Illustrator 19 No Check Box for Saving Artboard Only to PDF

[Guest]

In previous versions of Illustrator I could work on a project and have an Artboard that had additional content around it and when I choose to Save the Artboard Image ONLY I could check the use Artboard box and the PDF would be created for only the content ON THE ARTBOARD not the additional stuff around the work I wanted to use either for Print or the Web.

Previous workspaces in Illustrator had placeholder space for additional stuff and worked like a scrapbook around the Artboard or Artboards I had active for that documents workspace. I would choose Save As and choose PDF and check the box to save ONLY the Artboard image.

Now the process is a pain in the ass. I work on a Artboard in the documents workspace and I cannot choose to save ONLY the Artboard content to PDF. What I have to do is CROP out everything else in the documents workspace and loose all the assets that where in the documents workspace (they would then be gone and I could not do substitutions etc from the AI (Illustrator file).

Before Illustrator 19 here is my workflow;

1. Create the Image in the Artboard and have other assets OUTSIDE of the Artboard that I could substitute later and I would SAVE the COMPLETE document to a .ai file.

2. Choose Save As and choose PDF and click on the box to use ONLY THE ARTBOARD (not all the other stuff).

Total files on my computer 2

Done

After Illustrator 19 here is my workflow;

1. Create the Image in the Artboard and have other assets OUTSIDE of the Artboard that I could substitute later and this file gets Saved as a .ai file.

2. Open the saved .ai file with all the content.

3. Use the CROP tool to only select the content on the ARTBOARD (exclude everything else) and save this to a .ai file

4. Open the ARTBOARD only .ai file and choose Save As or As a Copy to a PDF

Total files on my computer 3

Loss of efficiency and the Crop Tool does not auto snap to the Artboard. Plus this takes more time to do.

I am not very happy with Illustrator CC 19 and am considering dropping my subscription to the Creative Cloud because of this and similar issues of changes to workflows in Photoshop CC 19 and will most likely return to using the CS6 versions of Adobe Software since I own them and they are not on a subscription that keeps breaking workflows and waisting time and annually costing ~$720 per year (3 years equals ~ $2,160 which is more than what I paid for my CS6 equivalent to the CC versions).

If you have solution on how to save just Artboard Content to PDF (while preserving assets in the original .ai file) please let me know.

Thank you

ps. In Photoshop Content Aware is kind of broken too

[Michael Bullo]

What if you were to create a layer clipping mask?

1. Have all of your elements within a layer (optional sub layers are fine).
2. Draw a rectangle (fill/stroke irrelevant) that is the same size as your canvas.
3. Arrange this new rectangle so that it is the top most element within the layer.
4. With the layer selected, select the "Make/Release Clipping Mask" button at the bottom of the Layers panel.
5. The clipping functionality of this now invisible rectangle can easily be turned on and off by toggling its visibility via the eyeball icon in the Layers panel.

[Ton Frederiks]

If you do a Save As PDF, make sure to uncheck "Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities"

[Monika Gause]

So it's not about the PDF options, but you're missing the checkbox in the dialog box? Can you please show a screenshot?

[Guest]

As you can see in the image above when I tried to Save As or Save a Copy (the same image occurs with no checkbox for use Artboard) the "Use Artboard" option is no longer available. In previous versions of Illustrator all I had to do was choose Save As, select PDF and I could check "Use Artboard" and a PDF file was created of only the content within the Artboard with everything else being ignored.

When I make business cards for my products I have the images of different products outside of the artboard (usually2 to 3) and I swap the images into the artboard space and adjust the Text description and then choose Save As a PDF with Use the Artboard for the PDF. Now I cannot do this and I have to use the Crop Tool before using Save As a PDF . . . more steps.

Adobe has broken Illustrator it seems.

[Ton Frederiks · Accepted solution]

There is only a checkbox for Use Artboards when you have multiple artboards and then it is automatically checked.

If you want to get rid of items outside the artboard (and these should not touch the artboard), uncheck the "Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities" when saving as PDF. Be sure to have a copy of your original Illustrator file.

[Guest]

In essence Adobe has broken creating a PDF of only the art on a single artboard and now I would have to have 2 or more artboards in a document file for extracting only the art to two or more PDF Files.

I have copied my Business Card Artboard by Option dragging the original artboard and now I have 2 images and when I choose Save As PDF I have 2 PDFs in a document of the same image. Which means I have to delete one of these images from the PDF file.

However the solution is to have at least 2 artboards in a Illustrator file and when Saving As to a PDF (where the Use Artboards is auto checked) Choose Range and delete 1- 2 and put 1 in and Save. This creates a single PDF file. Correct?

Workflow-wise this means every document that you now want to make a PDF save of only 1 artboard has to have 2 Artboards in the document for the Use Artboard option to be available and one has to choose Range and change the value to 1. The warning is that only Artboard 1 will be saved to PDF and if you want only Artboard 2 to be saved to PDF then 2 (for Artboard 2) must be inputted. I guess that adding at least one more Artboard in a document (any size) is a workaround that works.

Very disappointed in Adobe.

[Monika Gause]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Bob+on+a+Mac  schrieb

In essence Adobe has broken creating a PDF of only the art on a single artboard

No.

The problem is that you have to first fully understand how saving a PDF out of Illustrator works.

How Illustrator saves files - YouTube

The artwork outside of the artboard is in the AI part of the file

When you only want the stuff inside the artboard bounds, you mustn't save the AI part by disabling "Illustrator editability"

If you want an editable file, but only certain objects in it, then you need to go the "Export selected" route. You can export PDFs with that as well, but then you need to create a PDF preset that has the options you want.

[Guest]

The point is Illustrator no longer presents the option to use the artboard only for a single artboard.

Unchecking the PDF preference to save with illustrator edit ability is an option that should not be the only way to create a PDF from the artwork only from the artboard. Once a customer sees they can no longer choose from the Save As or Save a Copy with artboard only check box for a PDF they get the output into the PDF of everything in the document space. If Adobes solution is, without pop up notification, that unchecking the PDF preference for edit ability then they have created a problem.

For years in previous versions of Illustrator one was presented with the option to save as or Save as a copy a PDF either the entire document space or just the artboard. They need to bring this back.

i would suggest to Adobe that the default for ALL alternate file format saves and exports that the Default be Artboard not the entire document space. Saving to .ai format is the entire document. Why would folks want to, by default, Save As , Save a Copy or Export everything in the documents workspace?

[Monika Gause]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Bob+on+a+Mac  schrieb

The point is Illustrator no longer presents the option to use the artboard only for a single artboard.

It never did.

Why would folks want to, by default, Save As , Save a Copy or Export everything in the documents workspace?

That doesn't happen when you export without "Illustrator editability". Please watch the video I posted above.

And of course you need to save everything when doing "Save as", because "Save as" cleans up your file structure and it's wise to "Save as" your document regularly for that reason.

[Awesome_Lionheart6C15]

The latest update v27.4.1 also has this problem...

The Adobe Illustrator default for ALL alternate file format saves and exports that the Default be Artboard ONLY, not the entire document. Saving to .ai format is the entire document. So when I export PDF via export, only the artboard contents should be exported.

[Monika Gause]

The latest update v27.4.1 also has this problem...

The Adobe Illustrator default for ALL alternate file format saves and exports that the Default be Artboard ONLY, not the entire document. Saving to .ai format is the entire document. So when I export PDF via export, only the artboard contents should be exported.

By @Awesome_Lionheart6C15

Since your comment is about a different version and this thread is long and 4 years old:

Please create a new thread and describe what's happening.

[meganchi]

Do as @Ton Frederiks suggested, go to Save As Adobe PDF, then after hitting the save button, a dialog box will pop up. Next, uncheck the "Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities". The hit Save PDF button. This should only show the contents of your artboard.

[nicks2647828]

I just ran into this for the first time with AI v29.1. However, I found that when saving as a pdf, it does not save the extraneous art that is outside of the artboard. So, while things changed, it is ok--just created a confusion.