How to Use Place Image Tool in Affinity Designer

We are going to show you a super quick way of placing your images in Affinity Designer. Not only can you place images but you can also place Affinity documents. This means that if you edit the original, the placed document will also update. Using the Place Image tool can save you time and effort in your projects.

To show you how this feature works we will be using a sunflower motivation PNG and these watercolor bookmarks.

Be sure to check that you have unzipped your files to your PC.

Step 1 - Place your Images in Document

Begin by opening Affinity Designer and creating a new document. We want to start with a new blank document and place our design elements. Our document is the standard A4 size, which will be edited later in the tutorial.

To access the Place Tool, go to File > Place.

In the new window, locate where your image is stored. You may need to click on the File format drop down menu bottom right if your images don’t appear. Then, select All Raster Files.

When you click Open, nothing appears to happen but your cursor has changed. It now shows as a downward arrow over a circle. To place your image, you can simply click anywhere on the document. The image will be added at full size.

However, if you want to control the size, click + drag out the image then release your mouse.

You can always resize the image as needed. Click on the Move Tool top left. Then click + drag in or out on one of the sizing handles on the corners or sides.

Now, add the rest of your images or elements using the Place Tool as above.

We added another bookmark and lined it up with the first. When you place your cursor alongside the first image, you will see red and green guidelines. This will snap the second image in place so it’s the same size as the first.

Step 2 - Add a Saved Document

We are now going to place a saved Affinity Designer document into our design setup.

We have already edited and saved the document by adding an Outline from the Layer Effects panel. This is a non-destructive way of editing. The panel can be edited by clicking on the fx icon on the layer.

Once again, go to File > Place. This time make sure to select All Documents for the File format bottom right. Click + drag to place the Affinity document. You will see the document has been added as a layer with the name and (Embedded document).

Edit Embedded Document

The embedded document can easily be edited by double clicking the document layer thumbnail. This will open the original document. Here you can make changes such as the Outline color. We clicked on the fx icon on the layer and adjusted using the Color Picker.

Click back on the file with your design elements. You will see the embedded document has automatically updated.

Alternatively, click on the Edit Document button at the top toolbar.

Step 3 - Complete and Save your Design

You can carry on to add more elements and/or text to complete your design. We added some text at the bottom of our design using the font Bohema Spirit. We have a great tutorial on text basics in Affinity Designer if you need further information.

Before saving, we resized our canvas to cut out excess space. Here is the final result.

You can now save your design in whichever format you want such as PSD or JPG. Go to File > Export and in the Export Settings window choose a format. Click on Export and save to a location.

Using this quick and handy feature, the Place Tool can become an important factor when designing. It is far easier than dragging and dropping an image into Affinity Designer. You can also control the size of the image instead of having to resize each time. We hope that you enjoyed following this tutorial on how to use the Place Tool in Affinity Designer.