Inkscape dividing an object that has already been excluded

Question

First time on this site, so apologies if this information is on here somewhere.

I have an .SVG with a large object that I have 'cut holes' in with the Exclusion tool (Ctrl+^) and now I want to start cutting up the object into chunks, however when I use the Division tool (Ctrl+/) to cut the object some of the 'holes' are randomly filled... and new objects are created them.

It's hard to explain, but imagine I cut a hole in the shape of the letter 'a' and when I use division on the object (not even anywhere near the 'a') the hole is filled back in, and an object in the same shape as the 'a' I made now sits behind the object here the hole once was. I understand I could just use Exclusion again to just cut the 'a' hole again, but the hole that's naturally apart of the 'a' shape is filled (like a ring that is now a solid circle.)

This occurs to a random amount of holes on my object, and I want to cut it up multiple times. So if there is anyway I can cut my object without the tedium of setting it back up again, I'd appreciate it!

Answer 1

Try this.

1. Draw your two shapes

2. Apply the exclusion

3. Draw a closed shape to cut up the letter "a" to act as the cutter.

4. Apply the division

5. This should also work if you have an a-shaped hole cut out in a solid. Again, I used exclude for this example.

6. Draw multiple shapes on top, and combine these to make one shape to use as the cutter.

7. Apply the division. The "a" is still a hole.