How to import multi-page PDF into layers?

[tokai]

Hi,

 

what would be the quickest way to import a multipage PDF into layers (one layer group per page)? Or rather is there a quicker way to what I do currently?

 

Right now —when I import a multipage PDF— I end up with those hard-to-use and rather confusing artboards. And it's a real pain to manually convert those to the layers I want. For each page I have to go to the menu and select the conversion function "Convert Artboard to Object" (doesn't work for all at once). Once that is done I have to go through each page again and fix the offsets to x=0,y=0 manually (doesn't seem to work for all at once either). It's a real time eater. Usually takes half an hour.

[DWright]

Is there a reason that you need to convert the artboard into a object as each of the artboards created from the imported pages work in a similar way to a grouped layer I addition if you need to add new pages to the document you can insert new artboards and it will use the dimensions of the imported pages.

[tokai]

I was making a multipage layout where every page of it has to follow certain layout rules. But for example guides I set up in artboard #1 were not existent in artboard #2 and so on. Also I like to show/hide pages quickly to show the underlying page to properly compare them how their layout (etc.) matches. If I have all pages besides each other (compared to having them on top of each other) in much smaller rectangles it's much harder, if not impossible, for me to judge things visually (I don't have the biggest monitor to begin with ). Functions I use often, like "Zoom to Fit", did not do what I expected them to do either (shwoing all artboards rather than fitting the current one onto the screen). I know "Zoom to Selection" would work in that case, but it means I need to entirely adjust mentally what I usually do to navigate around in a document (it just kills time.) I never really used artboards before besides a few test (maybe I miss their magic?) and when one just wants to get some things done quickly then one doesn't want to waste time trying to figure things out.  

 

BTW, I found a slight improvement to my earlier method. After importing I select all artboards and use the align tool to center them (they end up on top of each other), before I convert them one by one.

 

Still... the "Convert Artboard to Object" function should recognise multiple selected artboards and convert them all in one go. </feature request>  

[R C-R]

6 hours ago, tokai said:

I was making a multipage layout where every page of it has to follow certain layout rules. But for example guides I set up in artboard #1 were not existent in artboard #2 and so on.

I don't know if this would work for your workflow, but have you considered creating Artboard #1, setting up the guides in it, & then duplicating it repeatedly for the other artboards? Duplicating an artboard with guides also duplicates the guides, at least on my system.

[tokai]

13 hours ago, R C-R said:

I don't know if this would work for your workflow, but have you considered creating Artboard #1, setting up the guides in it, & then duplicating it repeatedly for the other artboards? Duplicating an artboard with guides also duplicates the guides, at least on my system.

 

The PDF import creates all the artboards already (one for each page), so I'm was not creating them myself in this particular case.

 

Good to know anyway.