Exporting Affinity Publisher to InDesign: Performance Issues and Solutions

When working with large files in Affinity Publisher, performance issues can arise, especially when exporting documents to other formats like InDesign. Recently, I encountered such an issue while trying to export a book from Affinity Publisher to InDesign.

The problem started when I monitored the performance of my Windows 11 PC, which showed that the program was using almost 100% of the available RAM (32 GB) and leaving my GPU and processor idle. This raised many questions about the program's performance, especially since I had not used any transparency or gradient colors in the document.

After some experimentation, I discovered that the export process took more than 30 minutes to complete, resulting in a file size of almost 7 GB (compared to 1.7 GB and a 10-minute processing time for the same book using version 1). The exported PDF file opened correctly in Acrobat Pro with no loss of quality or colors.

To troubleshoot the issue, I tried exporting the file to a low-resolution digital PDF at 72 dpi for monitor view. This revealed that the problem was not specific to high-resolution images or complex layouts. Instead, it seemed related to the export process itself.

Further investigation showed that the issue might be linked to large hi-res files, including one PSD from Photoshop CS6 (an old version of PS). I also found that replacing these files with smaller, reconstructed versions created in Acrobat 9 resolved the problem.

In another instance, I encountered a similar issue while trying to export a 20-page A5 booklet using Windows 11. The export process took an excessively long time, and after 10 minutes, I gave up.

To resolve this issue, I abandoned Affinity Publisher version 2 (V2) and reconstructed the document in version 1 (V1) from scratch. Exporting PDFs from V1 resulted in no problems.

In conclusion, while exporting files from Affinity Publisher to InDesign can be a straightforward process, performance issues may arise, especially when working with large files or complex layouts. By troubleshooting the issue and identifying potential causes, such as large hi-res files or outdated versions of software, it is possible to resolve these problems and ensure successful exports.

Export affinity publisher to indesign