Hello,

I am trying to open some .ai files in Inkscape. However, the printable area information doesn't transfer, which means that the graphics in each file are misaligned. Even after I change the page size to be correct, the graphics are no longer centered.

Inkscape seems to custom define a page size to fit the size of the graphics. I would like to keep the images centered and the printable area the same, which would save hours and hours of time and frustration.

Has anyone encountered this problem? Any advice?

Thanks for your time and consideration.

Best,
Steven

If you open the .ai and not import it, the document's canvas size will be as it should appear.

Dear Lazur URH,

Thank you for this reply!

It doesn't work either way. If I open a file and then import, the canvas size that was already defined pertains.

If I open the .ai file directly, then the canvas size is defined by the objects. If the objects did not fill up the page, then the page size is smaller than it should be. If there were objects off the canvas, inkscape expands the canvas to encompass them.

Either way, the objects are misaligned.

Thank you for any thoughts

Best,
Steven

Using Document Settings --> Document size --> resize document , both manually inputing the correct paper size doesn't work (misaligned) and "resize page to drawing or selection" doesn't work (wrong page size and misaligned).

The problem MIGHT be that inkscape is set up to automatically "resize page to drawing or selection" and that steps on the appropriate page size, but I can't find anything about this in inkscape preferences.

Thank you for your time and consideration

Welcome to InkscapeForum!

I don't know if this will help, but if you look again in Doc. Prop. under Custom Size, you'll see "Resize page to content". Once you open that, you'll see where you can add margins around the content. Although I realize that's not an ideal solution, it may be better than nothing.

I wonder if this is a bug....?? I don't see anything like that in the bug tracker, but I wonder if it should be reported? (or maybe I didn't use the best search terms) I just don't know whether to consider it a bug, or a feature that just hasn't been developed yet? But it seems rather like a very basic ability, to be able to respect page borders. Or maybe somehow the way Inkscape is made, it can only recognize the content?

If you're personally creating the AI files, you could add a rectangle the same size as the page, to the image, before you save. Then the rectangle could be removed in Inkscape. But chance are, you've not made the AI file, I guess.

Anyway, I'm sorry I can't be more helpful.

Thanks for your reply, Brynn!

I will look into reporting this as a bug.

I did find the resize pages option, and when I create the files in Inkscape, it's easy enough to just use .svg, which keeps the canvas size correct. Thanks for your advice about that.

Best wishes!

https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/1168782

I have created a bug report here.

The bug testing points to the possibility that this information is contained in the PGF data for the.ai files, which is not parse-able by inkscape. So, this may not be a fixable problem at this time.