How-To: Export from ai to pdf single drawing boards

[Francesca Petrini]

Hello, I have a problem, I have 25 drawing boards in illustrator and the file is saved as .ai, I want to export to single pdf for each drawing board, I've done it with export for screens, but the problem is that when I open the created pdf again into illustrator I see again all the 25 drawing boards and not the one that I exported in this pdf, it's very annoying, then I have to delete the drawing boards that I don't need. Anyone has a solution? Thank you!

[Ton Frederiks · Accepted solution]

Hi Francesca,

The default PDF export settings will have Illustrator Editing turned on, which means that all artboards will be included in the file, even when they are not visible in Acrobat.

Save your file as .ai to keep a complete editable Illustrator file.

In Illustrator choose Edit > Adobe PDF Presets and create a new preset without Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities.

When choosing Export > Export for Screens choose PDF and click the  cog wheel to choose the export settings.

Select PDF, choose the one you created without Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities and click Save Settings.

Select the Artboard you want to export and click Export Artboard.

[Francesca Petrini]

Wow, now it goes like I wanted! Thank you very much for your experience here it is really helpful when you have to export many drawing boards! It's really true, you never stop learning in life and that's the best! 🙂

[Anshul35843211jru8]

Hi Francesca,

I work for a Hindi newspaper, and I followed the option you suggested, which solved my problem. However, a new issue has come up, and I hope you can help me with this. When I selected "Preserve Editing Capabilities," the PDF was created as a single file, but the fonts used in it were lost. Now, I will either have to create a new file and convert all the fonts to outlines, which will increase my workload. Additionally, after converting the fonts to outlines, they will no longer be editable.

I want to directly export the Illustrator documents I’m working on, and that too in one go.

If there is a solution for this, please share.

(personal details removed by moderator)

Thanks,
Anshul Shrivastavaक

[Ton Frederiks · Accepted solution]

To edit a file use the Illustrator file. PDF files without Illustrator editing capabilities are not meant for editing.

[Anshul35843211jru8]

But if i export PDF without Illustrator editing capabilities after that all fonts are missing. Please check refrence in Previous post

[Ton Frederiks]

If you save as PDF, a subset of the fonts are embedded. It will work for printing and viewing and is not meant for editing.

[Ton Frederiks · Accepted solution]

If you want to edit single artboards, just check the "Save each artboard to a separate file" option when saving as .ai.

[Anshul35843211jru8]

I can do that with this option as well,

but I want to finalize my design the artboard I'm working on in a file with multiple artboards, using 'Preserve Editing Capability,' and I do not want it to include all the artboards."

Let me know if you need any further adjustments!

[Ton Frederiks]

I probably do not understand what you want. To edit, use .ai with or without multiple artboards.

[Ton Frederiks · Accepted solution]

And always use the original Illustrator file to edit. PDF is a final delivery format.

If you want to have separate Illustrator files, use the "Save each artboard to a separate file" checkbox in the Illustrator Options when saving as...

[Francesca Petrini]

a yes, thank you! 

[Ton Frederiks]

Good to hear that helped