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Xingdong - Esri
Inspiring
February 26, 2024
Question

PDF object are parsed as separate paths for stroke and fill when opened in Illustrator

  • February 26, 2024
  • 2 replies
  • 992 views

I found when Illustrator opens a PDF file, it treats a single PDF object as separate paths, one for the stroke and one for the fill. Is this expected? For the ease of editing, it is preferred to have one single path with stroke and fill.

 

 

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2 replies

Community Expert
February 26, 2024

Depending on the program that created the PDF, yes this is a possible outcome. To fix, you can remove the PDF stroke and put a stroke on the fill shape. You can also combine the stroke and path into either a compound shape or group to work with them more easily. This depends on what you are trying to accomplish with that shape. If you need more help, please reply with a description of what your end result should be. 

Xingdong - Esri
Inspiring
February 26, 2024

While different PDF creators may draw/create PDF objects differently, the issue I reported seems general and occurs on many PDF files, including those from Adobe apps. As Ton Frederiks pointed out above, it occurs on PDFs created by Illustrator when "Preserve Illustrator Editing Capacibilites" is OFF

Inspiring
February 26, 2024

This isn't a problem with AI.

This is caused by the program that created this PDF file - "Esri ArcGISPro 3.3.0.51315".

Ton Frederiks
Community Expert
Community Expert
February 26, 2024

Illustrator does the same, separate strokes from fills.

If you save as PDF with Illustrator editing capabilities you won't see it because you will open the Illustrator part of the PDF.

If you turn the Illustrator editing option off when saving, you will see the separation of fills and strokes.