Export

The Export extension turns the customer's design in the live preview into a print-ready file. When an order comes in, your production team no longer has to rebuild the design, scale it to the print size, add a margin, draw a cut line and convert it to CMYK by hand: the app renders the file on the server and stores a download link to it on the order.

Enable extension

To enable the Export extension please visit: How can I add an Extension?

After the extension is enabled on your subscription, each view of the Live preview gets a new section Exports (Extension).

How it works

• Built from the design. When the customer adds the product to the cart, the app saves a small text-based copy of the live preview, with every option the customer picked. It is fast to upload and does not slow down the add to cart.
• Rendered on the server. The print file is rendered from that copy at the size and resolution you set, not taken from the small preview image in the browser.
• A link on the order. Each export is saved as a line item property on the order (for example _export     ). Properties that start with _      are hidden from the customer in cart and checkout.
• Several files per view. One view can have several exports, for example a PNG proof for you and a CMYK TIFF for the print shop.
• Safe to change. Changing an export later does not change the files of orders that already exist.

Standard and transformed exports

An export is either standard or transformed.

• Standard is the export as it has always worked: a format (PDF, PNG, JPEG, SVG or png.pdf), a size and an optional crop. PNG and JPEG are limited to 6,000 px per side.
• Transformed adds a Transform to the export: print steps such as a margin, cut lines or a print profile, and files up to 30,000 px per side, including TIFF and print-ready PDF.

What a transformed export can include

A PDF takes cut lines and the print profile; the other steps need a JPEG, PNG or TIFF. PNG cannot be converted to CMYK, use TIFF or JPEG for that. If you need a file larger than 30,000 px, please contact us.

Set up with the AI assistant

You do not need to build an export step by step. Open the product options with the live preview, select the view and ask the AI assistant in the app to set it up for you. Describe what the print shop needs, for example:

The assistant adds the exports to the view, explains the resulting file size in pixels, creates a test link you can open to check the file, and you review and save it. Ask it any time to change an export, to turn an existing export into a transformed one, or to explain one.

What to ask the print provider

The answers to these questions are all the assistant needs:

• Which file format and color space (RGB, CMYK, their own ICC profile)?
• Which print size and resolution (DPI)? Is the product sold in several sizes or materials, does each size print a different part of the design, or does the customer enter the size?
• Do they need a border, hem, bleed or extra size for shrinkage?
• Do they need a cut line, along the edge or along a shape, and in which color or spot color name?
• Must the file be turned or mirrored for the machine?

Set up manually

You can also build an export yourself. Open the Live preview config in the product options and scroll to Exports (Extension):

You can add a new export via the button:

The field name controls where the export link is stored on the order item:

Start the field name with _      so the customer does not see the link. Use a different name for each export, also across views.

Export format

The export format can be configured using the dropdown. You can also create multiple exports in different formats:

• pdf: a vector PDF, sharp at any size.
• png / jpeg: an image; PNG keeps transparency.
• tiff: an image for print shops; always a transformed export.
• svg: the design file itself (standard only).
• png.pdf: first creates a PNG image and then puts it inside a PDF. Only needed for special cases where the vector PDF is not suitable (standard only).

Export size

The width/height settings set the size the design is rendered at. If the dimensions are empty, the app takes them from the live preview config:

In most cases the export should be larger than the live preview. If only one dimension is provided, the app calculates the other side in the ratio of the live preview. Keep the width and height in the ratio of the view (or of the crop) so the design fills the file:

Note: a standard PNG or JPEG export is at most 6,000 px per side. A larger size turns on the transform by itself, which renders up to 30,000 px per side.

Export size unit

The app supports setting the export size in cm, mm or inches instead of pixels:

The app uses the DPI to calculate the pixel size of the file, and writes the DPI into the file. For example 30 × 20 cm at 300 DPI is 3543 × 2362 px. As a guide: 300 DPI for prints seen up close, 150 DPI for posters and canvas prints, 100 DPI or less for banners seen from a distance.

Crop export

You can optionally define a crop area on the live preview for the export to only include this specific area. Click the crop button on the export and leave Print area empty (Fixed crop box):

The live preview will show a box that can be visually adjusted to the desired area.

To take the size and crop from a design area instead, pick an area under Print area, see Print area below.

Add a transform

1. Add the transform. Click + Transform under the format. The export now shows a Transform section for its steps. TIFF, and PNG or JPEG larger than 6,000 px, get the transform automatically.
2. Add steps. Pick a step from Add step: Flip, Rotate, Crop, Adjust colors, Stretch, Margin, Orientation, Cut line, Replace colors, Recolor or Print profile. The steps run from top to bottom; drag a step by its handle to move it, or remove it with the red ×. Click a step to show or hide its settings.
3. Save the product options.

Margin and Stretch use the unit and DPI of the export, so a 1 cm margin is exactly 1 cm in the file. The Print profile step converts to CMYK or to an ICC profile you upload there; place it near the end, only a cut line or color replacement may follow it.

Remove transform turns the export back into a standard export: the steps are removed.

Print area: size and crop from a design area

Some products are sold in sizes where each size prints a different part or shape of the design, for example a custom print in 110 × 67 cm and 75 × 50 cm. Instead of one export per size, one export can take its size and crop from a design area. Each order then gets a file at the print size of the area that is visible for it, cropped to that area.

1. Add one area layer per size. Give all of them the same Area key (for example print_area ) and a condition on the size option, so that exactly one area is visible for each order. Place each box over the part of the design that size prints.

2. Set the print size on each area. In the area layer, fill in Print width, Print height and Print unit (cm, mm or in). This is the size the area is printed at.

Keep the area box in the same ratio as its print size. When the ratios differ, the area layer shows a warning, and Match the area to the print size adjusts the height of the box. The area is never stretched: a mismatch prints it centred in the print size with a blank margin.

3. Pick the print area on the export. Click the crop button on the export and select the area key under Print area. Width, height and the fixed crop box are greyed out while a print area is selected, and the export lists the size each area prints at.

4. Set the DPI, the format and the transform as usual, then save and test the export with each size selected in the preview.

• The print size is in the unit of the area. The unit of the export only sets the unit of the margin and stretch steps, so a 1 cm margin works on an area in inches too.
• An order without a visible area of that key, or whose area has no print size, gets no file for this export.
• A print area cannot be rotated: keep its angle at 0.
• The usual size limits apply to every area: 30,000 px per side for a transformed export; a standard PNG or JPEG is scaled down to 6,000 px.
• When the sizes print the same part of the design, only scaled, use one export per size instead, see Several sizes and materials.

Print size entered by the customer

For a product the customer sizes, such as a rug or a banner, link the area to a dimension option. Select the option under Print size from dimension option on the area layer: the width × height the customer enters becomes the print size, and the area box takes that ratio, as large as fits inside the box you configured, centred. One area and one export serve every size.

• Set the Print unit of the area to the unit the customer enters the size in.
• Configure the area box as the largest shape the design may take; the entered size only shrinks one side of it.
• Keep the maximum of the dimension option within the size limit at the export's DPI.
• Also fill in the area's own Print width and Print height. They are used while the option has no value (for example when it is hidden); without them such an order gets no file.

Shaped products and cut lines

For a shaped product such as a shaped sign, an acrylic cut-out or a die-cut sticker, add a mask layer with the shape to the live preview. The customer sees the shape in the preview, and a cut line set to follow that layer follows exactly the same shape in the print file. An offset on the cut line adds a border around the shape (positive) or bleed (negative); give a border room with a transparent margin before the cut line.

A cut line can also follow the outline of the motif itself, for stickers without a fixed shape. Renaming or deleting the layer a cut line follows breaks the cut line, so update the export when you change the layer.

Several sizes and materials

Each export is one file at one size. For a product sold in sizes (for example A3, A2 and A1 variants), add one export per size, each with its own field name (_print_a3 , _print_a2  , _print_a1 ). Every order carries all links; production opens the one of the ordered size. A material that shrinks differently gets its own export with its own stretch.

When each size prints a different part or shape of the design, or the customer enters the size, one export with a print area covers all sizes.

Hide layer on export

If you want to exclude a layer from the exported file, you can mark the layer as "hidden" on the original file:

Testing exports

You can test an export inside the app.

1. Save the export and set the options in the preview to a typical order.
2. On your export, click the Test button; the app creates the link the way an order would. Open it to download the file.

The first open renders the file, which can take a minute or two for a large TIFF. If something is wrong, the page names the reason.

Limitations

• Text shadows and font stroke are rendered correctly by transformed exports. In a standard export, a PDF drops text shadows and the stroke may look different; always add a transform when your design uses them.
• Emojis are drawn in the text color in transformed exports, not in their device colors.
• Text shadows on very large files make the render slow. Remove the shadow or lower the DPI.

Our team is constantly working on improving the app, we plan to investigate these limitations and address them in the future.