Jacquelin Vanderwood
February 2005
Here's the complaint: You've just received a file from a customer that was previously worked on by another person. You've been instructed to change some of the text. You open up the file in Illustrator. You select the Text tool and click.
Nothing happens. In fact, if you look at the layers palette you'll see that a new layer has been created in text mode.
Investigating more closely you'll discover that all of the text on the page was converted to outlines using Create Outlines. Therefore all hope of ever changing the text is ruined. (Supposed this was a project with pages upon pages of text.) You'll have to go and recreate the piece all over again. This is frustrating especially since you are on a deadline.
In this sample below all of the text has been left alone and can be selected. This version is selected with the Selection tool.
Here the text is selected with the Text tool.
Do yourself and other people a favor, do not convert any text that will have to be edited in the future for any reason. Always keep a spare copy of the file elsewhere for emergencies. Don't be caught off guard. If you have created a logo with text in it, save the original with the text still active, then if you want to convert it to outlines, go and do that and save a copy.
Copyright (c) 2005, Jacquelin Vanderwood, All Rights Reserved
