PDF import issue; file is cut up in squares, white lines everywhere

[Mark_Mark]

Hi there,

I have the following issue (see screenshot attached): when I open/import a PDF in designer (the same happens in Publisher by the way), the file gets cut up in 'boxes'(square and rectangular). I am sure they are not there in the original document.

I work with Affinity Designer 2.1.0. on a Windows 10 computer. The file is made in either Illustrator or Indesign (it happened more often with different files from different makers). Anyone knows what's going on? Like this it is very hard so share files with people who use Adobe products and justifying/ promoting my choice for Affinity...

Oh, in the file you clearly see all the white lines which are cut lines. I moved one of the squares to illustrate the issue.

Thanks in advance,

Mark

 

[Hangman]

Hi @Mark_Mark and welcome to the forums,

You basically have a series of Image layers rather than editable elements. It looks like you possibly have a '.Ai' (Adobe Illustrator) file in an EPS wrapper exported as a PDF file, and Affinity is unable to read the proprietary information in the .Ai file.

What you ideally need is the original Illustrator artwork exported directly to a pdf file without the EPS wrapper so that any vector elements and text remain editable. Are you able to request a straight pdf export of the original Illustrator file or is that not an option?

[Mark_Mark]

Hi Hangman,

Thanks. I've asked for a non-compressed file and this one looks to be better. So the issue is in the compressing I guess. Is that the same as the wrapping you spoke about?

Mark

[Hangman]

Hi @Mark_Mark,

6 minutes ago, Mark_Mark said:

Is that the same as the wrapping you spoke about?

Quite possibly, without knowing how the original file was created and the steps that it went through to generate the pdf it's difficult to know for sure but it certainly sounds likely...

Glad the uncompressed file is looking more promising, hopefully, it isn't broken into square Images and it remains largely editable, text included, assuming the fonts were embedded and you have the fonts loaded at your end...