Save As PDF and PDF Export
Illustrator is long overdue for PDF export. Without PDF export saving a PDF from Illustrator is an arduous, multi-step process that must be repeated every time. There is also a dangerous trap in the process that can make the user’s file uneditable. Compare this to InDesign, which has PDF export and all changes are sticky.
Illustrator
1. File > Save a copy,
2. Change format to PDF,
3. Remove “ copy” from filename,
4. Change directory,
5. Click Save,
6. Enter PDF options,
7. Click Save.
InDesign
1. File > Export,
2. Click Export.
Because all options in InDesign are sticky every export after the first will repeat the Settings, including directory, filename, and PDF options (even custom options that don’t use a preset).
The danger is a user might choose Save As (instead of Save a copy) to save a PDF then not realize the file they continue to edit is a PDF without Illustrator editing turned on. Any changes made would be saved to the PDF portion of the file, but there would be no fully editable Illustrator portion to keep their work. It is a dangerous trap that can lose work. It is a disgrace that this can happen in a program that’s over 30 years old.
The solution is pushed into Global Availability build 28.6.
PDF is now available as type in File > Export > Export As dialog.
However, File > Adobe PDF Presets menu, similar to one InDesign has, to allow even quicker export, is absent still.
If you want to have it, please upvote this new request here: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/48670088
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@Xingdong - Esri, none I am aware of, sadly. I pitched it here and there, but no reply so far.
So I promoted my comment into a new request: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/48818972
I already added you as a voter, based on your comment. Let’s see how many people here support the idea of having 'Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities' always disabled for Export as PDF, but always enabled for Save As (but customizable for Save a Copy, I suppose). -
Xingdong - Esri commented
@Egor Chistyakov, Any thoughts on the proposal below to differentiate, rather than to confuse, the use cases of "Save As PDF" and "Export As PDF"?
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Xingdong - Esri commented
Egor, I am with you on the idea of making 'Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities' disabled or even removed from the UI. In contrast, this option should always be enabled and locked for "Save As" to avoid destructive operations. Anyway, the confusion between "Save As" and "Export As" is not ignorable. More thinking and fine-tuning of PDF settings are needed to differentiate the two workflows.
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Eddie Deighton commented
I’ve been in the same position as Margaret many times before, where I’ve been working on a PDF instead of Illustrator. It’s going to be hard to break the habit of ‘Save as’ for a while but how about removing/phasing it out completely now we have the option to Export?
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Margaret Trauth commented
There really needs to be a big "HEY! You saved as PDF with Illustrator compatibility off! Any further edits you make are going to get saved to the PDF" alert. Possibly with an "It looks like you never bothered saving this as an AI file, maybe you should do this too" addendum. I wonder how much work has been lost to this behavior over the years.
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Xingdong, you are correct, it’s the same exact thing as Save a Copy :(
I expected it to be more than this. One part was split into a separate request, but besides the speed and presets, I was hoping to have the 'Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities' disabled, since the data is not 'saved', but 'exported'... the team decided to have the same exact presets given.For many it was confusing to NOT see a PDF type in Export As dialog.
But the main request was not about having it there, but about a tedious multi-step routine.
I swear, sometimes it feels like the team reads only captions, but not the rest, and not the comments.New idea from comment
This comment was upgraded into a new idea: Make 'Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities' option be always disabled for PDFs made with Export As but always enabled for Save As -
Xingdong - Esri commented
Correct me if I missed something, but how is the newly implemented File > Export As different from the existing File > Save a copy? To me, they have the same workflows and the same set of PDF options, except now users can two commands (three if you count the Save As command) to get a PDF output from your current document. Looks confusing.
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Eddie Deighton commented
I agree. The export option does remember the setting if you keep the file open but if you Close or Quit, it defaults to PNG, which is very frustrating. See you back on the thread in a couple of years...
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Thomas Hageleit commented
Well "consistency" would be to also have command-e as the command.
And having the computer remember that I always always always wand to export as PDF, and not as PNG, and having to change that each and every f*ing time with my mouse (like an ANIMAL ;) ).
But maybe thet can be done in the next iteration of this request, 4 or 6 years from now? -
Eddie Deighton commented
I’ve assigned the same keyboard command as InDesign - Command + E - I use PDF export way, way more than GPU switching, which was what the keyboard was originally assigned to. It appears to be working as expected. Nice to have some consistency across the apps now.
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Thomas, I assigned Ctrl + E to Export As.
This will open the dialog for me, but not choose the file type obviously.
That’s why a new request has been filed, to have a dedicated Adobe PDF Presets menu — this would allow us to assign hotkeys directly to items there and just input a name and location.Ps also has Quick Export as PNG command... it’s even more faster, but in fact it’s rather slow :)
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Thomas Hageleit commented
I see it is closed but apart from working it has a small (but important) flaw: I have to use it with my mouse. That seems cumbersome. Did nobody try this in a production environment at adobe? I really need a keyboard shortcut for that.
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Lewis Tsalis commented
Tried it with a couple of files and appears to work as expected. Do you think we could have Viewing options added as implemented in InDesign?
New idea from comment
This comment was upgraded into a new idea: Allow to set up Viewing options for PDF exported, like InDesign does -
BW commented
Reading the comments about this idea from 6 years ago really made my day!
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Lewis Tsalis commented
Bravo! Over 6 years to get this considered.
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Jon Bilson commented
Please continue to allow embedding of the Illustrator file into the PDF.
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ossie54 commented
Could you also include functionality to export artboards at multiple sizes on export - so the same design as A4, A3, A1 etc.
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Mark Fisher commented
I would like to see Illustrator have the function "export as PDF" exactly like InDesign. I use both programs but often I still like to create ad pages in Illustrator as I can be more creative with vector shapes. When I have a lot of images linked and need to export it as a print pdf, I really miss InDesign.
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Chris Cross commented
Exporting PDF with the heavy AI edit function included is contra-productive for workflow with the client! There should be a shortcut export as PDF in a CERTAIN Format predefined, (in my case it would be 'Web-PDF' setting) to keep the file size small as possible for sharing.
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Corius commented
In case anyone still interested in this functionnality, I developped my own script to create multiple PDF export at once with different settings.
Script available on github. Current release is v3.6 (User Instruction "Multi-PDF Exporter 3-5 - Notice.pdf" created for v.3.5 is completely relevant though).
Release here : https://github.com/CoriusPhoto/Multi-PDF_Exporter