Cobalt Posted March 18, 2019 Share Posted March 18, 2019 When exporting to PDF the layer structure is not the same as in the original document. A lot of top level layers disappear and their contents are spilled. It seems like if a layer only contains other layers but does not directly contain any geometry then it disappears. Also groups are not preserved. All their members are spilled to the top directory. PDF layers.afdesignPDF layers.pdf EDIT: Just in case anyone is wondering, PDF files do support nesting of layers. For example the above PDF manually fixed in some external app:ManuallyFixed PDF layers.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobalt Posted March 18, 2019 Author Share Posted March 18, 2019 Obviously it is not practical having to go in there every time a PDF is exported and keep manually correcting the layer structure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff Sean P Posted March 19, 2019 Staff Share Posted March 19, 2019 Hi Cobalt, What external application did you use to modify the layer structure of the PDF? Illustrator will only export top level layers and discard any nested ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WKansepa Posted March 24, 2019 Share Posted March 24, 2019 If you want to preserve layer structure try exporting your pdf using the PDF/X-4 setting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobalt Posted March 24, 2019 Author Share Posted March 24, 2019 1 hour ago, william said: If you want to preserve layer structure try exporting your pdf using the PDF/X-4 setting. That would be nice, but its not my experience; I tried all PDF presets before posting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobalt Posted March 24, 2019 Author Share Posted March 24, 2019 On 3/19/2019 at 3:00 AM, Sean P said: Hi Cobalt, What external application did you use to modify the layer structure of the PDF? Illustrator will only export top level layers and discard any nested ones. PDF-XChange PRO Acrobat PRO can do it too according to their help page Quote Some layers may be organized into nested groups with a parent layer. Other layers may be in groups with no parent layer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loopkin Posted April 30, 2020 Share Posted April 30, 2020 On 3/19/2019 at 10:00 AM, Sean P said: [...]Illustrator will only export top level layers and discard any nested ones. Hi Sean, I'm not sure to understand what you said... Of course Illustrator can export layers and sublayers and groups in pdf... But Designer can't see them... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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