: How can you export an Inkscape SVG file to a PDF and maintain the integrity of the image? I've been having a devil of a time getting Inkscape to export PDFs cleanly and there don't seem

@Becky351

I saved my document (including gradient layer over image and image with transparency) as JessyInk zipped PDF. Set the DPI and Save. In the Zip file you will find the PDF file as supposed to.

Vote Up Vote Down

@Welton168

If you have FoxIt Reader installed, then you can just


FIle -> Print (Ctrl+P)
Choose "FoxIt reader PDF printer" to export file as a pdf.

Vote Up Vote Down

@Pope1402555

I am using Inkscape and routinely store SVGs into PDF. Stay away from filters, and opaque settings as PDFs (or should I say InkScapes export to PDF) does not handle this feature very well.

I instead use color scales instead of opaque levels to soften colors directly on the palette and avoid the filters altogether. I know this is cumbersome and limits your abilities of what you can do. But exports looks fine if I follow these rules.

Vote Up Vote Down

@Dunderdale640

It is very simple. Save your file/selection as pdf.

Vote Up Vote Down

@Kristi927

Actually this has been asked and answered here for linux users.

You need to install librsvg2-bin. I'll just add that you will need to fit page to your svg otherwise it will be truncated. Within Inkscape: File -> Document properties -> Select your svg objects -> fit page to selection.

Then just run:

rsvg-convert -f pdf in.svg > out.pdf

Vote Up Vote Down

@Murphy569

Inkscape (v.0.91) supports command-line options, and that is how I prefer to do it:

inkscape --file=mySVGinputFile.svg --export-area-drawing --without-gui --export-pdf=output.pdf


This is actually the command that LyX uses to prepare SVG images for use in LaTeX. I have used PlantUML to generate SVG, which then goes into PDF.

Here's a screenshot of the SVG in inkscape, which has pure vectorial representation (including fonts).



Here's a screenshot of the PDF zoomed in, with a selection of the text "oo" from the word loop, showing that it's still text in the PDF:

Vote Up Vote Down

@Berryessa866

It’s been years since I had any problems with transparency of Inkscape-generated PDFs and if I had, those turned out to be a problem of the PDF viewer (or in one case: of an esoteric printer), not of Inkscape. Thus I would say that using a new version of Inkscape should fix such issues.

That being said, since Inkscape 0.47 (from 2009), there is the option Rasterise Filter Effects for PDF export, which should rasterise all those filters (for example blur) that are not supported by the PDF format and keep everything else vectorised.

Vote Up Vote Down

@Cooney243

Print
Select Bitmap in the Rendering tab and choose the desired resolution.
Select your PDF printer in the General tab.
Print.

Vote Up Vote Down

@Odierno310

From the main menu, choose:

File → Print... → Print to File

From here you can choose to save the file as PDF, PostScript or SVG.

Vote Up Vote Down

@Eichhorn212

I love using Inkscape to draw - it is much more intuitive than Illustrator and produces very professional results.

I used Inkscape to prepare figures for publication, however, and had significant difficulty exporting the figures with publication quality settings. Saving files as .eps did not properly embed my fonts and .pdf did not allow me to save with press quality. (I am using Windows XP and Inkscape Version 0.48.4.)

To get around this, I followed the directions for producing press quality figures found at
www.sheridan.com/journals/resources/guidelines
Click on "PC Applications PDF Creation Guide".

These step by step instructions show you how to print to a pdf with embedded text and press quality settings.

I did have difficulty printing to pdf for some of my larger figures (only random portions of my figure would end up in the pdf, which was very frustrating!). To circumvent this problem I grouped all aspects of my Inkscape figure and shrank down the overall size. For some reason this worked really well and I obtained nice looking pdfs for these figures.

Another option is to cut the figure in half (if possible) and print two pdfs. These can be combined in Adobe Acrobat Professional (older versions are available for download at www.adobe.com/downloads/cs2_downloads/index.html#).
Click on "Create PDF"
Choose "From Multiple Files" and select the pdfs you want to combine.
These will show up as individual pages in the pdf document.
To combine them to a single page go to "File - Print"
Under "Page Handling" change "Page Scaling" to "Multiple pages per sheet"
Then you can customize how many pages you want per sheet. Click OK and your two pdfs will now be combined into a single page.

I hope this information is of help to those of you with strict requirements for publication quality figures.

Vote Up Vote Down

@Sent7350415

On a Linux operating system, I export to PNG then use the convert tool to convert it to PDF.

Vote Up Vote Down

@Jennifer810

Try using the Snipping tool that comes with Windows 7. If it's not already pinned to your task bar you will find it under,All Programs,Accessories. Looks like a pair of scissors. That will save it as a jpeg, then open the jpeg and print with the cute PDF.

Vote Up Vote Down

@Mendez620

Are you trying to export to .PDF to keep the editing capabilities? Otherwise, if you're trying to share an image with someone from Inkscape, save it as a .JPG or .PNG (if a translucent background is needed).

Vote Up Vote Down