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Beginners' Questions unable to set document background to transparent
  1. #1
    SeanMrtwo SeanMrtwo @SeanMrtwo

    I was on 1.3.2 and uninstalled and installed 1.4.2 today to try to resolve this.  I have a windows 11 systems and created my first DTF Gang Sheet to send to a printshop.  The sizing was easy, positioning was great but when I sent the file in SVG format, they called me to tell me the background was white.  I thought this would be an easy fix but I can't figure out how to set the background on the SVG to transparent.  I have seen in google and chatgpt that I am supposed to set the Alpha channel to zero to make it transparent but I don't see that option anywhere.  The only place I see RGBA is in the bottom right hand of the color selection screen or color picker but even if I put in ffffff00 it reverts back to ffffffff with no alpha channel set to 0.  I can edit the svg file manually and set pagecolor="none" but that seems like more of a workaround.  I am sure I am missing something here so I am posting hoping for help.  I have attached a screenshot of my background color options.

    Thanks in advance!

    Sean

    Screenshot 2025 07 05 124151
  2. #2
    Tyler Durden Tyler Durden @TylerDurden

    In case it hasn't been done after the latest install, I'd reset the preferences.https://inkscape.org/forums/questions/getting-back-to-square-one-and-starting-over-its-easy/

  3. #3
    SeanMrtwo SeanMrtwo @SeanMrtwo

    Thanks for this tip.  Unfortunately, this did not resolve the issue I am having.  I am pretty sure it is a user error but I would like to be able to send svg to printers without having to export to PNG.

     

  4. #4
    Tyler Durden Tyler Durden @TylerDurden

    FWIW, Most printers will take PDF files which retain vector objects. (Masked objects might not work properly)

  5. #5
    karliss karliss @karliss

    The color in page settings might be a red herring. I would recommend double checking the structure of drawing itself. Most software only draws the actual objects within page part treating everything else as transparent. So I would guess that either you have problems with the drawing itself (not the page settings), or the person at print shop doesn't know what they are doing and they almost never handle SVG files and their software handle them in weird way.

    The page background isn't even part of standard svg, it's a part of inkscape specific tag describing a bunch of stuff which only matters while editing in inkscape.

    You can also try exporting as plain svg in which case the page background property isn't included. Although considering the 2 most likely possibilities of problem being with drawing itself, or print shop not handling the svg properly, it probably won't help.

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