Merge artboards from several .ai files into one .ai file?

[Guest]

I have received a lot of .ai files from a client, and I was wondering if it possible to merge these files as artboards in a single illustrator file, the files I have are not pdf-compatible, so I cannot use the merge function from acrobat.

I am using CS5, but perhaps it is also possible with CS4?

[_scott_]

Not that I know of.. you might ask in the scripting forum if there's a script that will do what you want... or how to write one.

[CupertinoFruit]

No, there is no direct way of merging artboards from several .ai files into a single .ai file. But there is a circuitous way of achieving this:

1) In the source document, Show All & Unlock All (if applicable).

2) From the Layers panel flyout menu, choose 'Paste Remember Layers'.

3) If you have a single artboard in your source document, select all (Cmd-A). If you have multiple artboards, then navigate to an artboard & select all on the active artboard (Cmd-Opt-A). Copy into memory.

4) Go to your destination document & in an empty area of the canvas (away from other artboards), Paste.

5)  With your art still selected, draw an artboard of any size with the artboard tool (anywhere in the empty area of the canvas).

6)  From the Control Panel Presets dropdown, choose 'Fit to Selected Art' (same command is also there under Object > Artboards).

[Juan_Coleman]

I am sitting with the same problem. Seven years later!

I have two Illustrator files with hundreds of the same size artboards which need to be merged into 1 file.

May I ask, for what reason are your files not PDF compatible? (Hoping to learn something here)

What about opening the files to be merged in Illustrator, then saving each file as a PDF compatible version?

Then opening in Adobe Acrobat to merge?

Have you tried that or would exporting as a compatible versions not be possible?

[Monika Gause]

Juan_Coleman  schrieb

What about opening the files to be merged in Illustrator, then saving each file as a PDF compatible version?

Then opening in Adobe Acrobat to merge?

This will effectively make your file harder to edit in Illustrator.

PDF is not meant for editing.

Illustrator is not a general purpose PDF editor.

[lylal76940017]

1. Open your first file in illustrator

2. Create, arrange, and name as many art boards as you need for your files

3. File > Place

4. Select all of the illustrator files you want to merge

5. Click the corners of the art boards in order to place your files

And you're good to go! This is the easiest way I have found to do this.

[JonMac]

You are fantastic! This, at least for me, helped solve my issue.

[lylal76940017]

This is old but for anyone else wondering:

1. Open your first file in illustrator

2. Create, arrange, and name as many art boards as you need for your files

3. File > Place

4. Select all of the illustrator files you want to merge

5. Click the corners of the art boards in order to place your files

And you're good to go! This is the easiest way I have found to do this.

[monicah12443134]

This doesn't work, you can't select more than one file to place, at least not on a mac.

[Monika Gause]

monicah12443134  schrieb

This doesn't work, you can't select more than one file to place, at least not on a mac.

Sure you can.

But placing the files is not the best way anyway, because when placing, you don't get the AI part of the file.

Please watch this about Illustrator files: How Illustrator saves files - YouTube

[monicah12443134]

The only way to place an illustrator file into another one is to save the one you want to place with "Create PDF compatible file" clicked on. So it's not a true AI file. Plus, you cannot select more than one file at a time to place, so if you have multiple pages ranging in the 100s, this proves to be cumbersome. There really should be a solution created by Adobe on this. I hope in the near future (fingers crossed).

[tromboniator]

Post your feature request here.

[cindyc24450711]

Thank you so much! this saved me tons of time, I would like to add this between 2 and 3 -> 1 st save your Ill and check "save each artboard to a sepreate file". then go to the ill fille you want to import into and start with #3 -> select place & navigate to the artboard you want select it to place. Your cursor will be loaded , then click on the new artborad you made and the content will appear there

[roncybulskie]

This does indeed work. To retain editing capabilities be sure to uncheck "Link to File" in the Place dialog box so that the placed artwork remains editable vector art.

[Lane Sam]

I can't make it remember layers or retain strokes. They all became expanded objects on the same layer. Any fixes?

[Monika Gause]

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@Lane Sam  schrieb:

I can't make it remember layers or retain strokes. They all became expanded objects on the same layer. Any fixes?

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Sounds like you have something that messes with your clipboard. Could be one of the items on the list here or something else https://www.vektorgarten.de/illu-tipps-workflow-2.html#copypaste 

[ERE2018]

Open the destination and source AI files separately. Select all within a source file, copy it and paste into the destination file. Repeat for each source file.

[Bezier Kid]

@wbravenboer You might find this helpful, its called Ai Merge, a script that will merge multiple Illustrator, EPS, SVG, PDF files together in a new file. I hope it helps!  https://youtu.be/RjMsA5OzKGc

[davidh30790628]

This is great however it doesn't seem to work with the latest release of AI...is there an updated script you know of?

[Delano5EC6]

It works, just kinda buggy in that it works when it feels like it.

[galynap43472327]

Hello!

I have found a suitable for me option.
1. Combine files in a single PDF with Acrobat. I used EPS files.

2. Open this file in Illustrator. While opening, choose "all pages" and uncheck the option "page as links" so you have editable images.

[Bezier Kid · Accepted solution]

Spooky, @galynap43472327 I was just doing a write-up for the Merge file to Ai extension when I saw your post notification. This method provides a panel, offering many of the same options as the script method I posted above, but it seems to be a little more stable than the script. The quick guide is here and the extension can be installed here.

[bluesunsetlamp]

Just tried it out and it is so helpful!! It took a bunch of Artboards I had in separate AI files and merged them into one AI file. Just what I was looking for! Thank you for sharing 🙂 

Out of curiosity, do you know what the purpose of it separating the layers into clip groups serves?

[Bezier Kid]

I reached out to Scott Lewis who makes the extension and he responded on the clipping mask issue as follows;

"Adding the AI files into a clipping mask isn’t intentional. I am using a function internal to Illustrator’s extension API but don’t have any control over how it does the import. I’ll do a little digging to see if there is some way to modify how it does the import. There may be a way to remove the clipping mask after it is imported so I’ll take a look at that as well."

He did go on to mention that it might not be possible to resolve the issue but if successful he would include any solution in a future update. Fingers crossed!