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Acrobat 8 Pro text to outline

supersigns
Registered: Jun 13 2007
Posts: 6

In Acrobat 7 Pro, there used to be an option to convert text to outline if saving to EPS. How do you convert text to outline in acrobat 8 pro? New version is so confusing to use.

My Product Information:
Acrobat Pro 8, Macintosh
tedpadova
ExpertTeam
Registered: Dec 31 2005
Posts: 848
I'm not aware of converting text to outlines when exporting PDFs as EPS files. The EPS settings you have in Acrobat 7 match those you find in Acrobat 8.

ted

The author of numerous books on Acrobat, Photoshop, Illustrator and the Adobe Creative Suite, and an international speaker on Adobe Acrobat, Ted Padova is a well-known PDF guru.

supersigns
Registered: Jun 13 2007
Posts: 6
Hi Ted, thanks for that, but im not sure what you mean... Yes the ability to "flatten" text can be found inside Acrpbat 8 Pro.. in the transparency preview option from the drop down "Advanced > Print Production>". In there lies the option to "Convert All Text to Outlines" as well as "Convert All Strokes to Outlines". Neither of these options work... And Im having difficulty finding / understanding this explained in any of the Acrobat 8 manuals... Could this be an Adobe 8 bug?
supersigns
Registered: Jun 13 2007
Posts: 6
Hi Ted, thanks for that, but im not sure what you mean... Yes the ability to "flatten" text can be found inside Acrpbat 8 Pro.. in the transparency preview option from the drop down "Advanced > Print Production>". In there lies the option to "Convert All Text to Outlines" as well as "Convert All Strokes to Outlines". Neither of these options work... And Im having difficulty finding / understanding this explained in any of the Acrobat 8 manuals... Could this be an Adobe 8 bug?
Peter_Staack
Registered: Sep 28 2007
Posts: 1
I dunno why they made it difficult to do, but a work-around that I use almost daily is to add a transparent watermark, which then lets me apply the [i]"convert text / strokes to outline"[/i] feature.

[b]Step 1[/b]- [i]Document > Watermark > Add[/i]
Add a simple watermark, with 0% opacity.

[b]Step 2[/b]- [i]Advanced > Print Production > Flattener Preview[/i]
You can now select the option to convert text and strokes to outlines, and apply it.

[b]Step 3[/b]- Export as an Encapsulated PostScript files (or EPS to the rest of us).

When you open the EPS in Illustrator, all the text is now outlines. This is great when someone sends you a PDF with obscure fonts, and you have to edit the file in Illustrator and export to another file type (something really common when collaborating on logo designs for stationary or imprinted goods).

The geometry for the transparent watermark will be there, so you may need to search for it to delete it (or just ignore it, if it's not a big deal to you).

Hope that helps!
SarahF74
Registered: Nov 3 2007
Posts: 2
Hi,
Have just tried out this tip today - and O My God you are a genius - it really works - I get so many jobs where customers do not convert text to outlines and it gives me a real headache - but thanks to your genius - it won't be a problem anymore
Thank you!
klockheed
Registered: Dec 5 2007
Posts: 2
Why doesn't this work without having to do the watermark? Seems like this is a major bug.
elskeptico
Registered: Jan 9 2008
Posts: 2
@ klockheed - This is a function of the transparency flattener, so if there is no transparency to flatten, it won't really touch anything. This is true for the flattener in Indesign also, you need to add some kind of transparent object so it has some work to do. Annoying though, I agree.
JohnR
Registered: Apr 25 2007
Posts: 13
Is there any way of automating this in Acrobat or Automator? I tried adding an action for Batch Processing and it doesn't happen to have the option of adding Flattener Preview. It does have the option of adding "Add Watermark..."

:)