Expert: Kevin Stohlmeyer - 8/12/2008

Question
Hi!
I'm rather new with Illustrator, so I hope this is not a too simple matter.
I wanted to import a Word text (a few lines of text and tables) in an Illustrator document, because I didn't found a way to draw tables in it. Anyway, I converted the Word text into PDF, and than imported it into Illustrator. My question is, is this way of importing text a safe way for me to get it in a vector-compatible format, suitable for editing and printing, or I wold have to insert the text (and draw the tables) directly in Illustrator?

Thanks a lot,
Andrej.

Answer
Hi Andrej

This should be fine as long as you set the PDF preset to Press Quality or one of the PDF X1 series. Honestly, once you export from word, there is no need to bring it into AI unless you are adding more to this.

To draw tables in AI, click and drag your text tool to create a text box then go to Type>Area Type Options and select your number of rows and columns. Then file>place your text into the box.


Thanks

Kevin