Converting files from the command line with Vectornation

Opening files one by one to save them in another format is fine for three files and miserable for three hundred. For jobs like that, Vectornation by Zaweba has a headless mode. Run it from the command line with --convert and it converts files without opening a window.

Options control the job: --format sets the output format, --out-dir says where the results go, --set passes settings, and --report produces a report of what happened.

When headless conversion helps

Large folders of files are the obvious case. An archive of old EPS or AI artwork that needs to become PDF or SVG, a set of drawings that must be exported for a website, a folder of supplier files to be turned into one consistent format.

Repeated jobs are the other. If the same conversion happens every week, it can be put into a script or a scheduled task in Windows, and it runs without anyone sitting in front of the app.

The options

--format chooses what to convert to. Pick the format the destination needs, as you would from the export menu.

--out-dir sends the converted files to a folder of your choice, which keeps them apart from the originals. That is safer than writing over the source folder.

--set passes settings to the conversion, for the cases where the default settings are not what you want.

--report writes a report of the run. For a big batch, that is how you find out which files converted and which did not, without opening each one.

Building it into a routine

Because headless convert is a command, it fits naturally into a batch file or PowerShell script in Windows. A small script that points at an incoming folder and converts everything there to a chosen format turns a weekly chore into a double-click.

Keep the commands you use in a text file or script so the exact options are recorded. Next time, you run it rather than remembering it.

How it compares with Batch and Scripts

Vectornation has other ways to process many files. File > Automate > Batch plays a recorded action on a folder of drawings from inside the app, and the result can be saved, exported or left open. That suits jobs that change the artwork as well as the format. File > Scripts runs JavaScript inside the app for jobs that need logic.

Headless convert is the plainest of these: files in, files out, no window. Choose it when all you need is a change of format, especially from outside the app.

Habits for safe batch conversion

Test on a small sample first. Copy five typical files into a test folder, convert them, and check the results by eye before you run the whole set.

Always use a separate output folder. If something goes wrong, the originals are untouched.

Read the report. A batch that finishes quietly may still have skipped files that were damaged or in an unsupported version, and the report is where those show up.

Remember that conversion is only as good as the formats allow. A file converted to a simpler format may lose things the original had, such as live effects or layers. Keep the originals.