Native pdf support

[Engawado]

Hi guys, I used to make my documents like drawings, invoices and complex project documents in AI and save them in pdf format. Most of the time I pick one of the saved pdf files and use this as a template for a new document. Keeping the workflow in pdf format. AI works well. Publisher, however, messes things up when a document is saved in pdf format. When I reopen the document my tabs are gone, text boxes are no longer linked, elements are spread all over separate layers, etc. Can you tell me is Publisher will be ready to use pdf as a workflow?

Regards,

Ton

[mac_heibu]

Your .ai files are working this way, because you saved them with the option to preserve Illustrator editability. That means, the Illlustrator file is saved into the pdf document.

Affinity Publisher — just like InDesign by the way — hasn‘t such a capability yet — and I think, it will last for years (if it ever happens) that Affinity products have the same possibilies.

Additionally, PDF isn‘t and never was a file format made for editing. It is an output format. That you are able to make edits, isn‘t the genuine sense of PDF. And if you know, that Illustrator is able to edit PDFs, which are written by Illustrator(!) only because this PDF incorporates the .ai file, you see, that there is no real advantage to build a complete edit workflow on PDF.

[Engawado]

I know why pdf format was invented. The idea of working in pdf format was I could always, anywhere, edit and view my files on a desktop as well as on mobile devices while on the road. I sent my quotes, designs, and invoices mostly by email and in pdf format. Every now and then I need to review and edit them. Working with AI was ok. Now, using Affinity publisher or Designer I need to keep 2 versions of each file. One to edit and one to send by mail because my customers cannot read affinity files;-(

 

[MikeW]

The point being made is that an AI pdf by default has a copy of the AI file embedded inside it. That is what is being opened in AI, not the pdf portion. 

I don't know if Affinity products will ever embed a copy of the native file inside a pdf, but it is highly unlikely. 

Mike 

[mac_heibu]

1 hour ago, Engawado said:

Now, using Affinity publisher or Designer I need to keep 2 versions of each file. One to edit and one to send by mail because my customers cannot read affinity files;-(

Believe it or not: Working with a source file and outputting a PDF is „normal“ and intended workflow. I think, you are quite alone, with you kind of working.

Don’t think, there are many people out there, who create in Illustrator, write a PDF and throw away the source file. But: Just as you like …

Quoting, commenting in PDF are one thing. Editing original data the other.

By the way: Ever tried to edit such an Illustrator PDF and open it afterwards in Illustrator again? The different Illu-versions react very differently: Older versions don’t „see“ the edited PDF branch, open the .ai-branch and evidently show the original version. Newer Illustrator versions allow you to open the ai- or the PDF-branch, but necessarily reduce the editing capabilities, if you decide to work on the PDF-branch. What is quite logical: If Acrobat could make use of the complete Illu feature set, why Illu should be necessary any more?

Only one simple example: Create an Illustrator document containing two linked text boxes. Save this file as a Illu PDF and check if, the boxes are still linked. Of course they aren’t, because PDF is not a layout format. Now save this file out of Acrobat and open it again in Illustrator …  You will see: The text flow is gone as well.

Working with or editing the PDF instead of the source file in my personal eyes is highly risky and more than suboptimal, if it is not intended to correct a simple typo or something like that (and even this often causes layout issues).