Vector Editor

#What it is

The Vector Editor (app id vector) is Octoolo's drawing app for vector art: logos, icons, illustrations, badges and cut files for Cricut, Silhouette and laser cutters. It is made for people who would otherwise use Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape, CorelDRAW or Affinity Designer, and it uses Illustrator's tool names and keys by default (V, A, P, M, L, T, Shift+M...).

What it has: the Pen, Curvature and Pencil tools, live shapes (rectangle with a radius per corner, ellipse, polygon, star) and lines, live Pathfinder booleans and the Shape Builder, several fills and strokes per object, gradients, text (point text, text in a box, text on a path) with Create Outlines, layers, groups, clipping masks, compound paths, several artboards, rulers, guides and smart guides, and Image Trace, which turns a picture (PNG, JPG...) into editable vector shapes.

It opens SVG files, PDF files and Illustrator (.ai) files that were saved with PDF compatibility. It saves an SVG that any program can open and that carries the whole editable document inside, and it exports clean SVG in real units (px, mm, cm, in, pt), PDF with a page per artboard, and PNG, JPG or WebP pictures at an exact size.

Everything runs on the PC, with nothing uploaded and nothing to download, and it works offline.

#Opening it and what it costs

• On the home screen the Vector Editor is in the Create group, with the Video Editor, the Photo Editor and the Audio Editor. The home search finds it by its name and by words such as "illustrator", "svg", "logo", "icon", "vector", "cricut", "laser", "eps" or "ai", and finds its tasks (Image to vector, Logo maker, Edit SVG, Cricut & laser files).
• Its address inside Octoolo is #/app/vector; a task's is #/app/vector/<task id>, for example #/app/vector/cut-files. A shortcut can open it with Octoolo.exe --open=app/vector or Octoolo.exe --open=app/vector/logo-maker. This opens the app or a task; it cannot open a particular file.
• Octoolo does not register itself with Windows for .svg, .ai or .pdf files, so double-clicking one in File Explorer opens it in whatever program Windows uses. To open a file in the Vector Editor, use Open a file on its start screen, pick it under Recent, or drag the file onto the start screen.
• The Vector Editor needs Octoolo Cloud (the subscription) or its free trial. Prices, the trial and the free apps are in Prices and limits.
• The Help and feedback button (speech bubble) in the Vector Editor's title bar opens Octoolo's Help and feedback page about the Vector Editor, where a message can be sent to Octoolo's support.

#Tasks

The whole app is the catalog entry vector-editor (Vector editor). Its tasks all work in version 0.8.0; each one opens the Vector Editor in a particular way and shows a tip at the top:

• Image to vector (image-to-svg): opens the start screen with the Logo and Icon sizes first. Open a picture with Open a file (or drop it): the picture goes on an artboard of its own size and the Image Trace window opens on it straight away. See "How to turn a picture into an SVG with the Vector Editor (Image Trace)". Tip shown: "Open a picture or a logo: Image Trace turns it into shapes you can edit and export as SVG."
• Logo maker (logo-maker): opens straight on a new 1000 × 1000 px document called "Logo". Draw with shapes and text, combine shapes with Pathfinder, and export SVG and PNG. Tip shown: "Start from shapes and text. Pathfinder (in Properties) combines shapes; Export saves SVG and PNG."
• Edit SVG (svg-editor): opens the start screen; open an SVG and its shapes, colors and text become objects to change. Tip shown: "Open an SVG: its shapes, colors and text become objects you can change."
• Cricut & laser files (cut-files): opens straight on a new 12 × 12 inch "Cutting mat" document (the start screen, when you go back to it, shows Cutting mat, Letter, A4 and Business card first). Tip shown: "Sizes here are exact. Export SVG in inches or millimeters for Cricut, Silhouette and lasers; outline strokes and text before cutting."

No task of the Vector Editor is marked Coming. The Vector Editor has no templates library and no AI that designs logos for you.

#How to turn a picture into an SVG with the Vector Editor (Image Trace)

Image Trace turns a picture (PNG, JPG, WebP, GIF, BMP) into real vector shapes, not a picture wrapped in an SVG file.

1. Open the Vector Editor (or search "Image to vector" on the home screen).
2. Press Open a file and pick the picture, or drop it on the start screen. It goes on an artboard the size of the picture in pixels. (To trace a picture inside another document, use File > Place a picture or SVG… or drop it on the canvas.)
3. With the picture selected, choose Object > Image Trace…, or press Trace image… in the More section of the Properties panel. (Opened from the Image to vector task, the window opens by itself.) If no picture is selected, Image Trace… asks for a picture file and places it first.
4. In the Image Trace window, pick a preset under For: Logo (flat colors, crisp corners, up to 12 colors at first), Black and white (two tones), Photo (many colors and gradients, many shapes), Sketch (pencil and pen on paper; the threshold follows the paper's light) or Poster (up to 8 flat colors).
5. Adjust the sliders while watching the preview on the right ("Vector, N shapes"): Colors (2 to 64, for Logo, Photo and Poster only; Photo starts at 16), Detail (lower drops more small specks), Smoothness (merges small curves), Corners (0° to 180°: how sharp a turn must be to stay a corner). Leave out white (on by default) drops white and near-white shapes.
6. Press Trace. The shapes are placed exactly over the picture as a group named "Traced image", and the picture is hidden underneath (so it can be traced again). The message says "Traced into N shapes. The picture is hidden under them."
7. Export with File > Export…: choose SVG, untick Artboard color as a background for a clear background, and press Export.

Notes:

• Pictures larger than 2,400 pixels on their long side are scaled down to 2,400 before tracing.
• The tracer is VTracer, built into the Octoolo app; nothing is downloaded and nothing is uploaded.
• A traced photo becomes thousands of shapes and a large SVG. Recolor with Document colors (nothing selected). Object > Path > Simplify… and Select > Same fill color work on shapes, not on the "Traced image" group: select the group and Object > Ungroup (Ctrl+Shift+G) first (or double-click the group to work inside it), then select the shapes to simplify, or click one shape and use Same fill color to select every shape of its color.

#How to make a logo in the Vector Editor

1. Open the Vector Editor and pick Logo (1000 × 1000 px) on the start screen, or Any size. (The Logo maker task opens straight on a Logo document.)
2. Draw the mark with Rectangle (M), Ellipse (L), Polygon, Star, Line Segment (\\) or the Pen (P). Select two or more shapes and use Pathfinder in the Properties panel (Unite, Minus front, Intersect, Exclude, Divide) or the Shape Builder (Shift+M) to combine them.
3. Add the name with the Type tool (T): click and type, then pick the font, weight and size in the Type section of the Properties panel. Type > Type on a path sets words along a path, for example a circle for a badge.
4. Set fills and strokes in the Properties panel, and use Align (to the Artboard when one object is selected) to center it.
5. Keep it editable: File > Save (Ctrl+S) writes your working SVG.
6. Export with File > Export… (Ctrl+Shift+E): SVG for the web and print, PNG at 1×, 2×, 3× or an Exact width, with Clear background (no artboard color) for a see-through logo; PDF for print shops (tick Text as outlines).

Several versions of a logo can live on several artboards (the Artboard tool, Shift+O); Export then offers All N artboards at once.

#How to edit an SVG file in the Vector Editor

1. Open the Vector Editor, press Open a file and pick the SVG, or drop it on the start screen. If something in the file cannot be kept, a short message (shown for about three seconds) says what (see "What the Vector Editor opens, and what it keeps and loses").
2. Click an object with the Selection tool (V). Double-click a group to work inside it (Leave the group in the options bar, View > Exit group, or Esc, leaves it). The Direct Selection tool (A) moves single anchor points and handles.
3. Change colors in Fill and Stroke in the Properties panel. With nothing selected, Document colors lists the colors in the file (up to 24): change one and it changes everywhere it is used.
4. Change words with the Type tool (T): click the text and type. Font and size are in the Type section of the Properties panel.
5. File > Save (Ctrl+S) writes the SVG; File > Export… makes a clean SVG, a PNG, JPG, WebP or a PDF.

Saving an SVG that was not made by Octoolo rewrites it in Octoolo's own SVG form (see "Saving in the Vector Editor (its own SVG)"). Anything that was left out when the file opened is then gone from the saved file; use Save as… to keep the original untouched.

#How to make a cut file for Cricut, Silhouette or a laser in the Vector Editor

1. Open the Vector Editor and choose Cutting mat (12 × 12 in), Letter, A4, Business card, or Any size in inches or millimeters. (The Cricut & laser files task opens straight on a Cutting mat.)
2. Make the design: draw with the shape tools and the Pen, type with the Type tool, or place a picture (File > Place a picture or SVG…) and turn it into shapes with Object > Image Trace… (Black and white or Sketch for one color, Logo or Poster for layered vinyl).
3. Size it exactly: select it and type the width or height under Position and size in the Properties panel, in the document's unit. Click the chain button (Keep proportions) first to keep the proportions.
4. Make it cuttable:
   • text into shapes: Type > Create outlines (Ctrl+Shift+O), or tick Text as outlines in Export;
   • lines into shapes: Object > Path > Outline stroke (a cutter follows a line's center, not its edges);
   • overlapping letters into one outline: once the text is outlines (previous step), each text object is one path, and Object > Path > Remove overlaps merges its overlapping letters; to merge separate shapes, select them and press Unite under Pathfinder (then Object > Expand for a plain path);
   • holes that stay holes: Object > Compound path > Make compound path (Ctrl+8);
   • separate pieces per color: Divide under Pathfinder;
   • a sticker border: Object > Path > Offset path….
5. Export: File > Export…, SVG, choose in or mm under Size in, untick Artboard color as a background (otherwise a white rectangle the size of the artboard is written in, and a cutter treats it as a shape to cut), and press Export. PDF export gives one page per artboard at its exact size.

What the cut file is: an SVG whose width and height are written in the unit chosen (for example width="12in"), with a viewBox in pixels at 96 pixels to the inch, the SVG standard's ratio. After importing it into Cricut Design Space, Silhouette Studio, LightBurn or another program, compare the width there with the one the Vector Editor showed. The Vector Editor cannot export DXF.

#The Vector Editor's window: menus, tools and panels

• Title bar: the file's name, its state ("Not saved yet", "Saved", or "Unsaved changes · kept as a draft"), the menus File, Edit, Object, Type, Select and View, a search button (Search commands, Ctrl+K), the Export button and a More menu (Save, Save as…, Open…, New document…, Image Trace…, Search commands…). The back arrow returns to the Vector Editor's start screen (asking to save first when there are changes).
• Options bar (under the title): the tool in use, its key, what it does, and its settings (the Rectangle's Radius, the Polygon's Sides, the Star's Points and Inner, the Pencil's Smoothness; with the Selection tool, quick buttons to flip, turn, arrange, group, duplicate and delete; with Direct Selection and anchors picked, Corner ↔ smooth, Join and Delete anchors).
• Tool rail (left): one button per group of tools; hold or right-click a button to pick another tool of its group.
• Canvas (middle), with rulers. Right-click it for a menu of common commands.
• Properties panel (right): what is selected and how it looks; with nothing selected, the document (units, artboard, document colors, how new objects look). Under it, Layers and History tabs.
• Status bar (bottom): the zoom (a list: Fit artboard, or 25% to 1600%), the pointer's position from the artboard's top left, the selection's size, and switches for Smart guides, Snap to pixel (pixel documents only) and Outline.
• Search commands… (Ctrl+K or Ctrl+/) finds any command by its name or by Illustrator's words for it, for example "pathfinder", "expand appearance" or "live paint".
• Tab hides and shows the panels.

#Drawing tools in the Vector Editor

Other drawing commands: Shift+C switches the selected anchors between corner and smooth (with no anchors selected it picks the Pen and says "Alt-click an anchor with the Pen to make it a corner; Alt-drag for smooth handles."); Object > Path > Join (Ctrl+J) closes an open path, or joins two open paths at their nearest ends.

#Shapes, Pathfinder and the Shape Builder in the Vector Editor

• Live shapes: rectangles keep their corner radius (one for all corners, or Each corner its own radius), polygons their Sides and corner Radius, stars their Points, Inner (1% to 99%) and Radius. These are in the shape's section of the Properties panel (Corners, Polygon, Star). Object > Expand turns a live shape into a plain path.
• Pathfinder (Properties panel, when two or more objects are selected, and Object > Pathfinder): Unite, Minus front, Intersect and Exclude make a live boolean shape: its parts stay editable (double-click it to work on them), and its Boolean shape section can switch the operation, Expand it into one path, or Release the parts. Its look is the top shape's (for Minus front, the back shape's). Divide cuts the shapes into separate pieces where they overlap, in a group. Pictures cannot be part of a boolean, and live text takes part only as its rectangular box: turn text into shapes with Type > Create outlines first.
• Shape Builder (Shift+M): select the overlapping shapes with the Selection tool, then drag across the pieces to merge them, or Alt-drag to delete pieces. With fewer than two objects selected it says "Select the overlapping shapes first (Selection tool, V), then drag across their pieces."
• Object > Path: Outline stroke (each stroke becomes a filled shape; a fill stays as its own shape underneath), Offset path… (a copy grown by a Distance all round, placed behind the original, with Corners Round, Sharp or Bevel and a live preview; a negative distance makes a smaller copy in front), Simplify… (a Simpler slider, 0% to 100%, showing "N anchors → M"), Join and Remove overlaps (a path that crosses itself becomes one clean outline).
• Object > Compound path: Make compound path (Ctrl+8) joins paths into one, with holes where they overlap (even-odd); Release compound path (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+8) splits it again.
• Object > Clipping mask: Make clipping mask (Ctrl+7) clips the selected objects to the top one; Release clipping mask (Ctrl+Alt+7) undoes it.
• Object > Transform: Flip horizontal, Flip vertical, Rotate 90° clockwise, Rotate 90° counterclockwise. Transform again (Ctrl+D) repeats the last move, nudge or transform; Edit > Duplicate makes a copy 10 px to the right and down.
• Object > Arrange: Bring to front (Ctrl+Shift+]), Bring forward (Ctrl+]), Send backward (Ctrl+[), Send to back (Ctrl+Shift+[).

Pathfinder, Make clipping mask and Make compound path are greyed out until two or more objects are selected. Messages: "Select two shapes or more first." (Unite, Minus front, Intersect or Exclude when fewer than two of the selected objects are shapes, for example a shape and a picture), "Select two shapes or more to divide.", "Select something with a stroke." (Outline stroke), "Expand works on live shapes and booleans. For strokes, use Outline Stroke; for text, Create Outlines.", "Getting the knife ready. Try again in a moment." (the Knife used in the first moments after opening, while its geometry engine loads).

#Text, fonts and Create Outlines in the Vector Editor

• The Type tool (T) makes three kinds of text: point text ("Grows with the text"), a text box ("Fixed box", wraps inside it) and text on a path. Type > Type on a path picks the Type tool and says how: "Click the path to type along it (Alt-click a closed one)." when a path or shape is selected, otherwise "Click an open path with the Type tool to type along it." The path becomes the text's path. The Start along the path slider (0% to 100%) moves path text along its path.
• The Type section of the Properties panel: the font (a list with a Find a font box; it shows up to 400 fonts at a time, so type a name to reach the others), Weight (Thin, Extra Light, Light, Regular, Medium, Semibold, Bold, Extra Bold, Black), Italic, Size, Leading (0 is automatic, 1.2 × the size), Tracking (in thousandths of the size, as in Illustrator), Alignment (left, center, right), Box and Create outlines.
• One text object has one style: the Vector Editor cannot mix fonts, sizes or colors inside one text object. Use separate text objects for different styles.
• The font list is every font installed on the PC (Windows' fonts and fonts installed for the person only), read through Windows' DirectWrite. It is read once each time Octoolo starts: a font installed while Octoolo is open shows after Octoolo is closed and opened again.
• Create outlines (Type > Create outlines, Ctrl+Shift+O, or the button in the Type section) turns the selected text into paths drawn from the font file's own letter shapes, exactly where the text was. It needs the font's file: when it cannot be read the message is "The font file of <font> could not be read." Create outlines is greyed out until text is selected.
• Text kept as text in an exported SVG needs its font on the computer that shows it; Export says "Uses the fonts <fonts>: computers without them show others. Turn on "Text as outlines" to be sure."
• An SVG or PDF that names a font this PC does not have opens with that font's name kept, and the text is shown in a substitute font until the font is installed.

#Fills, strokes, colors and gradients in the Vector Editor

• Fill and Stroke sections (Properties panel): an object can have several fills and several strokes (the + buttons, Add a fill and Add a stroke), each shown or hidden and removed on its own. Each fill or stroke is Solid, Linear or Radial.
• A stroke has a width (W) and Stroke options: Align (Inside, Center, Outside; inside and outside work on closed shapes, not on text), Ends (Flat, Round, Square), Corners (Sharp, Round, Bevel), Miter limit (1 to 500), and Dashed with Dash and Gap. Stroke width, dash and gap are in pixels (96 to the inch) whatever unit the document uses.
• Gradients: stops with Stop color and At (0% to 100%), an angle, Reverse and Remove stop; the Gradient tool (G) sets them on the canvas.
• Appearance: Opacity (0% to 100%) and Blend (Normal, Darken, Multiply, Color Burn, Lighten, Screen, Color Dodge, Overlay, Soft Light, Hard Light, Difference, Exclusion, Hue, Saturation, Color, Luminosity).
• Selection colors (or Document colors with nothing selected) shows up to 24 colors in use; changing one changes it everywhere it is used, which is the quick way to try a logo in other colors.
• The color picker takes a color code (hex) and see-through (alpha), offers the document's own colors and a set of swatches, and Pick from the screen takes a color from anywhere on the screen, including the pixels of a picture.
• Edit > Swap fill and stroke (Shift+X) swaps the selected objects' first fill and stroke (with nothing selected, those of new objects). Edit > Default fill and stroke (D) sets new objects back to a white fill and a near-black 1 px stroke. New objects (in the Properties panel with nothing selected) sets how the next shapes look; changing a selected object's fill or stroke also makes the next shapes look like it.
• Colors are RGB. The Vector Editor has no CMYK or spot colors.

#Layers, groups, artboards and guides in the Vector Editor

• Layers tab (under Properties): the document's tree, top of the stack first, each row with a lock and an eye. Click to select (Ctrl adds, Shift takes a range), double-click to rename, drag to reorder or to move into a group or another layer. The buttons at the bottom make a New layer and delete (Delete the selection, or Delete the layer when nothing is selected; the last layer cannot be deleted).
• Object > Group (Ctrl+G) and Ungroup (Ctrl+Shift+G; also releases a boolean shape). Lock (Ctrl+2), Unlock all (Ctrl+Alt+2), Hide (Ctrl+3), Show all (Ctrl+Alt+3).
• Artboards: a document can have as many as you like, of any size. With the Artboard tool (Shift+O) the Properties panel shows the Artboard section: name, W, H, X, Y, Preset sizes…, Turn (swap width and height), Background (a color, or none for a clear artboard), New artboard, Delete, and arrows that change the artboards' order (the order of export files and PDF pages). With nothing selected, the same fields for the current artboard are in the Properties panel, with Edit artboards.
• Units (Properties panel with nothing selected, or File > Document settings…): Pixels, Millimeters, Centimeters, Inches or Points. Changing it only changes how sizes are shown and typed; the art keeps its real size (96 pixels to the inch).
• View: Rulers (Ctrl+R); drag from a ruler to make a guide; Guides (Ctrl+;) shows or hides them; Clear guides; Smart guides (Ctrl+U) snap to other objects; Snap to pixel (pixel documents only); Outline (Ctrl+Y) shows the paths only; Pixel preview (Ctrl+Alt+Y). Ctrl (or Alt, with Alt turns snapping off (instead of Ctrl)) held while dragging stops snapping.
• Align (Properties panel): Align left, Align centers, Align right, Align top, Align middles, Align bottom, and with three or more objects Spread evenly across and Spread evenly down. To: Selection, Artboard or Key object (click a selected object to make it the key). One object alone aligns to the artboard.
• The History tab lists every step by name; click one to go back to it. Up to 300 steps are kept while the document is open.

#What the Vector Editor opens, and what it keeps and loses

Formats it opens: SVG; PDF; Illustrator .ai files saved with PDF compatibility; pictures (PNG, JPG/JPEG, WebP, GIF, BMP, AVIF). Open them with Open a file on the start screen, File > Open… (Ctrl+O), from Recent, or by dropping the file on the start screen. Anything else gets "This kind of file does not open here. SVG, PDF, Illustrator (.ai) files and pictures do." It does not open EPS, CDR, compressed SVG (.svgz), DXF, PSD, Affinity or Figma files, or iPhone HEIC photos.

Placing (adding to the open document): File > Place a picture or SVG… (Ctrl+Shift+P) or dropping files on the canvas adds pictures (a big picture is scaled down to fit the view), SVGs (as a group named after the file when it holds several objects), PDFs and .ai files (their content as a group). Other files get "<file> cannot be placed: SVG, PDF and pictures can."

SVG: one artboard the size of the SVG, in the unit of its width (an SVG with width="210mm" opens in millimeters; otherwise pixels), with everything on one layer. Rectangles, circles and ellipses stay live shapes; paths keep every anchor; lines, polylines and polygons become paths; groups, transforms, fills and strokes with opacity, linear and radial gradients, clipping paths, <use> copies, nested <svg>, CSS styles, embedded pictures (data URLs), opacity and blend modes come in; text stays text (several lines, tspans, text on a path; mixed styles on a line become separate text objects side by side). What is left out is listed in a message as the file opens:

• "Filters (blurs and shadows) were left out."
• "Masks were left out; the art they masked shows whole."
• "Pattern fills became plain gray."
• "Pictures linked from outside the file were left out."
• "Some clipping paths in box units were left out."
• "Embedded HTML was left out."

Markers (arrowheads drawn by marker-start/marker-end) are not read, without a message.

An SVG saved by the Vector Editor opens exactly as it was saved (live shapes, booleans, layers, artboards, text settings, guides), because the whole document is stored inside it.

PDF: each page becomes an artboard (side by side, 40 px apart, named "Page 1", "Page 2"...; a one-page PDF's artboard takes the file's name), and the document's unit is points; a one-page PDF puts its objects straight on the layer, several pages get a group per page. Paths keep their fills, strokes, colors (as RGB), opacity, blend modes and dashes; clipping becomes clipping groups; linear and radial gradients stay gradients; pictures come in as pictures; text becomes editable text objects (one per run or line), in the font the PDF names when the PC has it. Invisible text (the hidden text layer of scanned and OCR'd PDFs) is left out. At most 200 pages open: "Only the first 200 of N pages were opened." Other messages: "Mesh gradients became plain colors.", "Pattern fills became plain colors.", "Soft masks (fading transparency) were left out."

Illustrator (.ai): the Vector Editor reads the PDF copy that Illustrator keeps inside an .ai file when Create PDF Compatible File was on when it was saved (Illustrator's default). It opens like a PDF: the drawing as Illustrator last showed it, not Illustrator's own layers, symbols, live effects, appearance stacks or editable type settings. An .ai file saved without PDF compatibility, or an old PostScript-based .ai file, does not open: "<file> does not open: it seems damaged, or it is an Illustrator file saved without PDF compatibility."

Pictures: a new document with one artboard the picture's size in pixels, the picture on it, ready for Image Trace.

A PDF, .ai file or picture is never written over: saving it makes a new .svg file (the name is the same with .svg), through the Save dialog.

#Saving in the Vector Editor (its own SVG)

• File > Save (Ctrl+S) writes an SVG that opens in any browser or program, showing all artboards (the area around all of them). Inside its <metadata> it carries the whole document, so opening it in the Vector Editor again gives back live shapes, booleans, layers, artboards, guides and text settings exactly. Pictures are stored once in the file. This is the working file to keep.
• When the Vector Editor knows where the file is on disk, Save writes over it; otherwise Save shows Windows' Save dialog. It knows the place once the document has been saved through the dialog (Save or Save as…), for an SVG opened from the Recent list, and for a draft continued from such a file. An SVG opened with Open a file, File > Open… or by dropping it is saved the first time through the Save dialog (with its name filled in; choose the same file to replace it). New documents, PDFs, .ai files and pictures go through the Save dialog the first time.
• File > Save as… (Ctrl+Shift+S) always asks for a name and folder.
• Saving writes through a temporary file next to the original, so a failed save never leaves half a file. The message after saving is "Saved <file>".
• The saved SVG is bigger than an exported one and contains Octoolo's copy of the document (and any hidden pictures, such as a traced picture). For websites, cutters and other programs, use File > Export… with SVG, which writes a clean file without that copy.
• The Vector Editor cannot save as .ai, EPS, CDR or DXF.
• Closing a document (File > Close, Ctrl+W, the back arrow, Open… or New document…) with changes asks "Save your changes to <file>?" with Cancel, Don't save and Save: "Your changes are kept as a draft on this computer either way; saving puts them in the file."

#Exporting from the Vector Editor: SVG, PDF, PNG, JPG and WebP

File > Export… (Ctrl+Shift+E or Ctrl+Alt+E), or the Export button in the title bar, opens one Export window for every kind of file. Its settings are remembered for next time.

• Kind of file: PNG, JPG, WebP, SVG or PDF.
• What: the current artboard (shown by its name), All N artboards (when there are several), or Selection (when something is selected).
• PNG, JPG and WebP: Size 1×, 2×, 3× or Exact (a width in pixels; the height follows the proportions). The picture is exactly that size: a 500 × 500 artboard at 1× is 500 × 500 pixels. The largest is 32,767 pixels a side and 268 million pixels in all; bigger gives "<W> × <H> pixels is larger than a picture can be here. Choose a smaller size." Clear background (no artboard color) (PNG and WebP) leaves the background transparent; JPG is always on the artboard's color, or white. With What set to Selection there is no artboard, so PNG and WebP are transparent and JPG is on white. Quality (JPG and WebP, 30% to 100%, default 90%).
• SVG: Size in px, mm, cm, in or pt (the width and height are written in that unit, with a viewBox at 96 pixels to the inch) and Decimals (1 to 4, default 2; fewer makes a smaller file). Text as outlines (looks the same everywhere; for cutters and printers). Artboard color as a background (on by default): writes the artboard's color as a rectangle behind the art; untick it for a clear background and for cut files. The exported SVG is clean: no editor data, plain <rect>, <circle> and <ellipse> where they fit, a live boolean as one path, names you gave objects as ids. Hidden objects and objects entirely outside the exported artboard are left out; an object that crosses the artboard's edge is written whole.
• PDF: one page per artboard at its exact size (a pixel is 0.75 point). Vector all the way: fills, strokes (inside and outside too), opacity, blend modes, gradients, clipping and pictures. With Text as outlines text is drawn with the font's own shapes; without it, text uses a standard PDF font (Helvetica, Times or Courier, picked from the font's name) and letters those fonts lack are left out, with the message "Text used a standard PDF font: turn on "Text as outlines" to keep <font>." Other notes: "Gradient strokes are their first color in the PDF.", "See-through gradient stops are solid in the PDF.", "A picture could not be put in the PDF." A white artboard is not painted (the page is left as it is); other artboard colors are painted.
• The line at the bottom shows the size ("1000 × 1000 px", "12 × 12 in", or "1 page, 600 × 600 pt") and about how big the file will be.
• All N artboards as PNG, JPG, WebP or SVG makes one .zip with a file per artboard, named "<document> - <artboard>.<ext>" ("Several files come in one .zip."). As PDF it makes one PDF with a page per artboard.
• Export always shows Windows' Save dialog. The message after it is "Exported <file>" ("Exported N files in <document>.zip" for a .zip), or the first of the notes in this list when there is one. An exported file is not added to the Recent list.

Exported files carry no watermark and no Octoolo credit (the PDF's producer field says "Octoolo Vector Editor").

#Copy and paste in the Vector Editor

• Copy (Ctrl+C) and Cut (Ctrl+X) put the selected objects on the Windows clipboard as SVG code (text), which pastes into code editors and apps that accept SVG code. Pasting back into the Vector Editor gives the objects back exactly.
• Paste (Ctrl+V) puts objects in the middle of the view; Paste in front (Ctrl+F), Paste in back (Ctrl+B) and Paste in place (Ctrl+Shift+V) as in Illustrator.
• Pasting SVG code makes shapes (a group when there are several); pasting a picture (for example a screenshot) makes a picture object; pasting plain text makes a text object (up to 5,000 characters).

#Options and settings in the Vector Editor

• View menu switches, kept for next time: Rulers, Guides, Smart guides, Snap to pixel, Wheel zooms (on by default: the mouse wheel zooms; off: it scrolls), and Alt turns snapping off (instead of Ctrl). Outline and Pixel preview start off each time.
• With a mouse, Ctrl+wheel always zooms and Shift+wheel scrolls sideways; on a touchpad, two fingers scroll and a pinch zooms. Zoom goes from 1% to 64,000%.
• The Export window remembers its last settings.
• The Vector Editor has no Settings page of its own; Octoolo's Settings page has no Vector Editor options.

#Keyboard shortcuts in the Vector Editor

The Vector Editor uses Illustrator's keys. Every command and its key is also in Search commands… (Ctrl+K).

#Drafts and recovery in the Vector Editor (autosave)

• While you work, the Vector Editor keeps the open document as a draft on the PC: two seconds after you stop changing it, at least every ten seconds while you keep working, and when Octoolo's window is minimized or closed. Only a document with unsaved changes is kept. The title bar says "Unsaved changes · kept as a draft".
• After a crash, a power cut or closing Octoolo without saving, the Vector Editor's start screen shows Pick up where you left off with the file's name and when it changed. Continue opens it with every change; Discard throws the draft away.
• There is one draft for the Vector Editor: the last document changed. Working on another document (including opening the app from the Logo maker or Cricut & laser files task, which goes straight to a new document) replaces the draft about two seconds after its first change.
• Saving removes the draft (the file has the changes). Choosing Don't save when closing keeps the draft from the last moment it was kept, so the start screen offers it again; Discard there throws it away.
• After Continue, the Vector Editor does not mark the document as changed: the title bar says "Saved" (for a file it knows on disk) or "Not saved yet", and closing it does not ask to save. The changes are only in the draft until you press File > Save (Ctrl+S), so save right after continuing. The draft stays offered on the start screen until it is saved, discarded or replaced.
• Leaving the Vector Editor another way than its own back arrow or File > Close, for example with the Help and feedback button or Ctrl+, (Settings), closes the document without asking to save. Open the Vector Editor again and press Continue; the last couple of seconds of changes before leaving may be missing.
• The draft is not a file you can find in File Explorer; it is kept inside Octoolo's own storage (see "Where the Vector Editor keeps things").

#Where the Vector Editor keeps things

• Your files: where you save and export them. The Vector Editor never writes anywhere else.
• Draft: inside the storage of Octoolo's window (WebView2), in the EBWebView folder of %LOCALAPPDATA%\com.octoolo.app. One draft for the Vector Editor; it holds the whole document, pictures included.
• Recent files: %LOCALAPPDATA%\com.octoolo.app\recent-files.json, one list shared by Octoolo's editors (the last 30 files in all). The Vector Editor's Recent shows the .svg, .pdf and .ai files in it, newest first; a file that is no longer there shows "Moved or deleted" and cannot be opened. The × button on a row (Remove from the list) removes it from the list, not from the disk.
• What puts a file in the Vector Editor's Recent: saving it from the Vector Editor (Save or Save as…); opening a file from Recent moves it to the top. Opening a file with Open a file, File > Open… or by dropping it does not add it, although the empty list's note says "Files you open or save here show up in this list." Because the list is shared, it can also show SVG files opened in the Photo Editor, PDF copies saved from Documents, Spreadsheets or Presentations, and PDFs used by Text Studio's Translate a document…. Exports are never added.
• Settings: the View switches and the Export window's last settings, in the same window storage.
• Fonts and models: none. The Vector Editor uses the fonts installed in Windows and keeps no fonts of its own.
• Uninstalling Octoolo keeps %LOCALAPPDATA%\com.octoolo.app (with the draft and the recent list) unless Delete the application data is ticked in the uninstaller. Your saved files are never removed.

#Downloads the Vector Editor needs

None. The geometry engine (CanvasKit, about 7 MB), the PDF reader and writer, the font outliner and the image tracer (VTracer) are part of Octoolo itself. Nothing is downloaded the first time, and the Vector Editor works fully offline.

#Privacy in the Vector Editor

Nothing you draw, open, trace, save or export leaves the PC: files are read and written on the computer, Image Trace runs in the Octoolo app, and fonts are read from Windows. The only thing sent is Octoolo's usage statistics (that the app or a task was opened and for how long, that a file was saved, and error messages with file names, paths and names removed), which Send anonymous usage statistics in Octoolo's Settings turns off. See Privacy and data.

#Troubleshooting the Vector Editor

#My .ai (Illustrator) file does not open

Message: "<file> does not open: it seems damaged, or it is an Illustrator file saved without PDF compatibility." The Vector Editor reads only the PDF copy inside an .ai file. Fix: in Illustrator, File > Save As…, keep Create PDF Compatible File ticked (it is by default), and save; or save from Illustrator as PDF or SVG. Old .ai files (PostScript-based, before PDF compatibility existed) and EPS files do not open. A PDF that asks for a password gives "<file> is locked with a password." Remove the password in the program that set it.

#My EPS, CDR, DXF or .svgz file does not open

The Vector Editor opens SVG, PDF, PDF-compatible .ai and pictures only ("This kind of file does not open here. SVG, PDF, Illustrator (.ai) files and pictures do."). A compressed SVG (.svgz) does not open either: it gives "This SVG could not be read: it seems damaged." Fix: export the file as a plain SVG or a PDF from the program that made it.

#"This SVG could not be read: it seems damaged."

The file is not valid SVG (an XML error, an empty file, or not an SVG inside). Open it in a browser to check; re-export it from the program that made it.

#Parts of my SVG are missing or look different after opening

A message lists what was left out: filters (blurs, shadows), masks, pattern fills (they turn gray), pictures linked from outside the file, clipping paths in box units, embedded HTML. Arrowheads (markers) are also not read. Text shows in a substitute font when the font is not installed. Fix: install the font; for effects, flatten or expand them in the program that made the file before exporting the SVG. Saving over the original removes what was left out; use Save as… to keep it.

#I changed my file in another program, but the Vector Editor shows the old version

An SVG saved by the Vector Editor carries its own copy of the document, and the Vector Editor opens that copy. If another program changed the drawing but kept Octoolo's copy inside the file, the Vector Editor shows the drawing as Octoolo last saved it. Fix: in the other program, export a new SVG (most programs write a clean SVG without Octoolo's data), or edit the file in one program only.

#Create Outlines says "The font file of <font> could not be read."

Create Outlines (and Text as outlines in Export) needs the font's file. Causes: the text uses a font that is not installed on this PC (common with text from opened SVG or PDF files), the font was installed while Octoolo was open, or the font file is in a form the outliner cannot read. Fix: install the font for the user or for all users and restart Octoolo, or pick another font in the Type section and try again. In Export, text whose font cannot be read stays text, with the note "Kept as text (its font file is not available here): <fonts>."

#A font I just installed is not in the list

The font list is read once when Octoolo starts. Close Octoolo completely (also from the tray, if it is there) and open it again.

#The cut file is the wrong size in Cricut Design Space, Silhouette or LightBurn

Export the SVG with Size in set to in or mm, not px: in pixels, the other program has to guess how big a pixel is. Then compare the width in the cutting program with the one shown in the Export window, and set it there if it differs. Check that the document's artboard is the size you expect (Units and the Artboard fields with nothing selected).

#The cutter cuts a rectangle around my design, or cuts lines twice

• A rectangle around the design: Artboard color as a background was on when exporting; untick it and export again.
• A thick line cut along its middle, or cut on both sides: turn strokes into shapes with Object > Path > Outline stroke, or give shapes a fill and no stroke.
• Overlapping letters cut separately: turn the text into shapes (Type > Create outlines), then Object > Path > Remove overlaps; for separate shapes, select them and Unite (Pathfinder), then Object > Expand.

#The exported PNG has a white background

The artboard has a white background color, and PNG export uses it unless Clear background (no artboard color) is ticked in the Export window (exporting the Selection is always clear). JPG cannot be transparent; use PNG or WebP. For an SVG, untick Artboard color as a background.

#The text in my exported PDF is in the wrong font, or letters are missing

Without Text as outlines, PDF export writes text in a standard PDF font (Helvetica, Times or Courier), and letters those fonts lack (other alphabets, emoji) are left out. Tick Text as outlines in the Export window, or use Type > Create outlines first.

#A PDF export of the selection shows other objects too

When What is Selection and the kind of file is PDF, the page is the selection's box, and every visible object that overlaps that box is drawn on it. Hide the other objects (Ctrl+3) before exporting, or export the selection as SVG or PNG, which contain only the selected objects.

#Save fails

Messages: "<file> is read-only. Turn that off in its Properties, or use Save as.", "<file> is open in another program. Close it there, or use Save as.", "Use Save as to choose where to save.", or "Could not save <path>: <reason>". Fix: close the file in the other program, untick Read-only in the file's Properties in File Explorer, or use Save as… to save somewhere else (for example Documents rather than a protected folder). An Export that cannot write its file shows "Could not save <path>: <reason>" in the Export window.

#A file in the Vector Editor's Recent list says "Moved or deleted"

The file is no longer where it was saved, so the row cannot be opened. If it disappears between showing the list and clicking it, the message is "That file is no longer there: it was moved or deleted." Fix: open it from its new place with Open a file, and remove the old row with its × button (Remove from the list). Removing a row never deletes the file.

#A file I opened is not in the Vector Editor's Recent list

Files opened with Open a file, File > Open… or by dropping them are not added to Recent; only files saved from the Vector Editor are. Save the file once with File > Save or Save as… and it appears there. The list keeps 30 files in all, shared with Octoolo's other editors, so older ones drop off.

#I lost my work after a crash or closing Octoolo

Open the Vector Editor: the start screen shows Pick up where you left off; press Continue, then File > Save (Ctrl+S) straight away: the continued document is not marked as changed, so the Vector Editor does not ask to save it when you close it. Only the last document changed is kept as a draft, and it is replaced as soon as another document is changed, so continue it before starting something new. If the start screen shows no draft, the changes were saved to the file (saving removes the draft), Discard was pressed, or another document replaced the draft; a discarded or replaced draft cannot be brought back.

#Image Trace makes too many shapes or specks

Lower Detail and Colors, raise Smoothness, keep Leave out white ticked, and try the Logo, Poster or Black and white preset. Start from the largest, sharpest picture you have; pictures are traced at up to 2,400 pixels on their long side. After tracing, ungroup the "Traced image" group (Object > Ungroup, Ctrl+Shift+G), select the shapes, and Object > Path > Simplify… removes extra anchors (it is greyed out while only the group is selected).

#Image Trace shows an error instead of a preview

Messages such as "The trace failed: ..." or "The picture to trace is closed; open it again." come from the tracer. Close the Image Trace window and open it again; if it still fails, export the picture as PNG from another app (for example the Photo Editor) and place that.

#Exporting a big picture fails

"<W> × <H> pixels is larger than a picture can be here. Choose a smaller size." The largest export is 32,767 pixels a side and 268 million pixels in all. Choose a smaller Exact width or a lower scale. Very large pictures can also fail with "The picture could not be made." when the PC runs out of memory; choose a smaller size.

#Limits and what the Vector Editor cannot do

• It cannot open EPS, CDR, DXF, compressed SVG (.svgz), PSD, Affinity, Figma or Sketch files, or .ai files saved without PDF compatibility.
• It cannot save or export .ai, EPS, DXF, CDR or GIF. It exports SVG, PDF, PNG, JPG and WebP, and saves SVG.
• It has no CMYK or spot colors, no global swatches, no symbols, no mesh gradients, no blend tool, no width tool, no envelope or warp distortions, and no live effects such as drop shadows or blurs.
• It cannot mix fonts, sizes or colors inside one text object.
• It has no templates library and no AI logo generator.
• It cannot print; export a PDF and print that.
• It cannot open a PDF or .ai file with more than 200 pages in full (the first 200 open).
• Image Trace needs the Octoolo app (it does not run in a web browser) and traces at up to 2,400 pixels on the long side.
• Picture exports are at most 32,767 pixels a side and 268 million pixels.
• It cannot edit an SVG's code as text; Copy gives SVG code and pasting SVG code brings it in.
• It keeps one draft only (the last document changed).
• It cannot be set as the program that opens .svg, .ai or .pdf files from File Explorer.
• It does not upload anything and has no cloud storage or sharing.