Page 584 - Xara Designer Pro X17

584 Importing and Exporting

Importing files

To import a file:

• Select "FILE" > "IMPORT" - This normally merges the file's contents into the existing
document. With some formats you get the choice of importing the document into the
current page or adding it as a new page. With some other formats you are given the
option of either importing the file data conventionally, or adding a link to the file and
including it in your published website.
• Or select "FILE" > "OPEN" - This opens the file as a new document.

Xara Designer Pro X supports drag and drop import of files. If you drag a file from your
File Explorer onto an open Xara Designer Pro X document it will import the file and place
it on the current page, centered on the drop point. Or drag & drop a suitable file from
Windows Explorer onto any bar or the title bar of Designer Pro's window - it will open the
file as a new document.

Importing a Photoshop PSD file
To import a PSD file, import the file as normal with "FILE" > "IMPORT", or just drag and
drop the .psd file into Xara Designer Pro X.

A dialog opens asking you if you want to import the Photoshop layers as objects - this is
the default, or if you want to import the layers as layers.

It’s recommended that you use the default option, where PSD layers become Xara
objects, because whereas in Photoshop effects like transparency are applied to layers, in
Xara layers are simply containers for objects and different objects on the same layer can
have different transparency and other settings.

The default DPI setting will be the one at which the PSD file was created.

The file will open on your workspace. View the file/object structure by opening the PAGE &
LAYER GALLERY. (on page 178)

All the Xara transparency modes (apart from the Enhance mode) are compatible with the
equivalent Photoshop blends and will remain editable in in Xara Designer Pro X using the
TRANSPARENCY TOOL.

Photoshop calls it Opacity, but it’s the same thing as Transparency (just the other way
around), i.e. a 90% opacity value in Photoshop becomes a 10% transparency setting in
Xara Designer Pro X.

Tip: if you have separate objects in Photoshop that you wish to be able to move and
change independently of one another in Xara Designer Pro X, place them on separate
layers in Photoshop before exporting.