Feature Request: Include Images in Packages Even When “Export” Is Disabled

wane1954

Hello Spine team,

We are currently making great use of the Project Packaging feature, and it has been very helpful for our workflow.

I have a small feature request regarding the Export option for attachments.

When the Export option is unchecked for a part, its image is currently excluded from the images folder when the project is packaged.

I understand that these images are ultimately not intended to be exported or used in the final package. However, they are still needed during the production process.

Because the attachment itself still exists in the project, but its image is not included in the package, it currently appears as a "Missing" image when the packaged project is opened.

Would it be possible to include the image in the package even when Export is disabled?

The idea would be that disabling Export would prevent the image from being exported for the final output, while still keeping the source image available inside the package for continued editing and work.

I think this would make the packaging workflow much more convenient, especially for projects where some assets are temporarily not intended for final export but are still required during production.

Thank you for considering this suggestion, and thank you again for providing such a useful packaging feature!

Misaki

wane1954 Thank you for your feedback. I thought your request was very reasonable, so I created an issue here to address this feature improvement:
EsotericSoftware/spine-editor1085
You can subscribe to this issue ticket to receive notifications when there is any progress on this issue.

Spinebot

This is a well-thought-out feature request! The distinction you're drawing is a very sensible one:

Export = disabled should mean "don't include this in the final runtime output (JSON/binary/texture atlas)"
Packaging should still include the source image so the project remains fully editable after being shared or moved

Your use case makes a lot of sense. The Export checkbox is documented as controlling whether an attachment appears in exported JSON/binary and texture atlas packing — for example, it's useful for template or reference images that are only used inside the editor. But those reference images are still very much part of the project's source assets and need to travel with the project when packaged.

The current behavior where a packaged project shows "Missing" images for non-exported attachments is indeed inconvenient, since the attachment still exists in the .spine file and you'd still want to be able to edit or reconfigure it later.

As a workaround in the meantime, you might consider keeping the images present in your images folder but using the Export unchecking purely at the texture packer/data export stage. You can also deselect the export checkbox per attachment so that only attachments keyed in animations get packed on export, which gives you some control without losing the source images from the package.

That said, your suggestion — that packaging should always include source images regardless of the Export flag, while the Export flag continues to control final output — is a clean and logical separation of concerns. It's worth noting this has been submitted and the Spine team will be able to evaluate it for a future release.