Expert: Amy - 2/13/2006

Question
I have a client using Publisher(PC) and I need to know how to
export from Publisher in a format that I can use in Illustrator(Mac).
When he saves a jpeg the quality is way too low for me to be able
to send the files out for printing. Any way for him to export in a
format that will preserve the fonts?

Thanks!

Answer
Hi Bill.

To preserve the fonts, the easiest thing you can do, of course, is print to a PDF file and open that in Illustrator.  But you can only do that if you have Acrobat Distiller with PDF driver installed on the machine where Publisher resides.

If you are using Publisher 98, you should look at this tutorial -
http://desktoppub.about.com/od/publisher/ss/ps_blackwhite.htm
It describes the process in detail.

Then there's the Print to PS file (aka Save As PS). This works for all versions of Publisher but has trouble with some fonts. You need Adobe's Generic PS Printer Driver for the PC - available at Adobe.com for free.  

http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/main.html

Install it and make it your selected printer. Then Print One Page at a time, selecting print to File on the print dialog.  You'll get .ps documents that you can open in Illustrator.

Note: The SAVE AS (PS) option sort of automates this printing process - but you still need the printer driver installed.

Well, for your sake, I hope you have Distiller installed with the PDF driver.  It's the easiest and best solution. If not, I hope one of the other suggestions works for you!

Amy Pace