Guides

One question per guide, answered at the top. Written by the people who build Pathside.

• How to open an AI file on Android

  Why your phone refuses it, the reason most .ai files are secretly PDFs, and what to do when one will not open at all.

• Why an .ai file opens in a PDF reader

  Illustrator writes a complete PDF inside the file. What that means for editing, artboards and text.

• How to open an EPS file on Android

  EPS is a program, not a picture. Which ones can be drawn on a phone, and what to ask for when they cannot.

• How to open an SVG file on Android

  Why it vanishes from your gallery, what .svgz is, and the three reasons an SVG looks blank.

• How to turn an AI file into a PNG on your phone

  Choosing the pixel size, PNG versus JPG, and why an online converter is the wrong tool for a client's artwork.

• Why your CDR file will not open on Android

  What is actually inside a CorelDRAW file, why the phone apps disappoint, and what works instead.

• An AI file will not open: five reasons, in order

  Truncated downloads, missing PDF compatibility, renamed files, apps that need a server, and white artwork on transparency.

• What size should you export a logo at?

  The two sums — ×2 for screens, ×300 for print — and the common slots worked out.

• Checking a logo on your phone before it goes to print

  The five things that go wrong between approval and the press, and the one thing a phone cannot judge.

• How to tell if a file is vector

  Which extensions are vector, why the name can lie, and the zoom test that settles it.

• How to send a logo to a printer

  Which file to attach, what to write in the email, and whether the text needs outlining.

• PNG or PDF for a logo: which one to send

  Two questions decide it — will it be resized, and does it need a transparent background.

• Open an AI file without Illustrator: what works

  Which free tools read an .ai file, where each one falls down, and the one save setting that decides whether any of them can.

• Why is my logo blurry?

  The four causes — pixels stretched too far, a slot bigger than the file, JPG re-saves and a screenshot — and the test that tells you which one you have.

• What does it mean to outline fonts?

  Why printers ask, what actually breaks if you skip it, why embedded fonts are often the better answer, and how to tell which you have.