Batching In Illustrator??

In PhotoShop CS3, you can select File/Automate/Batch, and run an Action on an entire folder. I don't see that option in Illustrator CS3? Is there a way to run an action on an entire folder?
I'm attempting to save many EPS images as PNG images, and would really like to retain "vector attributes" - is any of this possible???
Thanks for any help.

Muppet Mark - In that regard, using Illustrator, do you have any recommendations as to how to render an EPS image to a PNG image, retaining as "crisp" an image as possible?
What I have is a lot of multi-colored EPS clipart, and I need it to be PNG format and black only. I have a script in PhotoShop that will convert/save as PNG, but I was hoping a similar result in Illustrator would be sharper/clearer??? Illustrator apparently doesn't understand PhotoShop scripting and I don't understand Illustrator scripting!!!

Similar Messages

Is it possible to do a batch in Illustrator?

Hi everyone!
Do you know by any chance if it's possible to do a batch in Illustrator as you do in Photoshop? I can't find any Actions scripts similar to Photoshop but maybe it's just because it's not possible!
Thanks for your help!
Marie

There is a Batch feature in the Actions Palette. See online Help for Actions.
Beyond that, it depends on what exactly you want to automate. Not every command in the program is accessible by Actions (or scripting).
JET

Batch convert illustrator layers to movieclips

Hello all,
Ik was wandering if it it possible to batch convert ai-layers to movieclips.Also I would like that the layer name will be the movieclip name and the instancename. Hopefully you can help me!
kind regards!
Arjan

First of all ... yes ... it is possible to save illustrator files as movie clips(which to me are .swf).
Since i suppose you`re making a reference to .fla files(because u need instance name to be the same name as the layer and so the .fla layer it is in), that should also be possible but you`ll have to play a bit with the flash scripting. Here's a start:
this will save every layer as a swf in the same location as the .ai file ...
exportToFlashFile(app.activeDocument.path.fsName + "/export.swf");
function exportToFlashFile(destFile) {
          if ( app.documents.length > 0 ) {
               var exportOptions = new ExportOptionsFlash();
               var type = ExportType.FLASH;
               var fileSpec = new File(destFile);
               exportOptions.resolution = 150;
               exportOptions.exportStyle = FlashExportStyle.LAYERSASFILES;
               exportOptions.jpegQuality = 10;
               app.activeDocument.exportFile( fileSpec, type, exportOptions );

Batch won't run unless Illustrator CS3 is active window?

I'm hoping someone can help me out with this as it's driving me nuts. Basically I'm trying to batch an action I made in CS3 to run on about 700 illustrator files.
Everything runs just fine and dandy until I switch from Illustrator to another program (Firefox, photoshop, bridge, anything other than illustrator), once illustrator is no longer the active window, the batch process stops. When I make illustrator the active window again, the batch starts again. This worked perfect in CS2 and I never had this problem until CS3.
This is a huge pain as I can't work on anything else while keeping the batch running in the background.
Here's the nitty gritty details:
XP SP2, Illustrator CS3, smoking fast machine
Action was created in actions palette to do the following:
Unlock All > Select All > Create Outlines > Convert to Grayscale
Ran the batch via the actions palette, choose "Save and Close" and "log errors to a file".
I've restarted Illustrator, restarted the machine, recreated the action, broke the folder into smaller folders with less files. It's making my Tuesday feel like a Monday.
I've search all over and found nothing. There was one post here on the adobe forums, but it was from October and it never got answered. If you have a solution you will be my hero!
Thanks!

Yes, I have absolutely seen this! At our office we batch process Illustrator files to JPEG very frequently, and it's a huge nuisance to have Illustrator block the system during the batch processing. Everyone here is on XP SP2 as well, and we all have this issue. In fact, trying to switch in and out of Illustrator while it's batching can cause the application to crash fairly regularly for us.
I can confirm that the Mac version of Illustrator CS3 does *not* have this problem, as I am batch-exporting right now with Illustrator in the background on my Mac. (Mac OS X 10.5.2, Illy 13.0.2)
A fix for this would be most appreciated, Adobe!

Exporting Artboards = Artboard size + 1px

Hello,
I have troubles exporting artboards in png file :
I am making artboard of 100px by 100px in order to make a button when I export it (in 72 DPI) the result is 101px by 101px.
So how can I export in the size i define the artboard ?
Thankyou in advance.
For information I am usind illustrator CC on an iMac.

Hey, I had this same issue even in Illustrator CC 2014. I was looking around and as far as I know, it hasn't been solved, so I thought I should share my findings. Not exactly "fixing" it, but you get what you want.
Dump out artboards as separate illustrator files:
     1. Open your .ai file with all of your artboards
     2. File>Save As
     3. Browse to an empty folder on your desktop or something and hit save
     4. Make sure "Save each artboard as a separate file" is checked and hit ok
          ~Wait for all of the artboards to export to illustrator files
Create an action for batching those illustrator files
     1. Open an illustrator file with an artboard in it
     2. go to Window>Actions
     3. Create a new Action,name it something, and hit record
     4. Go to File>Save for Web
     5. Make sure "Clip to Artboard" is checked on, it is the file type you want, and hit save
     6. Save the file anywhere you want (you can delete it afterwards)
     7. Stop recording
     8. Toggle the Dialog off for the action (in the Actions Window, second column by the checkmark)
     9. Click the Options button in the upper right of the Actions Window, and select Batch at the bottom
     10. Choose your source folder (The folder you dumped the illustrator files into)
     11. Check "Override Action "Export" Commands"
     12. Choose an empty folder for your pngs to be dumped into.
     13. Make sure the Destination is set to Save and Close, and hit OK
          ~Wait for it to Batch your illustrator files.
That should be all you need to do to get your artboards exported to pngs without that annoying 1px error. Not the quickest thing in the world, but still way faster than saving every single artboard for web, one at a time.
I hope this helps.

Opening ai files in Illustrator10-VBScript

Hi,
I ve created a tool that processes a batch of illustrator files(both eps and ai) and saves them in the same format after processing in the same location... I m doing it for illustrator 10... As it is done for a group of files, an alert alone must appear after the entire process is over..
But while opening few .ai files, i get a message alert to import them...
Its like:
"The file was generated by a newer version of illustrator. Would u lik to import the file? There might be some data loss."
But i need to open these files also without this alert...
How do i handle this in vbscript code... That is, i need to import these files automatically thro code, it shouldn't ask for import inbetween the process...
Someone Pls guide me...
Thank You.

Yes, Smart Objects would be the best way to go, for what you want.
From AI, you can Export as a PS .PSD and get all Layers, but then you will have a Rasterized image in PS, and that is what it sounds like you are trying to avoid - you want it still in Vector, until you finish doing your editing.
Good luck,
Hunt

Reducing .pdf size with InDesign

Good morning everyone!
I have downloaded the trial version of InDesign to see if its the right tool to a very specific problem we are having in our engineering office and I have never used InDesign before.
I need to dramatically reduce the overall file size of multi-page PDFs for underlaying in AutoCAD while retaining the detail from the original. The PDF files we recevied from our client are rather large and underlaying them "as is" brings AutoCAD to a crawl. I have been able to shrink the files appropriately in Illustrator but I would have to do it one page at a time to be able to reduce the file size which does not solve our time problem (I have one project in the pipeline that is going to require 200 pages). JPEG's kind of work which I can do in batches in Illustrator, but AutoCAD does not have automation for underlaying JPEGs. Keeping the PDF in vector fomat is the ideal solution if we can get the file size down.
So far I have opened illustrator and tried to run the script for adding a multi-page PDF and what I bring in retains absolutely no detail from the PDF.
So two questions:
1) Can/How do I bring in a PDF drawing so it retains the vector detail, and
2) Can I use Illustrator to shrink down the file size of a multi-page PDF (Adobe pro doesn't bring it down far enough)
I know this is nowhere near the purpose of InDesign, but its our last avenue to solve our underlay issue in a way where everyone might win.
Thank you!

You have to check where is highest amount of space used in the pdf? Are these images or structures you need or you don't need? Is it a profile? Use the audit function in the Acrobat Pro Optimizer dialog.
When you know which part of the content of the pdf could be dismissed you can set up a properly pdf export setting or use a different export functionality to create pdfs like the export of interactive pdfs which will output smller pdfs.

Convert to eps

Hello,
I found a solution for batching Adobe Illustrator (automatically) with VBS without start it (batch).
Now I am looking for a possibility to convert a PDF file to an EPS -file with Adobe Acrobat XI Pro also without to start it.
I found the possibility with JavaScript BUT ONLY INSIDE Acrobat XI. What I need is a possibility to do it "outside" Acrobat XI => with batch.
Can somebody help me?
PS. sorry for my english ;-)

Karl you are great! Thanks!
With "your" (from the article) help I wrote this:
In C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 11.0\Acrobat\Javascripts
I create a "folder level JavaScript" file with:
function asEPS(EPSName)
console.clear();
console.show();
zpath = "/C/Users/me/AppData/Local/name/";
this.saveAs(zpath + EPSName +".eps", "com.adobe.acrobat.eps");
this.CloseAllDocs();
return "OK";
Then whereever create a .VBS-File with:
StartFolder = "C:\Users\me\AppData\Local\name"
Set gApp = CreateObject("AcroExch.App")
Set gPDDoc = CreateObject("AcroExch.PDDoc")
Set FSO=CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set Folder=FSO.GetFolder(StartFolder)
For Each File in Folder.Files
If FSO.GetExtensionName(File.Name) = "pdf" Then
   DateiName = FSO.GetBaseName(File.Name)
   gPDDoc.Open(StartFolder & "/" & File.Name)
   Set jso = gPDDoc.GetJSObject
   jso.asEPS(DateiName)
End if
Next
Done.
Now I can call the VBS-File (with a double-click) and Acrobat will create EPS files from ALL *.PDF -Files in Folder "C:\Users\me\AppData\Local\name"
Thank you so much!
BR
Eugen

Script for postscripting

Is there a way of batch processing Illustrator files to create postscript files the way that you batch process .ps files with Distiller... maybe a script that does this?

Yesss, it's very old and very annoying... the issue has been discussed on these forums a LOT... some clients will just NOT make the effort to view pdfs correctly. The issue is these Illy files have art set to overprint... if I save as PDF the overprint cant be viewed correctly unless the client's prefs in Reader are set correctly. Believe it or not, that's just too much trouble for them to do or comprehend. But, if I postscript them they display correctly no matter what their view is set to or if they look at it in Preview. It's a BIG FAT pain in the.... but I'm stuck with doing it... so I was looking/hoping for a little in help in the form of a script. Thanks, Mark.

Find Font dialog

Hi,
I ve written a program to convert specified fonts in the document to another font, this runs for a batch of illustrator files... The program finds out the fonts used in each textframe and then does the processing. This takes a lot of time.
I need to know whether it is possible to access the FindFont dialog through script(VB or JS)????
(i.e.) Type->FindFont in the illustrator application
Is this possible?
Someone pls guide me...
Thank You...

I realise this is an old thread but recently experienced this problem and found a solution that worked for me.
MacBook Pro
OS X 10.8.2
Illustrator CS6
FYI, my case is slightly different from the OP's: Illustrator was exhibiting this behaviour with only one of my files so I guessed that the problem might be with that specific file. The Find Font dialog box would appear every time the file was opened, even though it showed that all the necessary fonts were present. I didn't have admin rights for that machine and couldn't delete any preference files. So, I tried creating a new .ai file, copying everything over and saving it with a new name. No more dialog box after that.
Hope this helps.

Opening and closing files very slowly -MAC - Batch processing broke illustrator...

I have been batch processing between 15 and 30 thousand svg files over the past few days(simply centreing the orbjects on the art board mergring overlapping objects and saving as AI's) - the individual files are very small 20kb max. this was working fine for a while but suddenly illustrator now takes nearly 30 seconds to open any one individual file - svg or otherwise - and also when I look at illustrator in activity monitor as files are opened illustrator uses 100% of the CPU.
I have no Idea if this is related to all of the batch processing Ive been doing lately but Its the last thing Ive done so...
Also I have run disk utility on my machine uninstalled and reinstalled illustrator with no success..
Anyone have any thoughts?
Thanks!!

Have you tried at least restarting AI or rebooting the computer?

When batching Save for Web, Illustrator also saves copy of .ai file

This question was asked and abonadoned here, so I'm posting because it's also happening to me.
CS4 & CS5 (I tried both), Mac OS 10.6
1. I select the "Save for Web PNG" action, which is part of the default set, and select "Batch."
2. I choose a source folder and choose a destination folder, and check "Override Action 'Save' Commands."
3. Illustrator then performs the Save for Web action, but puts the .png files in the original destination specified in the action. It also puts copies of the .ai files in the destination folder I created and specified in the Batch dialog box.
I want the .png files in my folder, and I don't want copies of the .ai files.
Pulling my hair out on this one, going to lunch. Thanks in advance for any help

Ah, ok. That worked, for the most part. When I used "Folder" as the destination, my jpegs were saved to that folder, but I also got the .ai copies again. Argh. It was only when I chose "Save and Close" as the destination that I got just the jpegs.
So "Save for Web" is actually a type of export, rather than a save. It's confusing, since the action is called "Save for Web…" Plus, the batch works — in the original way I set it up — with a regular Save command.
btw, the top section only goes gray when "Save & Close" is selcted (see screen shot). Thanks for your help.

Batch insert filename in textpath script crashes Illustrator

Hi everyone!
First off: I am not a programmer. Just playing around with code and trying to get it to work for a specific task:
Here is a script made for the purpose of inserting a text with the file name in over 600 pdf files. This is suppose to work on all files in a selected folder.
The problem: Illustrator crashes.
A first test code worked but after a few edited files Illustrator crashed, so I tried to introduce a delay after each save in order to slow down the batch process.
$.setTimeout(function () {sourceDoc.close(SaveOptions.SAVECHANGES)}, 1000);
Unfortunately I did not save the working (almost working ) first test code.
No idea what to do next. The code works if I delete this line: sourceDoc.close(SaveOptions.SAVECHANGES);
Here is the complete script:
var destFolder, sourceFolder, files, fileType, sourceDoc, layers, writeText, finLabel;
// Select the source folder.
sourceFolder = Folder.selectDialog( 'Select the folder with Illustrator files you want to convert to PNG', '~' );
// If a valid folder is selected
if ( sourceFolder != null )
files = new Array();
fileType = prompt( 'Select type of Illustrator files to you want to process. Eg: *.ai', '*.pdf' );
// Get all files matching the pattern
files = sourceFolder.getFiles( fileType );
if ( files.length > 0 )
for ( i = 0; i < files.length; i++ )
    sourceDoc = app.open(files[i]); // returns the document object
    layers = unlock();
    writeText = getFilename();
    finLabel = remText();
    sourceDoc.close(SaveOptions.SAVECHANGES);   //if save command line is deleted the code works   WTF???
    $.setTimeout(function () {sourceDoc.close(SaveOptions.SAVECHANGES)}, 1000); // still crashes using delay ...
//alert( 'Files are saved as PNG in ' + destFolder );
else
alert( 'No matching files found' );
function unlock()
   //get the total number of layers in the active document
doc = app.activeDocument;
var totalLayers = doc.layers.length;
//looping on layers to create one artboard per layer
for ( var i = 0 ; i < totalLayers ; i++){
    var currentLayer = doc.layers[i];
    //We don't want to deal with hidden layers
    if(currentLayer.visible == false) continue;
    //Unlock the layer if needed
    currentLayer.locked = false;
function getFilename()
// Write text
var pointTextRef = app.activeDocument.textFrames.add();
pointTextRef.contents = app.activeDocument.name + "\n" + "YBS";
pointTextRef.top = 0;
pointTextRef.left = 0;
app.activeDocument.textFrames[0].textRange.characterAttributes.textFont=app.textFonts[31];
function remText()
// This works for search and replace :))))))
    var active_doc = app.activeDocument;
    var search_string = /_Template.pdf/gi; // g for global search, remove i to make a case sensitive search
    var replace_string = '';
    var text_frames = active_doc.textFrames;
    if (text_frames.length > 0)
        for (var i = 0 ; i < text_frames.length; i++)
              var this_text_frame = text_frames[i];
               var new_string = this_text_frame.contents.replace(search_string, replace_string);
               if (new_string != this_text_frame.contents)
                        this_text_frame.contents = new_string;
Any ideas about what makes Illustrator crash?
Note: The application crashes after opening the first file.
Thanks for helping out!

Thanks a lot Carlos!
After deleting line 23:
$.setTimeout(function () {sourceDoc.close(SaveOptions.SAVECHANGES)}, 1000);
the code worked on 499 files in one batch
Also Turns out Illustrator kept crashing because of a corrupted pdf file.

Photoshop and Illustrator batch commands missing in Bridge CS6

Photoshop and Illustrator commands missing (eg batch and Live Trace) in Bridge CS6 tools, but they are there in CS5.
Any thoughts
much appreciated regards
Tim

So I deleted/uninstalled all versions of bridge then photoshop, but Bridge would not even install with PS cs5 (maybe it never did, there was no option on install).
In the CS4 suite there was a separate option to install or uninstall Bridge, for CS5 they changed this as combined install with PS.
There are many options for buying separate applications or combinations (Suite) of Adobe Products but according to the Adobe Site Bridge is delivered also with the separate applications Indesign, Illustrator, Flash, Premiere Pro, After Effects and Incopy.
Usually when having a complete Suite it is delivered with one of those applications.
Bridge should be able to communicate with all applications from the same CS version, but uses start up scripts for that applications.
When doing normal installation those scripts should be placed in the correct location automatically.
Having different suite versions on your system it will not be easy to make them communicate with each other through one version of Bridge (sadly enough you can also have only one version of Bridge active at the time and different versions of Bridge use different cache folders).
Don't have experience with scripting but maybe the dedicated Bridge scripting forum (link in previous post) can help you out for the answer of customized start up scripts or if it is possible at all.

Problems batch processing files in Illustrator CC2014

I have a set of actions that I run Batch with that take all of the .eps files in a specific folder and saves .AI & .PDF formats, exports .JPG & .PNG and Saves for Web .GIF files.
I'm running into two major issues that I can't find any solutions to. I have tried numerous combinations of the Batch settings to try alleviating these problems, but nothing has worked yet.
When I run the actions with either .AI or .PDF "Save as" actions it works just fine. But, if I run them both I only end up with whichever action is first in the list.
When I created the .JPG and .PNG "Save as" actions, they worked fine and included the file extension. When I run the Batch operation, the last one in the batch overwrites the first file format because neither have an extension.

I think you are misunderstanding something here/ not understanding how PDF text embedding works. If PDF files contain embedded fonts, those take precedence over local system fonts. Each font or sub-set of a font (if "only embed used glyphs" is chosen) is assigned a unique identifier number to reference it. Names are only stored based on how the file was created. It is up to the program opening the PDF file to read that info and make sense of it. This may allow to re-create an editable document, but as I already wrote, based on what priorities apply, it may not. The only way to make sure a document remains editable is to attach the source in a separate chunk, which is what Retain Illustrator Editing Capabilities does. The rest is far out and far inbetweeen, as they say...
Mylenium

Batching In Illustrator??

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