Exporting layers out of Illustrator into InDesign

Is there a way to export a file with layers out of Illustrator and import/place into InDesign and still retain the layers???

Literal translation of layers between the two apps is impossible. Illustrator layers and InDesign layers are built differently.
It's fairly easy to get InDesign layers into Illustrator. Export PDF, with Create Adobe Layers enabled (must be Acrobat 6 compatible or higher), then open the PDF in Illustrator.
However you can always have complications opening PDFs with Illustrator. For example you may experience text editing issues, or color space issues.
You asked about AI layers to InDesign layers. You could save the AI layers out as separate files, then bring those into InDesign and place them in layers with corresponding names. Something like this may be scriptable. Even so, the layer construct is very different. For example, you can have layer effects in Illustrator, but not in InDesign. You also have sub layers in Illustrator, but not in InDesign.
Hope this helps.

Similar Messages

Exporting forms out of Adobe into a new provider

Is there something I should know about exporting Adobe forms out of Adobe and into a new forms service provider. I've tried to do it following the other providers instructions and it doesn't work. Are exporting forms out of Adobe not possible, being disabled, etc?

Glad you asked, GoLoggers!
JotForm's import wizard could not make it any easier. No company makes it easier to import from FormsCentral; it's just a one-step process! All you need is your Adobe login information.
Here are some standout features you'll enjoy about JotForm:
Completely free for fewer than 100 submissions per month
The most advanced Form Designer of any competitor (a chance to make intricate designs for your form in minutes)
A Theme Store that features something for everyone
Includes skip logic
The easiest WYSIWYG form builder on the market
Unquestionably the best and simplest import tool for migrating from Adobe FormsCentral
Read about JotForm in Sitepoint and Inc.
Please feel free to reach out to me directly if you have any questions at chad(at)jotform.com.

Embedding items from Illustrator into Indesign

I am working on a 100-page book. Instead of importing or placing my Illustrator charts and graphs, I am embedding them into the Indesign file. I am doing this because for the most part they come in crisper and clearer than when importing them. The client wants to be able to see the charts clearly and it also makes it easier for me to line them up in the layout.
Everything works like a charm except that with every few charts, I get this message when pasting:
"This command would create a large number of page items and would severely degrade performance.Data will be placed as an embedded file."
In this case, I get the rough preview image as though I had imported the files. It is hard to predict when this happens. Does anyone know a fix for this?
I am using CS3; System 10.5.8.

There's no fix (That I know of). After a certain amount of vector points, InDesign places an embedded file only.
I tend to place alot of vectors in InDesign for ease of editing, but I keep them simple.
Note: Placed vectors will not export to epub, so You'd have to put them back in illustrator, if you need that function.
For " crisper and clearer", I'm not sure what you mean? For looking at onscreen? It shouldn't affect a PDF.
And, are you using high quality preview when you place the illustator images?

Illustrator into indesign graphic transfer

Hello, I wrote that I received from illustrator graphics program with the code I want to settle into the framework of the code indesign program. I also want to establish the number of cycles can not perform the settlement into the frame from left to right. and illustrator program in two or more variables that each one provides the number of settlements Can I want to cycle one by one to take
var myDocument = app.activeDocument;
myDocument.viewPreferences.horizontalMeasurementUnits = MeasurementUnits.MILLIMETERS;
myDocument.viewPreferences.verticalMeasurementUnits = MeasurementUnits.MILLIMETERS;
var sekil = new Array;
sekil = ["Kare", "Oval"]
var myDialog = app.dialogs.add({name:"Sablon Olusturma", canCancel:true});
with (myDialog){
    with (dialogColumns.add()){
        with (borderPanels.add()){
            with(dialogColumns.add()){
                staticTexts.add({staticLabel:"Kalip Eni :", minWidth:90});
                staticTexts.add({staticLabel:"Kalip Boyu :", minWidth:90});
            with (dialogColumns.add()){
                var kalipEn = textEditboxes.add();
                var kalipBoy = textEditboxes.add();
        with(borderPanels.add()){
            with (dialogColumns.add()){
                staticTexts.add({staticLabel:"Ara Bosluk :", minWidth:90});
            with (dialogColumns.add()){
                var gutter = textEditboxes.add();
        with(borderPanels.add()){
            with (dialogColumns.add()){
                staticTexts.add({staticLabel:"Tekli Eni :", minWidth:90});
                staticTexts.add({staticLabel:"Tekli Boyu :", minWidth:90});
            with (dialogColumns.add()){
                var tekliEn = textEditboxes.add();
                var tekliBoy = textEditboxes.add();
        with (borderPanels.add()){
            with (dialogColumns.add()){
                staticTexts.add({staticLabel:"Cizim Sekli :", minWidth:90});
                staticTexts.add({staticLabel:"Radius :", minWidth:90});
            with(dialogColumns.add()){
                var myDrop = dropdowns.add({stringList:sekil, selectedIndex:0});
                var tRadius = textEditboxes.add();
var diaSonuc = myDialog.show();
if (diaSonuc == true){
    var kEn = parseInt(kalipEn.editContents);
    var kBoy = parseInt(kalipBoy.editContents);
    var kgutter = gutter.editContents;
    if ((kgutter == null) || (kgutter == "")){
        kgutter = 0;
    } else {
        kgutter = parseInt(kgutter);
    var tEn = parseInt(tekliEn.editContents);
    var tBoy = parseInt(tekliBoy.editContents);
    var myRadius = tRadius.editContents;
    if ((myRadius == null) || (myRadius == "")){
        myRadius = 0;
    } else {
        myRadius = parseInt(myRadius);
    var yatay = Math.floor(kEn / (tEn+kgutter));
    var dikey = Math.floor(kBoy / (tBoy+kgutter));
    var genislik = (tEn * yatay) + (kgutter * (yatay - 1));
    var boy = (tBoy * dikey) + (kgutter * (dikey - 1));
    var startMarginLeft = (kEn - genislik) / 2;
    var startMarginTop = kBoy - (boy+10);
    if (startMarginLeft < 7){
        yatay = yatay -1;
        genislik = (tEn * yatay) + (kgutter * (yatay - 1));
        startMarginLeft = (kEn - genislik) / 2;
    if (startMarginTop<10){
        dikey= dikey-1;
        boy = (tBoy * dikey) + (kgutter * (dikey - 1));
        startMarginTop = kBoy - (boy+10);
    var sonuc = "Yatay :" + yatay + " " + "Dikey :" + dikey + "\n Kaliptaki Etiket Sayisi :" + (yatay*dikey);
    alert(sonuc);
    var myLayer = myDocument.layers.item("Sablon");
    try{
        myLayerName = myLayer.name;
    catch (myError){
        var myLayer = myDocument.layers.add({name:"Sablon"});
    var myCutterColor = myDocument.colors.item("Bicak");
    try{
        myCutterColorName = myCutterColor.name;
    catch(myError){
        var myCutterColor = myDocument.colors.add({name:"Bicak", model:ColorModel.process, colorValue:[0, 100, 100, 0]});
    var myNoneSwatch = myDocument.swatches.item("None");
    var myRegistration = myDocument.colors.item("Registration");
    var myEtiket = new Array;
    var myCross1 = new Array;
    var myCross2 = new Array;
    var myCross3 = new Array;
    var myCross4 = new Array;
    var myCross5 = new Array;
    var myCross6 = new Array;
    var myCross7 = new Array;
    var myCross8 = new Array;
    if (myDrop.selectedIndex == 0){
        myEtiket[0] = myDocument.rectangles.add(myLayer, undefined, undefined, {strokeColor:myCutterColor, strokeWeight:0.25, fillColor:myNoneSwatch, geometricBounds:[startMarginTop, startMarginLeft, (tBoy+startMarginTop), (tEn+startMarginLeft)]});
        if (myRadius != 0){
            myEtiket[0].cornerOption = CornerOptions.ROUNDED_CORNER;
            myEtiket[0].cornerRadius =myRadius;
    if (myDrop.selectedIndex == 1){
        myEtiket[0] = myDocument.ovals.add(myLayer, undefined, undefined, {strokeColor:myCutterColor, strokeWeight:0.25, fillColor:myNoneSwatch, geometricBounds:[startMarginTop, startMarginLeft, (tBoy+startMarginTop), (tEn+startMarginLeft)]});
    myCross1[0] = myDocument.graphicLines.add(myLayer,undefined, undefined,{strokeColor:myRegistration, strokeWeight:0.25, fillcolor:myNoneSwatch, geometricBounds:[startMarginTop, (startMarginLeft-3), startMarginTop, (startMarginLeft-10)]});
    myCross2[0] = myDocument.graphicLines.add(myLayer,undefined, undefined,{strokeColor:myRegistration, strokeWeight:0.25, fillcolor:myNoneSwatch, geometricBounds:[(startMarginTop+tBoy), (startMarginLeft-3), (startMarginTop+tBoy), (startMarginLeft-10)]});
    myCross3[0] = myDocument.graphicLines.add(myLayer,undefined, undefined,{strokeColor:myRegistration, strokeWeight:0.25, fillcolor:myNoneSwatch, geometricBounds:[startMarginTop, (startMarginLeft+genislik+3), startMarginTop, (startMarginLeft+genislik+10)]});
    myCross4[0] = myDocument.graphicLines.add(myLayer,undefined, undefined,{strokeColor:myRegistration, strokeWeight:0.25, fillcolor:myNoneSwatch, geometricBounds:[(startMarginTop+tBoy), (startMarginLeft+genislik+3), (startMarginTop+tBoy), (startMarginLeft+genislik+10)]});
    myCross5[0] = myDocument.graphicLines.add(myLayer,undefined, undefined,{strokeColor:myRegistration, strokeWeight:0.25, fillcolor:myNoneSwatch, geometricBounds:[(startMarginTop-3), startMarginLeft, (startMarginTop-10), startMarginLeft]});
    myCross6[0] = myDocument.graphicLines.add(myLayer,undefined, undefined,{strokeColor:myRegistration, strokeWeight:0.25, fillcolor:myNoneSwatch, geometricBounds:[(startMarginTop-3), (startMarginLeft+tEn), (startMarginTop-10), (startMarginLeft+tEn)]});
    myCross7[0] = myDocument.graphicLines.add(myLayer,undefined, undefined,{strokeColor:myRegistration, strokeWeight:0.25, fillcolor:myNoneSwatch, geometricBounds:[(startMarginTop+boy+3), startMarginLeft, (startMarginTop+boy+10), startMarginLeft]});
    myCross8[0] = myDocument.graphicLines.add(myLayer,undefined, undefined,{strokeColor:myRegistration, strokeWeight:0.25, fillcolor:myNoneSwatch, geometricBounds:[(startMarginTop+boy+3), (startMarginLeft+tEn), (startMarginTop+boy+10), (startMarginLeft+tEn)]});
    var mmToPoint = 2.83464567
        for (var verti = 1; verti <= (dikey-1); verti++){
        var myVertDist = ((tBoy+kgutter)*verti)*mmToPoint;
        var myTransformationMatrix = app.transformationMatrices.add({verticalTranslation:myVertDist});
        myEtiket[verti] = myEtiket[0].duplicate();
        myCross1[verti] = myCross1[0].duplicate();
        myCross2[verti] = myCross2[0].duplicate();
        myCross3[verti] = myCross3[0].duplicate();
        myCross4[verti] = myCross4[0].duplicate();
        myEtiket[verti].transform(CoordinateSpaces.pasteboardCoordinates, [[0,0], BoundingBoxLimits.geometricPathBounds], myTransformationMatrix);
        myCross1[verti].transform(CoordinateSpaces.pasteboardCoordinates, [[0,0], BoundingBoxLimits.geometricPathBounds], myTransformationMatrix);
        myCross2[verti].transform(CoordinateSpaces.pasteboardCoordinates, [[0,0], BoundingBoxLimits.geometricPathBounds], myTransformationMatrix);
        myCross3[verti].transform(CoordinateSpaces.pasteboardCoordinates, [[0,0], BoundingBoxLimits.geometricPathBounds], myTransformationMatrix);
        myCross4[verti].transform(CoordinateSpaces.pasteboardCoordinates, [[0,0], BoundingBoxLimits.geometricPathBounds], myTransformationMatrix);
    for(var diz = 0; diz <= (dikey-1); diz++){
        for (var myCounter = 1; myCounter <= (yatay-1); myCounter++){
            var myDistance = ((tEn + kgutter)*myCounter)*mmToPoint;
            var myTransformationMatrix1 = app.transformationMatrices.add({horizontalTranslation:myDistance});
            myEtiket[dikey+myCounter] = myEtiket[diz].duplicate();
            myEtiket[dikey+myCounter].transform(CoordinateSpaces.pasteboardCoordinates, [[0,0], BoundingBoxLimits.geometricPathBounds], myTransformationMatrix1);
    for (var yanDiz = 1; yanDiz <= (yatay-1); yanDiz++){
        var myDistance = ((tEn + kgutter)*yanDiz)*mmToPoint;
        var myTransformationMatrix2 = app.transformationMatrices.add({horizontalTranslation:myDistance});
        myCross5[yatay+yanDiz] = myCross5[0].duplicate();
        myCross6[yatay+yanDiz] = myCross6[0].duplicate();
        myCross7[yatay+yanDiz] = myCross7[0].duplicate();
        myCross8[yatay+yanDiz] = myCross8[0].duplicate();
        myCross5[yatay+yanDiz].transform(CoordinateSpaces.pasteboardCoordinates, [[0,0], BoundingBoxLimits.geometricPathBounds], myTransformationMatrix2);
        myCross6[yatay+yanDiz].transform(CoordinateSpaces.pasteboardCoordinates, [[0,0], BoundingBoxLimits.geometricPathBounds], myTransformationMatrix2);
        myCross7[yatay+yanDiz].transform(CoordinateSpaces.pasteboardCoordinates, [[0,0], BoundingBoxLimits.geometricPathBounds], myTransformationMatrix2);
        myCross8[yatay+yanDiz].transform(CoordinateSpaces.pasteboardCoordinates, [[0,0], BoundingBoxLimits.geometricPathBounds], myTransformationMatrix2);
    myDialog.destroy();
var myGraphicFile = File.openDialog("Choose a graphic file");
if((myGraphicFile != "")&&(myGraphicFile != null)){
var myGraphic = myDocument.pages.item(0).place(myGraphicFile);
myGraphic = myGraphic[0];

File > Place...
And set the View > Display Performance... to High Quality Display. Even on Hight Quality there may be some degredation on screen, but the output will be fine.

Can't export (queue) out of ppro into adobe media encoder after update

i just updated everything (cuda, nvidia, os 10.8.2, 6.0.3) and now i can't export from ppro into adobe media encoder. as soon as i export out with any preset across multiple projects and hit play, i get the sheep sound almost immediately. before this gets put in the AME discussion queue consider that AME works fine either when importing an AE composition etc. so it seems to be premiere related. thanks!

Actually I'd recommend uinstalling all the adobe software on your PC if possible. Because truthfully if you have a decently fast internet connection or you have the installer for the suite on your system it really doesn't take that long to do a complete install. Plus when you do a complete install it's much more likely to fix the issue plus then you can use the Adobe CS cleaner tool which makes your odds for success much higher so that is what I'd recommend. If you follow the instructions from this link everything will go smoothly.
http://www.adobe.com/support/contact/cscleanertool.html
I know in the past I have fallen into the trap of troubleshooting something for a few days, only to end up uninstalling then using the adobe CS cleaner tool, then reinstalling and then BAM everything was now fixed lol...
Then I always ended up feeling silly for spending so much time on it instead of just doing a fresh install. Although I had no way of knowing that to begin with unfortunately. Hindsight is 20/20 most of the time.
However you can technically try uninstalling Premiere by itself if you want to try that first. If my memory serves me correctly when you uninstall Premiere it will uninstall Encore and AME as well.

Illustrator,photoshop & indesign CS6 is not opening

i have an Creative Suite 6 Design Standard , i had installed it on the pc but out of Illustrator,photoshop & indesign only acrobat is working..
Illustrator,photoshop & indesign CS6 is not opening...
i tired reinstalled it but still no luck..
pls help

right click ps>click 'run as administrator'.
if that fails, describe what you see after doing that.

Pasting text into indesign 2014

I'm trying to copy text from word into indesign 2014 and it isn't working ... I have tried copying the text from illustrator into indesign and it doesn't work???

Try making a text frame in your ID file, click in it with your text tool and then use File>Place and select your Word file. You need both a text frame and an insertion point.

Convert illustrator to inDesign

Hi guys,
I have a trifold piece which is created in illustrator. There're two sides of this trifold. Inside and outside, each in a separated illustrator doc. It has vector logos, place photoshop EPS images, vector shapes and text. My printer said he needs an inDesign file. Since I'm mainly a web designer who never actually used inDesign before. Is there anyway I can convert Illustrator into InDesign? I can convert all text into outline if that makes things easier. Ideally, I'd like to preserve all alignment and layout of the page.
Is it possible?
Thanks.
Shaun

Although it is true, you can deliver a PDF, there is a way to get a PDF natively into InDeisgn. Here is a a how-to video on a product I represent called PDF2DTP for InDeisgn. In this case, it can also be used to convert an Illustrator artwork file into a brand-new InDeisgn layout, with active fonts, vector obects and everything converted over:
Maybe that will assist.
David Dilling
Markzware

Illustrator to indesign problems

Hi, I am having trouble bringing in a drawing from illustrator into indesign, I have bought many drawings in from the same doc and no problem, just one small drawing which is part of a larger illustrator file is giving me an error message, it says EPS error, invalid restore, any suggestions ? I have been trying to copy and past. Thanks Carmen

I'm not familiar with Mac OS X and my customer is having exactly the same problem. It prints some files perfectly, but cannot print from f.ex Illustrator. How did you solve the problem?
Thank You in advance

Combine text layers but keep text editable? OR A way to export text as a paragraph in InDesign into Photoshop

Hoping to achieve one of these goals, either option is equally fine:
Option 1) find a way to merge text layers but keep the text editable in Photoshop.
Option 2) find a way in InDesign to group and collapse text so that it lands on one layer or one text paragraph that could be selected together. So that when I export to EPS and then PSD the text is not sliced up on various layers but is combined into one editable text layer.
Why? I'm saving out from InDesign and for whatever reason the text is fragmented across many objects/layers/ whatever you want to call it. When using the export feature from InDesign these bits of text are then saved out as separate layers when you export to EPS. Using Illustrator with the EPS files is no help either.
The best way I can describe it is like in these InDesign document there are web page slices being used and various bits of the text are landing on various slices which in turn befuddles the export function that is valiantly trying to maintain these 'slices' of text by fragmenting letters, words, or characters across many 'slices' into many layers.
Here's what the document looks like when I go from InDesign> export> EPS> then open in Illustrator and export to PSD.
What I want is all of those individual text layers to be one text layer, still editable, in Photoshop.

http://www.automatication.com/index.php?id=13
Bob

Problem exporting Illustrator gradient images into Indesign.

I created and overlapped 3 gradient images in Illustrator cs6 and saved @ an eps file. When imported into Indesign thin white lines appear where the images overlap. How to fix?

Thanx Kris -
I saved file @ a pdf and it exported perfectly.
Will also try your suggestion.

Illustrator vector images loses layers when placed into InDesign

I have a illustrator image that I want to paste into InDesign - I have tried pasting and placing however it appears both ways do not paste all the image elements. See below - any ideas?
Selected all and copied in Illustrator:
Then, pasted (and placed) into InDesign - missing neck, shirt

Pasting Illy artwork is for very simple drawings. Complex shapes and objects may not coming into ID exactly the way you want.
Why aren’t you placing the graphic?

Can an illustrator or photoshop file be exported into InDesign?

Hi,
I need someone to create a layout for me & he doesn't know InDesign, only Illustrator or Photoshop.
Once he's done the work, can int then be imported into InDesign if I want someone else to make changes to it in InDesign?
Thanks

Yip, Placing via File, Place is how you import AI and PS files into InDesign but cannot be edited. They will be linked into InDesign though so the edits can be made using AI or PS and they will update in ID.
If it is a simple drawing made in AI, without any special or AI specific effects applied, then you can sometimes copy and paste from AI to ID and then you can edit it in ID, otherwise it will paste as an embedded EPS.

Placing Illustrator Files into InDesign-Apparel Industry Related?

Hi,
I am working on a larger document, approx. 60+ pages.
I'm actually having 2 issues:
The apparel sketches are done in Illustrator, and normally what I do is raterize the files and place them into InDesign. I've been encountering some difficulties lately, however and I wanted to see if I could get some input as to whether or not this is best practice. (It has never been an issue in the past, but the document size was maybe half- around 20-30 pages.)
Also, these documents grow to an enormous size of 2.74 GB in the last case and I had a heck of a time getting it down to under 10MB in pdf format when it needed to be sent off. Is there anything I can do to make this easier on myself?
And last when making a pdf, it has happened that some of the apparel illustrations come through discolored or blacked out, if you have any insight to this as well, I'd appreciate it.
I've only been working with 5.5 for a few months and never on documents this large, but this project is ongoing, so I need to get a handle on this situation.
Thanks

Hm, okay.
How would I know if the file is corrupt?
Well, you often don't, until it crashes and is unrecoverable. Then it's too late. But "insanely swollen file size" is a symptom. However, I can't know if your file size is reasonable or not, depends on the content, and it sounds like your content is pretty heavyweight. For instance - I thought it was possilbe to strip out custom brushes when saving AI files to bring file size down. I've never touched an AI file that was too large because of the number of swatches. So, depending on how much you have in there, then maybe your two-gig file isn't on the verge of crashing and burning.
I did inherit it, but have since used it as a template and "saved as" various versions. I'm not really sure if it started in 5 or not.
Cool trick: Click on Help, then hold down Control when you click on About. This will take you to a "Component Information" screen, and in the lower-left-hand corner you can see the Document History. So you can learn if you inherited a file that started in CS5. Or in CS3, or in PageMaker.
General best-practices as recommended by forum regulars is to finish a file in the format in which it started. If a file has to be moved from an older version to a newer version, then exporting IDML or INX before moving is advised. This is because of a lot of anecdotal evidence that opening up old files in newer versions and then doing a bunch of work is correlated with file corruption.
I have not tried to export-to-IDML-and-reopen, but I certainly will. What does this do exactly?
Well, it'll do a bunch of different things. It'll reinterpret the file format, which can strip out corruption. It'll strip out all image previews. If there is cruft in your file, then this will probably remove it.

How can I convert 75 Illustrator pages into InDesign?

I'm working on a rulebook for a boardgame. Each page has vector art and text blocks intermixed to explain the rule mechanics. It now exists as 75 individual Illustrator files that need to be combined into a single PDF document.
Obstacle 1: Illustrator doesn't have enough space for 75 artboards
Obstacle 2: Using copy-paste to put each into InDesign doesn't work: Each line of text becomes an individual text block (and therefore uneditable).
Obstacle 3: Using the Place function loads each page as a uneditable picture. I'd have to open each individual page in Illustrator to make a change.
Background: The rulebook was created in a ten-year-old version of Macromedia Freehand, which will not work on my new iMac. Converting it to illustrator resulted in 75 individual .ai files
Is there a way to allow more space in Illustrator to hold more artboards? Can two exported .pdf files be merged together (so the rulebook could be done with two or more .ai files)? Or do I have to start all over in InDesign?
Is it just me, or are InDesign and Illustrator two halves of a single program, but don't work together? There has to be a way for the latest in two Adobe software titles to accomplish what Freehand could do ten years ago with just one program.

Illustrator and InDesign have completely different file formats because they were developed independently by different teams and for different users. Their way of handling text is also completely different. That's why they don't exchange data as well as you would like.
You could only copy small vector objects from Illustrator to InDesign, and it wouldn't retain their position so that wouldn't be practical. Formatted text can not be copied between the applications.
I would use the Place command. When you need to edit a page use the Edit Original command. You can Option/Alt-double-click on the placed AI file and it will open in Illustrator for you to make your changes. Save the changes and they will be automatically updated in InDesign.
Otherwise, you will have to recreate the entire project from scratch in InDesign.

Exporting layers out of Illustrator into InDesign

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for