Affinity Photo 1.8 version includes compatibility with the latest Nik Collection plug-ins while Affinity Publisher gets IDML compatibility for importing InDesign files, a much requested feature.

With the newest update to its family of apps, Serif raises the bar, consolidating its position as a serious challenger in the global professional creative software sector. Central to the announcement is layout app Affinity Publisher—already Apple’s reigning Mac App of the Year—which gets IDML compatibility for importing InDesign files, in its first big update since launching last summer.

The compatibility with inDesign files was a question asked by users immediately after the launch of the beta version of Affinity Publisher and one of the reasons why some found it difficult to adopt the new solution made available for desktop publishing. Not it is possible to import InDesign IDML files, including all text styles, master pages, guides, pinned objects and more, directly into Affinity Publisher for an even more seamless experience.

Open InDesign files in Affinity Publisher

The update is aimed squarely at businesses and other professional users who need to be able to access a stock of older documents and will now find it much simpler to make the move to the Affinity suite. It’s something I want to try myself, as I’ve a series of InDesign files that I’ve not touched since I gave up on Adobe’s software.

Ashley Hewson, Managing Director of Serif, says: “More and more companies and organisations are choosing to switch from Creative Cloud to the Affinity suite since we launched Affinity Publisher.

“The need for an easy way to import existing InDesign documents remained a sticking point, particularly for those who have a large existing catalogue of files, so we are thrilled to offer IDML import to make the transition easier than ever.”

Affinity Photo and Designer updates

Affinity Publisher’s update does not stop there and it includes a series of new features. Here are some of them:

• Full preflight checking will throw up live instances of possible errors in a document, such as poor image resolution, bleed hazards, overflowing text, spelling errors, missing images or font resources, and more.
• Ability to save documents as templates to re-use time and again on future projects.
• Combine multiple Affinity Publisher documents together into a single file, with smart merge of master pages, text styles, table of contents and indexes.
• Excel (xlsx) file import to instantly bring in tables of data from spreadsheets.
• Many other improvements and fixes, including PDF export being up to five times faster than before.

Affinity Photo and Designer also get updated to version 1.8, maintaining the suite’s unique single file format between the apps, which also boast the revolutionary StudioLink technology allowing access to Designer and Photo tools directly in an Affinity Publisher layout.

Affinity Designer adds a new stock panel to instantly search and drag and drop stock imagery into your work.  Affinity Photo and Designer on iPad get the ability to customize keyboard shortcuts,  so if you use a keyboard attachment for iPad, you can now create your own shortcuts in both apps.

Affinity Photo compatible with Nik Collection

PSD import to any of the apps now includes smart object support, maintaining the full resolution and editability of layers within any object – even on iPad. Canon CR3 RAW support is also added to Affinity Photo, as well as new document dialogs for all the apps.

Affinity Photo now has full compatibility with the latest Nik Collection plug-ins, following a collaboration between Affinity developers and Nik owner DxO.  This expands the creative options available for photographers, with the ability to access the vast collection of effects from the classic Nik Collection from inside Serif’s software.

Also new for Affinity Photo is better metadata handling, with support for user-editable fields in image metadata, including the IPTC standard for copyright and other information. Plus, save and import metadata files (XMP), batch whole folders of images and tag with appropriate ownership info, and more.

Affinity v1.8 apps are available to buy now for a one-off payment with no subscription. Existing users can download the updates free.