Affinity Paste Special and New from Clipboard on Windows

Two commands solve most paste problems in Affinity on Windows. Edit > Paste Special lets you pick which clipboard format to paste (for example SVG or a bitmap) when a plain paste gives you the wrong result. File > New from Clipboard creates a new document sized to whatever you copied. To send vector artwork to other apps, turn on Copy items as SVG in the General section of Settings (Preferences in older versions).

Which Affinity are you using?

Affinity is now a single free app that combines vector design, photo editing and page layout; the earlier Affinity Photo 2, Designer 2 and Publisher 2 were separate apps. The paste commands below come from Affinity's help and apply to the Windows desktop versions of both. If a menu sits in a slightly different place in your version, the command names are the same.

Affinity's paste commands

Use Paste Special when a paste looks wrong

Apps usually put several formats on the clipboard at once: perhaps a bitmap, SVG and text. A normal paste picks one for you. Paste Special shows the formats that are actually there and lets you choose. Affinity's help notes the list changes depending on what you copied.

Typical uses:

• A logo pastes as a soft bitmap when you wanted editable curves. Open Paste Special and pick an SVG format if one is offered.
• Text from a web page brings unwanted styling. Pick a plain text format, or use Paste without Format.
• A pasted screenshot comes in at an odd size. Pick the bitmap format directly.

If the list only shows bitmap formats, the source app didn't provide vectors. Export an SVG or PDF from the source app and place the file with File > Place instead.

New from Clipboard: start a document from a copy

File > New from Clipboard creates a new document from what's on the clipboard. Affinity's help describes it as a way to start a project from another Affinity project, or from copied or captured imagery.

• Copy a vector object, and the new document is sized to that object, with the object still a vector.
• Copy a screenshot with Win+Shift+S, and you get a document the same pixel size as the capture.

It's the fastest way to crop or annotate a screenshot without first guessing the canvas size. If the command is greyed out or reports it can't use the clipboard, you probably copied a file in File Explorer (a file reference, not an image) or nothing usable. Copy the image itself, or open the file instead. Copied image pastes as a file path? explains the difference.

Paste or Place?

Placing a file keeps its full resolution. Pasting a screenshot of the same image gives you whatever pixels were on screen, so use Place for anything that will be printed or exported at size. Packaging is the strictest case: a dieline has to reach the printer as a vector file, never a pasted bitmap.

Copying out of Affinity to other apps

Copying between Affinity documents keeps native objects. Other apps can only read the formats Affinity puts on the Windows clipboard:

• With Copy items as SVG on, Affinity also puts SVG on the clipboard, so apps that accept SVG can paste editable vectors. Affinity's help notes this setting is what makes the SVG formats appear in Paste Special.
• Apps that only take pixels (Word, Teams, many browser tools) get a bitmap.
• Preserve Unicode breaks when copying plain text, in the same General section, keeps paragraph breaks when you copy text out to other apps.

For anything transparent, export a PNG rather than pasting; transparency doesn't always survive the clipboard. How to keep transparent PNGs transparent through paste covers why, and SVG or PNG: which survives the clipboard? helps you choose a format.

What Windows clipboard history keeps

Windows clipboard history (Win+V) stores text, HTML and bitmaps up to 4 MB each, and clears unpinned items on restart. From Affinity, that means small bitmaps and text (hex codes, copy) can reappear in Win+V, but native Affinity objects and large pixel layers won't. Files copied in File Explorer aren't stored at all.

If you need copied images and exported files to stick around between sessions, a clipboard manager can help. Edge Drop keeps copied images (saved as PNG) and files copied in File Explorer on a screen-edge shelf, and you can drag them back into Affinity or any app that accepts dropped files. How to drag an item out of Edge Drop into any app shows how.

FAQ

Why is Paste Special missing in Affinity?

Affinity's help lists Paste Special as a Windows-only command. On a Mac or iPad you won't see it.

Why do Affinity vectors paste into other apps as images?

Copy items as SVG is probably off, so other apps only receive a bitmap. Turn it on in the General section of Settings and copy again, or export an SVG.

How do I paste a screenshot as a new document in Affinity?

Copy the screenshot (for example with Win+Shift+S), then choose File > New from Clipboard.

Related reading

• How to Copy and Paste SVG as Vectors, Not Pixels
• How to Keep Transparent PNGs Transparent Through Paste
• How to Paste an Image From the Clipboard on Windows
• Photoshop Copy, Paste, and Place on Windows: Best Setup

Sources

• Copying and pasting (Affinity Help) — Affinity's current copy and paste options.
• New document from clipboard (Affinity Help) — New from Clipboard.
• Copying and pasting objects (Affinity Publisher 2 Help) — Paste Special (Windows only), Paste Inside, Paste Style, Paste FX, Copy items as SVG.
• Affinity (Canva) — the single, free Affinity app for design, photo editing and layout.
• Using the clipboard (Microsoft Support) — Win+V limits.

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