Exporting

Exporting

This page shows how to export a ChemDraft 1.0.0 drawing and identifies every format that is actually available.

Export makes a copy for sharing, publication, or downstream structure work; it does not replace saving the editable .chemdraft source. Start with File > Export…. The desktop app opens a movable Export dialog; the browser fallback uses the same form and downloads the result where supported.

Available formats

ChemDraft enables these ten formats. Other choices displayed in the format registry are marked planned or deferred and are not exports you can rely on today.

Group	Format	Typical use
Graphics	SVG	A scalable page graphic; choose a white or transparent background.
Graphics	PDF	Vector PDF of the current page on a white page.
Graphics	PNG	Raster page image; transparency is available.
Graphics	JPEG	Raster page image on a white background.
Graphics	BMP	Raster page image on a white background.
Graphics	GIF	Raster page image on a white background.
Graphics	TIFF	Raster page image on a white background.
Chemistry	SDF	A multi-record structure list.
Chemistry	SMILES	A structure list using .smi or .smiles.
Compatibility	CDXML	A warning-backed page interchange export.

Graphics formats describe appearance, not an editable chemical model. The SDF, SMILES, and CDXML paths are chemically meaningful exports and report warnings or errors instead of silently changing chemistry. Read Chemistry Guarantees and CDXML Support when exchange fidelity matters.

Basic export steps

1. Choose File > Export….
2. Select a format and check its explanatory note in the dialog.
3. Enter a filename and choose where to write it.
4. For a visual export, set its crop, dimensions, DPI, and background as appropriate.
5. Review the preview and any warnings, then export.

The dialog changes the filename extension to match the selected format. On desktop, Choose… opens the native destination picker. The app writes a text or binary result according to the chosen format. In the browser fallback, a supported result is downloaded instead.

The live preview, crop, DPI, and size-preset controls are shown only when Export preview and size presets is enabled. Find this option in Preferences > Export; it is off by default.

Page appearance: SVG, PDF, and raster images

Visual export works from the current page. Choose either the whole Page or Content with padding as the crop. Width and height can remain linked to preserve aspect ratio, or you can specify them independently. The dialog accepts whole-pixel dimensions from 1 to 8192 on each side and a DPI from 36 to 1200. PDF additionally has a maximum page side of 14,400 points (200 inches).

Three size presets provide useful starting points:

Preset	Longest-side basis	DPI
Slide	1920 px	96
Poster	24 in / 7200 px	300
Publication	85 mm / 2008 px	600

These are starting sizes rather than instructions from a publisher. Set the final dimensions according to the destination's requirements. The dialog shows both pixels and the physical size derived from DPI; you can also enter physical width or height in millimetres.

SVG offers white or transparent backgrounds plus options to include warning metadata and page guides. PDF is vector-only, exports the current page on a white background, and can be compressed; it can also include page guides. SVG compatibility warnings propagate into PDF because PDF follows the SVG geometry path.

PNG supports a transparent or white background. JPEG, BMP, GIF, and TIFF flatten transparency onto white; GIF additionally uses palette encoding. Raster export is desktop-only in the dialog. JPEG exposes a quality control. The preview is a preview, not the final raster file: large preset previews are constrained for responsiveness while the chosen final export size remains in effect.

Structure-list exports: SDF and SMILES

SDF and SMILES export the selected editable native molecules. If no editable native molecule is selected, they export all editable native molecules on the page. Records are ordered for reading: rows from top to bottom, then left to right.

An SDF contains one V2000 record per molecule and includes SMILES and index fields. A SMILES export writes one SMILES per line, with a name or index. These formats are not page-layout exports: arrows, text, and decorative objects do not become structure records.

ChemDraft verifies chemical-file exports against canonical SMILES with stereochemistry and fails rather than writing an export whose structure does not match its input. Some drawn labels or features may not be representable; in that case, read the warning rather than assuming an approximate structure is equivalent.

CDXML export

Choose CDXML for page interchange. The dialog lets you set the Creation program field and returns compatibility warnings for visible objects that cannot be represented faithfully. A native .chemdraft save is the better choice when you need to reopen and continue editing in ChemDraft. See CDXML Support for what is visible, embedded, approximated, or preserved as unknown data.

Next

• File Formats and Compatibility
• CDXML Support
• Publication Figures and Style Presets
• Saving Sessions and Recovery