Can you save an Illustrator file to an Editable PDF format

[sellador315]

I have made a menu for a Restuarant on Illustrator and I want my client to be able to go into the file and edit the text. They do not have illustrator and was wondering if I can save it as an Editable PDF?

Thanks in advance for you help.

[Jacob Bugge]

sellador,

You can, and depending on the version it is possible for them to do it in Reader.

[Mylenium]

Generally yes, but be aware that this will also depend on the structure of how you lay out your artwork, font embedding issues, printing issues and a few other things. As an alternate route, consider working in Acrobat and using proper form fields for any text that needs to be changed from time to time. While there are also some limitations, it is at least fully controllable.

Mylenium

[JETalmage]

No. You cannot create Enabled PDF Forms (that's what you're talking about) from Illustrator. Illustrator can export a PDF, but it is not Enabled For Reader Extensions. It contains no editable fields.

1. Do your artwork in Illustrator. Leave out the fields that you want the end user to be able to edit.

2. Save as PDF (without Illustrator editability).

3. Open in Acrobat Professional.

4. Create the desired fields and set their properties. Save the file.

5. Enable the file for Reader Extensions (it's a command in Acrobat Professional.) Save the file again under a different name. That's the file you distribute to your end users. Your end users can then open it in Adobe Reader, edit the fields and save their edits.

JET

[1960sgal]

What does " Enable the file for Reader Extensions" mean exactly?

[Monika Gause]

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@1960sgal  schrieb:

What does " Enable the file for Reader Extensions" mean exactly?

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This post is nearly 15 years old.

This thread is referring to forms that can be filled in. Illustrator never could do that and in the last 15 years didn't have such an option when saving. This is probably an option in either Acrobat or another application. 

[Jacob Bugge]

1960s gal,

It just means that the document is made editable so that the end user can make changes in the field created in (the full) Acrobat (Professional) after the static parts have been saved as PDF from AI.

As James said, it is a two step way, starting in AI and ending in Acrobat, the parts in question created in the latter.

All of this is Acrobat speak and Acrobat knowledge, so you can also ask over here, with a link to this thread,

https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat/ct-p/ct-acrobat?page=1&sort=latest_replies&lang=all&tabid=all