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3.5. Exporting the crossword

 
You can save your crossword in a different file format and/or location by choosing the File > Save As... menu or pressing the   button on the Toolbar.
 
The Save As dialog lets you save / export your crossword in a variety of formats as shown in the figure below:
 
Fig. 3.5.1. File types available in the Save As dialog
 

XPF and IPUZ

 
The default save format is XPF. XPF and IPUZ are specialized crossword puzzle formats that can store the grid structure, words, clues, and meta-information.
 
An example of the content of an XPF crossword is shown below:
 
Fig. 3.5.2. Internal content of an XPF file containing crossword data
 
An example of the content of an IPUZ crossword is shown below:
 
Fig. 3.5.3. Internal content of an IPUZ file containing crossword data
 
Both these files give exactly the same crossword in pycrossword:
 
Fig. 3.5.4. Crossword with filled clues
 

Text file

 
As mentioned in Creating a new crossword, pycrossword supports simple text pattern files that contain only the grid. The crossword shown in the picture above will look as follows when saved to a text file (*.txt):
 
*u*a*s*
probity
*u*e*e*
cab*tar
*p*o*m*
paddler
*n*d*r*
Fig. 3.5.5. Crossword saved as a text file
 

Raster image formats (BMP, JPG, PNG, TIFF)

 
The crossword can be exported as a raster image (*.bmp, *.jpg, *.png and *.tif). In this case, only the grid is saved, as shown in the picture below:
 
Fig. 3.5.6. Crossword saved as a raster image
 
 
To configure the export settings (image quality, resolution, cell size, clear / filled grid, and so on) go to
Settings > Import & Export.
 

Vector image (SVG)

 
You can also save the crossword grid as a vector image in the *.svg format. Vector images do not lose quality when resized and can be viewed in a browser or vector image viewer / editor. The picture below shows the same crossword saved as an SVG image and viewed in the Internet Explorer browser:
 
Fig. 3.5.7. Crossword saved as an SVG vector image
 
Note that SVG export is also configurable, as mentioned above.
 

PDF file

 
Finally, you can export your crossword as a PDF file (*.pdf). In this case, not only the grid, but also the clues and the meta-information can be exported if these are present. Since export to PDF is considered "printing" (to a virtual printer), this topic is discussed at length further in Printing the crossword.
 
An example PDF may look as follows:
 
Fig. 3.5.8. Crossword saved as a PDF file
 
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