Question about layers and groups behavior in Adobe Illustrator

Question

Hello everyone,

I would like to ask if anyone could help me with a question about layers in Illustrator. I’m exporting vectors using save as, with a single layer for the project and sublayers for parts of my artwork. When I use save as, the layers remain, but when I reopen the file and use the standard save on an existing project, the layers become groups inside that layer. Also, when I upload the file to some websites, my layers disappear and all the paths become one big list inside a single layer, causing me to lose all my organization. Would anyone know why this happens?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Bobby Henderson · Accepted Answer

SVG has a lot of limitations. It's really only good as an "export-only" format. It is best to keep a copy of the original artwork as an Illustrator .AI file just in case it needs to be edited further or re-use elements in other projects. SVG is not good for that. Inkscape saves its files in SVG format, but Inkscape adds its own flavoring to the files.

Technically PDF falls into the same camp; PDF files are meant only to be viewed and printed, not edited further. Illustrator gets around that by appending Illustrator data to the file. If the PDF is re-opened in Illustrator it behaves like a normal Illustrator file. When PDF files made by other applications are opened in Illustrator they're often a terrible mess.

Bobby Henderson · Answer

If you're exporting the artwork what kind of file format are you using? Saving artwork in the current version Illustrator file format should preserve layers. Saving PDF files with Illustrator editing capability preserved will also keep layers intact.

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