VectorView for macOS — one library for every vector, design, document and image format your work throws at you.
Contents
- What VectorView does
- Supported files
- Getting started
- The library window
- Organising your library
- Searching, sorting and filtering
- Viewing a file
- The Inspector
- Format notes
- Copy Area, Copy Text and Crop
- Exporting and converting
- Printing
- Screenshots
- VectorView for Safari
- Free and Pro
- Settings
- Menus and keyboard shortcuts
- What’s new
- Troubleshooting
- Frequently asked questions
- Support
1. What VectorView does
Design and print work accumulates files in formats nothing on the Mac will open. A CorelDRAW logo from 2009. A Visio floor plan from the facilities team. A DXF from the fabricator, a .pub flyer from a client who uses Publisher, an InDesign package from an agency, a folder of camera RAW files, and forty EPS files that the Finder shows as forty identical blank icons.
VectorView opens all of them, in one window, as a library you can organise, search and convert.
It is built around the idea that you usually don’t have one file — you have a folder, a project, an archive, a client’s handoff. So instead of one window per document, VectorView gives you collections you can look through, with every file rendered rather than represented by a generic icon.
VectorView is a library, viewer and converter. It does not edit artwork, and it never modifies the contents of your original files.
Its siblings handle the narrower jobs: CDRViewer for CorelDRAW files one at a time, EPSViewer when you need to know what’s wrong with a PostScript or InDesign file before it goes to press, and Prepress when you want to combine and produce documents rather than browse them.
2. Supported files
VectorView reads over seventy file extensions. They fall into a few families.
Vector and page formats
| Family | Extensions |
|---|---|
| Adobe Acrobat | .pdf |
| Adobe Illustrator | .ai |
| PostScript | .ps, .eps, .epsf, .epsi |
| XPS | .xps, .oxps |
| CorelDRAW | .cdr, .cmx |
| WordPerfect Graphics | .wpg |
| AutoCAD | .dxf, .dwg |
| Windows Metafile | .wmf, .emf, .emz |
| Scalable Vector Graphics | .svg, .svgz |
Publishing and office documents
| Family | Extensions |
|---|---|
| Adobe InDesign | .indd, .indt, .idml |
| Microsoft Publisher | .pub |
| Microsoft Visio | .vsd, .vss, .vsdx, .vssx |
| Apple iWork | .pages, .key, .numbers |
| OmniGraffle | .graffle |
Design files
| Family | Extensions |
|---|---|
| Adobe Photoshop | .psd, .psb |
| Sketch | .sketch |
| Figma | .fig |
| Pixelmator | .pxd (Pixelmator Pro), .pxm (Pixelmator Classic) |
| Affinity | .af |
Fonts
| Family | Extensions |
|---|---|
| TrueType and OpenType | .ttf, .otf |
| Font collections | .ttc, .otc |
| Mac data-fork fonts | .dfont |
| Web fonts | .woff, .woff2 |
Comic books
| Family | Extensions |
|---|---|
| Comic book archives | .cbz (ZIP), .cbr (RAR) |
Image formats
| Family | Extensions |
|---|---|
| Standard images | .png, .jpg, .jpeg, .tif, .tiff, .webp, .bmp, .gif |
| Apple | .heic, .heif |
| Icons | .ico, .icns |
Camera RAW
| Manufacturer | Extensions |
|---|---|
| Sony | .arw, .sr2 |
| Canon | .crw, .cr2, .cr3 |
| Nikon | .nrw, .nef |
| Olympus | .orf |
| Fujifilm | .raf |
| Samsung | .srw |
| Panasonic | .rw2 |
| Pentax | .pef |
| Epson | .erf |
| Minolta | .mrw |
| Sigma | .x3f |
| Hasselblad | .3fr |
| Adobe Digital Negative | .dng |
| Generic | .raw |
The full, current list is also on the web: Help ▸ Supported File Formats.
In development
Support is being built for FreeHand (.fh, .fhd), Zoner Callisto (.zmf), QuarkXPress (.qxp), PageMaker (.pmd, .pm6) and older CorelDRAW templates (.cdt). These do not open yet. If you have files in these formats that matter to your work, sending them in genuinely speeds the work up — see Support.
3. Getting started
The Welcome screen
The first time you open VectorView, a short Welcome screen introduces the library, the formats and the screenshot tools, and walks you through allowing Screen Recording if you want to take screenshots. You can open it again at any time from Help ▸ Welcome Screen….
Adding files to your library
- Drag files or folders into the VectorView window.
- Choose File ▸ Import (⌘I) and pick files or a folder.
- Save graphics from Safari with the VectorView for Safari extension — see VectorView for Safari.
- Take a screenshot with VectorView’s own screenshot tools — see Screenshots.
Adding a folder brings in every supported file it contains. Unsupported files are skipped silently rather than reported one by one. Finder tags already on your files come in with them, as VectorView tags.
Copy in, or reference in place
VectorView can hold your files either way. Copy items to the VectorView library, in Settings ▸ Library, decides which:
- On (the default) — the file is copied into VectorView’s own library folder when you add it. Your library is then self-contained and survives the original being moved, renamed or deleted, at the cost of disk space.
- Off — the file stays exactly where it is on disk, and VectorView keeps an index and a rendered preview pointing at it. Nothing is duplicated. If you later move or rename the file in the Finder, VectorView can lose track of it.
Referencing suits an organised archive you already maintain. Copying suits pulling files in from scattered places — a client handoff, a memory card, a shared drive you won’t always be connected to.
Two related settings are worth setting deliberately at the start, both in Settings ▸ Library: Move original files to trash after import, and Delete Behaviour, which decides whether deleting a referenced file also deletes it from disk.
Whichever you choose, VectorView never modifies the contents of your files.
First render
Files are rendered as they are added. A large folder of complex artwork takes a moment to work through; previews appear progressively rather than all at once, and you can start browsing before it finishes.
4. The library window
| Area | What it is |
|---|---|
| Sidebar | Your collections, their folders, and your Cloud collections. Toggle with View ▸ Toggle Sidebar (⌃⌘S). |
| Browser | The files themselves, in one of four layouts. |
| Preview | A file opened large, with page navigation, zoom, rotation and the preview tools. |
| Inspector | Details about the selected file, files or collection — see The Inspector. |
| Search field | Searches the whole library as you type. |
Layouts
The browser has four layouts, switched from the buttons above the files:
- Waterfall — columns of equal width, each card as tall as its file’s shape. The best way to look through mixed portrait and landscape work.
- Justified — rows of equal height, each card as wide as its file’s shape, filling the width of the window like a photo gallery.
- Grid — square cards, for scanning a lot of files at once at a regular rhythm.
- List — a row per file, for when you care about names, formats, sizes and dates rather than what the artwork looks like.
The thumbnail size slider sets how large cards are in every layout except List.
Arrow keys move the selection. Double-click a file, or press Space, to open its preview.
5. Organising your library
Collections
Collections are the top level of your library. Every file belongs to one collection.
VectorView starts with these:
| Collection | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Inbox | Where new files land by default — imports, screenshots and graphics saved from Safari. |
| All | Every file in the library, wherever it lives (except Trash). |
| Tags | Your tags, and the files carrying each one. |
| Screenshots | Appears once you choose it as the destination for screenshots in Settings. |
| Temporary | Files you only need for a while. They are deleted automatically after the period set in Settings ▸ Cleanup, and the Inspector shows how long each has left. |
| Trash | Deleted files, until they are restored or the Cleanup schedule removes them. |
Your own collections appear below these, under My Collections. Create one with Collection ▸ New Collection (⇧⌘N), or select some files and choose New Collection from Selection… to create it and move them in at once. To move files between collections, drag them from the browser onto a collection in the sidebar.
The Collection menu also renames, deletes, merges two collections into one, moves a collection to iCloud, and opens Get Info (⌥⌘I) — a summary of the collection, including how its files divide between formats.
Folders
Within a collection, you can add folders, and folders inside folders: right-click a collection and choose Add Folder…. Use them for the structure that matches how the work is actually divided — by client, by project, by year. A file in a folder appears in that folder only, not loose at the top of the collection.
Tags
Tags are labels you attach to files, and a file can carry as many as you like. Where collections and folders answer “where does this belong”, tags answer “what is this like” — logo, approved, needs-fonts, print-ready, 2024-rebrand.
Add tags in the Inspector, or select several files, right-click and choose Tag Files…. Each tag gets its own colour. The Tags collection lists every tag, and the browser’s Filter by Tag menu narrows any collection to one.
Tip: the useful split is collections and folders for structure, tags for state. A file moves between
draftandapprovedmany times; it rarely moves between clients.
Notes
Every file can carry free-text notes, added in the Inspector. Notes are searchable.
Cloud collections
If iCloud is enabled in Settings ▸ Cloud, collections can be moved to iCloud with Collection ▸ Move to iCloud…. Cloud collections appear in their own section of the sidebar, and their files are available in VectorView on iPhone and iPad. Everything else in your library stays on this Mac.
Working with several files
Select several files and right-click to rename, tag, move, copy or delete them all at once, make a new collection from them, or combine them into one PDF.
Removing files
Deleted files go to VectorView’s Trash collection first, where they stay until you restore them, empty the Trash (File ▸ Empty Trash…, ⇧⌘⌫), or the Cleanup schedule removes them. Until then, nothing is irreversible.
What happens to the file on disk when it finally leaves the Trash depends on how it was added, and on Delete Behaviour in Settings ▸ Library:
- Files copied into the library are always removed from the library folder.
- Files referenced in place are removed from VectorView, and — only if you have set Delete Behaviour to do so — deleted from their original location as well.
6. Searching, sorting and filtering
Search
Type in the search field to search the whole library (everything except the Trash). Search matches:
- file names
- file types —
cdrfinds every CorelDRAW file - collection names
- tags
- notes
Results replace the current view until you clear the search.
Sorting and filtering
The Sort and filter menu above the browser offers:
- Sort By — Date Added, Date Modified, Date Imported, Size (Largest First), Size (Smallest First) or Type.
- Show Type — narrow the view to one format.
- Filter by Tag — narrow the view to one tag.
- Default — put everything back.
Sorting by Type is the quickest way to group a mixed collection into “all the vector files, then all the images”.
7. Viewing a file
Double-click a file, or press Space, to open its preview.
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| Zoom in | ⌘+, or the zoom buttons |
| Zoom out | ⌘−, or the zoom buttons |
| Actual size | ⌘0 |
| Pan | Scroll, or two-finger drag |
| Next / previous file | → / ← |
| Rotate | The rotate buttons, 90° either way |
Rotation turns the view only; the file itself is never changed.
Multi-page documents
PDF, PostScript, XPS, InDesign, CorelDRAW, Publisher, Visio, WordPerfect Graphics and comic books can all carry more than one page. Page controls appear when the document has more than one, and the page sidebar shows a thumbnail of every page — click one to jump straight to it.
Preview background
Each family of formats opens on its own background colour: white for anything with a page, a transparent checkerboard for design files where transparency matters, the window’s own colour for images. Change the defaults in Settings ▸ Preview. The background button in the preview’s toolbar changes it for the file you’re looking at, without changing the default.
Fonts
A font opens as a sheet of every glyph it contains, each in its own cell. The slider in the toolbar sets the glyph size. A font collection (.ttc, .otc) shows each of its fonts.
8. The Inspector
The Inspector shows what VectorView knows about whatever is selected.
One file:
- Information — format, dimensions, page count and file size, plus format-specific details such as the CorelDRAW version.
- Colors — the main colours used in the artwork. Click a colour to copy its hex value.
- Photo — camera and exposure details, for photos that carry them.
- Location — whether the file was imported into the library or is referenced in its original folder, with Reveal in Finder.
- Dates — when it was created, modified and added.
- Expiration — for files in Temporary or Trash, how long until they are deleted.
- Tags and Notes.
Several files — a summary of the selection and how it divides between formats.
A collection — statistics, the file types it holds, and actions such as Empty Trash for the Trash.
9. Format notes
Different formats carry different amounts of information, and it’s worth knowing what to expect before you conclude something is wrong.
How VectorView renders
VectorView aims for one best-looking preview of every file, with no import options to choose between. Text is drawn as outlines, so it looks right even when you don’t have the fonts; gradients, shadows and transparencies that a format can’t express exactly are drawn as embedded images, which is the closest match to what the original application shows.
If you want to compare different interpretations of a CorelDRAW file — exact image versus editable vector for effects, for example — that’s what CDRViewer is for.
CorelDRAW (.cdr, .cmx)
Files from CorelDRAW X3 through CorelDRAW 2026 are rendered by VectorView’s own CorelDRAW engine — the same one used in CDRViewer — including blends, PowerClips, drop shadows, transparencies and placed images. Older .cdr files and .cmx files are rendered by a second engine.
InDesign (.indd, .indt, .idml)
Every spread is rendered, page by page, with text, frames, swatches and tables.
.indtis an InDesign template, the same format as.indd..idmlnever contains pictures — only references to linked files. If an.inddof the same name is in the same collection, VectorView takes the pictures from it. Otherwise picture frames show as placeholders.
XPS (.xps, .oxps)
Microsoft’s page format renders every page, as a printed document would.
Microsoft Publisher (.pub)
Publisher documents render with page backgrounds, embedded images and text frames.
Publisher stores where a text frame is but not always exactly how the text was broken into lines, so VectorView measures the frame and re-flows the text to fit. The result matches closely, but line breaks are an approximation: a paragraph may break one word differently than Publisher did. Layout, position, size and colour are accurate.
Microsoft Visio (.vsd, .vss, .vsdx, .vssx)
Both the older binary format and the modern XML format open. Stencil files (.vss, .vssx) show their shapes as a document page rather than as a palette you can drag from — VectorView views them, it doesn’t author with them.
Apple iWork (.pages, .key, .numbers)
VectorView shows the first page or slide, from the preview Pages, Keynote and Numbers store inside every document. This works without the apps installed. A document saved with Include preview turned off carries no preview; VectorView then asks macOS, which works when the app is installed.
Figma (.fig) and OmniGraffle (.graffle)
Shown from the preview picture stored in the document. Figma’s stored preview is small, so a Figma file looks soft when zoomed in or exported large.
Pixelmator (.pxd, .pxm) and Affinity (.af)
These have no published format, so VectorView shows them through the preview their own app provides to macOS. Pixelmator Pro, or Affinity, must be installed on the Mac; without it, VectorView says which app is needed. Pixelmator’s preview is limited to 1024 pixels on the long side for .pxd and 512 for .pxm.
Photoshop (.psd, .psb)
The composite image is shown — the flattened result of all visible layers, as Photoshop saved it. Individual layers are not browsable. Large Documents (.psb) open the same way.
Sketch (.sketch)
Shown from the preview stored in the document.
PostScript and EPS (.ps, .eps, .epsf, .epsi, .ai)
Rendered by a full PostScript interpreter, so these render as they will image, not as an embedded low-resolution preview. Illustrator files open whether they are PDF-compatible or legacy PostScript.
If you need to know whether a PostScript file is correct — bounding box, embedded fonts, ink coverage, which plates it separates onto — that’s EPSViewer Pro.
AutoCAD (.dxf, .dwg)
CAD drawings have no inherent page size, so VectorView fits the drawing extents to a page. Line weights, layers and text are rendered from the drawing.
DXF files offer import options when you add them, so you can control how the drawing is interpreted. CAD text depends on fonts and shape files that are not part of the drawing file, so annotation-heavy drawings can differ from what AutoCAD shows.
Metafiles (.wmf, .emf, .emz)
Windows metafiles are drawing-command streams and render faithfully in the common cases. Very old WMF files sometimes rely on Windows-specific behaviour that has no exact equivalent, and can render approximately.
Fonts
Every glyph in the font is shown, in a grid you can resize. The thumbnail shows Aa in the font itself. Export produces a glyph sheet — a PDF of every glyph.
Comic books (.cbz, .cbr)
A comic opens page by page, like a multi-page document, with the page sidebar for jumping around. Pages are ordered by their file names, the way every comic reader orders them.
- VectorView recognises the archive by its contents, so a ZIP comic named
.cbr(or the reverse) opens either way. - RAR comics are unpacked once when you open them, so a large one takes a moment the first time.
- Password-protected comics can’t be opened.
Camera RAW
RAW files are decoded to a viewable image using the camera manufacturer’s embedded processing information. This is a preview, not a RAW development: exposure, white balance and tone are as the camera recorded them, with no adjustments applied. For actual RAW processing, use a RAW developer.
Very new camera models may not be recognised until macOS itself adds support for them.
10. Copy Area, Copy Text and Crop
Three tools in the preview’s toolbar work on part of what you’re looking at.
Copy Area
Click Copy Area, then drag a rectangle over the preview. That part is copied to the clipboard as an image, ready to paste into a message, a document or another app.
Copy Text
Click Copy Text, then drag over part of the preview. VectorView recognises the text in that area — even in artwork where the text is outlines or pixels — and copies it to the clipboard.
Crop
Available for images, including Photoshop documents and camera RAW.
- Click Crop and drag over the part of the image you want to keep. The Inspector’s Crop section shows the selection’s size in pixels.
- Choose Export Cropped Area… to save it as a file anywhere, or Save As New File to add it to the same collection as the original.
- Click Done to leave crop mode.
The crop is cut from the full-resolution original, not from what is on screen, and the original file is never changed. The new file keeps the original’s format wherever macOS can write it. Camera RAW becomes TIFF (lossless), because no app on the Mac can write RAW. WebP and Photoshop crops become PNG.
11. Exporting and converting
Select a file, or open it, and choose File ▸ Export… (⌘E), or Export… from the file’s context menu.
| Format | Best for |
|---|---|
| Sharing, printing, sending to a print shop. Vector geometry is preserved. | |
| SVG | Web use, and re-opening in Illustrator, Affinity, Inkscape or Figma. Vector geometry is preserved. |
| PNG | Presentations and web graphics, with a transparent background if you want one. |
| TIFF | Print workflows, archiving, and handing artwork to prepress. Lossless. |
| JPG | Photos and email, where file size matters more than crisp edges. |
Options in the export panel:
- Pages — the current page, all pages, or a range, for multi-page documents.
- Quality — Screen (72 DPI), Medium (150), Print (300) or High-end (600), for PNG, TIFF and JPG.
- Transparent background — for PNG.
- Compression — for JPG.
- Resize — original size, a multiplier (0.5×, 1×, 2×, 3×), a custom width and height, or a percentage.
- Output filename — with an optional prefix and suffix.
- Watermark — see below.
Large multi-page exports show a progress overlay.
A few formats have only a preview picture to export from — iWork, Figma, OmniGraffle, Pixelmator and Affinity. For these, VectorView exports at the picture’s own size or smaller, rather than enlarging it and inventing detail. Comic books export to PDF with every page; to an image format, the cover. Fonts export as a glyph sheet PDF.
Tip: exporting a vector file to PNG or JPG discards the vector geometry. If the artwork might need editing later, export to SVG or PDF.
Watermark
Turn on Watermark in the export panel to add a line of text to the export. Choose its position (a corner or the centre), colour, size, opacity and an optional shadow.
- The size scales with the image, so the watermark looks the same at 1×, 2× and 3×.
- In PNG, JPG and TIFF it is drawn into the image.
- In PDF it is vector text on every page; in SVG it is a real text element.
- The last settings you used come back next time.
Combine into PDF
Select two or more files and choose File ▸ Combine into PDF…, or Combine Files into PDF… from the context menu. Every page of every file goes into one PDF, in the order shown in the browser. Images become a page each. A file that can’t be converted is skipped rather than stopping the whole document, and VectorView tells you which.
Exporting several files to separate files in one go is planned but not available yet.
12. Printing
File ▸ Print… (⌘P) opens the standard macOS print dialog for the selected or open file. Scale, paper size and page range come from the system dialog.
PDF, Illustrator, PostScript and EPS, XPS, InDesign, CorelDRAW, WordPerfect Graphics, metafiles, CAD drawings and comic books are sent as vector pages and stay sharp at any size. Images print as images.
Other formats — Publisher and Visio among them — can’t be printed directly yet. Export to PDF first and print that.
13. Screenshots
VectorView has its own screenshot tools, and every screenshot goes straight into your library.
Taking a screenshot
From the camera icon in the menu bar, or with a keyboard shortcut from any app:
| Capture | Default shortcut | How |
|---|---|---|
| Capture Area | ⌥⇧⌘4 | Drag over the part of the screen you want. |
| Capture Window | ⌥⇧⌘5 | Click the window you want. |
| Capture Full Screen | ⌥⇧⌘3 | The whole screen, at once. |
Press Esc to cancel an area or window capture. VectorView’s own windows step aside while you capture, so they don’t get in the shot.
Where screenshots go
Every screenshot is saved into your library and tagged screenshot, so the Tags collection always gathers them. By default they go to the Inbox. In Settings ▸ Screenshot you can send them to a Screenshots collection or any collection of your own, choose PNG, JPEG or HEIC, and have each one copied to the clipboard as well.
Screen Recording permission
macOS requires your permission before any app can capture the screen. The first time, VectorView explains how to allow it: Open System Settings, turn VectorView on in Privacy & Security ▸ Screen & System Audio Recording, then quit and reopen VectorView if macOS asks. The Welcome screen and the Screenshot tab of Settings both walk you through it and show when it’s allowed.
14. VectorView for Safari
The Safari extension saves graphics from any web page into your VectorView Inbox — vector or raster.
- Turn it on in Safari’s Settings ▸ Extensions. Help ▸ Safari Extension in VectorView shows how.
- On a web page, click the VectorView button in Safari’s toolbar. It scans the page and shows every graphic it finds.
- Select the ones you want — or Select all — and click Save to Inbox.
15. Free and Pro
VectorView is free to download and use. VectorView Pro unlocks everything.
| Free | Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Collections | Up to 3 | Unlimited |
| Folders, tags, notes, search, sort and filter | ✅ | ✅ |
| Image previews | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Vector previews, such as CorelDRAW | Your first 30 files | Unlimited |
| Export | Limited | Full, including high DPI |
| Themes: Rosé Pine, Olive Dunk, Everglade | — | ✅ |
| Priority support | — | ✅ |
A vector file you have already previewed stays viewable after the free allowance is used.
Upgrading
Choose VectorView ▸ Get VectorView Pro (⇧⌘W) to see the plans: monthly, annual, or a one-time lifetime purchase. Purchases are handled by the App Store and tied to your Apple Account.
Restoring a purchase
On a new Mac, or after reinstalling, open Get VectorView Pro and choose Restore, signed in with the same Apple Account used originally.
Pro status is per-app. VectorView for macOS and VectorView for iPhone and iPad are separate apps, and each is purchased on its own — as are CDRViewer Pro and EPSViewer Pro.
16. Settings
VectorView ▸ Settings (⌘,), in six tabs.
General
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Language | The language VectorView uses, independently of your system language. Takes effect after a restart. |
| Appearance | System, Light or Dark, or one of the Pro themes: Rosé Pine, Olive Dunk and Everglade, which recolour the whole app. |
| Animate zoom transitions | Whether zooming eases smoothly between levels or snaps straight to the new one. Turn it off if you prefer immediate response. |
Preview
The background colour each family of formats opens on: CorelDRAW, SVG, PDF & PostScript, CAD drawings, metafiles, office documents, design files, fonts and images.
Choose from the window’s own background, white, light grey, grey, dark grey, black, light blue, light green, light yellow, or transparent (a checkerboard). Restore Defaults puts every family back. The background button in the preview’s toolbar overrides this for the file you’re looking at, and isn’t saved.
Library
This tab governs where your files live and what happens to the originals.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Copy items to the VectorView library | On: added files are copied into the library. Off: they are referenced where they are. See Getting started. |
| Move original files to trash after import | With copying on, moves the originals to the Trash once the copy has succeeded. Off by default. |
| Delete Behaviour | What happens on disk when a referenced file is deleted permanently — see below. |
| Allowed Folders | The folders VectorView has your permission to work in. |
| Library Location | Where the library lives — your Pictures folder by default. Change Location… moves it, for instance onto an external drive; Show in Finder and Reset to Default are alongside. |
| Repair Library Database | Scans your library folder and rebuilds the database from the files on disk. Recovered collections are named “Recovered Collection” and need renaming by hand. |
Allowed Folders
macOS only lets an app touch files you have given it access to. VectorView keeps secure access to the folders listed here so it can move or delete the referenced files in them, even after a restart. Add Folder… adds one.
Removing a folder revokes that access. It never deletes anything: files already in your library stay listed, and the files on disk are untouched; VectorView simply can no longer move or delete them on disk.
Delete Behaviour
This applies only to files referenced in their original location. Files copied into the library are always removed from the library folder; there is no second copy to consider.
- Remove from VectorView only — the entry disappears from VectorView; the file stays exactly where it is on disk. The safe default.
- Also delete the original from disk — the file itself is deleted as well. What you want when VectorView is genuinely acting as your file manager.
Screenshot
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Show screenshot icon in the menu bar | Shows or hides the camera icon. The keyboard shortcuts work either way. |
| Save to | Inbox, Screenshots, or any of your own collections. |
| Format | PNG, JPEG or HEIC. |
| Also copy to the clipboard | Copies each screenshot as well as saving it. Off by default. |
| Shortcuts | Click a shortcut and press the new keys. Esc cancels, Delete clears it. Restore Defaults brings back ⌥⇧⌘3, 4 and 5. |
| Permission | Whether Screen Recording is allowed, with a button to open System Settings. |
Cleanup
VectorView removes old Temporary and Trash files on a schedule.
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Auto-cleanup | On | Turns the whole schedule on or off. With it off, nothing is removed automatically. |
| Delete temporary files after | 7 days | How long files stay in the Temporary collection. 1 to 30 days. |
| Delete trash files after | 30 days | How long deleted files stay in the Trash before being removed permanently. 7 to 90 days. |
| Show warning badge when | 2 days left | How far ahead of a deletion a file is badged, so you see it before it goes. |
Cloud
VectorView can keep part of your library in iCloud, shared with VectorView on iPhone and iPad.
Turn it on and collections can be moved to iCloud. Their files sync, and appear in the Cloud folder in the iOS app — so artwork you add on the Mac is on your iPad without a cable, an email, or a trip through a shared drive.
- iCloud is the only cloud service supported at present.
- Only Cloud collections sync. The rest of your library stays on this Mac.
- Syncing needs both devices signed in to the same Apple Account with iCloud Drive enabled.
- The two apps are separate purchases, but Cloud collections work regardless.
17. Menus and keyboard shortcuts
File
| Command | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| New Window | ⌘O |
| New Collection | ⇧⌘N |
| Import | ⌘I |
| Export… | ⌘E |
| Combine into PDF… | — |
| Print… | ⌘P |
| Empty Trash… | ⇧⌘⌫ |
Collection
| Command | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| New Collection | ⇧⌘N |
| New Collection from Selection… | — |
| Rename… | ⇧⌘R |
| Delete… | — |
| Move to iCloud… | — |
| Merge with… | — |
| Get Info | ⌥⌘I |
Graphic
| Command | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Open | Space |
| Open With | — |
| Rename… | ⌘R |
| Move to… | ⇧⌘M |
| Copy to… | ⇧⌘C |
| Delete | ⌫ |
| Select All | ⌘A |
| Deselect | ⇧⌘D |
| Zoom In | ⌘+ |
| Zoom Out | ⌘− |
| Actual Size | ⌘0 |
| Share | — |
View
| Command | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Toggle Sidebar | ⌃⌘S |
Screenshots (from any app)
| Command | Default shortcut |
|---|---|
| Capture Full Screen | ⌥⇧⌘3 |
| Capture Area | ⌥⇧⌘4 |
| Capture Window | ⌥⇧⌘5 |
Help
Help opens this guide on the web. The menu also has Supported File Formats, Support, Send Feedback, VectorView for iOS, Safari Extension and Welcome Screen….
VectorView ▸ About VectorView shows the version, and the open-source software VectorView includes, with each licence.
18. What’s new
This release
Screenshots from the menu bar
- Capture an area, a window or the full screen from the new menu bar icon, or with global shortcuts you can change.
- Screenshots go straight into your library, tagged “screenshot” — in the Inbox, a Screenshots collection or any collection you choose.
- PNG, JPEG or HEIC, with an option to copy each to the clipboard.
- The Welcome screen walks you through allowing Screen Recording.
Crop images — crop any image in the preview, then export it or save it as a new file. Crops are cut from the full-resolution original.
Watermarks — add a text watermark when exporting to PNG, JPEG, TIFF, PDF or SVG, or when combining files into a PDF.
New formats
- InDesign — INDD, INDT and IDML, every spread, page by page.
- Comic books — CBZ and CBR, page by page with a page sidebar, and export to PDF.
- Fonts — TTF, OTF, TTC, OTC, DFONT, WOFF and WOFF2: every glyph, a size slider, and glyph sheet export.
- Apple iWork — Pages, Keynote and Numbers.
- Figma and OmniGraffle.
Also new
- A new About window, listing the open-source software VectorView includes.
Fixes
- Loading and error messages are now readable in dark mode and dark themes.
- The menu bar icon no longer shows a background colour under custom themes.
Earlier releases
- CorelDRAW X3 through 2026 rendered by VectorView’s own CorelDRAW engine, shared with CDRViewer.
- XPS and OpenXPS, Photoshop Large Documents (
.psb), Pixelmator and Affinity documents. - Copy Area and Copy Text in the preview.
- Combine into PDF for any mix of files.
- Waterfall and Justified layouts.
- Per-format preview backgrounds, in Settings ▸ Preview.
- Themes — Rosé Pine, Olive Dunk and Everglade.
- Printing for CorelDRAW, CMX, WordPerfect Graphics, EPS, metafiles and CAD drawings.
- Export from the All collection.
- VectorView for Safari — save graphics from any web page to the Inbox.
- Publisher documents with page backgrounds, embedded images and re-flowed text.
- Cloud collections, synced with VectorView on iPhone and iPad.
Coming next
- Batch export — convert a selection of files in one run.
- Export and printing for Publisher documents.
- Multi-page iWork — every page and slide, not just the first.
- Support for FreeHand, Zoner Callisto (
.zmf), QuarkXPress (.qxp), PageMaker (.pmd,.pm6) and older CorelDRAW templates (.cdt).
19. Troubleshooting
A referenced file shows as missing
When files are referenced rather than copied, VectorView points at them where they live, so moving or renaming one in the Finder breaks the link. Remove the entry and add the file again from its new location.
If this happens often, turn on Copy items to the VectorView library in Settings ▸ Library for files added from then on.
VectorView can’t move or delete a referenced file
That folder is probably not in Allowed Folders in Settings ▸ Library — access may have been removed, or the file came from somewhere VectorView was never granted access to. Add the folder and try again. Nothing is lost in the meantime; the file is simply out of reach.
Screenshots don’t work, or capture only the desktop
VectorView needs Screen Recording permission. Open Settings ▸ Screenshot, click Open System Settings, turn VectorView on, then quit and reopen VectorView.
A screenshot shortcut does nothing
Another app may already use the same keys. Set a different shortcut in Settings ▸ Screenshot.
A Pixelmator or Affinity file says an app is required
VectorView shows these files through the app that made them. Install Pixelmator Pro or Affinity on this Mac and the preview appears.
An iWork document doesn’t show
It was probably saved with Include preview turned off in Pages, Keynote or Numbers. Open it there, turn the option back on in the save settings, and save again — or install the app on this Mac.
An IDML shows grey placeholders instead of pictures
IDML files never contain pictures, only links to them. Add the .indd of the same name to the same collection, and VectorView takes the pictures from it.
A comic book won’t open
It may be password-protected, which VectorView can’t open, or it may not contain any page images.
Files in a Cloud collection aren’t appearing on my iPhone or iPad
Check that both devices are signed in to the same Apple Account with iCloud Drive turned on, that Cloud is enabled in Settings on both, and that each has been online since the file was added. Large files take a while to upload, and iCloud does the work in its own time.
Only Cloud collections sync. Files elsewhere in the library stay on the Mac by design.
Loading text is hard to read on the preview
Change the background for that format family in Settings ▸ Preview, or for the current file with the background button in the preview’s toolbar.
A file opens blank or renders incompletely
Some formats carry features that have no exact equivalent when rendered outside the application that wrote them — live effects, application-specific fills, embedded objects.
Try opening the file in the application it came from and exporting to PDF or SVG, then compare. If it renders correctly there but not here, please send the file in (Support). Rendering problems are almost always fixed by looking at the actual file.
A Publisher document’s text breaks differently than in Publisher
Expected. Publisher stores frame positions rather than final line breaks, so the text is re-flowed to fit. Position, size, font and colour are accurate; where a line breaks may differ by a word.
Adding a large folder is slow
Every file is rendered as it’s added, and some formats are expensive to interpret. Previews appear progressively — you can browse while the rest finishes. If a single file consistently takes more than about a minute, please report it.
A camera RAW file won’t open
RAW decoding relies on macOS recognising the camera model. Very recent cameras are sometimes not supported until a macOS update adds them. Check for system updates, or convert the file to DNG.
I bought Pro but the app still shows limits
Open Get VectorView Pro and choose Restore, signed in to the Apple Account used for the purchase. If that doesn’t resolve it, quit and reopen the app so it can re-check with the App Store.
20. Frequently asked questions
Can VectorView edit artwork?
No. It is a library, viewer and converter. Files are opened read-only and never modified. Crop makes a new file rather than changing the original. To edit, export to SVG or PDF and open the result in a vector editor.
Does it copy my files into the app?
That’s your choice, in Settings ▸ Library: copy files into VectorView’s library, or reference them where they are. Either way the contents of your files are never modified.
Can I use my library on my iPhone or iPad?
Partly. Turn on iCloud in Settings ▸ Cloud and move a collection to iCloud; its files sync with VectorView on iOS. The rest of the library stays on the Mac.
Does it send my files anywhere?
No. All rendering happens on your Mac. VectorView works with no network connection.
Can it convert a whole folder at once?
Not yet. Batch export is planned. For now, files are exported one at a time — though Combine into PDF turns any number of files into one PDF.
Can it save back to CorelDRAW, InDesign, Visio or Publisher formats?
No. VectorView reads those formats; it doesn’t write them. Export to PDF, SVG or an image format instead.
Why does only the first page of my Pages, Keynote or Numbers document show?
VectorView shows the preview these apps store inside the document, which is the first page or slide. Every page is planned.
Do I need Pixelmator Pro or Affinity installed?
For their files, yes — VectorView shows them through the preview the app provides to macOS. Every other format opens without the app that made it.
What’s the difference between VectorView and CDRViewer?
VectorView is a library across many formats and gives one best-looking preview of each file. CDRViewer is a dedicated CorelDRAW viewer that also lets you compare different ways of interpreting a file, with measuring and inspection tools. Both use the same CorelDRAW engine. Many people use both.
Is there an iPhone and iPad version?
Yes — VectorView for iPhone and iPad. It’s a separate app and a separate purchase. Help ▸ VectorView for iOS opens it on the App Store.
Why doesn’t my .fh / .zmf / .qxp / .pmd / .cdt file open?
Those formats are in development and not supported yet. Sending in files in these formats helps the work along.
21. Support
- Help and supported formats: blue-tail.com/vectorview
- Send feedback: blue-tail.com/support/feedback/vectorview, or Help ▸ Send Feedback
- Email: support@blue-tail.com
When reporting a rendering problem, the most useful thing you can send is the file itself, along with the application that produced it and a screenshot of how it should look. A file in hand is worth a hundred descriptions.
VectorView includes open-source software — libarchive, libcdr, libmspub, libvisio, libwpg, librevenge, Boost, ICU and Little CMS. Their licences are shown in VectorView ▸ About VectorView.
© Bluetail Team. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. CorelDRAW is a trademark of Corel Corporation; Visio, Publisher, XPS and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation; Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign and PostScript are trademarks of Adobe Inc.; AutoCAD is a trademark of Autodesk, Inc.; Pages, Keynote and Numbers are trademarks of Apple Inc.; Figma, Sketch, OmniGraffle, Pixelmator and Affinity are trademarks of their respective owners. VectorView is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them.