Export an embroidery file
When your design is ready to stitch, export it to a file your machine reads. You end with a machine file such as DST, PES or JEF to copy to your machine, plus, if you want them, a thread-color file, a printable run sheet, or an appliqué cut file beside it.
- Export embroidery…: the header Export button, File → Export → Export embroidery…, or Ctrl/Cmd+E.
- The Export embroidery wizard opens. Step 1 is "Pick a format."
- Choose your format. Hover any format for a one-line hint (the machine brand or what the file is for). If you've set up a machine in Settings, formats that match it show a small "Compatible with your machine" checkmark badge.
- Click Next. Step 2 is Review: check the name, size and stitch count, set any options, then click Export. The file is saved (desktop) or downloaded (web).
You set up a Brother PE800 with its Large Hoop (130×180 mm) in Settings.
- Press Ctrl/Cmd+E. PES carries the Compatible with your machine badge: pick it.
- Click Next to Review. Center design in the hoop does not appear: the machine centers a PES file itself when it loads it.
- Check the stitch count and click Export.
- Copy the
.pesfile to a USB stick for the machine.
As of v1.3.1, exporting asks you to sign in. If you are signed out, Next on the format step closes the wizard and opens the sign-in dialog: "Sign in or create a free account to export your design." A free account is enough.
Once you are signed in, the wizard comes back on its last step with the formats you had checked, so nothing has to be picked again. Close the dialog without signing in and the wizard reopens on the format step, where Next asks again.
On the web, signing in with Google or through the confirmation email reloads the page; your design and the wizard both come back afterwards. See Signing in.
Which format?
Pick the one your machine reads. The most broadly compatible is DST.
| Format | For |
|---|---|
| DST | Tajima: broadest machine compatibility |
| PES | Brother (PES v6, full RGB) |
| EXP | Melco |
| JEF | Janome |
| PEC | Brother PEC raw |
| VP3 | Pfaff / Husqvarna Viking |
| U01 | Barudan |
| XXX | Singer / Compucon |
There are also non-machine formats: SVG, PNG, JSON, CSV, TXT for previews and data. The full list with details is in Export formats.
Export options
The wizard's Review step has a few useful toggles:
- Look (PNG only): export the flat Stitch view or a Realistic render. Realistic needs WebGPU and is always opaque.
- Also save thread colors (.inf): DST and EXP don't store colors, so a
same-name
.infsidecar keeps them and the design reloads with its palette. The file and sidecar are bundled together as a.zip. - Center design in the hoop: move the design to the hoop center on export. It only appears when at least one format you picked is one it actually moves, which in practice means VP3 and the reference formats (SVG, PNG, JSON, CSV, TXT). It is hidden for DST, EXP, U01, XXX and JEF, which are always centered, and for Brother PES/PEC, which the machine centers itself when it loads the file. See Placement.
- Appliqué cut shapes (SVG): offered when the design has an appliqué. It adds an SVG of the fabric to cut for each appliqué, at actual size and numbered in sewing order. Print it at 100%, or send it to a cutting machine. New in v1.3.3. See Cut file.
- Mirror the cut shapes: shown once the cut file is ticked. For fusible web: trace the shapes on its paper side, and the fabric comes out the right way round.
Ticking the run sheet, the thread-color file or the cut file bundles everything
into one .zip, even for a single format.
Machine stops
An appliqué makes the machine stop between its layers so you can lay and trim the fabric. The machine file carries each stop as a pause on the same thread: the machine stops as it does for a color change, and you carry on with the same thread. The colors after a stop stay as you chose them, in an XXX file too, where the appliqué's cover and everything after it keep their own threads. The thread-color file (.inf) beside a DST or EXP repeats the thread at each stop as well.
Tie-in and Tie-off used to be two checkboxes on this step. They are now a property of each object, so you can see them on the canvas and they count toward the stitch total. See Ties.
Placement
Whether the spot where your design sits on the canvas carries over to the machine depends on the format.
| Formats | Where the design lands |
|---|---|
| DST, EXP, U01, XXX, JEF | Centered. Where the design sat on your canvas does not carry over; you position it on the machine. |
| PES, PEC | Centered by the machine. Brother machines center the design on the hoop when they load the file. |
| VP3 | Your placement, kept. A design you placed off-center stays off-center. |
| SVG, PNG, JSON, CSV, TXT | Your canvas placement. |
A PES or PEC exported before v1.2.6 could land off to one side of the hoop on Innov-is and similar machines. It was never your placement or your hoop setting. Export again from v1.2.6 or later and the machine centers it correctly. Other formats were never affected.
To export an animated video of your design stitching out, see Export a video.
If the design uses Pro features
A design containing Pro content (Photostitch, Auto-Trace, a fill pattern, a tatami gradient, a decorative stitch, your own lettering, or pixel art stitched as cross-stitch or mini-satin) prompts before it exports. The prompt lists every one of them at once rather than sending you round the loop once per feature, and it says plainly that nothing is locked and nothing in your work is lost: you upgrade only to send it out.
Keep editing dismisses it. Remove or change the Pro content (for example, switch a stippled fill back to plain Tatami) and the next export goes through without the prompt.
Run sheet PDF
You can also tick "Also save a printable run sheet (PDF)" in the wizard to get a one-page sheet of thread colors and stitch order alongside the file. See Export a run sheet PDF. (This is a Pro feature.)
Batch export (Pro)
Turn on Batch export to save several formats at once (bundled into one ZIP). On the Free plan you export one format at a time: "Free plan exports one format at a time. Upgrade to Pro to export several at once." See Plans and credits.
Watermark on image exports
On the Free plan, PNG and SVG exports carry a small "Boldbobbin" badge. Machine files are never watermarked. See Plans and credits.