9 Export

The export pipeline operates on the generated SVG output, not on the original template. The usual workflow is:

1. Generate the deck SVG.
2. Optionally split the generated SVG into smaller parts.
3. Export PDF, PDF/X, or another format from the generated SVG or its parts.

9.1 Standard PDF export

Enable PDF export in the Export tab to create standard PDF output.

You can select one or more profiles:

Profile	Typical use
default	General-purpose PDF output.
screen	Lower weight output for screen review.
ebook	Compact output for digital distribution.
printer	Print-oriented PDF.
prepress	Higher quality print/prepress-oriented PDF.

The selected profiles are merged and normalized through Ghostscript after Inkscape has produced temporary page or chunk PDFs.

9.2 PDF/X CMYK export

Enable PDF/X export (CMYK) when the print provider requires a PDF/X file and CMYK conversion.

Controls:

Control	Purpose
ICC	Output CMYK ICC profile. Built-in profile names and absolute .icc or .icm paths are supported.
PDF/X	Selects PDF/X-1a, PDF/X-3, or PDF/X-4.
Text in pure black	Preserves text as pure black when supported by the Ghostscript conversion path.

PDF/X export requires Ghostscript. If the selected ICC profile cannot be resolved, the exporter falls back to the Ghostscript default CMYK profile and writes a warning to the log.

9.3 Raster filters

Filtered SVG content can be expensive or unreliable when exported directly. Raster filters controls how PnPInk handles this before PDF creation.

Mode	Behavior
png	Rasterizes filtered nodes to PNG before PDF export. This is the normal safe mode.
jpeg	Rasterizes filtered nodes to JPEG. This can reduce file size for photographic content.
png_alfa	Rasterizes filtered nodes to PNG with alpha support.
inkscape	Leaves filter handling to Inkscape's PDF exporter.
none	Does not pre-rasterize filters. Fastest, but filtered output can be wrong or missing.

The rasterization DPI is derived from the export DPI.

9.4 Other formats

Enable Other formats to export pages, generated items, or individual SVG IDs in a non-PDF format.

Supported formats:

png, jpeg, jpeg2000, pdf, svg, tiff, webp, avif, ps, eps, emf, wmf

avif is shown only when the installed Pillow runtime can write AVIF files.

Choose the export unit beside the format:

Unit	Selection (#)	Result
Pages	1,3-5	Exports complete output pages. Empty means every page.
Items	card_[1-3]	Exports generated items 1-3 as card_1, card_2, and card_3.
IDs	group2,card6	Exports the listed SVG object IDs.

In Items mode, use mydeck* or simply mydeck for every generated item. A selector such as mydeck[23-12,2,6,43] preserves that order and names the first exported graphic mydeck1. Items use their final card bbox, without page marks or neighboring cards.

Physical copies generated from the same dataset row and iterator variant share one graphic. Their quantity is written as copies in the generated items.json. When all selected cards share a back, it is exported once as mydeck_back; varying backs use names such as mydeck1_back and are referenced from the manifest.

For PnPPlay metadata, $id is the component's primary key. Without a $id column PnPInk generates IDs automatically. When the column exists, blank $id rows are omitted. A separately rendered back can be identified as component-id@back, or as common-prefix@back to share it among every component whose ID starts with that prefix. See PnPPlay component metadata.

Page syntax examples:

Pages value	Meaning
empty	Export all pages.
1	Export page 1.
1,3-5,8	Export pages 1, 3, 4, 5, and 8.

JPEG, TIFF, JPEG2000, and WebP can use a PNG intermediate plus Pillow conversion when that is the most reliable path for the current system.

9.5 Cutting-plotter templates

Enable Cutting-plotter template to export cut-only files from the final instance bbox shapes.

Formats:

Format	Notes
svg (vector, cricut)	Preferred vector output when supported.
dxf (vector, cameo)	Vector output for Silhouette/Cameo.
png (raster, all)	Raster preview/fallback for tools that do not import vectors well.

The page border is exported in gray for positioning. Cut bbox shapes are exported in red.

For DXF/Cameo, in Silhouette Studio:

• First time: Edit > Preferences > Export > DXF > Open > "Center".
• Every template: select all and apply "Simplify", and group all.
• Red lines are for cutting; gray lines are for page-border alignment.

9.6 SVG parts

Large generated SVG files can be split into smaller SVG parts. This is configured in the Preferences tab:

Control	Purpose
Split SVG	Enables chunked SVG output.
Part target MB	Target size for each SVG part.

Export detects existing chunked output and reuses it. This avoids rebuilding parts unnecessarily.

Smaller chunks can make Inkscape exports more stable and can increase parallelism, but very small chunks add overhead. For large decks, tune Part target MB by measuring the log instead of assuming that the smallest value is fastest.

9.7 Parallelism

The exporter can run multiple Inkscape shell workers in parallel. The preference is:

Key	Purpose
inkscape_shell_workers	Maximum number of parallel Inkscape shell workers used during export.

More workers can improve throughput on multi-core machines, but the best value depends on SVG complexity, disk speed, and available memory.

9.8 Automation profile

PnPInk launches Inkscape command-line export processes with an isolated automation environment. This keeps command-line exports from polluting the normal Inkscape recently-used data as much as possible.

The Open SVG GUI button is different from export: it opens the generated SVG for the user through the configured Inkscape launch path.

9.9 Preferences reference

The main export preferences are stored in src/preferences.ini.

Key	Values	Purpose
export_pdf	0, 1	Enables standard PDF export.
pdf_profiles	comma-separated default, screen, ebook, printer, prepress	Standard PDF output profiles.
export_pdfx	0, 1	Enables PDF/X CMYK export.
pdfx_version	1a, 3, 4	PDF/X standard used for CMYK export.
pdf_cmyk_icc	profile name or path	CMYK ICC profile.
pdf_cmyk_pure_black_text	0, 1	Preserve text as pure black when supported.
pdf_raster_mode	png, jpeg, png_alpha, inkscape, none	Filter rasterization strategy.
export_png	0, 1	Enables additional non-PDF export.
export_other_format	supported format name	Format used by Other formats.
export_other_unit	pages, items, ids	Selects what the additional exporter treats as one output.
export_other_pages	selector	Page range, item selector, or ID list according to export_other_unit.
export_dpi	integer >= 1	Inkscape export DPI.
export_jpeg_quality	70-95	JPEG quality.
split_svg_output	0, 1	Enables generated SVG parts.
split_svg_chunk_mb	integer >= 1	Target SVG part size in MB.
inkscape_shell_workers	integer >= 1	Parallel export workers.

9.10 Troubleshooting

If export cannot find the generated SVG, run Generate first and check that the output file exists.

If PDF/X export fails, verify that Ghostscript is installed and that the selected ICC profile exists.

If filtered images disappear or look wrong, use raster mode png or png_alfa before trying faster modes.

If export is slower after enabling SVG parts, increase Part target MB. Too many small chunks can cost more time than they save.