Exporting to SVG without exporting the page?

Hi everyone,

Is it possible to export something to SVG without exporting the page/canvas itself?
I'm used to exporting images to .png and .jpg where I select what I want to export and export it. The result is that the exported image only contains what I selected.
However, when I do this and export to SVG the result is always the entire drawing including whatever page/canvas it was on and it contains all other objects on the canvas.
I did not find any hints in the export options dialog. I could of course manually resize the page to whatever objects I want to export which is a bit tedious. My current workaround is to open the SVG in Inkscape and go to Document Properties > Page tab > Custom size > Resize page to drawing or selection. If there is no built-in option in Xara I can just continue to use that workaround instead.
I'm using XDP X9 if that matters.

SVG Object exports have only just been fixed in version 16.

Acorn

The option to just export a single object to SVG wasn't introduced until v16.1 or .2, I forget which. X9 won't do it I'm sorry to tell you.

copy paste it to a new blank xar document - export it is what I do

Thanks for the answers. I'll just continue using the workaround.

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Originally Posted by handrawn

copy paste it to a new blank xar document - export it is what I do

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Blank Photo document is what I use...for many types of exports. No page size and so it always uses objects' bounds.

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Originally Posted by mwenz

Blank Photo document is what I use...for many types of exports. No page size and so it always uses objects' bounds.

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Never thought of that.

Great idea as I now have two uses for the Blank Photo template: import of images, export of SVG.

Acorn

yes blank photo if page size is an issue ;)

Blank document doesn't work as far as I know, the page size is also included.
Mike's paste into a blank photo is a great suggestion.
However I really like the v16 Export Selected Objects Only. A big improvement. I can just select the required objects on a working document and export easy-peasy.

sorry egg but I'm not with you there - the issue as I understand it is to export a vector svg by selection without selecting everything else automatically as well
if I select the vector object[s] I wish to export, press ctrl+c, ctrl+n, ctrl+v, shift+ctrl+e, and export svg I get the selected object[s] only
I don't use blank photo because it is not my default template, and so it would slow the process down unecessarily [for me]
page size does not come into it if it is a vector, it just imports into illustrator/inkscape as object[s]

this is with designer pro 15.1 which does not have the options that are new in ver 16 that I grant would be quicker still

having checked it out I can't see that paste into blank photo document gives any advantage in this instance

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mwenz

Blank Photo document is what I use...for many types of exports. No page size and so it always uses objects' bounds.

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Nice, thank you for this solution.

it works [with ver 15.1] if you want a page size to be applied to all the vector objects - but it still exports all the vector objects and not just the selected one[s] - so I am now confused [nothing new]

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Page size does not come into it if it is a vector, it just imports into illustrator/inkscape as object[s]

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Unfortunately not so HD. It imports all the vector objects plus the page background:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by handrawn

it works [with ver 15.1] if you want a page size to be applied to all the vector objects - but it still exports all the vector objects and not just the selected one[s] - so I am now confused [nothing new]

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It requires pasting the selected objects into a new blank photo document, yes, but at least it decreases the number of steps I must take (resizing the page either manually or through Inkscape) to get the result I want.

@alien - I see that, thanks, one less point of confusion :)

@egg - I think you have taken my comment out of context up to a point - it depends what you mean by page size I suppose

what it does is bring multiple objects into inkscape/illustrator as a spread [defined a bit confusingly on the inkscape status bar as a group, it cannot be ungrouped it has to be dealt with as a spread] - this spread is defined by the extent of the objects and so is not actually related to the page size of either document in my terms

the objects can be removed from the spread in both inkscape and illustrator and so become available as seperate objects

I don't do websites - to me a page size is what you get in, say, affinity pagemaker ;)

on that basis I will admit that copy paste out to a new document in ver 15.1 may only be useful for single objects....

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I think you have taken my comment out of context up to a point - it depends what you mean by page size I suppose

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No I haven't HD. I can see that you as a non user of Xara for website creations see no issue. However for use in website creations the fact that Xara's svg export contained the page size has serious implications and great limitations of their usefulness.

If for example you use placeholder text to import an svg into a webpage thus:

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<img src="https://mysite.com/svg/hd-4.svg" width=100% height=100% scrolling=no frameborder=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0>

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If the page size is included in the svg export it is almost impossible to size the object correctly.

HERE is an example

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No I haven't HD

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yes you have

I repeat it depends what you mean by page size

My context was different to that of yours and alien's it would seem, but with respect, if people who build websites think they have a monopoly on the terminology, and that it should always be assumed the subject is web based unless stated otherwise, they are wrong

And if the subject is web based it should be in the web design forum and not in the general graphics forum and then I might have realised there was more to it... but thank you for the explanation ;)

I am well known for not building websites, but I do use svg/pdf a lot for transferring vector between programs for animation, there is no page size at all in animation that is done with camera view[s]

following on from your video

if I export the shapes, including the [purple] A4 background, from xara 15.1 as svg and import into inkscape set to A7 size, it does not reset the page/artboard size:

Attachment 125400

for all I know this is because my xara document is a print document, not a web document [which I don't, obviously, use]

what it does is export all the shapes as a spread that spans the maximum dimensions of all the included shapes

which is how I read alien's:

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when I do this and export to SVG the result is always the entire drawing including whatever page/canvas it was on and it contains all other objects on the canvas

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bearing in mind it exports everything whether on the canvas/page or not in my case

cross purposes :D

I learnt a few things [learned if you must]

All very interesting HD ;)

However if you export your A4 portrait regardless of the page size it's imported into it CAN contain a second Page background vector. Not just a website issue but one I believe could impact on print documents. Not that I'm sure how an svg is handled in a print document as it just consists of vector paths.

Here's my observations:

I see that egg, thanks

the export is taking something else into accouint re the page background - for example in my case [print document] - the export comes in correct if the page has no shadow, but wrong if it does:

Attachment 125404

Attachment 125405

so I can only surmise that something else in your [web] document settings is affecting the output...?

[I tried changing my document type but it made no difference, but it's probably more subtle than just that]

might even be affected by the version of inkscape - mine is 0.92.4 64bit

but FTR I get same in illustrator CS2

Yes HD, but fortunately this is no longer an issue with "Export selected Objects Only".

I am pleased to see it has been fixed in ver 16 - fortunately it is not an issue for me [in ver 15.1] as we have said, nor do I see it as an issue if you are only interested in the the vector rather than a notional web page