Embedded virus in Illustrator file

Hi,
Wondered if anyone could help with a problem I have.
My friend is using Illustrator on a Mac and when he sends the files to a person using a PC the person tells him the files keep coming up as having a virus. The guy on the PC works for a large company and there IT department has looked at his system and has said its not a fault with the PC and must be the Mac side. Has anyone heard of virus's being embedded into Illustrator files as I haven't. I've been told by the Mac users IT that they've worked out its illustrator causing the problem but I can't suggest a solution other then reinstalling. Anyone got any other suggestions that aren't so drastic?
Thanks
Alec

alecchin wrote:
Hi,
Wondered if anyone could help with a problem I have.
My friend is using Illustrator on a Mac and when he sends the files to a person using a PC the person tells him the files keep coming up as having a virus.
Alec
I very much doubt that. Get some more data. Ask for a screen grab of the message warning of the virus, or at least a transcript of it. What is the virus? I have never heard of a virus attached to an Illustrator file. Mac OSX currently has no viruses and, even if it did, they would be Mac viruses and would not affect Windows. For an Illustrator file on a Mac to be infected with a Windows virus would require three things to happen all at once that have never happened on their own.

Similar Messages

Scaling Embedded Bitmaps in Illustrator files.

Hi
At the moment, if I am supplied AI files with embedded Bitmaps (or linked) I have to find the source file, rebuild the image and parent to the rest of the artwork if I want to scale it up.
I can't just scale up in Illustrator as that makes things too big for AE to work with.
So
I was wondering if there was a way to access Illustrator's scaling from within AE.
For instance, within a 1024x576 image there is a small bitmapped photo.
In Illustrator, the original bitmap has been scaled to 12%
Say I want to zoom in on that part of the image
If I scale the whole image up in AI it references the original bitmap, so I can scale it back up to 100%
But if it is in AE at 1024x576 I cannot.
Continuous rasterisation treats the whole things as original sized vector.
I can't just make a big AI file as I would now have a 10240x5760 px AI file which would give me out of memory errors,
(because AE still won't only render what is in the window but has to do the whole layer. Is anyone from Nothing Real now at Adobe?)
Maybe certain PDFs would work?
Am basically trying to work out a better workflow
designers will always use bitmaps (and bitmap effects!) in AI and think I can zoom into them.
Even at 100% weird flickering errors occur with bitmaps in AI files so I usually have to reuse and parent anyway.

Nope. Would be nice, but can't be doen ATM. And a plain PDF is no use, either, as it may make actually things worse by flattening things that could be vector into bitmap data or slicing up images into separate tiles....
Mylenium

Illustrator files size and instances of the same embedded image

My question is, isn’t Illustrator supposed to use and save just one instance of an embedded image regardless of how many times it i used in an document?
A senario: If I import and embed an image and I save the document I get a pretty small files size. But when I copy this image internally in the document, say that I copy the image 10 times, I get ten times the file size. Is it supposed to do that? Why doesn't it just save the image one time?

Just did a test where I placed 5 images in Illustrator, one file with these images embedded, one with these images as Symbols, and one with these images as links. The winner for the smallest illustrator file is the file with images linked. But this is because you must supply the link with the Illustrator file if you want to actually use it for anything which would fall into the category of having one image used several times in Illustrator and not making the file have the weight of all 5 images.
A better understanding of these usages in Illustrator can be attained with this link.
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/illustrator/cs/using/WS714a382cdf7d304e7e07d0100196cbc5f-657aa .html

InDesign .idml files and embedded Illustrator files

I am in a situation where I create 2 page Illustrator files
and embed them in InDesign CC. However, when I back save the files,
whomever opens them has issues. The second page of the Illustrator files appears
correctly when in Fast Preview but when switched to Hi Res preview,
the second page reverts to the first page view so i have 2 views of page 1
of the Illustrator file.
Is there any way to avoid this?

Ah Eugene,
If only people made it that simple.
In the Illustrator file I have a layer with 300 pt Helveitca black in Red that states:
"Do NOT place any art in or alter this file in ANY Way!"
I have gotten files back from the client where they have eliminated the type
from that layer just to place their artwork there.
And the other thing to keep in mind is these Illustrator files represent
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I have been doing prepress for over 20 years and the simpler you can make
something, the better off you will be in the long run.
A single InDesign File with an embedded Dieline (Face on one page, Back on the next)
Is the most foolproof way I can come up with.
However, it appears InDesign is unable to handle this.

Packaging an InDesign document with Placed Illustrator Files which contain PLACED GRAPHICS!

I've got an InDesign document 215 pages long. Each page contains a placed Illustrator document... and each Illustrator document contains a placed TIFF.
When I package the InDesign Document the Illustrator files are gathered into the new location, but InDesign does not gather the TIFFs. I need to get this material to the book designer, but relinking 215 pages is going to be a very risky and time consuming process--one that will have to be done OVER and OVER again as the project moves from one location to another. Can anyone recommend a solution? Why doesn't InDesign look for nested files?
Does anybody understand what I'm talking about?
--Jay

The reason behind link (.psd in layers) means in the future it can be edited.
If the person receiving to package needs to edit the layers of a PSD placed in an Illustrator file, then yes you would have to manually include the layered PSDs. But if it's just a matter of ensuring full res and color managed output downstream then saving as PDF does that and preserves the links to layered files locally. So if I save as PDF trash a link and reopen the PDF in Illustrator it will look for the link:
If you save as .ai with the links embedded, the users downstream would be able to unembed and edit a flattened version of the placed art.

Necessary to "Update" old illustrator files?

I have tons of files created in old illustrator 6.0 and now that I have a newer version of illustrator, specifically CS2, loaded on Mac OS X it's calling all of my illustrator files "Text Files."
It says, "This file contains text that was created in a previous version of Illustrator. This legacy text must be updated before you can edit it." It asks you to either Choose Update or OK to update later.
Should I take the time to update all of these files now? I'm just archiving them. I have thousands of files and it would take time to open them all and update each one. If I don't update now though, will I be stuck later in years to come, with files that won't open at all, as operating systems progress, etc?
2) If I open a file, hit update and then hit save or save as, Logo A for instance will be renamed Logo A [Converted].ai - My question is should I just leave the brackets and the word converted or should I get rid of it?
3) Also, if I open a file, hit update and then hit save or save as it goes to "illustrator Options". In this dialog box it defaults to "Use Compression". Should I just leave it checked or deselect it? (I'm scared of the word "compression" as I just spent the last several days decompressing old Disk Doubler files using an OS 9 emulator. I was lucky to be able to do this.)
4) In this Illustrator Options dialog box it always gives me two warnings for these old files - The Document Raster Effects resolution is 72 ppi or less. What does this mean? Should I try and change it? If so, how? The other warning is "only fonts with appropriate permission bits will be embedded. What does this mean?
Please keep answers as simple as possible. Thanks so much.

Lala,
Most of this just boils down to personal preference and/or common sense.
I have tons of files created in old illustrator 6.0 and now that I have...CS2...Mac OS X [is] calling all of my illustrator files "Text Files."...Should I take the time to update all of these files now?
That's just a file-association issue on the OS, mostly for icon and doubleClicking-to-open. It doesn't mean you can't open the file in a later version of the creating program. Here's the main thing: Can you still directly open AI 6 files in the current version of AI (CS5)? If yes (as I suspect), then whether you update all these files before archiving them or not is just a question of what you consider most convenient. Do you prefer to have all your archive files already updated to current-version AI, or do you prefer to update them on an as-needed basis?
Personally, I opt for the as-needed route. I also have thousands of archive files. But I'm not going to open and resave them all (and mess with replacing legacy fonts, etc., etc.) with every new version of the host program. One could make a career of that. (And Illustrator is far from the only program I use.) In my case, the majority of those legacy files will never be needed again. Although I keep good backups, I always make it a point to make sure my clients know I am under no obligation to indefinitely archive my working files for their completed projects. (Anyone who takes on that liability, without being in that business and charging for it is flirting with disaster.) I provide the customer copies of what is necessary for the reproduction and uses he has contracted for, and he bears responsibility for redundant backup security of the files provided if he deems it necessary.
I'm just archiving them. I have thousands of files...will I be stuck later in years to come, with files that won't open at all...?
As long as the current version still supports the legacy format, it still boils down to whether you want to have all your archive files already updated or update them as-needed.
Now, eventually a new version of the host program may completely break backward file compatibility with a legacy format. That actually happened once in the history of FreeHand when a major modernization of the program was done. If a FH user at that time chose not to update their legacy files, then they would have to do a 2-step update, first using the latest version that did maintained the legacy compatibility, then to the current version. Even then, I did not convert all my archives (especially those for long-inactive accounts.)
The potential larger issue in that kind of scenario would be whether the "middle step" version of the host application will still run on the current-version OS. No one can predict that years and years in advance.
(Aside: For that matter, what assurance do we have that the next computer technology that everyone flocks to--say, organic computing with true artificial intelligence--will not break compatibilty with every existing PDF, CD, DVD, hard disk, VHS tape, Flash drive, Zip drive, Syquest disk, SCSI device, and AI file on the planet? On the other hand, I'm still able to use FH11 without a hitch on Windows Vista--haven't tried it yet on Windows 7. I'd love to try a copy of Windows FH 8--that was a clean drawing program--but only have a Mac version.)
It says "This file contains text that was created in a previous version of Illustrator. This legacy text must be updated..." It asks you to either Choose Update or OK to update later.
Fairly recently (much more recently than version 6), Illustrator's very archaic text objects were updated to a...well...less archaic structure. For backward compatibility, Adobe included a "conversion" routine to give you the option of updating the older text objects. Understand, you can still open, work with, and even re-save the file with the legancy text objects if you have need to. So again, do you really want to do this to all your archive files?(Understand, the reason for the warning in the first place is that the changes affect spacing and therefore potentially line wrapping, and other type-specific things; so if you are truly "updating" the file, i.e.; making it Johnny-on-the-spot, ready-to-go print-ready, you may have some re-typesetting to do. Do you really want to do that on all your legacy files right now?)
Logo A for instance will be renamed Logo A [Converted].ai ...should I just leave the brackets and the word converted...?
That's also just up to you. Makes no functional difference. Appending the word "converted" is intended as a mere file naming convenience. (FileMaker does the same thing by default, for example, when opening an Excel spreadsheet and thereby converting it to a FileMaker database.) For one thing, it lets you save the new file to the same directory as the original file without overwriting it. (In the FileMaker scenario, I always delete the "converted" because the .xls and .fp7 file extensions themselves are going to prevent accidental overwrites. In Illustrator, I never keep the multiple-version files anyway, so I also delete the "converted".)
... it goes to "illustrator Options"...defaults to "Use Compression". ...I'm scared of the word "compression"...
I'm not "afraid" of compression, but I never use application-specific file compression. It just creates other inconveniences in collaboration with others. For example, for many years Corel has provided the option of saving Draw files as compressed or not. It is a very common ocurrence for an AI user to receive a Draw file they should be able to open but can't, just because the Draw user forgot to not save it with compression (or didn't know better).
Yeah, Adobe's marketing might like to think I and everyone else in the world uses only its products, but the real world (thankfully) still isn't that close-minded.
The Document Raster Effects resolution is 72 ppi or less. What does this mean?
See online Help for what Document Rster Effects setting is all about. You need to understand it; but it doesn't really have anything significant to do with the question of updating legacy files. 72 ppi is the default, so if you update a legacy file from a version that predates raster effects, that's the setting the new document is going to get. But since there were no raster effects in the old file, it has no real bearing. But that setting is something you should be familiar with regarding any file you are sending to print, regardless of when.
The other warning is "only fonts with appropriate permission bits will be embedded. What does this mean?
You're getting this when converting legacy AI files? An EPS or PDF file may have embedded fonts, but (correct me if I'm wrong) not an AI6 file, unless the "Save with Acrobat compatibility" option was available in AI6.
At any rate, that's nothing new. Some programs can try to embed fonts in a file to facilitate remote printing and display (but not editing) without having to do the old-world "bundle for output" routine. If you happen to be the typeface designer, of course, you may not be too happy about that. So such features have had to provide the typeface foundry an opt-out. Some typeface vendors are almost as piracy-paranoid as Adobe--much to the dissatisfaction of their legitimate customers. So there is a setting in font files that the font creator can set to disallow embedding of the font. One example of particular distress to me is ITC Officina. Nowadays, I make a point to never purchase fonts that can't be embeded in a PDF. So ITC (or whomever actually owns the thing now) has at least one unhappy legitimately-licensed customer who has stopped using one of his favorite fonts and won't buy an updated version unless and until this nonsense is corrected. Again, it's really a non-issue re file version updating. You can't do anything (well, anything practical) about a font that doesn't allow embedding anyway. The warning is just a "reminder"; it's a standard alert whenever saving a file in a format that tries to embed fonts.
JET

Unable to print some illustrator-files

Hi,
•The problem:
I have some illustrator-files I can't print. I already tried a lot of different things to make it print (more info below).
The files I have problems with all use patterns (non-standard pattern-swatches). 1 group of files use a jpg-pattern, another group vector patterns.
The ones with the vector-pattern won't print at all (print spools to printer, printer rips the file (I checked it on the printer) after that nothing happens anymore, it does't get in the joblist). The files with the jpg-pattern prints only 1 of 4 pages after more than an hour of processing. All files are multipage files. Filesizes are between 20MB and 80MB. It's only a minority of files with problems.
•Illustrator version:
I'm using CS5, some colleagues use CS4/CS3.
•What I've tried, all unsuccessful:
ai:
-Flattening the layers.
-Deselected “Create PDF Compatible File”.
-Used the“delete unused palette items”-action.
-I'm unable to select “Print as Bitmap” while printing under advanced (it appears grey).
pdf:
-Saving as PDF (helped with a few files)
     Tried different settings:
     -Deselecting “Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities”
     -Different pdf-standard (PDF/X-...)
     -Different compression-settings: average downsampling to 600ppi/300ppi/150ppi/..., compression: zip, also tried jpeg.
-Tried printing the pdf-files with Adobe Acrobat Pro and Apple Preview.
-Used advanced>PDF Optimizer in Adobe Acrobat Pro.
•Printer-info:
Both netwerk-printers, both Konica Minolta.
Use Fiery Image Controllers.
One's a bizhub C450, the other one's a bizhub C360.
Used another, more professional printer (bizhub Pro C6500) too for one of the vector-pattern files, with no result.
Most recent drivers are installed.
•Works, but not a good solution for everyone:
Exporting to jpg, with “use artboards” selected, max. quality.
This works, for CS4 and CS5 this works more or less fine, but in my understanding CS3 can't work with multiple artboards, so that's a real hassle (copy/paste to single pages then export every pages...) So I'm hoping for a normal, more elegant company-wide solution. It's a minority of the files, but still enough to be a serious problem.
Thank in advance for the help!

Thanks for your reply Mike!
I think you're on to something. The pattern could indeed be to complex for our printers, so rasterizing will be our only option in that case.
The controller for the C6500's specs are:
Intel Core2 Duo E6400 • 2MBL2Cache • 2.13 GHz Clock Speed • 1GBDDRSDRAM
• 1,066 MHz Front Side Bus • 160 GB Hard Disk • DVD/CD-RW
Image of the pattern:
When I said jpeg-pattern, I meant a jpeg I embedded and use as a pattern. So embedded the image (placed, deselected link option), dragged it into my swatch library, and used that pattern. I'll try a psd instead and see if it helps.
Just out of curiosity, as what is an image embedded in illustrator? I noticed before that illustrator embeds them as something else heavier then a jpeg, but couldn't wrap my head around it, is there any way to make embedded images lighter (compress them or something).
Thx for your help!

"This is an Adobe Illustrator file that was save without PDf content."

I have a client that has been working on a file in AI CS, never left his machine, but when he went to open it today he gets a message that says this file "was generated by a newer version of Illustrator. Would you like to import this file? Some data loss may occur".
And when we click the "Import" button, we then get:
"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" options turned on. This option is in the Illustrator Native Format Options dialog box, which appears when saving an Adobe Illustrator file using the Save As command."
However, even though this was created in AI CS, all other machine and all other versions of AI (even CS3, 3.3, 2, etc..) we get the same exact error message. How it can be newer than CS 3.3 when it was created in CS is strange to begin with.
I assume this is some sort of corruption, but was wondering if there were any cures. It seems our backups have backed up this file in it's current state (corrupt), which is a huge issue at this point.
Thank you very much for any help!

I have sometimes had this trouble since I updated Acrobat.
"This is an Adobe® Illustrator® file that was saved without PDF content ..."
Not sure what's wrong - it seems to happen even though the Illy file is saved with PDF content and everything embedded.
Another thing: When viewing pdfs under Advanced>Print Production>Output Preview I repeatedly get an RGB simulation preview even though I know that the file is CMYK. So I have to choose a CMYK simulation preview and then things look o.k.
Is there any way to stop the RGB preview coming up? I note that Convert Colours messes things up completely, so it's only the preview that's wrong.
Any ideas, Wade?

Illustrator File Bug spreading...

Not sure how it happened. I have two files... a PDF and a document in illustrator I'm working on. I placed the PDF in Illustrator file I was working on to trace it. I had to make a change, so I opened the PDF itself and edited the file. When I saved the PDF I was prompted with "Some files are missing or modified... now?" So far so good.
When I was done tracing the file, something happened in the PDF file (which was still open in another window) which caused the timestamp to be changed on the file. Could have been Windows (I've seen this behavior before.) could have been an automatic backup... I'm not sure. I made no changes to the file.
I hit "No" do not update, because I was planning on deleting the layer I traced. Next I deleted the layer. Then I am prompted with the update links dialog when the links palette is empty. I dismissed it, closed the file, closed Illustrator, and went about my day (yesterday).
I had to open the file again today for editing and the message came up again. After I closed the file, now it's happening to other files which have no links either. (I closed the original file with the issue.) It's a bit of an annoyance because it prompts me every 60 seconds or so to update the links in the links palette. If there are links in the links palette (for a different file) it does not prompt me, but when links are non-existent in the file I am prompted. The screenshot is from a completely different document after the corrupt file was closed.
There are no symbols with embedded links or images and no raster content (with the exception of a couple of non-expanded blur effects exist. If I open a different file, after restarting illustrator, everything works as expected until I open the *corrupted* file. Then the pattern begins all over.
For my workflow, I normally work in native AI and save those files with un-outlined fonts (for editing) then I will finalize a file by converting it to outline files prior to saving to EPS. Sometimes I will save a proof out as a PDF if the file I'm working on isn't imported into something else. I'm not usually in the habit of importing PDFs for tracing in Illustrator, but I was in a hurry and figured it would work. It placed it, but now it haunts the document FOREVER.
Thought I would share.

That's definitely a good troubleshooting method to go about solving an issue with a corrupt file.
Reimporting the PDF in my case did not fix the problem because the phantom PDF does not exist in the form the program is searching for. Despite having another version of the file linked, the program knows the *embedded* PDF that was not removed has been updated in link form and it tries to update the non-existent link. I say embedded because AI tries to save PDF compatible files natively, so it embeds links even though it still maintains the linking in the links palette to allow people to update changed files.
Copying the selected content from the file to a new file was the first step I took to fix the issue I had. When my client referenced the older proof I reopened the old file and that's when all of the trickery began for Illustrator itself, causing the program to treat other files as if they had missing links long after the corrupt file was closed.
On another weird note, the phantom placed PDF still shows in a saved copy as a PDF (with a PDF extension) on Apple's preview app on iOS and MacOS.
My client thought it was a design element when she viewed the proof on her iPhone and was giving me changes per what she was seeing. The file does not appear this way in Acrobat Reader or Acrobat Pro.

Illustrator files from China & output issues

I just need to bounce this off of someone - we received several files (40 in fact) from China for Wal Mart -
My Rip would not accept the pdf files created from these Illustrator files.
They were created in Ilustrator CS4 in China and opened in Illustrator CS4 (here in the US) and saved as a PDF per my specs
The input would fail just at the point that color information was being gleaned from the file -
We sent these files to Screen and they ripped them and sent them back to me (they used a newer workflow) - these files went through fine -
Today I asked our client to send one of the original files and all linked images (they were embedded in the ai files I had received originally so I couldn't dig in and get any onfo)
When looking at the images (photoshop eps files that opened in mac preview with a double click - however, when opened in Photoshop there were guidelines drawn so I feel it began as a photoshop file) used in the file, they all had Japan Color 2001 Coated color profiles -
Now my question is this - is it at all possible for that to have hindered the ripping of these pdfs?
PDF's that would not rip were opened in Pitstop and flattened, "preflighted" and repaired all errors in an attempt to get them to go over - final preflight in acrobat 9 & pitstop indicated there were no problems -
any ideas? Is there a software incompatibility going on here?

I know that this thread is pretty old but as the OP I wanted to provide an update.
We finally discovered what the problem was - however, we still don't know exactly why unless it is because our workflow is so old.
I ended up splitting the file in question into several files by color. Fortunately many of the colors were overprinting each other so trapping was not an issue.
All colors went through just fine except ONE.
I opened that file back up in Illustrator and simply changed the swatch color to a different spot and guess what - it went through just fine.
I assume that there was something about the original swatch that Trueflow gagged on.
Coincidentally, my old boss called me that same week with a problem he had getting an Illustrator file to process in his Harlequin rip - turns out that the issue was similar - a pattern swatch in the file was preventing the file from ripping.
I know it's a little late - but should anyone come across a similar issue the swatches may be the problem, particularly if your rip is an older one - as you know, we don't all have the luxury of having the latest and greatest equipment to work with, particularly with the economy being what it has been.

Illustrator File Icon missing in Vista Business? !

Hello,
Under WinXP, the AI file type would display an orange flower icon for Illustrator files. Under Windows Vista Ultimate, the AI file icon is only a white page...
Any idea why? Can this be changed?
Thanks,
Luke

After months with the same problem, I just found a way that worked for me. I hope it is useful for other people having the same headache.
1. I downloaded this program: http://defaultprogramseditor.com/ (it doesn't need to be installed, and I checked it before I clicked on it, at Virus Total (http://www.virustotal.com/).
2. The problem I found in my case, is that both .eps and .ai were just "Illustrator Files". So I deleted both file types with "Default Programs Editor", like this:
     a. Click "File Type Settings".
     b. Click "Delete an extension".
     c. In "Search", type "ai", select it and delete it.
     d. Do the same with the "eps" extension and close the Programs Editor.
3. Open Illustrator, and the guy will cry that the Windows Registry need to be repaired; say yes (if you want, you can create a new -blank- .ai and/or a new -blank- .eps, and save them both anywhere, only to see later how they will -finally- look to the way they should usually look. ;-))
4. Open the program "Default Programs Editor" again and follow these steps to change to the beautiful, impossible, secrets, wonderful icons you should see instead that horrible white sheet:
     a. Click "File Type Settings".
     b. Click "Icon".
     c. In "Search", type "ai", select it and click "Next".
     d. If some s**t about AIRegtool comes, just ignore it, say OK or whatever lets you to click "Browse" in order to look for the right icon inside the Illustrator (.exe) file.
It might be different in your case, but in mine (Windows Vista Home Premium, CS4) the route was: C/Program Files/Adobe/Adobe Illustrator CS4/Support Files/Contents/Windows/Illustrator.exe and click "Open".
     e. Now -finally- you can find the most wanted icons in the world. Choose the right icon (of course you will know which one it is, since you're really missing it), click "Ok", and click "Save Icon" (or you can open the menu and choose "Save to Registry" -what I did- or "Save to .reg file".
     f. Repeat the same for the rest of the icons/file types that you were missing.
P.S.: Excuse me if my English is not perfect. ;-)) Feel free to copy and post this in other forums, I know there have been thousands of people looking for a solution to this thing.
Greetings! and enjoy your icons again!! -finally.

Why is my CS6 Adobe Illustrator file so large?

I duplicated one of my previously created CS6 Adobe Illustrator files (28 MB) with photos that have clipping masks. Why is my new AI file now 148 MB in size, when all of my newly linked jpeg graphics total only 9 MB? If I save it as a regular pdf it's 148MB, but if I save this same file with the smallest size pdf format, it reduces it down to only 242 KB. No files are embedded either in my newly created AI file. My business associate working on other Illustrator files experiences this same phenomenon sporadically at times too. It has us both baffled.

But why isn't the pdf embedding the jpegs, and use the file size of the jpegs? Are you telling me that the pdf editing compatibility function is actually converting the jpeg information into a uncompressed format? That's crazy, because all the similar Illustrator files that came before this one, used the same method and similar jpegs in size, and AI file size was negligible (700k to 2 MB size) on those previous files even though pdf compatibility was checked when saving in .ai format.
What's more, I tried resaving that ai file without pdf compatibility and file size is just as large as before. It made no difference. I also resaved those jpegs in Photoshop with the save for Web option. It still didn't make a difference. However, if I save those as pdfs using the smallest file size rather than [Illustrator default] and editing capatibility it make a big difference-down into the KB size range.

Why is my Illustrator file so large, the EPS file is only linked?

I have an Illustrator CS4 file. I have a 20MB EPS file that I have placed as a link in it. When I go to save it, the Illustrator file becomes 100MB!!
Why is this happening? Am I not checking the correct settings when saving the Illustrator file?
Please advise. Thanks!

As mentioned already, with certain options data will always be embedded. That would especially be true if the linked file is part of a larrger construct with belnding options, clipping masks etc., requiring to produce additional clipping paths and objects when creating PDF data.
Mylenium

Illustrator file just won't import, have no idea why

I go to Import the Illustrator file I want to import. I double click it and nothing happens and I have no idea why. I tried exporting them as different pngs for each layer and importing those, nothing happens. I tried exporting it as a .psd and importing those, nothing happens. I'm using After Effects 6.5 and Illustrator CS2. I thought it might be because the colour mode is CMYK, but I changed it to RGB and nothing happened. I tried saving it as Illustrator CS, didn't work.
Will having placed files in the Illustrator file cause this problem? Because I embedded them just in case. The most infuriating thing about this is I swear I've done this a million times before. I don't know what's different this time. I tried importing another Illustrator file and it worked. (it was also CS2, but didn't have any placed files). Oh and I've tried deleting the placed files, saved it and tried importing. Doesn't work.
Thanks in advance for any help.

Depending on the file system you use (FAT 16 on Windows or external drives?), the relative paths stored for the referenced files become too long. This causes a blockage in the operating system which prevents any program from reading or writing to those directories. It's a limitation in the filesystem itself, not the Adobe programs. Only using other filesystems (NTFS, HFS+) would avoid or at least minimize the issues.
Mylenium

Bridge PDFs show Illustrator files "fuzzy"

When I use Bridge to manage Illustrator Files I sometimes want to output a selection of those drawings as a composite PDF via the "Output" feature.
When I do this, the PDFs are always soft, or stair-steppy, and don't reflect the smooth vector nature of the Illustrator file.
I've selected the highest quality settings for the PDF production in the Bridge menu.
Is correcting this a matter of making changes in Illustrator or in Bridge? Or is it not fixable?
I'm using Bridge in CS5 and Illustrator CS5 (Mac OS 10.6).

Thanks so much for your help, I didn't know any of those things. Very interesting.
In regards to Photoshop rasterizing PDFs, what exactly are the ramifications of that? A PDF-X saved from Photoshop is still fine to send to the print press, right?
So far, all the print work I do I design in the colour space specified by my printer, then save as a PDF-X1a (which is also what they specify), by doing 'Save As' in Illlustrator. I also name the file with the colour space, and my printer has not had any problems with this.
The reason I'm asking about colour management, is that I may start expanding into the area of designing adverts for newspapers and magazines, and this involves different colour spaces. And newspapers etc. around here won't be as fussy about colour management as my print-press, which is a very good print company. So it would be better if I knew they were getting PDFs from me with embedded colour profiles.
I think the situation is that when I save things with embedded profiles, that it does in fact work, despite what Bridge, Illustrator and InDesign say. I have .ai files that show up in Bridge as untagged, but when opened in Illustrator, do indeed have an embedded colour profile.
It's very confusing to know what's going on.
A rather non-technical workaround, which alot of people seem to use, is just designing the file in the correct colour space, saving the file in that colour space, naming the file with that colour space, and then when it gets to the printer/magazine/newspaper etc. hoping that (A) there is colour profile data in the file that people can see at the destination or (B) the people at the destination know from the file name that you designed it in the correct space, and so they just Assign Profile at their end, and all is well.
I mean, what's the alternative, I can't suddenly stop using Illustrator and InDesign, and doing ALL my work in Photoshop, just because of what Bridge says!

Embedded virus in Illustrator file

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