I'm not sure if this is the right subforum, but I don't see one for hiring inkscape pros.

I have received an ad from a designer, but it is not inkscape friendly. What I mean is that I have imported it into inkscape, but whenever I try to click something, I often end up moving the background instead of the element (I think the layers are in the wrong order), and all the text areas including headline are just a collection of individual letters - they are not editable as text. Also, one of the images I normally use, the layers are mixed up and I can't figure it out.

I think these are quite simple things to fix if you know what you're doing, but I don't. And I don't have any more time to try to figure it out - I'd rather pay someone else to make it usable for me.

I've attached a .png so you can see that what I'm talking about isn't really complex, and so you can PM me with quotes or for more info.

I apologize for posting this here, if there's another more suitable place that people normally go to to see this kind of inquiry, mods, please feel free to move it.

If all you have is a PNG, Inkscape will not be able to edit it at all. But it sounds like you must have at least partially a vector file. It would be most helpful if you could provide the actual vector file.

Edit - We need to see the vector file, because if the text has been converted to paths, it cannot be returned to text and made editable as text. You would just have to type new text. But we can't know that from the PNG.

Edit #2 - Depending on how much needs to be "fixed", I would do it without pay.

If you don't have the time to edit it yourself, why not asking svg files from the designer as deliverables?
Svg is an open format, illustrator can save to it and you wouldn't have to deal with the pdf's messy structure.

Thanks for the reply, brynn.

I initally tried to upload the .svg, but it's about 11MB, and the uploader kept rejecting it until I got it under 256KB! I could only do that with a .png as I don't know how to get the .svg that small.

The file itself came from indesign and I needed to sign up for a trial of Adobe to get it exported - I tried various formats and I got a .pdf exported that Inkscape would take. I mention that because maybe if the text HAS been converted to paths, it may be fixable using the .indd or the original .pdf export from the .indd. (both of which are way over 256KB, I think the indd and original pdf exports were around 50MB).

Do you have ideas on how to get it attached? Or should I host it and put a link here (and to the .svg I have or the original .indd or original .pdf export)?.

Yes, Lazur, the deliverables were messed up - I had started from the outset that I needed an .svg that I could use in Inkscape (along with open fonts that I could find and use on Linux, etc.). These deliverables were not met and yet the deadline loomed and I didn't have any better options that to start on it myself...

You can attach it right to your next reply. Use the full editor, not quick reply, and look for Attachments tab below the Submit button. Or upload it anywhere and give us the link.

Tried the full editor, still said it was too big, and Wordpress didn't the .svg when I tried to upload it, so... I've zipped all the various formats and files into one .zip and posted it here:

https://integrative-hypnotherapy.com/?ddownload=3293

I'm most concerned with three things:

1) the layers are in the wrong order, so when I click, it seems I'm never clicking on the proper element, usually something in the background.
2) the text is not editable
3) the "freedom.svg" no longer looks like the "freedom.png" - I believe it has to do with the layers again.

fyi - 65 mb worth of files - waiting for download to complete

Didn't they give you any original SVG file?

As far as the file Full (poppler-cairo import from pdf).svg, and the PDF file, I would not consider these files to be particularly "editable". Note that I'm not a professional, and in this case, depending on how much editing you want to do, I think you will need a professional. While I know Inkscape very well, I'm not familiar with what graphic artists do with the various formats they use and all the different options that are possible (and what happens when they are converted to other formats). So if it's just a couple of small changes that you want to make, I can probably do it. But otherwise, I can at least give you the following basic info about some of the files.

I know that the thumbnail probably doesn't look right, in the file manager. But when I open the SVG file, as far as I can tell it's fine. You can zoom, to make selections easier. And also use the status bar, to find out what kind of object is selected.

However, the text has been converted to Symbols, there, and I don't think even using the Symbols dialog, you can edit the text. Certainly not very easily.

When I opened the PDF file using the Internal Import option, it keeps the text as text, which makes it theoretically editable. However, it's heavily kerned, which makes it not very easy to edit. You can remove the kerning (all at once) from Text menu > Remove Manual Kerning. But as you can see (if you try it) the kerning is very important, and would need to be re-kerned after the edits.

For the large orange text at the top, that white kind of shadow is not text. So if you edit that text (removing the kerns), you'll need to recreate the white part, because it's made of paths (for some reason???). Personally, I would delete the white paths. Then I would make a duplicate of the orange text, make it white, put it behind, and shift it over slightly.

The text at the very top, the whole header is an imported raster image, which means that text cannot be edited at all.

I'm not set up to be able to open EPS files. Possibly that one would be more straightforward than the converted PDF file? But I don't have Ghostscript installed and configured, so I can't open it.

So, with that info, you should be able to decide whether you want to try it yourself or not. If it's just a couple of small edits, I can do it. (Or maybe even you can?) But for more than that....well, I have to be honest, I might not have the right skills.

If you decide not to try it yourself, please explain what kind of edits you want to make. Then if I can't do it, maybe someone else will take you up on your offer?

Oops, forgot about the freedom.svg file. Yes, while there is only one layer in the file, the background rectangle was on top of almost everything else. So I just moved it to the back, and it's attached here.

Edit
The text "FREEDOM" is flowed text, which means it won't show up on the internet, or in some viewers. I left it as text, in case you want to edit. But if it's bound the for the internet, you'll want to:

-- Ungroup the drawing once
-- deselect everything
-- select the text
-- duplicate
-- move it to the back, behind everything else (in case you ever need to edit in the future)
-- select the original text
-- Path menu > Object to Path

Many, many thank for the help on the freedom.svg, brynn!! And I appreciate you taking the time to look at the others!

No, they didn't give an .svg which was one of the key points I needed, but I was out of time and had to move forward anyway. Needless to say I won't be using that designer again.

It looks like I'll need to recreate the text - which is actually possible for me at my skill level, but I was hoping it could be fixed instead - though it looks like it'll be easier to re-do... I didn't realize she put a raster in for the logo text... I'm so disappointed.

Anyway, I greatly appreciate you taking the time on a Sunday (please check your PM).

My further question is this: How do I find an ad designer that actually designs in Inkscape? Do we have anything like a marketplace on this board? For people who want to make money taking projects on? I'm going to want a new ad, but by someone who can actually design in it Inkscape (because that's how I'll be editing it).

I guess there's not really a dedicated board for that kind of thing here. I have a board for that on my forum (which is still quite small compared to this one).

But I think the title of this topic should catch the attention of professional Inkscape designers. I know there are a few here. So maybe they will contact you for future work? Or if not, just post a new topic with the particulars of the new project, whenever it comes up.

Sounds good, I'll probably post it here, because it looks like this sub gets the most traffic.

Just seeing this post now, so it's probably too late to be useful. But, Pinnerd, have you tried to use GIMP to open the EPS file? It's also open source. Also, if you made the file smaller physically, reduce it to say 20% of it's size, wouldn't that make the file small enough to load (maybe not even needed now, I didn't try to open any attachments). I would think re-creating this would be easy enough, but figuring out which fonts they used would be the hardest part, unless they aren't picky if the fonts aren't an exact match, they ought to be able to tell you which fonts they used. If you are still having issues and need some help, you can PM me, be happy to try to help free (while I do have a business license would rather try to try to help you for free, which is the intent of this site). I am not an expert by any means. PS, don't think this site has an official thread for paying for help, but the 'other' popular site does have it. You can her (she above) or me, for the link if you wish. I don't want to turn this thread into something that it wasn't intended for....
good luck
dee

Thanks for the info flamingolady! (and yes it's mostly solved now) . I did not know that GIMP would open .eps files, so I appreciate that info.