UNDERSTANDING FILE FORMATS

Illustrator enables you to import, export, and save files of nearly every graphic type. This section lists those formats and gives more explanation when necessary. Again, the Adobe Help Center is a great source of information for specific file formats and some of the options it offers.

Importing

Import files into Illustrator by selecting File, Place. If you have the Link option selected in the Place dialog, it creates a linked fileone that is not stored inside the document but is merely referenced in it. This creates smaller files. If you do not select Link, the file is embedded in the document, creating a larger document.

Following are the file types that can be imported into Illustrator. Different file types give you different import options in the case of PDFs and Photoshop files (PSDs). See Chapter 21, "Importing, Exporting, and Saving in Illustrator," for more specific information on Import options:

• Adobe PDF

• AutoCAD Drawing or AutoCAD Interchange file

• Bitmap (BMP)

• Computer Graphics Metafile

• CorelDRAW, versions 510

• Encapsulated PostScript (EPS)

• Enhanced Metafile

• FreeHand versions 49

• GIF89a

• JPEG

• JPEG 2000

• Macintosh PICT

• Microsoft RTF

• Microsoft Word

• PCX

• Photo CD

• Photoshop

• Pixar

• PNG

• SVG and SVG Compressed

• Targa

• Text

• TIFF

• Windows Metafile

Exporting Illustrator Files

You can export Illustrator files to various file formats. Following is a list of those formats. See Chapter 21 for more specific information about each format and the options it has:

• AutoCAD Drawing and AutoCAD Interchange File

• BMP (Bitmap)

• Enhanced Metafile

• GIF

• JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)

• Macintosh PICT

• Macromedia Flash

• Photoshop

• PNG (Portable Network Graphic)

• Targa

• Text Format

• TIFF (Tagged-Image File Format)

Saving As

The options available when you save your Illustrator file are

• Adobe Illustrator

• Adobe PDF

• Illustrator EPS

• Illustrator Template

• SVG and SVG Compressed

In general, the differences between saving documents and exporting them is in the amount of control you have over the output after it's done. Saving a file preserves layer and path options so you can edit them after the object is placed or pasted in another application. When you export files, certain export options can flatten your files or make them uneditable.

More information about the various options can be found in Chapter 21.

Saving for Microsoft Office

The Save for Microsoft Office option, found under the File menu, saves the file as a PNG, as is. If you want to set options in the PNG, export the file instead of choosing this option.

Saving for the Web

Selecting the File, Save for Web command opens a dialog that gives you the following file format options:

• GIF

• JPEG

• PNG-8

• PNG-24

• SVG

• SWF

• WBMP

See Chapter 21 for a complete explanation of these file formats.