Flattening an image to merge PDF?

[sugarcoated293]

Hi, 

I have converted some files from ai to PDF. I tried to merge the PDFs together to make booklet but they have all stacked on top of each other. I read that flattening the images might help but it also changes the quality or the colours as well? 

Does anybody know about this or have some advice regarding this?

[Monika Gause]

WHat exactly do you have in those files?

What exactly did you do to merge them? Please tell us the steps and which software you used.

What exactly did happen? Which software did you use to view the result?

Please show screenshots.

[sugarcoated293]

I saved them from AI to PDF and they were fine. The document is made up of strokes, Japanese text and boxes. This is in one AI file with separate layers for different text - a total of fifty layers. I did not flatten the file. I merely pressed save as PDF. 

Here is an example:

- I saved this on page one. 

This is on page two: 

I went to CombinePDF.com and combined these two pages. It then gives me 

which seems to be all the layers in the AI file. 

[Ton Frederiks]

Do you have Adobe Acrobat? Try to combine them there.

[sugarcoated293]

I only have Adobe Reader X

[Monika Gause]

Which software *do* you use?

You have an Illustrator file and Adobe Illustrator?

But your artwork is on multiple layers instead of multiple artboards?

[sugarcoated293]

I use Illustrator. I'm learning this by myself so did not even know you were meant to use artboards and not layers but thanks for enlightening me. 

Would the solution now be to move everything to artboards within the same file now? 

I just read up a bit more about artboards and it seems that most people use it if they are designing on different sized boards. My file had some base layers, about 5, which were used for the files that I wanted to export. E.g. I would have the 5 base layers + one extra layer and that would be one exported PDF. How would I best utilise artboards this way? Wouldn't I have to copy all my common elements into each artboard then? 

[Monika Gause]

If you use artboards or layers completely depends on the intended output.

When doing anything in any software you always have to keep in mind how you want to output it (among other things, of course). You can't just start and work away and just care about it later.

[Ton Frederiks · Accepted solution]

Maybe you could try a script to export the layers as separate files before combining them.

http://www.ericson.net/content/2011/06/export-illustrator-layers-andor-artboards-as-pngs-and-pdfs/

[sugarcoated293]

Thank you for this :]