I'm wondering what the best practice is. I have a project with a lot of graphics created in Illustrator. The designer created them all on one artboard. At first, I was copy and pasting each element into it's own AI file and placing that in InDesign. I realized I could save some time by simply placing the entire AI file (with all the elements on one artboard) and then copy it and clip it differently depending on which element I want to show. My question is, is this a good idea or will it drive up the size of my ID document to an impractical size. It would make editing the graphics much easier, and it won't be possible to use use variable text (for instance, to show metadata to show the Fig.#) since it would be coming from one file. A big advantage I can see is if I need to change the color of a common area to all the elements, being in one AI file would make that a snap. I haven't done any really large projects like this in ID yet so I thought I'd ask before getting too far into it. It's one of several 25+ booklets with several graphics on each page.

I just did a little test and each time I make a new instance of the big file, the size of my ID file goes up, but not by the same size the AI file is. So, that's good. Seems to me in terms of file size it will be roughly the same as if I used multiple, smaller files. Thanks for the advice!

Where the hell is the Place Dialogue Box which I supposedly need to paste an entire PDF?

Ooh, this sounds like just what I need. Do I just paste it in the Scripts folder?

I have recently been unable to paste Illustrator vectored art into InDesign CS5.5 - perhaps just as recently as having installed the trial version of InD CS6 (upgrade purchased, just not installed yet), no can I Place a pdf created in Microsoft Word or Publisher.  I can to both in CS6, however.  What happened?  The Illustrator vectored art converts to raster art, while the specified pdfs just say can't be placed.  I work at a small commercial print shop. place MS pdf for color management frequently.  I don't want to use CS6 full time yet, only got is at this time because some of our customers have upgraded.

PDFs from Microsoft products don't usually have crop setting for anything but media, at least not if made using the Save As PDF or XPS/Publish as PDF or XPS (depending on the MS app); I have not had ANY problems with them until recently.  I always check those settings, (although, being an airhead at times, I will check very carefully next time I try one), and my computer is rarely used by anyone else who might change such things. Is it possible that the install of CS6 has changed a common .dll file (yes, I work in Windows 7) or some such thing?  Except for the pasting in of Illustrator artwork, which also went wonky at about the same time, the app seems to be fine, at least for the features I use. And as far as the artwork goes, I have tried a few different files, even just an unfilled box, they are OK with CS6, but convert to pixel art in CS5.5.  I have read on another forum, maybe Print Planet, that other people are having the same problem. It was suggested there to change the clipboard handling preferences; I tried that earlier today, and it made no difference, whether changed in Illustrator or InDesign.  This a not a major issue, more of an annoyance - I get tired sometimes of chasing down links for placed images, and the ability to edit art directly in InDesign is VERY nice...

Well, just tried a few different MS pdfs, and they are working again, regardless of crop options, and there have been 3 available, not just the one.  It really did flake out for a while there, however.

Still no luck with pasting AI art into InD CS5.5. however.  I can immediatley go to a page in CS6 and successfully have it paste as vectors.

I have bookmarked this in case I get myself into major problems sometime.  Thank you.

I have been looking for this script, found a download here: http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Graphics/MultiPageImporter.shtml.  Seems to indicate only for Macs. Anyone using it for Windows 7? or tried with CS6? (I'll probably be using it full time in a few more months.) I am not very interested in experimenting with a script on a PC.!

Other search results, (and I have not checked all of them) have broken links.

Is there any way to place Illustrator files with the artboard size as the dimensions of the frame?

As usual, moments after posting, I find the answer. It's in 'import options' when you are selecting a file to place. In the 'Options' section, 'Crop to:' combo, choose 'crop'.