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StopAskingForAScreenName
Participant
February 28, 2017
Question

Create a single PDF from multiple illustrator files

  • February 28, 2017
  • 2 replies
  • 23578 views

I need to take 22 separate Illustrator files and convert them to a PDF that I can email to my client. All the instructions I can find seem to involve creating a batch script and converting all the pages to individual PDF files first using Illustrator. and then combining the PDFs in Acrobat. But that seems ridiculous. I would expect that I could just use the combine tool in Acrobat to make my PDF but the combine tool doesn't seem to support .AI files.

What I want is a way to select all my files and click a button and get a PDF.

Anybody know any tricks to help me?

    2 replies

    G
    GPoenicke
    Participant
    February 12, 2019

    If all of your illustrator files are saved with PDF compatibility then simply:

    1. Open ALL of the illustrator files you need to combine, in acrobat (This will create multiple window tabs)

    2. Save the first file as a "PDF" (Don't save over your original illustrator file [make sure you change the name])

    3. Open the thumbnail view on the left side (Looks like one page over another)

    4. Drag the new PDF into its own window separate from the other files.

    5. Return to the window that has ALL of the rest of the pages and open their "page thumbnail" views then drag/drop their pages into the NEW PDF file you created. Once your finished you have ALL of the pages you need in the NEW PDF. Save/Close (Badda Bing)

    T
    Test Screen Name
    Legend
    February 28, 2017

    If this is a publication (job to edit and redo frequently) the usual solution would be to place the pages in InDesign. Otherwise, yes, make PDF files and combine them in Acrobat.

    People who need to make PDFs from Illustrator usually save as PDF instead of AI from the beginning. So long as "preserve editing" is chosen, the PDF works exactly as well as the AI file for editing, but is also a valid PDF for all purposes. (Don't edit the PDF pages in another app though, this invites catastrophe).

    Finally, the result is likely to be much more than 5MB, and so far too large to email. I recommend using another service like Adobe Send (subscription service) or Wetransfer.com (free) to send it. This is recommended even for small files, as sending PDFs can corrupt them, and people don't always know how to read them once received in a mail.

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