Understanding the impact of Illustrator's Large Canvas feature on DXF export
Question
I am using EXDXF-Pro in Adobe Illustrator. The plug-in works fine most of the time, but occasionally I cannot convert Illustrator files to DXF because the "Save As" option does not include DXF.
If I copy and paste the same artwork into a new Adobe Illustrator document, the option to save as DXF appears and works as expected.
What causes the plug-in not to work with some Illustrator files?
Answer
This appears to be related to the Large Canvas feature in Adobe Illustrator. While this feature allows users to create artworks in larger size, files created in Large Canvas mode cannot be exported in DXF format due to a limitation of Adobe Illustrator.
For more information, please see our support article:
https://baby-universe.net/2023/02/24/large-canvas-dxf-export/
You may also refer to Adobe's Help page:
Create files with large canvases
https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/desktop/add-and-import-files/start-a-new-file/create-files-on-large-canvases.html
Based on our investigation, this appears to be the reason why Illustrator files created using Large Canvas mode do not show DXF as an export option, while files that do not use Large Canvas mode do show the DXF option.
As this limitation originates from Adobe Illustrator, we currently recommend the following workarounds:
- Create Illustrator files without using Large Canvas mode.
- If your artwork is already in Large Canvas mode, copy and paste it into a new Illustrator document that is not using Large Canvas mode before exporting.
