Importing Illustrator .ai files into InDesign it looses the bounding box

[crispprinters]

I need assistance please. I have a new Mac High Sierra OS and running adobe cloud 2018. On my old Mac running Sierra OS I could import ai files and it would maintain the bounding box when I brought it into InDesign. On my new Mac I bring in let's say a letterhead at 8.5" x 11" and it will only bring in where the logo and address information is not the entire letterhead of 8.5" x 11" and I have made sure there is a 8.5" x 11" box around the letterhead. This doesn't happened with I use eps files but I need a fix for this with ai files. Please help.

[Scott Citron · Accepted solution]

When placing the AI file hold Shift before clicking Place. This will trigger the Import Options dialog box. There you’ll be able to choose to import the entire page rather than just the artwork.

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[Danny Whitehead.]

In addition to holding shift, you can check 'Show Import Options' at the bottom of the place dialog box.

One of the benefits of placing AI files instead of EPS (and there are enough of them to render EPS obsolete) is that you can use the PDF format's Page Boxes when placing into InDesign. For instance, Trim or Bleed when placing compositions, but Art when placing logos.

[Bill Silbert]

Try this:

When you place the Illustrator (.ai) file select "Show Import Options" (left picture). You will then get the Place PDF (which is part of the.ai file) dialog window where you can choose an option such as "Trim" or "Crop" which will bring in the remaining part of the Illustrator file.