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stevens70907226
Inspiring
March 8, 2021
Answered

Is it possible to convert/import InDesign text boxes into Illustrator?

  • March 8, 2021
  • 3 replies
  • 1431 views

I'm learning Illustrator, so I'm trying to figure out what I can and can't do. 


One nifty feature in InDesign is that you can create multiple linked textboxes, and in just a few clicks, put characters, words, or text into the individual boxes. I thought it would be fun to make Scrabble tiles in Illustrator and use them to create a design. Is it possible to create the tiles I want in ID then import them into ID? I tried converting my ID document into a PDF and importing it into Illustrator, but I hit a wall in trying to "break apart" the individual text boxes. 

 

Thanks,

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Anna Lander

You can create the text boxes in Illustrator (described on Ton's link), then copy the text (as text, selected by Type tool, not text frames) and paste it into Illustrator's text boxes.

When you create a one-page layout or some separate pages for your Scrabble, you can do it either in Illustrator or in InDesign, it's just a question of your personal preferences. But if you plan some kind of book/brochure, InDesign suits for this much better.

Note: you can't copy/paste text boxes from InDesign to Illustrator, but you can copy/paste simple decorative elements (not too complex, with flat Fill and no effects/patterns/brushes) from Illustrator to InDesign. Complex backgrounds with showy appearance must be placed like any external images.

3 replies

Anna Lander
Anna LanderCorrect answer
Inspiring
March 9, 2021

You can create the text boxes in Illustrator (described on Ton's link), then copy the text (as text, selected by Type tool, not text frames) and paste it into Illustrator's text boxes.

When you create a one-page layout or some separate pages for your Scrabble, you can do it either in Illustrator or in InDesign, it's just a question of your personal preferences. But if you plan some kind of book/brochure, InDesign suits for this much better.

Note: you can't copy/paste text boxes from InDesign to Illustrator, but you can copy/paste simple decorative elements (not too complex, with flat Fill and no effects/patterns/brushes) from Illustrator to InDesign. Complex backgrounds with showy appearance must be placed like any external images.

    Ton Frederiks
    Community Expert
    Ton FrederiksCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    March 9, 2021

    If you are looking for linked textboxes in Illustrator, scroll to the Threading text between objects section on this page:

    https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/user-guide.html/illustrator/using/creating-text.ug.html

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      stevens70907226Author
      Inspiring
      March 9, 2021

      Thanks. That was more of less what I was looking to do -- but way, way different from ID. I just spent an hour trying to get the characters perfectly aligned in their boxes, a two-click operation in ID. 

      Mylenium
      Mylenium
      Legend
      March 9, 2021

      Text flow is simply handled differently across programs. There are costly plug-ins that convert to all kinds of formats, but it will never work liek you want it to. You're still bound to the differences in the text engines and would need to put in extra work. So for all intents and purposes, don't even get into such muddied workflows and learn to do things the "correct", clean way natively in the programs even if it seems harder at first.

       

      Mylenium

        S
        stevens70907226Author
        Inspiring
        March 9, 2021

        Thanks for the straight-foreward answer. 

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