Skip to main content
SebastiaoV
Known Participant
October 14, 2009
Question

Illustrator Export Selection

  • October 14, 2009
  • 5 replies
  • 31436 views

Hi guys,

Is there any way to Export Selected Objects in Illustrator? I am working on a website sketch and i will need to include things outside the frame. When i select Export (or save as PDF) even if i have all objects selected i just get the JPG with the A4 paper.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Sebastian

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    5 replies

    hammer0909
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    May 1, 2019

    Illustrator added the Asset Export panel a few versions ago. With this feature you can select individual objects, define them for export, then export only those elements to web graphic formats.

    captdigital
    Participant
    April 30, 2019

    There is no EASY way to do this in Illustrator. Only the Illustrator way, which means multiple steps and jumping through a lot of needless hoops.

    The sick, sad world part of this is that Adobe owns the source code to Freehand - and Freehand had this feature for years, with an elegant implementation: If you had nothing selected, it exported the entire document. If you had an object(s) selected, it would export ONLY the selected object. Simple. Intuitive. Easy.

    Ditto for adding/deleting Bezier points, editing objects, and a million other things.

    Damn, I miss Freehand.

    Monika Gause
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    April 30, 2019

    captdigital  schrieb

    There is no EASY way to do this in Illustrator. Only the Illustrator way, which means multiple steps and jumping through a lot of needless hoops.

    Let's hope, the website is finished now (10 years after the initial post).

    Have you ever heard of "Asset export"?

    Or - if you insist in calling it from the menu: File > Export selection?

    Or maybe the Layer Exporter script? GitHub - davidderaedt/Illustrator-Layer-Exporter: A panel for Illustrator to easily export all layers  or this one: Export Illustrator Layers as PNGs | Matthew Ericson - ericson.net  or this one: An Illustrator script for exporting layers and/or artboards into separate files (PNG8 / PNG24 / EPS / PDF / SVG / JPG / …

    captdigital  schrieb

    The sick, sad world part of this is that Adobe owns the source code to Freehand - and Freehand had this feature for years

    You probably know that you can't just copy code from one application into another one. And especially the FreeHand code, because the developers first made their own coding language and then coded FreeHand in it.

    _scott__
    Legend
    May 13, 2014

    I have my own export selection commands.....

    1. Select object(s)
    2. Copy
    3. New
    4. Paste
    5. Export

    Works every time without fail

    CarlosCanto
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    May 13, 2014

    Hi scott, long time no see, welcome back

    _scott__
    Legend
    May 13, 2014

    Thanks

    DrTc
    Inspiring
    June 30, 2012

    I find it hard to believe that after so many versions Ai still does not offer the Export Selected object option.

    Most vector packages have had this for over ten years.

    Same as with zoom to selected command, and the ability to assign permanent hotkeys to scripts...

    thetasound
    Participating Frequently
    May 23, 2013

    I just found this thread as I was trying to export selected individual objects, each in their own file. I too am quite surprised that AI doesn't offer this very basic feature. I've been using it for many years in CorelDRAW and Xara Designer Pro. With AI CS6 I either have to temporarily remove everything I DON'T want to export, then Save as..., or Save as one file, import into alnother program, break it down into separate parts, then move them around as needed.

    I'm already on the Premiere CC beta team. Any chance we can see this fundamental feature in AI CC soon?

    A_Shaferov
    Participant
    May 13, 2014

    I created an Action for web export of selected objects.

    It has been test only on russian version of Illustrator CC.

    I do not know if language does matter for Actions in Illustrator.

    http://ge.tt/api/1/files/12A5d2h1/0/blob?download

    Jacob Bugge
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    October 14, 2009

    Sebastian,

    Is there any way to Export Selected Objects in Illustrator?

    Not that I know of.

    I am working on a website sketch and i will need to include things outside the frame. When i select Export (or save as PDF) even if i have all objects selected i just get the JPG with the A4 paper.

    Why not increase the Artboard size to include all, moving the objects or Artboard if needed?

    SebastiaoV
    Known Participant
    October 14, 2009

    Why not increase the Artboard size to include all, moving the objects or Artboard if needed?

    I suppose it is a possibility. Anyhow it might change proportions a bit and i thought it could be a faster way as other programs have the "Export selection" possibility.

    Thanks