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Chris_r
Participant
September 23, 2020
Answered

Text spacing changes when opening PDF in Illustrator

  • September 23, 2020
  • 2 replies
  • 1159 views

Hi everyone, I am running into an issue when I open a PDF file in Illustrator to make edits. The text spacing in the PDF looks fine, but when I open the PDF in Illustrator I can see that the text has shifted ever so slightly. All of the fonts are present, but the spacing is a bit tighter causing some characters to actually touch the character next to it. I see this more specifically with characters with baseline shift such as TM and R symbols. I am working on a Mac OS 10.14.6, Acrobat DC 2020 and Illustrator 2020. See attached for examples. If anyone has any suggestions on how to hold the text position when opening in Illustrator , I would appreciate your input. Thanks.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Monika Gause

    Just leaving this here:

    https://prepression.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-ten-commandments-of-pdf.html

    2 replies

    Monika Gause
    Community Expert
    Monika GauseCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    September 23, 2020

    Just leaving this here:

    https://prepression.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-ten-commandments-of-pdf.html

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      Chris_rAuthor
      Participant
      September 23, 2020

      Monika that is a very handy link, thank you for sharing.  Typically I would never dream of editing PDF files in this way,m but circumstances outside of my control have me scrambling in an effort to work around corrections to provided PDF files.

      John Mensinger
      Community Expert
      John MensingerCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      September 23, 2020

      Do you know how/where the PDF was originally written?

       

      The only PDF's that will open in Illustrator with 100% reliability are those that originate in Illustrator and are saved with "Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities" enabled in the Save As dialog. If the PDF in question doesn't meet that description, it's likely the original application's type engine conventions aren't read into Illustrator in a way that preserves the original tracking, kerning, etc. Depending on the origin of the PDF, that may not be the only problem.

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        Chris_rAuthor
        Participant
        September 23, 2020

        In some cases the PDF is written locally by us out of Indesign.  In other cases we are reciving the PDFs from outside sources that we cannot be 100% sure of.  Thank you for the insight.  I had a feeling this was likely going to be unpreventable.

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