One click flatten button, to Expand text and strokes for print/sharing
Hi everyone,
I'm a computer graphic design teacher at NABA. While teaching Adobe Illustrator, I’ve found it challenging to explain the concept of Expand Appearance and how to properly flatten text and lines for final output.
It would be incredibly helpful to have a one-click solution that automatically handles proofing—expanding appearances, flattening both text and lines—and clearly indicates that the AI or PDF file is ready for print or delivery.
I hope this suggestion makes sense. Many thanks!
Ben Wajsman
shared this idea
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Ben, there is one (almost), even though it might be even more confusing to teach.
It’s the Object > Flatten Transparency dialog.
Drag the slider to Vector 100, to avoid rasterization as much as possible (make sense for raster-based effects).
Check Convert All Text to Outlines (if you wish to).
Check Convert All Strokes Outlines (this should work as Expand).
Your patterns won’t be flattened — this would require Expand > Fill, and then using Pathfinder Crop (for each object) and Merge (if you want to fuse objects of single color)...But.
When I teach, I tell people about contacting the printing shop in the very first place, asking them for a specific preset they use, and following the guidelines provided when exporting a PDF :)
There’s usually no need to MANUALLY do these things with Outline, Expand, Expand Appearance(unless you are know what you are doing) — using a PDF preset handles it.
Outlining fonts... this is controversial. Adobe sees outlining as a VERY obsolete practice... I remember this discussion specifically — https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/subset-fonts/m-p/9361431 — but Dov Isaacs was saying the same things all over the Web (along with 'Ai is not a general PDF editor'). It’s been a long time since then. Today, if a printing shop needs outlines (killing hinting and making the process slower), they can most surely do it themselves, better than any student (unless the staff is unqualified).If you still need a silver bullet... I’d advise using actions. There are custom tailored scripts I remember of. This would certainly require understanding how Outline, Expand-s, and Expand Appearance work.
