How to save Affinity files for use in Illustrator (.AI format)

In this tutorial I'll be demonstrating how to save or export an Affinity file as an Adobe Illustrator (or .ai) file.

This involves a simple workaround where we rename a PDF document with the .AI extension. However, there are certain considerations to keep in mind. Watch the video to learn more.

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[davidfrancis]

The conclusion is Affinity is for artists, print on demand designers, or any kind of art that doesn’t require any sort of collaboration. As much as I love Affinity but unfortunately it is not for everyone. Thanks Nick

[ladyreem]

"Hi, I made a design and grouped it. I opened the file in Illustrator, but unfortunately, the group wasn't there—just the design in layers. Can you help me keep the group when I create it in Affinity and open it in Adobe as a PDF file?"

[omnirhythm]

Protip for those who have both: SVG lets you carry over layer names carry over into Illustrator.

[Yipper]

I want this for substance painter but in reverse (I.E. opening substance painter files with a different FREE or *one time payment for a reasonable price* program)

[markbettels]

Perfect, very good video. Your tips are really very useful. I work with Affinity Designer a lot and I really enjoy your videos. Thank you very much and keep up the good work.

[gagehassan]

Hey can you make a tutorial on how to do the more complex wavy ribbons for banners in affinity designer? Love your videos and thank you for this.

[figgeboksjo]

Fantastic tutorial and explanation. My packaging manufacturer was struggling yesterday using my Affinity PDF exported file to load into their machine as it "only accepted .AI format". I then upload the Affinity.PDF into illustrator and saved it back to .AI and that made them happy. But what you showed here is that a simple vector file could work fine by just changing the file extension. Brilliant 👍👏

[mrjamesbrandltd]

Thanks so much, I'm going to be implementing this Strategy tonight

[jhonimax]

I don't understand the reason of Affinity Photo haves the PSD format but Affinity Designer have not the AI format.

[Mohanned_Rami]

الف مبرووووك يا سميح و ربنا يوفقك و يكرمك يا كبير❤

Really interesting.
I wonder if those issues are because of the ai import in illustrator or because of the pdf export from affinity designer.
It would be interesting to open the intermediary pdf files in Acrobat to see how it behaves.