Export an embroidery file
When your design is ready to stitch, export it to a file your machine reads.
- 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 through Options and Review, then export. The file is saved (desktop) or downloaded (web).
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 Options 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 already center, and for Brother PES/PEC, which the machine re-centers regardless of what Boldbobbin writes. See Placement.
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
Where a design sits in the file is decided per format, because the formats disagree about what the coordinates mean.
| Formats | What Boldbobbin writes |
|---|---|
| DST, EXP, U01, XXX, JEF | Centered in the file. These have no in-file hoop origin (you zero the frame on the machine), and JEF's header assumes a centered design. |
| PES, PEC | Corner-anchored, the way every Brother file we measured is written, including ones from Brother's own software. |
| VP3 | Your placement, kept. VP3 embeds its own design center. |
| SVG, PNG, JSON, CSV, TXT | Your authored coordinates. |
A PES or PEC export could land off to one side of the hoop on Innov-is and similar machines. Brother machines re-center a design on its bounding box when they load the file, and Boldbobbin was centering it too, so the machine shifted an already-shifted design. Files are now written corner-anchored and the machine's own centering does the right thing. It was never your placement or your hoop setting. Export again from v1.2.6 or later and it is correct. 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, 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. Removing or changing the offending content ungates the design immediately.
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 Free vs. Pro.
Watermark on image exports
On the Free plan, PNG and SVG exports carry a small "Boldbobbin" badge. Machine files are never watermarked. See Free vs. Pro.