This might be tedious, but I’ll try:
A customer provides artwork with multiple artboards (all same size, set to print-size), and I need everything moved to a new file so that they are cropped at print size. Is there a faster way rather than saving as a PDF, splitting the PDF into separate pages for each individual artboard, and then placing them all into anew file?
Not that I know of.
Illustrator doesn’t have master pages.
You can export out of Illustrator into separate .ai files by doing a Save As and making sure in the dialog box to check “save as separate files.”
Illustrator is by no means a multipage tool like InDesign. Not even close and getting further behind all the time. That multiple artboard function in Illustrator is not meant to serve as multiple pages and I wish designers would. just. stop. trying to use it as such.