how can I convert an outlined text back to editable text in Adobe Illustrator?

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I don't think that's possible (I'd be curious to see otherwise). It's my understanding that there would be no way to map the line segments to a specific font (certainly not once you've altered them). You will probably need to manually change things, or throw out part (or all) of it and start from scratch. – Michael Todd May 27 '10 at 17:33
do you know if i can at least detect wich font is used in the outlined object? – Pai Gaudêncio May 27 '10 at 18:02
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Maybe export as PNG and upload it to the My Fonts font detector? – hyperslug Aug 11 '10 at 2:51
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Sorry, no can do. Once text characters have been converted to paths they're just that: paths. Illustrator has no memory of where you got them from. So, no, no font info either.

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There is an OCR text recognition option in Acrobat that can do this.

  • Save your illustrator text as a pdf compatible file ( Small chunks is best).
  • In Acrobat select Document/OCR Text Recognition
  • Select file and follow instructions
  • Once done use the text tool in Acrobat to copy and paste your new editable text back into Illustrator.

The font style you can get by uploading your PDF file up to a web program like 'Whatthefont'

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Hmm, cool. Does this OCR feature really work with vector paths, not just raster image data? – Matt M. Aug 7 '11 at 23:13
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