Certain AI files don't import into my InDesign file.

[Rob Ehle]

I'm using the latest versions of both Illustrator and InDesign. I have one AI file, though, that isn't importing into my ID document. It merely has text in place of its little icon, which appears pixelated in the image box when I import the file. There's information about Save As and Options in that text, but it's cut off and I can't make it out. It's almost as if it were some out-of-date EPS format or some such, but the Illustrator file is no different from any other AI file, as far as I can tell. I created it a few weeks ago.

This as usual is a problem with an obvious answer, I'm sure. But I haven't been able to find it.

Rob

[Dov Isaacs]

Actually, Illustrator 8 and earlier files are really .EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) files. Note that they don't support ICC color management and/or live transparency! If you have artwork that doesn't need color management and/or any transparency, be my guest.

          - Dov

[David W. Goodrich]

Another undesirable behavior with Illustrator's Save-As PDF command is that it can change some metadata, overwriting whatever is in the category dc:title (which File Info calls "Document Title")  with the AI file's name.  This is true for CS6, which I use daily, but has continued at least until 2017 -- see XMP dc:title to pdf.  The workarounds recommended there is to use another program, such as Acrobat, Bridge, ExifTool, etc., to correct dc:title.  Is that still necessary?

[Laubender]

Hi David,

just tested this with Adobe Illustrator CC 2019 23.0.3 on Windows 10.

Yes. The Document Title for a saved PDF/X-4 out of Illustrator is automatically set to the name of the PDF file.

Despite I did a different title before in the AI file info. FWIW: Author entry is the same as with the AI file.

Regards,
Uwe

[David W. Goodrich]

Thank you for confirming my fears.  I used to think a only raster images in PDFs generated with InDesign could carry "object-level metadata": Acrobat Pro's Edit Object lets you select an image, right click on it, and one of the choices is "Show Metadata", including dc:title, Copyright Notice, etc.  Changing to the Advanced page lets you see the metadata categories grouped by schema, and you can save them to an *.xmp file.

For a placed AI vector image, the Edit Object tool shows a bunch of vectors, none of which offer Show Metadata.  I thought any metadata I added in AI got lost in the shuffle to PDF, and I'd have to wait for full implementation of PDF format 2.0 to allow object-level metadata for vector images.  Recently I was startled to find that InDesign has been passing it on to PDF for years.  A 2016 post on the ExifTool forum shows that ExifTool can show metadata that I inserted into an AI file placed in ID: ExifTool's -ee option can access PDF metadata below the top level.   In particular, dc:title and dc:description survived in my test sample, despite processing by an on-line service that routinely strips top-level XMP metadata from PDFs.  I don't know how to connect this lower-level metadata with particular parts of the PDF's object stream, and don't plan to delve that deep in PDF structure.  But I continue to hope that eventually it will be relatively convenient to view metadata for vector resources -- identification, copyright, etc.

[Laubender]

Hi David,

that's a debate of its own: When, what and why metadata will survive with placed images, pdfs and other file types in InDesign.

There are numerous variables into this game. I suggest you do a new discussion on this. Also in the feature request section of InDesign UserVoice: Adobe InDesign Feedback

Regards,
Uwe