Help-Font differences between Indesign and Illustrator

[Kathy23857956s2qv]

I am converting an InDesign file to Illustrator. The process I've taken is to save the InDesign as PDF, import PDF into a layer in Illustrator as a placed image with transparency of 50% and then build on top of it. I'm finding that despite using the same settings used in InDesign, the results do not match. Specifically the kerning seems to be off and the linespacing as well. 

I've attached a screen capture to see the difference. The gray type is InDesign generated PDF, the Black is Illustrator. Both are 2022. Both use the same font Helvetica World @ 9pt/10.8 leading.

If you're asking why convert- we have automation tools specifically built for Illustrator and not InDesign. The benefits of converting far outweigh the effort to convert. 

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi @Kathy23857956s2qv,

We are sorry to hear about that. There is a visual difference when content is built on top of an image/ placed PDF like you are doing, as InDesign uses a different magnification scale than Illustrator. The 100% view in InDesign shows the print output size. In Illustrator, the 100% view is the 1:1 ratio of image to monitor pixels.

However, if you are using the same font properties, it should print the same out of the two applications.

Would you mind confirming if this was working correctly earlier or if this is a new idea/ method that you are trying?

I will be looking forward to your response.

Regards,

Anshul Saini

[Monika Gause]

Hi Anshul,

I found this question puzzling, because Kathy is not building on top of a screenshot, but on top of a placed PDF. So it should be 100%.

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi @Monika Gause,

Yeah, you are right. I overlooked the part before & after Kathy mentioned "placed image with transparency." Thanks for pointing this out.

I checked on my end, and it works perfectly in Ai 2023.

@Kathy23857956s2qv, please ignore my above reply, and would you mind sharing the InDesign file, exported PDF, and Illustrator file along with the Helvetica World font? We will check on our end and share our observations with you.

Looking forward to the files.

Regards,
Anshul Saini