!!!!
funny how you have the edit doc tab but I don't
...so if editing isn't intuitive, than why such approach was choosed by developers of Affinity? - isn't be simpler by just ask the user during importing which way it should be imported (as embeded file or editable one)....just like in Illustrator ?
You saved my computer from going out the window
🤣
Send that beat over
👍🏾
This doesn't work for me anymore... I also tried basically all the other methods mentioned here in the comments. did they maybe remove this feature since v2 came out? If so, then that's a dick move.
didn't work even by double clicking
Hi John... it seems that in the newest version of Designer, rather than 'place' an SVG (vector) file onto your page, you must 'Open' the SVG first - (it should 'default on a page) - then right-click to 'Geometry - 'Divide' or Separate Curves'... it should then open all the vector layers... (A bit 'messy' and certainly not yet Adobe Illustrator... but hopefully they will 'get there'...) (You could then copy&paste it to your 'other page'...)
@@ianrossenrode ok thanks
First, I would like to say thank you to everyone for the information. Second, I'm very new to this, so I'm probably doing something wrong. I've tried all of these suggestions, but when I go to "Ungroup" the image "Ungroup" is not available to select. I even tried to Release the image, but I still can't edit the photo. Any suggestions? Thanks
same here
Thank you !