Sharing and archiving files from Adobe Illustrator - A Graphic Design for Lunch™ Class

1. Shareable and archived files - Introduction: Hello. I'm Helen Bradley. Welcome to this Graphic Design for Lunch class on sharing and archiving files from Adobe Illustrator. Graphic Design for Lunch is a series of classes that teach a range of tips and techniques for creating designs and for working in applications such as Illustrator, Photoshop, and Procreate. Today we're going to look at the process of sharing and archiving files in Illustrator to make sure that everything travels with your file. In particular, we're going to look at the issue of linked and embedded files inside your Illustrator files and fonts. As you're watching these videos, you're going to see a prompt which lets you recommend this class to others. Please, if you are enjoying the class and learning from it, would you do two things for me? Firstly, answer yes to the fact that you would recommend this class to others. Secondly, write, in just a few words, why you're enjoying the class. These recommendations help other students to say that this is a class that they too might enjoy and learn from. Now if you'd like to leave me a comment or a question, please do so. I read and respond to all of your comments and questions, and I look at and respond to all of your class projects. If you're ready now let's have a very quick look at sharing and archiving files and illustrate the issues and how to avoid problems. 2. Pt 1 Understanding problems with linked files and fonts: Before we get started problem-solving in this particular class, let's have a look and see what the problems are going to be. I have this illustration that I've created here, and at the very bottom of this illustration is the image that I used to base it on. It is a linked file, so I've just placed it inside my Illustrator file as a linked file and it's a template layout. If I double-click on it here, you can see it's been set up as a template, so it's been deemed to 50 percent and it's been locked. That's what template layers are all about. Then I drew the rest of the image on top of here. What I want to do is I want to show you what happens when I save this file and then just send it to somebody else, somebody who may not have the exact things that I have on my computer. I'll choose File and then Save. I'm just going to call this camper. It's going to be an Illustrator file. I'll just click "Save". As I typically do when I say this dialogue is I just totally ignore it and just click "Okay". Right beside me, right now I have a second computer and on that second computer is a version of Illustrator. What I'm going to do is I'm going to show you what happens if I had perhaps sent this particular image to somebody else, what they're going to say when they actually go and open up that image. Let's just switch across to that computer and let's have a look and what we'll see there. Here I am on my second computer. You can tell it's the second one, it is got a darker interface. I'm going to open up the Camper image that I just created in Illustrator. What I've done is, I've copied it from one computer to the other. I've done what would happen essentially if you had sent the file to somebody via WeTransfer or Dropbox or you'd share it via e-mail. I'm just going to choose File Open. It's on my desktop here, so let's just go and get to the desktop. Here is the version of Camper that I just copied across. I'm going to open it in Illustrator. All of a sudden we've got some issues. The first issue is that the file camper JPEG, which was the original line work that is inside the original file can't be found. The reason for that is that was just linked. What happened was that Illustrator just had a little pointer inside the file saying, "You know what, when you need camper JPEG, you can go and find it on that disk and here is where it is." But that is of course, meaningless when it gets sent to somebody else because somebody else doesn't have your exact same file structure. They may not have a user called Helen and all the structure that they have, they might be working on a Mac where the folder structures are very different. camper JPEG, that little embedded line art image hasn't traveled with us. We can try and click replace, but where is the image? If you sent this to a shop or to a client or something, they don't have it. I'm going to click ignore to get past that. The next problem is that I used a really lovely font called Amatic-Bold. This computer doesn't have Amatic-Bold on it. Because of that, we're not able to save the font the way it was designed. This would be really embarrassing if you were sending this to a customer or client. You've sent them this beautiful image that you've created for them and it's not rendering correctly because they don't have the right font. Now they could go and try and find the font, but really this is not the best way to be sending a file. I'm just going to click "Close" for now. The problem with a very, very simple image that I sent from one computer to the other, the computers both run Windows but they don't have the same file structure, is I now no longer have a linked file in here. It's just blank. I don't have the lovely font that I started off with. These are the problems that you're likely to encounter when you send a file to somebody else, you might be sending it to me because you need my help. You might be sending it to a print shop. You might be sending it to a client. You might be sending it anywhere but if you don't prepare that file correctly, the chances are that it's not going to look the same when it arrives as what it looked like on your particular machine. 3. Pt 2 Converting Linked to Embedded images: Now that we understand some of the problems of sending linked files, and images that have fonts in them to another user, let's have a look at some of the solutions. The first solution, we're going to look at is, how you can convert a linked image into something different. The linked file is labeled here, it's got a label called link file. We can see any linked images inside an image if we go to the links panel. I'm going to choose window and then links, as an entire panel for this. In the links panel is this camper JPEG file. I'm now able to access it and do something with it. One of the things that I can do with it, is with it selected, I can go to the fly-out panel and I can choose Embed Image. What that'll do is alternate from a linked file into an embedded file. So instead of this Illustrator file here, camper AI containing a pointer to where illustrated confined the file camper dot JPG. This time, the entire image is going to be stored inside this file, because this is a JPEG image and it's not a text link, the file is going to be much bigger. So my AI file is going to blow out in size because it's going to be carrying a JPEG image with it. The beauty of that is, because it's going to be carrying that JPEG image with it. Anybody that opens up that file, with their Windows, Mac or whatever operating system they're using, is going to have access to the JPEG because it's inside the file. So that's the first option. It's going to change here from linked file into the word image. As soon as I do it, I need to unlock that first. So let's go back and do that Embed image, and you can see now it's labeled image that tells me it's embedded rather than being linked. So that's one option. Lets undo that because there's a second way of achieving the same results, and we can do it when we go to save the file. So I'm going to choose File and then save as because if I click save, I won't get that dialogue again and it's in that dialog. So let's file Save As, let's call this camper one. Again, it's an Illustrator file. I'll click save, and because we've done File Save As we getting this Illustrator options dialog. Here's the options that we need. It says encode linked file so we can click it to include any linked files. In other words, this JPEG image is going to be packaged up with this file. It's going to be included inside it now, the same as if we convert it to an embedded file. Now this option won't be selectable, that'll be grayed out. You don't have any linked files inside your illustrator file. So this is like a reminder. If it's clickable, if it's accessible, then there is something in there that if you were sending that file to somebody else, you may want to include it in it. So I'm going to do that and I'll click okay. Now I'm back over here on my second computer. I've already copied camper one over and place that somewhere where I can find it. So I'll choose file and then I open. Here is camper one. I'm going to click Open. Now this time we get the image opening, but we're not getting a warning about the missing content. Camper dot JPG warning is not coming up, because it's going to be inside this file. We do still get the warning about the missing fonts. We're going to deal with that in a minute. Let's go to the layers and let's have a look and say what we've got. We've got a small mess inside this bottom layer here. We've got a layer, a clipping group, another clipping group and an image. It's not a pretty sight, but we do have the image in here. It's not in the way that we perhaps might have chosen to put it in the file, but it has traveled with the file and that's the important thing. So there are two ways of solving the Embedded linked image issue. One of them is to turn it from a linked image into an embedded image before you save it, and the second one, is to do it through the saved dialogue. Either way, you're going to find that you're linked content is then embedded inside the file that will travel with it, doesn't matter where it goes. It's always going to be accessible to anybody who opens up that file. 4. Pt 3 Dealing with missing fonts: Having solved the issue of linked files, we now need to deal with the font issue. One of the simplest ways of dealing with the font issue is to convert your type from actual editable text into outline. So I am going to locate and select the text here and I'm going to the Type menu and I'm just going to choose create outlines. What that does is it creates outlines of the text. These are no longer editable, so we can't go through the type tool and just pick it up and expect to be able to adjust the type, because there's not any longer editable type. It's just lots and lots of shapes. Each one of these letters is a separate shape. So we've lost a little bit of editing ability but what we've done is we've allowed anybody who opens the file to be able to get access to that type the way we set it up. So let's go and save this file a second time, File, Save as, I'm going to call this camper_2. Again, it's an Illustrator file. I'm going to click save. I'm going to make sure I've got selected include linked files because in this particular image, the original artwork is still a linked image. It's not embedded in it. So I'm just going to click OK. Now, we'll head to the second computer. Here on the second computer, I'm going to choose File and open and go and open camper_2. This time we get no errors in opening the file. The original artwork is embedded and the text is now accessible because each of the characters has been converted into outline text. This is the typical way that you would send artwork to, for example, a print shop. You will generally be asked before you send it to make sure that all your text is converted to outlines, and this is part of the reason you want your artwork to look the same when you send it to somebody elses it looked when it was on your computer. 5. Pt 4 Package a file for sharing and archiving replacement: Before we finish up, I want to show you a final way of delivering a product to somebody. I'm going to do this for a couple of reasons. One because it allows you to send a file in an edit proof format. We're not going to convert our text into outlines and we're going to send it with a linked file in it, not an embedded file. It's going to work perfectly when it arrives. Now it's good for sharing files with other people, for example, sending it to a print shop, but it's also a really good way to archive your work. Because consider if this were a logo or some piece that we had created for a client, and you want to save it so that you can access it later on, but you may not access it for a number of years. You may have switched computers by then, you may not have the same fonts installed, you may not have the same [inaudible] , you might be working on a Mac instead of a PC. All these things might have changed. But you want to make sure that you keep your client's work in a manner that's going to be able to be easily accessed if you need to in future, and this is a way of doing it. Before you do this, you want to save your work because if you don't, you're going to be prompted to do so, and then you're going to choose File and then Package. You're asked to supply a location for this, so if you are archiving your work and keeping everything in an archive folder, then you just select your archive folder. If you are sharing with somebody, you might select your Dropbox folder or whatever, I'm just putting it in the area that I'm working in currently. Then you select a folder name and that's going to be the folder in which this AI file will be placed, as well as all the other component parts that are required for it. You can change this name if you wish, I'm just going to leave it as it is. I'm going to set all these options on, and I'm just going to click "Package". Now, I'm warned about a font issue because some font files are free and so it's okay for you to share it with somebody else in a work situation where they need access to it, for example, to print it. But other fonts can't be shared, the ones that you pay for. Illustrator, is just warning you, it's not actually stopping you, but it is warning you that you need to be careful about what you're doing because you might come up against font licensing issues. I'm just going to click "OK". The font I'm using here is actually a free font. Now that I've created my package successfully, I can click to ask to show the package, and I'm going to do that. Here is the package. Let's just go up one step. Here is the camper folder that we just created. Inside that is a font folder and a links folder. In the font folder is the Amatic Bold font, the font that was in use in this document. In the links folder is the camper JPEG file, which is linked inside this Illustrator file. Then there's a report, and the report just gives details about the camper AI file; the color space, and various details about the file itself, the fonts that are in there, and any linked images. You can see what is packaged up and what is required for this file. Of course, there's the camper AI file as well. This is now all being created on the computer that I'm working on. I'm going to copy it across to my second computer, and let's see what happens when we go and access it there. Here I am on the second computer, I'm going to choose "File" and then "Open". We're going to the desktop which is just here, and here is the camper folder. I'm going to double-click on the camper folder. Here are all the contents of that folder and I'm going to double-click on camper AI to open it. Now we do have an error message, the problem is that Amatic Bold has not been installed on this computer. It was delivered in that package, but just delivering the package doesn't install a font file. For us to be able to get access to Amatic Bold, we would need to install the file, but of course, it's inside the package, so that's not really a big issue. What we would do to install it is just go to the original package. I'm going to double-click on camper folder, I'm going to the font folder, I'm going to double-click on Amatic Bold. On a PC all I need to do is to click the Install option here, and then the font will be installed on this computer. Once it's installed on this computer, I can then go and open the AI file and it's going to open without error. Now let's just go back to Illustrator. Let's click "Close", and let's have a look at the last panel. Here we've got our last panel exactly as it was on the other computer when we saved it. The linked file is here, you can see it's still linked, it's not embedded it's just a link, but packaging it has ensured that the file has traveled with the AI image so that it is accessible. Packaging is a really smart way to archive files, it ensures that you've got all your fonts or your linked images, everything is taken care of. It would future-proof your files, and it's also, of course, a really good way of sharing files on a day-to-day basis with a print shop, for example. I hope that you've enjoyed this class and that you've learned things about Illustrator of which you were previously unaware. Now as you are watching these videos, you will have seen a prompt asking if you would recommend this class to others. Please, if you enjoyed this class and if you learned from it, would you do two things for me? Firstly, answer yes, that you would recommend this class to others, and secondly, write just a few words about why you're enjoying the class. These recommendations help other students to say that this is a class that they too might enjoy and learn from. If you'd like to leave me a comment or a question, please do so. I read and respond to all of your comments and questions, and I look at it and respond to all of your class projects. My name's Helen Bradley. Thank you so much for joining me for this episode of Graphic Design for Lunch. I look forward to seeing you in an upcoming episode soon. 6. Pt 5 Addendum Compress a folder for sharing: This is an addendum to this class. It's just a video that's going to show you how you can go ahead and prepare this folder for sharing with other people and it came up as a question that the person who inspired this class actually asked. Once you've got your folder, if you want to archive it on your machine, you're fine. You can just place it in an archive folder, for example, and just store all your folders in here but if you want to share with somebody else, then it's a good idea to zip this up and what you do on a per say is you're going to select the folder that has always subfolders in it and what you're going to do is to right click on it and I choose send toe and then compressed zip folder and what that's going to do is it's going to make a zip file that contains this folder and because this is now a single file instead of a folder with subfolders and contents. This is much easier to distribute. For example, I would use weight transfer. I really liked that websites, so just type in we transfer into my browser and then I can upload the single file and just send it to somebody else. Now on the Mac, things are a little bit different. Over here I've got my Mac and I've got the exact same package folder here on my Mac. The one thing you have to make sure on your Mac is that you not in the all my files area, you want to be inside a folder because dynamically created folders like all my files, because that just collects up all your files it's called dynamic folder. The compressed option is not available, so it's a little bit tricky with the Mac. You need to go inside a folder itself, and here I am and what I'm going to do is right click or control click on the file and then I'm going to go down to the compress options and exactly the same thing's going to happen here is that the MAC is going to compress that into a compressed zip file that then can be delivered to somebody else. It's just a single file instead of a whole lot of folders and files. Much easier way of delivering things. That just covers the situation of how do I actually share this thing? What do I share? What you share the entire folder. The safest way to do that is to zip it up before you send it. Generally because of the size of it, you'll want to be sending it either via Dropbox or by an application like way transfer.