Export Formats: PDF, Vector PDF and Images

When the layout is done, the export step turns your poster into files you can print. There are three options.

OptionOutputPlan
Export as PDF (Standard)One PDF, one page per tile, rendered as imagesAll plans
Export as PDF (Vector)One PDF, one page per tile, with real vector contentPro, Pro+
Export as ImagesOne image file per tileAll plans

Export as PDF (Standard)

The default and the right answer most of the time. One file, one page per sheet, in the correct order. Open it, print all pages at 100%, and you are done.

Every tile is rendered as a picture at your chosen export resolution. That is fine for photographic posters, where the content is pixels anyway.

Export as PDF (Vector)

Same structure — one page per tile — but the content is emitted as resolution-independent vector instructions wherever it can be:

Your contentIn a vector export
TextReal PDF text with the font embedded. Selectable, and sharp at any size.
SVG artReal vector paths.
An imported PDF pageThe original page itself, embedded — not a picture of it.
PhotographsEmbedded once as an image rather than sliced into per-tile bitmaps, and downsampled only if they exceed your export resolution.

Three consequences worth knowing:

  • Crisper printing, because the printer rasterizes at its own resolution rather than reproducing your export's dots.
  • Smaller files for vector-heavy designs. A 6 x 6 poster does not duplicate the artwork 36 times; each tile references the same embedded content.
  • Selectable text in the resulting PDF.

Use it for patterns, blueprints, diagrams, signage and anything type-heavy. It is a Pro feature.

The raster warning

If your poster contains any photograph, the app warns you before a vector export:

Some images may not stay sharp — Vector export keeps PDF, SVG, and text sharp at any size. Photos, however, stay as pixels and may look soft when enlarged.

One photo on an otherwise vector poster is enough to trigger it. It is a warning, not a block — Export Anyway continues. If the poster is mostly photographic, a standard PDF is usually the better choice; if it is one photo on a page of type, carry on.

What vector cannot express

A few things are embedded as pictures inside the same PDF rather than failing the export: SVGs using gradients, masks, clipping or filters, and text containing emoji, because the embedded font has no emoji glyphs. Everything else on the page is still vector.

Export as Images

One image file per tile.

Use it when you want to handle sheets individually — reprinting only sheet 7 after a paper jam, sending three tiles to a print shop, or dropping a tile into another document. It is also the fallback when a device or print workflow will not take a large PDF.

On the browser and desktop apps the tiles arrive as a single ZIP file; on Android and iOS they are saved straight to your photos. See where your export goes.

The trade-off is that you have to print files one at a time and keep them in order — turn on page numbers if you go this route.

Multi-page projects

If your project has more than one page, the export dialog lists them as toggles. Every page is selected by default; deselect any you do not want, and only the selected pages are tiled and exported.

What happens next