Gary
Thank you for the swift reply. When I posted the question I was at work using XARA Desinger Pro X8 but at home I have version 9. I tried to export at home tonight and get the same behaviour. i.e When using the Export option with the object to be saved as an SVG selected the outcome file contains the whole page (and any other graphics that are on the page). One clue which might help is that the saved file appears with the correct name but the icon representing the file is an Internet Explorer icon. So it looks as if somehow it thinks the SVG file is a web page. Not sure if this does help but it occurred at work and at home. I maybe doing some thing very basically wrong but any further advice would be very welcome.
Thanks
PWalder