How can I export a PDF from Illustrator with pages named after the artboards?

Question

I have an Illustrator CS5 file with several artboards. Each artboard is named. I can export this document to a multi-page PDF but the pages appear numbered when viewed in Acrobat.

I can renumber and rename the pages in Acrobat, and I can even write a script that can go in and add the proper objects to the PDF file after the fact to facilitate the naming. However, I'd like to avoid needing a script if possible since I have to pass this process off to another designer who isn't as technical.

Does vanilla Illustrator have any way to export a multi-page PDF with the pages named after the artboards?

Answer 1

Nope. Sorry. You'll simply get numbered pages. I don't think any Adobe app applies a name to an Acrobat page - only numbers with a prefix/suffix. And Illustrator can't do the prefix/suffix either.

Answer 2

There is a script written for this called multiexporter:

http://www.ericson.net/content/2011/06/export-illustrator-layers-andor-artboards-as-pngs-and-pdfs/

You can choose PDF. In the comments Jean Claude has described how to use your own pdf preset (I got some syntax errors because the quote marks didn't work when I copied and pasted so I just copied some from another part of the script)

Here is Jean Claude's instructions:

If you want to use a specific PDF Presets… Here is what you need to do.

Open the Script with ExtendScript Toolkit and search for:

} else if ( this.format == ‘PDF’ ) { options = new PDFSaveOptions(); options.compatibility = PDFCompatibility.ACROBAT5; options.generateThumbnails = true; options.preserveEditability = false;

Replace it with:

} else if ( this.format == 'PDF' ) { options = new PDFSaveOptions(); options.PDFPreset = 'NameOfPreset';

Just edit the ‘NameOfPreset’ with the name of your save preset. in between the ‘