illustrator flattens existing layers when opened (pdf)

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
September 6, 2024
1 reply
1511 views

Illustrator version: 28.7.1

but it happened also in previous versions

Bug

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Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

When editing an Illustrator file, always save as .ai

A pdf is not intended for editing.

If you want to save as PDF and also need to edit the Illustrator file, save a copy or make sure that the "Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities" option is checked.

Just saving as PDF without that option will remove layers and other Illustrator options.

A

Arkadiusz Jas32409061u0tgAuthor

Participating Frequently

We also need pdf with layers for client.

The problem does not affect all PDF files. So far I have only had 3 cases. I have been using illustrator for many years and this has never happened to me. Im always using default settings for saving as PDF

Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

Please look at this screenshot. This is the same file (created in Illustrator and exported to PDF) opened in Acrobat and Illustrator.
Acrobat shows all the layers I have created. Illustrator shows only 1 merged layer

That is because something went wrong when saving the file.

The Illustrator layers were converted to Acrobat "Layers", Optional Content Groups.

But when the file was reopened in Illustrator, the PDF part was opened. Either because the file was saved without Illustrator Editing Capabilities or because the file became corrupted when saved over a network.

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