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Participant
November 9, 2016
Question

Export as to export png moves the image on the canvas

  • November 9, 2016
  • 11 replies
  • 34290 views

I'm not sure if this is normal behavior but I have a png with transparency. It's meant to be use as a texture for a 3D asset so both the transparency and it's exact placement on the canvas is very important. I've been using the file>export>export as to generate my pngs but am finding that the resulting png changes the location of the pixel information on the canvas. Everything shifts towards to middle. How/where can I manage this 'feature'?

    11 replies

    nitnat
    Participating Frequently
    January 28, 2025

    We are in the year 2025, and Adobe still hasn’t found a solution for this. The "Export Layers to Files" workaround doesn’t work if you want to export layer groups. The export options simply need to include canvas anchors, just like when adjusting the canvas size.

    Participating Frequently
    February 21, 2024

    I have a potential solve for this. I was having same issue when exporting placement titles as png for video, and export would either trim the transparent pixels, or when adjusting canvass size would repostion them as centered. A work around if you want to do batch exports is: 

    Make layers you want to export visible and hide anything you don't want exported then:

    1. Choose File > Export > Export Layers To Files.
    2. Uncheck trim to layers
    3. Check transparency
    4. Export

    This seems to keep things in same position as placed on layer, although have not stressed tested extensively yet.

    Hope this helps!

    dr-martin
    Participant
    July 23, 2022

    The real solution for this problem is:

    1. Go to the File menu
    2. Export
    3. Layers to Files...
    4. Turn On the checkbox for "Visible Layers Only"
    5. Turn Off the checkbox for "Trim Layers" in the case is checked
    6. Click in the button "Run"

     

    With this all the layers are exported as individual transarent files at the directory you have choosen and every object in the layer are positioned in the same position as if in the original canvas at your Photoshop's work area.

    Participant
    August 16, 2022

    This is indeed the solution, however it creates an extra step for people that need to have the image exported at 300DPI since the export layers to files only exports at 72 DPI. They fixed the "export as" function which did the same but the export layers to files continues to ignore the DPI resolution that is in the file 😞

    Informed Citizen
    Participant
    August 27, 2022

    Okay here's what worked for me and I didn't see it posted previously.

     

    1, open a transparent layer

    2, paint bucket it completely with a color

    3, drop its opacity to 0

    4, group the 0 opacity layer with the layer/s you want to export

    5, done

    It seems photoshop registers the 0 opacity layer as mattering, a shape, even though it's invisible.

    Cheers

    andyb1248443
    Participant
    June 16, 2022

    Happening on 21.2.2.   I just spent an hour debugging my own rendering software trying to figure out why everything is a pixel out.   Turns out it was bloody Photoshop shifting the image by 1 pixel when exporting as png!   Extremely annoying!

     

    I'm attaching a file that repros the issue.  Just go do File -> Export -> Quick export as PNG, and image will have moved left and up by one pixel.

     

    It's been nearly 6 years since this was reported.    Just fix it Adobe!

    Participant
    May 22, 2022

    I'm looking for a solution for the same problem and I'm surprised to see this is a known but unsolved issue.... 

    Participating Frequently
    March 30, 2022

    Welp, it's 2022 and I'm still haveing this issue... Like, photoshop is outputting the PNG as if I never cropped it. The PNG dialog boc shows a cropped preview that matches my saved work and the PNG shows a version prior to the crop. Amazing how terribly buggy Adobe has become over the years since it became a monthly service, before that the softwear was amazing and was wired tight. Now they could care less and just churn out updates without even testing to see what issues they cause, more and more features and some of the basic fuctions don't even work anymore. Like in Illustrator, the align tool doesn't even work correctly today the center align button places it at the top of the artboard instead of the center, it might work tomorrow, I guess we'll see what wonderful issues Adobe will throw at me to tomorrow while I try to hit my deadlines. For those using this for a hobby, it might be fine, but for working professional designers, this is just not cutting it, I'm wasting 5 - 10 minutes trying to work thorugh a bug about every two to three hours of work. You do the math. I wish Adobe would get it together, otherwise I'm really about to just spend that wasted time learning a new set of programs. 

    Participant
    May 4, 2022

    Please help us Adobe Wan Kenobi, you're our only hope. It would be awesome if this was a quick fix.

    But yep, same issue, I have an approximate 1000x300px vector smart object on a 300x300 artboard, and it wants to shift the image randomly to left or right when try and export it in the export as space.

     

    Help! (yes the workaround would be just to save as, but if you have an example a bunch of artbaords it would take a lot longer to do them one by one.

    Participant
    April 4, 2021

    It's 2021 and still seeing this in CC Photoshop 21.0.2. I have my art placed precisely on my canvas, but when exporting as PNG it moves the artwork to the bottom of the transparent canvas.

     

    I think it's caused by pixels existing outside of the crop area. I got it to work by doing a Trim, then resetting the correct canvas size and artowork placement. After that. the PNG export keeps the placement correct.

    Participant
    June 8, 2021

    Can concur with this! I had a "BG layer" that hadn't been resized to the canvas size when duplicated from another Psd file. Once I trimmed it to the canvas size (a ridiculous thing to need to do when you don't want to work destructively), it exported my frames correctly. I haven't tested just masking the layer to the size of the canvas but it seems it wouldn't work, according to davidp99337236's post.

    Participant
    October 11, 2020

    I know this thread is very old, but advice here helped so I thought I'd share the solution in my case.

     

    I had a similar issue where Export As... was repositioning content with a transparent background on an artboard. In my case there was using a mask that happened to have content outside of the artboard that was causing the issue. By cropping the mask to the artboard the issue was fixed.

    Participating Frequently
    March 14, 2018

    Seeing this problem as well. Photoshop is also including extra transparent pixels when choosing several groups and selecting "Export As." I'm having go manually go in and crop thumbnails after exporting. Super frustrating.

    Also, strangely, (in trying to fix this) I command+clicked a layer to try and crop it, but the crop tool wouldn't snap to the selection. It kept force selecting emptiness far away from my marching ants. Used the info tool to examine every single pixel, thinking maybe there was a hidden transparent pixel somewhere, but nada.

    Help!

    Participant
    November 13, 2019

    I know this is an old thread but I had this problem tonight and I was able to figure it out. I had several pixels out of the canvas area which was throwing off my transparent PNG during the export. My canvas size was 1920px square and when I enlarged it to 3000px square, the stray pixes were revealed. I simply deleted the extra pixels and went back down to my original 1920px square format afterwards. Don't forget to resize the canvas using the center of the canvas as the anchor point!

     

    Hope this helps.

    FrostByte
    Participant
    March 12, 2020

    Sad to see that 4 years later this bug still persists in Adobe Photoshop.

    I have arrived at the same conclusion that the art in exported images get shifted when you have either a mask or undeleted pixels outside of the canvas. I'm also using the Timeline with multiple frames (not sure if this has any effect).

    The workaround is to use the legacy exporter as someone mentioned or use alternative software.

    clbfrog
    Participating Frequently
    August 29, 2017

    This is the same problem I am having!  When I try to export many layers at the same time (Right click selected layers and click "Export as..."  PNG), all with a transparent background of at least an 1" border.  They are all exporting with a different border, which is not what I want.  The custom borders are showing up in the preview, I just didn't catch it until after everything exported. 

    Please see pictures Below:

    Participant
    February 24, 2018

    I found the same issue in animation frames. The character should stay still and just the arms move but as the arms moved wider the centre point changed.

    I found the "Export > Save for web (legacy)..." didn't have this issue so even though it is slower to export the layers I have opted for this option.

    Hope this helps some