How to open a pdf in Illustrator if you don't have the fonts
Let's suppose you receive a pdf document that you need to further work on in Illustrator, but when you open it all fonts get replaced by the default font, because you don't have those fonts used in the pdf. The font information is there in the pdf, so theoretically if you could convert all the text to outlines you would be able to work with the document.
To do that you have to open a new Illustrator document. Place the the pdf. Select the menu Object / Flatten transparency. Make sure to check the Convert all text to outlines option and go. You got the whole pdf in curves.
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Great timing, Ivan. That is
Great timing, Ivan. That is going to save me some work on an upcoming project.
Cheers.
3dog.
"Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible."
— Frank Zappa
I discovered this by
I discovered this by accident once. Nice tip.
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www.jhousedesign.com
Just Great!
Big time saver.....
Nice!!!!!! I knew you could
Nice!!!!!! I knew you could do it in Acrobat, but this is way easier.
It wont work....
It wont work!
I created new .pdf in illustrator, used som random font. Wrote "text" saved the pdf in proper settings, then deactivated the font. Created new document in illustrator and placed that pdf, checked convert text to outlines in menu > flatten trans ...
What did I do wrong?
What do you mean it didn't
What do you mean it didn't work?! It can't not work lol.
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www.jhousedesign.com
oh my bad, I placed to pdf
oh my bad, I placed to pdf into illustrator but now I realised you also need to choose before that "Link"
now it works, just great :)
I also didn't notice the
I also didn't notice the "Link" check box. It worked for me now. Maybe that can be added to the instructions in the post?
This didn't work for me either
I was searching how to do this yesterday afternoon. When placing the pdf it says the font is missing and then substitutes a font. I did find that you can do this in Acrobat. Open the pdf in Acrobat. If there is not a transparent item there already, add a transparent watermark. Then go to Advanced > Print Production > Flattener Preview. In that dialogue check Convert All Text To Outline.
That worked for me.
Shawn
How Primitive!
Bitmap fonts never fail you!
http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
???? ---- www.jhousedesign.co
????
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www.jhousedesign.com
no way for me to get this trick to work
when i import a pdf in illustrator (CS2) if the font is missing that one is automatically replaced. So, when I flatten all the text all I get is "my" font flattened, not the one that was missing.
Am I doing something wrong?
What does "you also need to choose before that "Link"" mean?
You don't import. You place.
You don't import. You place.
The thing is when you create
The thing is when you create new document and go file > place and 1 click on the pdf file you also need to check "Link" box what appears in window before clicking finally "place" button!
what about raster images in the pdf file?
what if the pdf file contains raster imagas besides fonts? the transparency flattern would affect the raster images, and we don't want to change the pdf, but to open it for doing changes.
cool
very useful function!!