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Saving a PDF out from Adobe Illustrator NOT WORKING, please help!

Community Beginner ,
Jul 22, 2017 Jul 22, 2017

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I have not been having issues saving my AI files to PDF's before, but now all of a sudden whenever I save a PDF out and then go to open that said PDF I am given the error:

"This is an Adobe® Illustrator® File that was

saved without PDF Content.

To Place or open this file in other

applications, it should be re-saved from

Adobe Illustrator with the "Create PDF

Compatible File" option turned on. This

option is in the Illustrator Native Format

Options dialog box, which appears when

saving an Adobe Illustrator le using the

Save As command."

I have tried resaving my AI file and making sure the "Create PDF Compatible File" is checked and it is, yet I am still having this issue?? Please help!

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

Community Expert , Jul 22, 2017 Jul 22, 2017

Have you tried to copy the objects from that document to another new document and re-save It again as pdf?

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New Here ,
Apr 01, 2020 Apr 01, 2020

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Hi, i had the same trouble... i tried to save firstly(as recommended above) CC and then pdf, always "Create PDF Compatible File" turned on but does not working. I didnt reset my preferences because as others already tried and it doesnt worked too, in addition why for every single problem firstly should we reset our prefernces and set them again!

 

for now i solved a problem saving as "Acrobat 5 (PDF 1.4)" version, but ofcourse its not the best one because every time i should remember it...

 

hope Adobe will solve it soon..

thanks

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Community Beginner ,
Feb 05, 2020 Feb 05, 2020

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Help!! I've also tried copying objects to a new document and re-save it as PDF. I've also put my files offline but none worked.

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Community Beginner ,
Feb 05, 2020 Feb 05, 2020

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Already working. Reset my preferences, quit application, restart. Thanks!

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Adobe Employee ,
Feb 10, 2020 Feb 10, 2020

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Glad to hear it has been resolved! Feel free to reach out if you run into any other questions or issues in the future. Thanks!

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New Here ,
Feb 20, 2020 Feb 20, 2020

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This happened to my entire team when we ugraded to Illustrator 2020. None of us could save to PDF anymore. Copying over to new files did not work. Deleting prefs did not work. Instead, we have to save our files as Illustrator CC Legacy format, and then save as PDF will work.

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New Here ,
Mar 03, 2020 Mar 03, 2020

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I am having same issues - very annoying as I save illustrator files as PDF many times a day... the recipients can open the .ai files in acrobat but most people come back to me to request the PDF regardless. I did just try manually changing the extention from saving a copy of the .ai file then changing the extension to .pdf - seems to work but that is not a resolution or sustainable solution.

 

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Community Beginner ,
Mar 18, 2020 Mar 18, 2020

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I am having the same issue. I tried copying it into a new file and saving as a pdf and it didn't work. I tried saving it as a CC Legacy format then saving as a pdf and it still didn't work. I don't know what to do.

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Community Beginner ,
Mar 18, 2020 Mar 18, 2020

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I found a solution. Not a very good one, but it works. I reset the preferences (after starting the new document and reverting to Illustrator CC) and then saved it as a pdf. It will do for now, but I really hope this doesn't happen every time. I just spent 40 minutes on this problem.

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New Here ,
Mar 18, 2020 Mar 18, 2020

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I'm having the same issue after upgrading to Illustrator 2020. Can no longer save a PDF. 

The easiest workaround for me for now is to "Print" and save as an Adobe Postscript File. Then open in Preview and save from there as a PDF.

 

Not quick or easy. And I have to produce some logo files soon so I definitely need to try and figure out how to  fix the problem altogether. It's been really frustrating spending so much time on figuring out why this is happening. 

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New Here ,
Apr 10, 2020 Apr 10, 2020

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I am having this issue as well. It started when I updated to Illustrator 24.1.

The workaround I'm currently using is to open the AI files in Acrobat then save it as a PDF from there. 

  • I am saving files directly to our company server via a VPN connection. 
  • There is no text in the files. 
  • I do not have a printer connected.
  • I do not have any third-party plugins installed.


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New Here ,
Apr 15, 2020 Apr 15, 2020

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I'm having the same issuse. Nothing seems to work.

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Community Beginner ,
May 21, 2020 May 21, 2020

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I was just having these issues and saving in a new file or resetting preferences didnt work. Checked Adobe Cloud and there was an update for Illustrator and this fixed the problem for me.

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Community Beginner ,
May 27, 2020 May 27, 2020

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Thank you Mohammad Harb. I know it's a bit late but this is the only time having an issue with my converted Illustrator file into a PDF file. Did exactly as you suggested and bingo immediate load into PDF viewable.

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New Here ,
Jun 17, 2020 Jun 17, 2020

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Hey. I have a 50 page pdf. How do I do that? Anyone?

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Community Expert ,
Jun 17, 2020 Jun 17, 2020

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"Hey. I have a 50 page pdf. How do I do that? Anyone?"

 

So you already have the PDF - then what is the problem?

 

Seems like your issue is different from what this thread is about, so please create a new thread, tell us your system and version and tell us exactly what is happening step by step.

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New Here ,
Jan 05, 2021 Jan 05, 2021

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Close Illustrator and open it up again. Worked for me. Clearing clipboard. 

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New Here ,
May 12, 2021 May 12, 2021

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You can reset your adobe illustrator settings, this will sort it too!

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New Here ,
Jun 28, 2021 Jun 28, 2021

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Hi - just found such a simple solution when I was getting this error message! I did "save as - Adobe Illustrator (ai)". Then I opened that newly saved .ai file in Illustrator. From there, I was able to save as a .pdf file no issue! 🙂 So basically just creating a new .ai file will replace the "bad" .ai file. 

 

Sasha

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New Here ,
Jun 29, 2021 Jun 29, 2021

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LATEST
Cool, thanks, Sasha! This issue has been resolved but I will keep this
trick in mind if I encounter it again.

Nathan Cavanaugh
Creative Studio Lead

P: 206.588.7182

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