Affinity Designer Cheat Sheet 2026

The 30 highest-yield Affinity Designer facts, distilled from real exam questions. Print it, save it as a PDF, or study it here — free, no sign-up.

1. Which Affinity Designer shortcut key temporarily switches to the zoom-out mode while the Zoom Tool is active? → Alt / Option
2. In Affinity Designer, what does 'Place Inside' (also called 'Paste Inside') do? → Uses the selected shape as a clipping mask for another object
3. How do you reorder an object to be in front of all others in Affinity Designer? → Use Arrange > Bring to Front or press Ctrl+Shift+]
4. What is the function of the 'Artboards' feature in Affinity Designer? → Allow multiple design frames within a single document for different screen sizes or pages
5. In Affinity Designer, what is an Artboard? → A named canvas region within a document that can be exported independently
6. What is a Spot Color in Affinity Designer used for? → A named ink that prints as a single premixed color rather than a CMYK mix
7. What does the 'Boolean operation' Subtract do in Affinity Designer? → Removes the top shape's area from the bottom shape
8. Which Affinity Designer feature allows you to trace a raster image and convert it to an editable vector outline? → Image Trace (via the Tracing panel)
9. In Affinity Designer, what does the Inner Glow effect create? → A soft glow effect that appears inside the object's edges
10. Which export format should you choose in Affinity Designer when you need a scalable graphic that can be animated or manipulated via CSS on a website? → SVG
11. Which Affinity Designer export format is best suited for web use when transparency is required? → PNG
12. In Affinity Designer, which node type creates a perfectly smooth curve where both handles remain collinear? → Smooth node
13. Which Affinity Designer export format is best for high-quality raster images that support multiple layers and 16-bit depth? → TIFF
14. In Affinity Designer, how do you export a file at 2x resolution for Retina/HiDPI screens? → Set the scale to 2x in the export dialog or slice options
15. What does the 'Snapping' feature help you do in Affinity Designer? → Automatically align objects to grids, guides, or other objects
16. In Affinity Designer's pixel persona, what does the 'Erase Brush Tool' affect? → Pixels on the selected pixel layer
17. In Affinity Designer, what is the advantage of using the PDF/X-4 preset for print export? → It supports transparency and live color management for professional print workflows
18. Affinity Designer has a wide array of what? → Color selection tools
19. How do you update a saved Style in Affinity Designer so all objects linked to that style reflect the change? → Right-click the style in the Styles panel and choose 'Update Style from Selection'
20. Which tool in Affinity Designer is used to place and edit text on the canvas? → Artistic Text Tool
21. What does pressing Alt while dragging a node handle in Affinity Designer do? → Breaks the handle symmetry, allowing independent adjustment of each side
22. What does enabling 'Soft Proof' in Affinity Designer allow you to do? → Preview on screen how colors will appear when printed using a specific output profile
23. What does 'Rasterize' do to a vector object in Affinity Designer? → Converts it to a bitmap/pixel-based image
24. In Affinity Designer, what does the 'Spell Check' feature do to help maintain text quality? → Underlines potentially misspelled words and offers correction suggestions in real time
25. What is the primary difference between Affinity Designer's Pixel persona and Designer persona? → Pixel persona enables raster editing; Designer persona is for vector work
26. What happens when you 'rasterize' a vector object in Affinity Designer? → It converts the vector shape into a pixel-based image, losing scalability
27. Which effect would you use in Affinity Designer to create a soft colored glow that radiates outward from an object's edges? → Outer Glow
28. What are the basic steps to changing a color in Affinity Designer? → First, you can name styles
29. Which Affinity Designer feature lets you apply a color tint across an entire group by adjusting the group's color setting? → Color Overlay Effect on the group
30. Which tool would you use to bend and reshape a vector path's curves in Affinity Designer? → Node tool