I'm having an issue I was hoping someone could help me out with. Basically what I need to do is take an Illustrator file created on my work computer with CS4 and save it in some format where I can edit the text on a computer that doesn't have Illustrator. I usually use Inkscape at home, so I thought that should be the easiest way. However, regardless of whether I try to export the file from Illustrator as an .svg, import the original .ai file with Inkscape, or use .pdf as a go-between, I run into similar issues. When trying to edit the text in Inkscape, the text that has style applied will allow me to edit only the stroke with the text tool, with the fill remaining inaccessible in the background. In addition, regardless of whether I've applied style to the text or not, when I delete letters and attempt to replace them with different ones, the new letters appear piled on top of each other in one spot. I have so far failed miserably in finding a solution to this issue, so if anyone has experienced this and found a remedy, I would greatly appreciate the help.

(Also, I apologize if this query is in the incorrect section. This forum's heading seemed to be the most relevant to my issue.)

Welcome to InkscapeForum!

Oh, someone else just reported a similar problem with text in AI files! Let me find it and I'll brb...

Ok, here it is: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13466&hilit=Illustrator+text

I wonder having the same behavior reported twice, so soon after 0.48.4 was released, if there's not a new bug? Although coincidence doesn't necessarily indicate a bug.

Have you opened AI files in Inkscape, in the past?

I haven't. I've only recently started working with Illustrator.

Oh ok. I thought if you had done it in the past, it could be a new bug. But I guess not.

As I said in the other topic, I didn't know Inkscape could open AI files. So I'm not the best person to help with this. If you could attach a small SVG file, with some text, that you exported from Illustrator, we could probably investigate further. It would have to be SVG, so those who don't already have Illustrator can open it. But based on the info provided in the other topic....well, I'm not sure exactly what kind, but it will need someone with more technical skills than I have, to understand the problem in a meaningful way. I'll be interested to look at it, and can report results for my system. But I probably can't help more than that.

One last thought though -- flowed text. I don't clearly understand the difference between regular text and flowed text. But flowed text does present certain problems. Like for some reason, it don't display properly on the internet. If there's an option in Illustrator for flowed text, then put both kinds in the test file

I was having the same problem (the characters overlap when you try and type and using the space bar doesn't work) with a file generated with PDFlib. The trick I found to get it to work is select the text and then go to Text -> Remove Manual Kerns. Then I could type regularly.