Export the Artboard

How to export an artboard to a web page

After you have a project opened you need to export it.

Exporting creates the HTML, CSS and JavaScript that are the basic building blocks of a web page.

Web Export exports these resources to the folder you select.

There are multiple export types:

Exporting an artboard to a single page (this page)
Exporting multiple artboards to multiple pages go
Exporting artboards to a single page go
Exporting artboards to a slideshow go
Exporting artboards show by size go

Exporting a single artboard

This page describes how to export a single artboard and includes some videos. The videos only show the process. The page has more detailed information.

Export a single artboard in basic view video:

Export a single artboard in advanced view video:

Exporting an Artboard

To export a single artboard to a single page select the artboard you would like to export

Go to the Plugins menu and choose Web Export > Export Artboard

This will open the Export Artboard dialog. Initially the basic export screen is shown.

Click the Export button. You will be prompted to select a folder. Select the folder and click export.

For now, click on the Advanced link button to switch it into advanced mode.

To export an artboard you need to set the folder to export to.

On the basic screen pressing any of the images or pressing the Export button will prompt you to select the export folder.

On the advanced screen clicking on the folder icon will prompt you to select the export folder.

You can also press the Enter key to browse for a folder.

When the folder dialog appears select the folder to export to.

When you've selected a folder you'll see it's path in the Export Folder field

Due to existing limitations you must select the folder each session even if you have selected in the past.

A session is created when you open an existing project or create a new project. If you reload the plugin you will have to select the folder.

After you select a folder to export to click the Export button in the lower right hand (or press enter). This will start the export process.

Since everything always goes as expected the first time your page will now be created with no issues whatsoever! ;)

Ok not really. Exporting is the first step. We still have to verify that the export was successful. We can verify it by checking the export notes and viewing it in the browser.

Check the folder that we exported to and you should see the page and any associated resources there.

After you export new icons will appear in the dialog and a list of messages will be available to give us more information.

The Messages link button will open a view that shows any messages, warnings or problems during export. Pay attention to these. Click the Messages link button to see this information.

On Mac you can click on the folder to open up the folder that you exported to.

The folder button does nothing on Windows at this time due to operating system limitations.

The folder button has been removed until it is supported on Windows and OSX but you may see it in previous versions

It is best to view the exported web page setting up and using a local server.

You do not have to use a local testing server but the page may not load correctly in the browser if you don't.

If you use a server you can enter the name in the server field and a server button will appear after export.

It will create a link that you can click as a shortcut to open the exported page. The URL it creates is simply the Server field value and the name of the page.

For example, if you put a server as, "http://127.0.0.1/'" and the page name is "myPage.html" the link will be "http://127.0.0.1/myPage.html". Be sure verify the server is running using the Check Server button and you may need to put the end slash "/" at the end.

When you click on it it will open your default browser. You can verify the Server by pressing the server button.

The url button opens up the HTML page in the browser using a file protocol:

Due to limitations on Windows an alternative remote link is created.

Due to recent changes the URL opens to the alternative remote link

The url button on Windows opens up a remote page that has a button to copy the link to the page.

Click the "clipboard" text button to copy the file reference to the clipboard and then paste it into the url bar and hit enter. It will load the page using the file:// protocol.

You must have JavaScript enabled for the page to work. You can also use the Copy URL link button in the dialog.

The Copy URL button also appears after export. Use this button to copy the url to the clipboard. Then open your browser and paste the url into the location bar and hit enter.

Using any of the methods above you will be able to view your page in the browser:

Some features in Adobe XD do not translate completely to web.

Some of these issues you can disregard. Some need to be addressed.

The export Messages will attempt to notify you of potential issues and we will address these issues in the next section.

For some features to work the page must be running on a local or production server or have JavaScript enabled.

Testing in the Browser

I recommend using Firefox for testing pages from the file protocol (file://) or Brave for testing from localhost (http://localhost/ or http://126.0.0.1/).

You can create web pages and test them without a server but eventually you may want use something like XAMPP to install a web server locally.

A web server is server software whose primary function is to store, process and deliver web pages to clients.[1] Pages delivered are most frequently HTML documents, which may include images, style sheets and scripts in addition to the text content.