KB192485205: DeskPack - How to keep Chinese layer names and ink names in PDF files

Question

In Adobe^® Illustrator^®, if you use ink name or layer name with Chinese characters, you may like to keep them in your PDF file when open in other applications (e.g.: Adobe^® Acrobat^®, ArtPro+, PackEdge etc). How to do this?

Currently, if you just save the file as Adobe^® PDF, when you view in Adobe^® Acrobat^® (e.g.: Output Preview) or other Esko applications, you will see that although the Chinese layer names are preserved, the ink names become "Global Color", "Global Color 1" etc.

Answer

You need to install the free Esko Data Exchange plugin to your Adobe^® Illustrator^®, see the following article for more information:

• Page:
  KB75766958: DeskPack - Where can we find the free Esko Data Exchange plugins for Adobe® Illustrator®?

Just Export your file to Normalized PDF in Adobe^® Illustrator^®, both the layer names and ink names using Chinese characters will be preserved.

Additional information when importing to i-cut Production Console (iPC)

Full support of national character sets requires iPC version 2.2. Upgrade to version 2.2 when available. Use the PDF mappings included in the Esko Default Mapping Preset.

For 2.1 or earlier versions changing the (iPC) computer's Language for non-Unicode programs to Chinese (Control Panel > Region and Language > Administrative), (restart the computer) will show the layer names correctly. However, it does not help to make mappings in iPC work.

Mapping is the process of transforming PDF layer names or ink names into layer types in iPC, which is needed to link physical tools with settings like speed and cutting depth to a layer.