Text disappears when opening pdf in Illustrator

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Our company receives large site plans from our client that have a bazillion store departments and part numbers for installation. On the original version, we are able to open files in Illustrator to copy out a section to create a shop drawing / Install sheet etc, with all of the text intact.

However, when they send us a revised version, there is new text in a different color. This new text is gone when we open these files in Illustrator. I have tried converting all text to outlines in Acrobat (Tools/Pre-flight), to no avail.

Is there a way to preserve this text so that it is visible in Illustrator? I'm tired of having to use screenshots of the pdf to overcome this obstacle.

[Document Geek]

Is the new text inserted as a comment? Because comments are ignored when you open the file in Illustrator. Try flattening the file first before opening it in Illustrator.

Run this scipt:

event.target.flattenPages();

[Karl Heinz Kremer · Accepted solution]

Illustrator is not a PDF editor! Unless the PDF file was created in Illustrator (with all the Illustrator meta data in place), and never modified outside of Illustrator, all bets are off regarding what you will get in Illustrator.