Can't save artboards as separate ai files

[lilbeaujingles]

Hi everyone,

I'm having trouble saving my artboards as separate ai files. I watched a tutorial on it but when I tried it myself, my Save As window grays out the "Use Artboards" checkbox. It only ungrays for eps or svg files. Has anyone else ran into this problem? Does anyone know how to fix this?

Thanks!

[Ton Frederiks · Accepted solution]

You need to save as Adobe Illustrator and in the options window check the "Save each artboard to a separate file"

[lilbeaujingles]

Thanks for your quick response — I don't have that option though. I uploaded a screenshot in my initial post. My artboard checkbox is not available and I don't have the option you are talking about either. My Adobe CC is up to date as well.

[Ton Frederiks · Accepted solution]

Just click Save to get the option.

[Ton Frederiks]

[lilbeaujingles]

Awesome, thank you! 🙂

[Ton Frederiks]

Good to hear that helped.

[Рита25119372n3lx]

Hello there! Now I have the  same problem as been discribed but all your previous suggestions didn't work for me(( 

[Ton Frederiks]

Please show where you cannot check that option.

[passlocks]

Hi! I'm having this problem right now. When I click "save" No "illustrator options" pannel shows up, it just saves to the current file I have with all my artboards in one. When I click "Save as" the pannel does show up but "Save as different artboards" Is greyed out. Any advice?

[Ton Frederiks]

The only way I can see it greyed out is when there is only one artboard. Did you check the Artboards panel?

[passlocks]

I had no idea that was a thing till now. I just checked and it's showing up with all 18. They're all copies if that makes any difference? 

[passlocks]

Man, I figured out it, it's not greyed out. Thank you.

[Ton Frederiks]

Good to hear it works!

[sethwise]

What was the solution you figured out?

[Anubhav M]

Hello @sethwise,

Thanks for reaching out. Would you mind trying the following steps to check if they help:

- Choose the Save option for your new file with multiple artboards, choose the option to save on your computer, and click Save after selecting the folder location.
(No need to worry about the artboard option being greyed out)

- On the next window, check the option for Save each artboard to a separate file and click OK.

If the problem persists, kindly share more details, like the exact version of the OS/Illustrator, your workflow details, and a screen recording of the problem (https://adobe.ly/41rQgTm), so we can investigate this further.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Anubhav

[Shia28175670udiz]

My window looks different than yours; it does not give me the option to do that...

[Ton Frederiks]

Because you are not trying to save separate .ai files, but trying to save as PDF.

[Ton Frederiks]

Try Export for Screens. and click the Multiple files option.

Check the PDF settings by clicking the Cog wheel.

[Zachary0526]

This produces 1 .ai file for each artboard selected, but each file includes the full art and all artboards from the source file. It isn't splitting that single artboard to its own file. And, it's adding the artboard extension to the end of the file name as FileName-01.ai, FileName-02.ai, etc. This is not how this used to work.

[Ton Frederiks]

When saving separate PDF files; create a PDF preset file first where the "Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities" option is turned off.

Use this preset in the PDF settings for Export for Screens.

[Ton Frederiks]

When saving separate .ai files, turn off Create PDF Compatible File and check the Save each artboard to a separate file option.

[Barb36631678joo0]

Why wouldn't this be on the first screen, right where the option to "Save Artboards" is greyed out?

[Barb36631678joo0]

Same issue. Shocked it's this unintuitive. I'm about to copy and paste them into new files just to move this AE animation along.

[creative explorer]

@lilbeaujingles  also, you need to make sure you select either EPS or SVG to select 'Use Artboards' because the other formats will not allow you to select Artboards