Adobe Acrobat Standard Help 7.0 Instruction Manual 7 En

User Manual: adobe Acrobat - 7.0 Standard - Instruction Manual Free User Guide for Adobe Acrobat Reader Software, Manual

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Using Help
About the built-in help features
Using Help for vision- and motor-impaired users
Opening the Help documentation
Using the How To pages
Using Acrobat Online
Accessing the Adobe Solutions Network
Using online support
Customer support
Adobe Press
The Adobe Certification program
About the built-in help features
Adobe® Acrobat® 7.0 Standard offers many built-in features to assist you while you
work, including the Help window you're using right now:
● Help documentation.
● How To pages. (See Using the How To pages.)
● Tool tips, which identify the various buttons, tools, and controls in the work area by name.
These labels appear when you place the pointer over the item you want to identify. Tool
tips are also available in some dialog boxes.
● Help buttons in some dialog boxes. When you click these Help buttons, the Help window
opens with the related topic.
You can also consult online resources and guides for plug-ins. See Using Acrobat Online
and Using online support.
Note: There is no printed user manual for this product. Overviews, explanations,
descriptions, and procedures are all included in Help.
Using Help for vision- and motor-impaired users
Vision- and motor-impaired users can use the Accessibility Setup Assistant to change how
PDF documents appear on-screen and are handled by a screen reader, screen magnifier, or
other assistive technology. The first time you start Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Standard, the
Accessibility Setup Assistant starts if Acrobat detects assistive technology on your
system. (See Setting accessibility preferences.)
Single-key accelerators and keyboard shortcuts make document navigation simpler. For a
complete list of keyboard shortcuts, see About keyboard shortcuts. For additional
information on how Adobe products enhance electronic document accessibility, visit the
Adobe website at http://access.adobe.com.
To activate single-key accelerators:
1. Choose Edit > Preferences (Windows®) or Acrobat > Preferences (Mac OS), and click
General on the left.
2. Select Use Single-Key Accelerators To Access Tools.
3. Click OK to apply the change.
To open the How To window:
Press Shift+F4.
To close the How To window:
Press Shift+F4 or Esc.
To open or close Complete Help:
Do one of the following:
● To open Help, press F1. In Mac OS, you can also press Command+?.
● To close Help, press Ctrl+W or Alt+F4 (Windows) or Command+W (Mac OS). You can
also click the Close button.
Click the Search or Index tab to use that feature. In Windows, press Ctrl+Tab to cycle
forward through the tabs, or press Shift+Ctrl+Tab to cycle backward through the tabs.
Press F6 to move between the document pane and the navigation pane. In the Index tab,
you can type an entry into the Select Index Entry box. The list scrolls to the first match to
the text string you type. Click a link to go to that topic.
Opening the Help documentation
Acrobat 7.0 includes complete, built-in documentation in a fully accessible Help system. The Help
documentation provides extensive explanations about the tools, commands, concepts, processes, and
keyboard shortcuts. You can print individual Help topics as needed. (See Printing Help topics.)
Complete Acrobat 7.0 Help opens in a separate window with two panes: a navigation pane on the
left and a topic pane on the right. You use the tabs in the Help navigation pane to find the topics you
want. For example, you click the Contents tab to show the list of topics available in Help. You click
a title in the list to open that topic in the topic pane. For information on using Contents, Search, and
Index, see Using the Help navigation pane to find topics.
Complete Acrobat 7.0 Help A. Contents, Search, and Index tabs in the Help navigation pane B. Help topic
pane
You can drag the vertical bar between the navigation pane and the topic pane to change their widths.
You can drag the lower right corner to resize the entire window. The Help window remains visible
until you close it.
To open Help:
Do one of the following:
● Choose Help > Complete Acrobat 7.0 Help.
● Click the Help button on the toolbar, and choose Complete Acrobat 7.0 Help.
● Click the Complete Acrobat 7.0 Help link on the home page of the How To window.
To close Help:
Click the Close button.
There are many keyboard shortcuts to help you navigate the Help. (See About keyboard
shortcuts.)
Related Subtopics:
Using the Help navigation pane to find topics
Navigating your Help-session history
Printing Help topics
Using other Help features
Using the Help navigation pane to find topics
The Help window opens with the Contents tab selected in the navigation pane.
● Click the Contents tab to view the Help topics organized by subject matter, as in the Table
of Contents of a book. You can click the icons to the left of the topics to collapse or
expand the outline. Click a topic name to show that topic in the topic pane.
● Click the Search tab to find a specific word in Help. Type the word in the text box, and
click Search. The results list shows the titles of all topics in which the search word
appears. Topics are listed in the order that they appear in the Contents tab.
Note: You cannot use Boolean operators (such as AND, OR, NOT, or quotation marks) to
limit or refine your search. If you type more than one word, the search results include
every topic in which at least one of the words appears.
● Click the Index tab to find a linked, alphabetical list of terms for various functions,
features, and concepts. You can browse the index in two ways. You can click the controls
(+ or -) to expand or collapse the entries under a letter of the alphabet, scroll to the term
you want, and click a link. Or you can type an entry into the Select Index Entry text box.
The list scrolls to the first match to the text string you type. Click a link to go to that topic.
Navigating your Help-session history
The Help system maintains a history of your Help session so that you can go back and
forth quickly among the topics you open.
Click the Previous Topic button on the Help toolbar to return to topics you opened
earlier in your Help session. Click the Next Topic button to move forward again.
When you close Help, you end your Help session and delete the history.
Printing Help topics
You can print any individual topic from the Help documentation.
From the Help window, each topic must be printed individually. Your Acrobat 7.0
installation CD includes the Complete Acrobat 7.0 Help documentation as an Adobe PDF
file that you can print either in part or as a whole.
To print a Help topic:
1. Open the Help topic.
2. Click the Print Topic button on the Help toolbar.
Using other Help features
Choosing Help > Acrobat Online leads to links for software downloads, product
information, support documents, and more. (See Using Acrobat Online.) The Help menu
also contains links to various online resources and references.
Using the How To pages
The How To pages supplement the Complete Acrobat 7.0 Help, offering overviews of
some popular topics. The How To window appears on the right side of the document pane
and never blocks the view of your open document. You can position the How To window
to the left of the document pane if you prefer.
There are many keyboard shortcuts to help you navigate the How To pages. (See
About keyboard shortcuts.)
The How To window opens at a How To page. The How To home page contains links to
additional How To pages that categorize topics by type. Links on these pages take you to a
simple overview of the topic or to a related topic in the Help documentation.
To open the How To window to a specific topic:
Do one of the following:
● Choose Help > How To > [topic].
● Click the Help button in the toolbar, and select a How To topic.
● Choose a topic from a How To menu in the toolbar.
To open the How To window to the home page:
1. Open the How To window to a specific topic.
2. Click the How To Home Page button in the upper left of the How To window.
To close the How To window:
Do one of the following:
● Click the Close button.
● Click the Hide button (Windows).
You can control whether the How To window opens automatically when you start
the application. Select Show How To Window At Startup on the How To home page.
Opening a How To topic page from a toolbar pop-up menu (left) and from the Help menu (right).
To reposition the How To window:
In Windows, right-click the How To title bar, and choose either Docked Left or Docked
Right.
In Mac OS, do any of the following:
● Control-click the How To toolbar (under the title bar), and choose either Docked Left or
Docked Right.
● Drag the title bar of the How To window to the opposite side of the Acrobat window.
You can change the width of the How To window by dragging the separator bar. The
vertical dimension adjusts to match any changes you make to the document pane.
To navigate through the How To pages:
1. Use the Back button and the Forward button in the How To window to navigate
among the pages you've viewed in your current session.
2. Click the How To home page button to return to the home page.
Note: Once you return to the home page, you erase the navigation history of your session.
The Back and Forward buttons are no longer available for navigating until you start a new
session.
Using Acrobat Online
Through Acrobat Online, you'll find product information and links for downloading plug-
ins and updates, as well as information on training, support, vertical market solutions, and
Acrobat-related products.
To use Acrobat Online:
1. In Acrobat, Choose Help > Acrobat Online to open the Adobe Acrobat web page.
Note: You must have an Internet connection and a web browser installed. Acrobat Online
starts your browser using your default Internet configuration.
2. Refresh the page to make sure that you have the latest version of the Acrobat Online web
page. (Information is constantly updated, so it is important to refresh the page.)
3. (Optional) Move the pointer over the main categories at the top of the page to view links
to related pages.
4. Click a button or link to open a page.
5. Close or minimize the browser window to return to Acrobat.
Accessing the Adobe Solutions Network
The Adobe Solutions Network (ASN) provides various product and technical resources
for developing with Acrobat and Adobe PDF. Here you can find software developer kits
(SDKs), sample libraries, the developer knowledgebase, and technical guides for areas
such as JavaScript, pdfmark, and Distiller® parameters.
The Adobe Solutions Network for Acrobat is located at http://partners.adobe.com/links/
acrobat (English only).
Using online support
If you have an Internet connection, you can use the Online Support command to access
additional resources for learning Acrobat. These resources are continually updated. The
many useful learning tools available from the Adobe Acrobat support page include step-
by-step tutorials, updates and related product downloads, a searchable knowledgebase of
answers to technical questions, links to user forums, and Acrobat Top Issues, containing
the latest Acrobat technical support solutions.
Visit the Adobe® Studio® website at http://studio.adobe.com/ to see a variety of tips and
tutorials to improve your skill set.
Note: You may need to register the first time you go to the Adobe Studio.
To use the Adobe Acrobat online support page:
1. Choose Help > Online Support.
2. Click Refresh to make sure that you have the latest version of the Adobe Acrobat support
page. (Information is constantly updated, so it is important to refresh the page.)
3. Do either of the following:
● Click a link under Top Issues.
● Type a word or phrase in the text box to search for information on Acrobat, all tutorials, or
troubleshooting information.
4. Close or minimize the browser window to return to Acrobat.
Customer support
When you register your product, you are eligible for product support. Visit the Adobe
support website for details or refer to the technical support card provided with the Acrobat
documentation.
Adobe Systems also provides automated technical support. See the ReadMe file installed
with the program for additional information. See the Adobe Acrobat online support page
for information on top support issues and troubleshooting information for common
problems. (See Using online support.)
Adobe Press
Adobe Press offers books that provide in-depth training on Adobe software, including the
Classroom in a Book® series. To purchase Adobe Press titles, visit www.adobepress.com
(English only) or visit your local bookstore.
The Adobe Certification program
The Adobe Certification program offers users, instructors, and training centers the
opportunity to demonstrate their product proficiency and promote their software skills as
Adobe® Certified Experts, Adobe Certified Instructors, or Adobe Authorized Learning
Providers. Certification is available for several geographical regions. Visit the Partnering
with Adobe website at http://partners.adobe.com (English only) to learn how you can
become certified.
ACROBAT ESSENTIALS
What is Adobe PDF?
Why use Adobe PDF?
Working with Adobe Acrobat
Updating Acrobat
What is Adobe PDF?
Portable Document Format (PDF) is a universal file format that preserves the fonts,
images, and layout of source documents created on a wide range of applications and
platforms. PDF is the standard for the secure, reliable distribution and exchange of
electronic documents and forms around the world. Adobe PDF files are compact and
complete, and can be shared, viewed, and printed by anyone with free Adobe® Reader®
software. You can convert any document to Adobe PDF using Adobe Acrobat® software
products.
(See Why use Adobe PDF?.)
Why use Adobe PDF?
Governments and enterprises around the world have adopted PDF to streamline document
management and reduce reliance on paper. For example, PDF is the standard format for
the electronic submission of drug approvals to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(FDA), and for electronic case filing in U.S. federal courts. PDF is also used by the
governments of the United Kingdom and Germany for electronic document exchange.
Common problem Adobe PDF solution
Recipients can't open files because they
don't have the applications used to create
the files.
Anyone, anywhere can open a PDF file. All
you need is the free Adobe Reader software.
Combined paper and electronic archives are
difficult to search, take up space, and
require the application in which a document
was created.
PDF files are compact and fully searchable,
and can be accessed at any time using
Adobe Reader. Links make PDF files easy
to navigate.
Documents appear incorrect on handheld
devices. Tagged Adobe PDF allows text to reflow
for display on mobile platforms such as
Palm OS®, Symbian™, and Pocket PC
devices.
Businesses revert to paper exchange of
documents and forms because of a lack of
verifiable and auditable electronic processes.
PDF documents may have special access
rights and be digitally signed.
Documents with complex formatting are not
accessible to visually impaired readers. Tagged PDF files contain information on
content and structure, which makes them
accessible on screen readers.
(See Working with Adobe Acrobat.)
Working with Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Standard software offers robust tools that make it easy to exchange
Adobe PDF files, conduct electronic reviews, fill in forms, and deliver print-ready files.
Browse through these topics to get an overview of Acrobat's capabilities.
Related Subtopics:
If you want to navigate Adobe PDF documents
If you want to select and copy text, tables, or images
If you want to set tool and object properties
If you want to insert, append, or extract pages
If you want to add headers, footers, watermarks, and backgrounds
If you want to create documents that extend features to Adobe Reader users
If you want to create a secure document
If you want to create an accessible document for vision- and motor-impaired users
If you want to manage PDF files
If you want to view an Adobe PDF document on the web
If you want to prepare a document for online viewing
If you want others to review an Adobe PDF file
If you want to control the color in your document
If you want to navigate Adobe PDF documents
To move through pages of a PDF document, click the navigation buttons on the status bar,
use the up and down arrow keys, use the Page Up and Page Down keys, or drag the
vertical scroll bar. If the PDF document appears in full-screen mode as a slide show, use
the arrow keys to page through the document. (Choose Edit > Preferences (Windows) or
Acrobat > Preferences (Mac OS), select Full Screen, and then select Show Navigation
Bar.)
Navigation buttons
Here are some tips for navigating through a PDF document:
● Use bookmarks. Click bookmarks in the Bookmarks tab of the navigation pane to move
through the PDF document. You can use bookmarks to jump to a destination within an
Adobe PDF document, to another document, or to a web page. You can also add your own
bookmarks to PDF documents. (See Creating bookmarks.)
● Use thumbnails. Click the page thumbnails (or images) in the Pages tab of the navigation
pane to move through the PDF document.
● Use articles. In magazine and newspaper PDF documents, stories flow from column to
column and sometimes across several pages. Authors can link rectangles that connect the
sections of the piece and follow the flow of text. If the pointer includes a down-pointing
arrow when held over text, the text is part of an article. Click an article to jump to the next
section. For details on creating articles, see Defining articles.
● Show and hide layers, if the document has them. (See About Adobe PDF layers.)
● Click links to jump to a specific section. Links are usually underlined and appear in a
different color, but the author of the PDF document can change their appearance. You can
also add links to PDF documents. (See Using links.)
After you click a link or bookmark to jump to a different page, press Alt+Left
Arrow (Windows) or Option+Left Arrow (Mac OS) to return to the previous page.
If you want to select and copy text, tables, or images
To copy an image, a table, or a small amount of text, use the Select tool . The pointer
in the document pane varies depending on whether the pointer hovers over text, an image,
or a table. To select text or a table, drag across the text or table. To select an image, click
the image. (See Copying and pasting text, tables, and images.)
If you want to extract all the text in a PDF document and retain the text formatting, choose
File > Save As, select Rich Text Format from the pop-up menu, and then save the file. If
you simply want to extract the text, choose File > Save As, and then save the document as
a plain text file. (See Conversion options for Rich Text Format or Microsoft Word format.)
Selecting and copying text
Note the following:
● If the author of the PDF document used a scanner to create the document and didn't make
the text searchable, or if the text is part of an image, you can't select the text or search it.
In these cases, you can use the Recognize Text Using OCR command to convert the
image text to text that can be selected and searched.
● In some PDF documents, authors protect their content by setting restrictions that prevent
editing or printing. For example, the Cut, Copy, and Paste commands may be unavailable
because the author set restrictions against copying text. (Some of these limitations may
also affect a document's accessibility.)
● In some cases, your text selection may have unwanted text. For example, if you select text
that spans multiple pages, the selection may include text from headers or footers if the
author did not tag the document properly. If you accidentally copy extra text, remember to
delete the extra text after you paste it.
If you want to set tool and object properties
You can customize many settings in Acrobat by choosing Edit > Preferences (Windows)
or Acrobat > Preferences (Mac OS). For setting properties of some tools and other objects,
you can use the Properties Bar. For example, while adding note comments to a PDF
document, you may want the Note tool to remain selected. To do this, select the Keep
Tool Selected option on the Note Tool Properties toolbar. (If the Properties toolbar isn't
visible, choose View > Toolbars > Properties Bar.) (See Setting Commenting preferences
and Changing the appearance of comments.)
If you want to insert, append, or extract pages
To insert, remove, or use pages in other ways, use the commands on the Document >
Pages menu. You can do any of the following tasks:
● Insert pages. You can insert pages from another PDF document. Choose Document >
Pages > Insert, and then specify the PDF file that you want to insert. This is an easy way
to combine PDF documents.
● Replace pages. You can replace an entire PDF page with another PDF page. When you
replace a page, only the text and images on the original page are replaced. Any interactive
elements associated with the original page, such as links and bookmarks, are not affected.
● Use thumbnails. You can use page thumbnails to copy or move pages within a document
and between documents.
● Delete pages. You can delete pages from an Adobe PDF document with the Delete
command or by deleting the page's page thumbnail or tagged bookmarks. After you have
edited a PDF document, minimize the size of the file by choosing File > Reduce File Size
to save the restructured document under a new name.
● Extract pages. You can extract pages from an Adobe PDF document by using the Extract
command. You can delete the extracted pages or copy them to a separate file. (See
Extracting, moving, and copying pages and Deleting and replacing pages.)
If you want to add headers, footers, watermarks, and
backgrounds
Choose Document > Add Headers & Footers to add headers and footers. (See Adding
headers and footers.)
If your document in the original application includes page numbering, those page numbers
appear in the PDF document. When you remove pages or combine several PDF
documents, page numbers may be out of sequence. However, you can add headers and
footers to PDF documents, allowing you to add page numbers or other information
specific to the PDF document.
You can also add watermarks and backgrounds. A watermark is text or an image that
appears over existing content when a document is viewed or printed. A background is a
color, texture, or pattern behind text or images. Choose Document > Add Watermark &
Background. (See Adding watermarks and backgrounds.)
Add headers and watermarks to a PDF document after it's created.
If you want to create documents that extend features to
Adobe Reader users
If you want to create a PDF document that gives Adobe Reader users some of the tools
and features that are normally available only in Acrobat Standard or Acrobat Professional,
you need to include additional usage rights. These additional usage rights can give users
the necessary tools to fill in forms and submit them online or offline, to participate in
email and web-based reviews, to add comments, and to sign documents using Adobe
Reader. To add these additional usage rights, you use a server extension. For more
information on additional usage rights and system requirements, see the Adobe website at
www.adobe.com/products/server/readerextensions/main.html (English only).
If you want to create a secure document
Acrobat provides several methods of applying security:
● Use digital signatures to indicate approval of a PDF document or form that you filled out.
(See Signing Adobe PDF documents.)
● Certify documents to disallow subsequent changes. (See Certifying documents.)
● Add passwords and set security options to restrict opening, editing, and printing PDF
documents. (See Adding passwords and setting security options.)
● Encrypt a document so that only a specified set of users have access to it. (See Encrypting
Adobe PDF files using certificates.)
● Apply server-based security policies to PDF documents. Server-based security policies are
especially useful if you want others to have access to PDF documents only for a limited
time. (See Encrypting Adobe PDF files using security policies.)
● Apply the same security settings to a number of PDF documents by creating a custom
security policy. (See Creating user security policies.)
● Add security settings to PDF attachments, and use eEnvelopes. (See Using eEnvelopes to
send secure files.)
If you want to create an accessible document for vision-
and motor-impaired users
Acrobat provides a set of features that let you create accessible documents from new or
existing PDF documents.
● Check your Adobe PDF documents for accessibility before distributing them to users.
(See Checking the accessibility of Adobe PDF documents.)
● Optimize PDF documents for reflow by tagging them. (See Tagging Adobe PDF
documents for accessibility.)
If you want to manage PDF files
Acrobat provides a host of features that let you organize and search PDF files:
● Use the Organizer to quickly locate and organize PDF files. (See Using the Organizer
window.)
● Attach PDF or other files to your Adobe PDF document. (See Adding attachments to
Adobe PDF documents.)
● Combine different document types into a single Adobe PDF file by using the Create PDF
From Multiple Files command. (See Creating Adobe PDF files from multiple files.)
● Easily search an Adobe PDF file or a folder of Adobe PDF files for a particular word or
phrase whether that folder is on your computer or on your network. (See About searching
Adobe PDF documents.)
If you want to view an Adobe PDF document on the web
PDF documents can be opened either in Acrobat or in a web browser.
In Windows, you may need to configure your web browser to open PDF documents. In
Acrobat, open the Internet panel of the Preferences dialog box. Select the Check Browser
Settings When Starting Acrobat option. Also, make sure that Display PDF In Browser is
selected. Then restart Acrobat. If this procedure doesn't work, you may need to update
your web browser.
Mac OS automatically configures Acrobat to run in the browser (Safari) the first time you
start Acrobat after installation. (See Viewing Adobe PDF documents in a web browser.)
If you want to prepare a document for online viewing
● Embed fonts when you create the Adobe PDF document. (See Creating custom Adobe
PDF settings.)
● Add navigational elements, such as bookmarks and links. (See Using bookmarks and
Using links.)
● Create a structured or tagged Adobe PDF file to provide as much viewing flexibility as
possible. (See About accessibility and Adobe PDF documents.)
● Reduce the file size so it's as compact as possible. (See Reducing Adobe PDF file size.)
● Add buttons for submitting data if you are working with a PDF form. You'll also need a
CGI script and values assigned for the form data.
● Allow for page-at-a-time downloading. This can greatly decrease download time if you
have a large PDF document that will be accessed from a web server. (See Enabling Fast
Web View in Adobe PDF files.)
If you want others to review an Adobe PDF file
If you want people to review your Adobe PDF document and make comments, you can
start an automated email-based or browser-based review to simplify the reviewing
process. The review features streamline your document reviews by providing a variety of
tools and automated support throughout the review cycle. Even Adobe Reader users can
participate in a review process if additional usage rights are assigned. And training isn't
necessary. Acrobat walks you through the entire process. (See Types of review
workflows.)
If you want to control the color in your document
● Adjust color settings when you create the Adobe PDF document. (See Creating custom
Adobe PDF settings.)
● Specify a color management engine, define working spaces, and set other color
management options. (See Managing color in Acrobat.)
Updating Acrobat
Acrobat files and components can be updated in a variety of ways. Some updates are
available if you open an Adobe PDF document that triggers the updating process. For
example, if you open a form that uses Asian-language fonts, Acrobat asks if you want to
download the fonts. Other updates are available only from the Help menu, where you
must manually install them. Some updates are available using either method.
You can also use the Updates panel in the Preferences dialog box to determine how to
handle updates. Acrobat can automatically check for critical updates and notifications
once a month. Depending on your preference settings, Acrobat downloads updates in the
background, even while other web transactions are occurring. In Windows, you can
minimize the download dialog box to a status bar icon. When all the components have
been downloaded, a Summary Install Now dialog box lets you choose which updates to
install.
To set updating preference options:
1. Choose Edit > Preferences (Windows) or Acrobat > Preferences (Mac OS), and then
select Updates on the left side of the dialog box.
2. Select an option to determine how to handle updates. If you select Do Not Automatically
Check For Critical Updates, you should periodically check for updates manually by
choosing Help > Check For Updates Now.
3. Click View Notifications to preview any notifications before deciding whether to update.
Click OK to close the dialog box.
4. Click Installed Updates to view the names and descriptions of installed updates. If several
versions of an update have been installed, only the latest version appears in the Installed
Updates dialog box.
5. Deselect Display Notification Dialog At Startup if you don't want to be advised about
available updates when you start Acrobat.
6. Deselect Display Installation Complete Dialog if you don't want to be advised when
updates are successfully installed.
To manually update components:
1. Choose Help > Check For Updates Now.
2. Select updates from the column on the left, and click Add or Reinstall to move them to the
column on the right. Only the updates and components appropriate for your platform and
product are listed.
3. Click Update.
What's New in Adobe Acrobat 7.0
New features
Adobe PDF document creation
Additional usage rights
File attachments
Forms authoring and management
Reviewing
Document security
Accessibility
Language support
Additional new features
New features
With Adobe® Acrobat® 7.0 Standard, new features and enhancements enable businesses
to simplify all their document processes. Acrobat is a critical component of Adobe®
Intelligent Document Platform, designed to make it easier to connect people, processes,
and applications both inside and outside your business. Enhanced security provides
greater control over shared documents. Extended workgroups, including users of Adobe
Reader if you assign additional usage rights, can attach files, save form data, and use the
automated review features and expanded set of commenting tools. Creating Adobe PDF
files is easier than ever, with tighter integration between Acrobat and popular office
application software. And the new Organizer makes it easier than ever to find and
organize your Adobe PDF files.
In Acrobat 7.0, language support has been extended, file attachments can be edited,
searched, and saved, a new autosave feature guards against losing your work in case of a
power failure, and new accessibility features make Acrobat even easier to use for vision-
and motor-impaired users.
Adobe PDF document creation
Acrobat 7.0 lets you create Adobe PDF easily from within even more applications than
before. The improved Create PDF From Multiple Files feature lets you create one Adobe
PDF file from different types of files in one quick step.
Single-click PDF creation
In Acrobat Standard, you have the single-click creation of Adobe PDF files without
leaving many of your Microsoft applications, including Office, Access, Internet Explorer,
and Publisher. Word documents convert faster than before. Excel worksheets (Windows
only) can be scaled to fit to a single PDF page. Transparent objects in PowerPoint
presentations (Windows only) convert to PDF transparency. Acrobat also adds Adobe
PDFMaker buttons to the Microsoft Outlook application that allow you to convert single
or multiple email messages or a complete mail folder in the Outlook window. You can
convert your email messages into an easily archived and searchable Adobe PDF file.
Creating a PDF file from multiple files
You can now preview PDF files before combining them, and Acrobat automatically
creates bookmarks for each file combined to make it easier to find material, as well as
print, extract, or delete individual documents.
Adding headers, footers, backgrounds, and watermarks
In Acrobat, headers and footers are easier to create, edit, and remove and don't resize
during printing. You can also protect watermarks or backgrounds from resizing or moving
during printing.
Recovering your original document
You can extract individual documents (in their original file formats) from an Adobe PDF
document created by combining multiple files.
Additional usage rights
You can assign special rights to a PDF document, making more tools and features
available to users of Adobe Reader and letting them save the data that they type in a PDF
form, sign documents, participate in online document reviews, and attach files to a PDF
document. If a user opens a document that has these additional usage rights, a yellow
Document Message Bar displays the additional tools required to work with the document,
and Adobe Reader provides instructions.
You add additional usage rights by using a server extension. For more information, see the
Adobe website at www.adobe.com/products/server/readerextensions/main.html (English
only).
File attachments
You can attach PDF and other files to your Adobe PDF document. If you move the PDF
document, the attached files automatically move with it. You can search attachments, edit
the attachments, and save the edits in the attached file. A description of each attached file
appears in the Attachments tab of the navigation pane.
You can attach files to an email message by using an eEnvelope that you can encrypt to
protect your files during transit.
Forms authoring and management
Acrobat 7.0 supports static forms and interactive forms. Interactive forms created with
Acrobat or with Adobe Designer, which is available with Acrobat Professional 7.0, let you
electronically fill in information, select choices, and digitally sign the document.
Users who have filled in forms created using Designer can then export the form data.
Reviewing
Acrobat 7.0 supplies all the tools necessary for participating in email-based or browser-
based reviews. (Windows browser-based reviews are supported through Internet Explorer.
Mac OS browser-based reviews are supported through Safari.) Commenting rights are
document-specific; Adobe Reader users can add their comments only to a PDF document
that has additional usage rights. When opened, these documents provide a Commenting
toolbar and--if sent in a managed review-- instructions for opening the document, adding
comments, and returning the document to the review initiator.
Note: You can add commenting rights directly from Acrobat Professional. You add other
usage rights using a server extension. For more information, see the Adobe website at
www.adobe.com/products/server/readerextensions/main.html (English only).
Reviewing also includes these new features:
● Callout tool. The new Callout tool lets you create text box markups that point to specific
areas of a PDF document.
● Group Markups. You can group comments and markups so that your comments function
as a single comment.
● Dimensioning tool. The new Dimensioning tool lets you add a line comment between two
points with your comments.
● Exporting comments and markups. You can export comments and markups directly into
Word documents using Word 2002 and later. You can also export comments and markups
into a PDF document that has already been revised.
● Tracking reviews. You can monitor reviews easily using the Tracker. The Tracker
monitors all Adobe PDF documents that you send and receive, as well as all related
comments, and participants.
● Approving documents. In the Asian (Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Japanese,
and Korean) version of Acrobat 7.0, an approval workflow is now available for documents
that require approval from multiple branches of an organization. In this type of workflow,
PDF documents are sent to participants in a sequential order.
Document security
Acrobat 7.0 offers enhanced security features, including more robust signature validation.
You can create Adobe PDF documents by using security policies that can expire and
revoke documents, as well as maintain accountability by keeping track of who opens
protected documents.
You can bundle attached files into a secure electronic envelope (eEnvelope) designed to
protect documents during transit.
Accessibility
For vision- and motor-impaired users, the new Accessibility Setup Assistant makes it easy
to change how PDF documents are read by assistive technology and how PDF documents
appear on-screen. Preferences can be set to have documents automatically open to the last
page viewed.
The Help system has been improved for users with limited visual and motor capabilities.
Language support
The extended language support in Acrobat 7.0 allows you to create, view, search, and
print PDF documents that contain Central and Eastern European language fonts. Forms
entry, comments, and digital signatures are supported in these languages. If you open a
document that requires the installation of additional fonts, you are prompted to install the
appropriate language font kit using the Check For Updates Now command.
Additional new features
Acrobat 7.0 includes many other new and enhanced features to improve how you work:
Improved search
You can easily search a folder of Adobe PDF files for a particular word or phrase, whether
that folder is on your computer or on your network. Acrobat no longer requires that
documents be indexed first. You can search PDF files on the Internet. In addition, you can
now search more parts of your Adobe PDF files, including bookmarks, comments,
attachments, document structure, object data, and document metadata.
Read forms out loud
You can use the Read Out Loud feature to read form fields out loud as you tab to them.
Recover your work
The Autosave feature guards against losing your work in case of a power failure by
incrementally saving file changes to a specified location. The original file is not modified.
View 3D content
The 3D plug-in allows you to view and navigate embedded 3D content in PDF files. Now,
you can experience high-quality 3D environments with realistic lighting and motion.
Acrobat 7.0 Professional is required to embed 3D content.
Locate and review PDF files
Organizer allows you to quickly locate open PDF files, PDF files that you have used
recently, and PDF files that you have stored in a Favorites folder. You can look at PDF
page thumbnails to quickly find the right file.
Create archivable files
Acrobat supports the creation and validation of PDF/A files.
Scan paper documents into searchable PDF files
During scanning, you can create a searchable Adobe PDF file by applying optical
character recognition (OCR) while scanning.
Look at different pages of the same file at the same time
Acrobat allows you to create multiple windows for the same document by using the New
Window command.
Subscribe to digital periodicals and journals
Periodicals can be obtained in the same way as Digital Editions. When you subscribe to a
digital periodical and download the first issue, Acrobat asks you how often to check for
the availability of subsequent issues.
Keep Acrobat up to date
Depending on your Updates preference settings, Acrobat downloads updates in the
background, even while other web transactions are occurring. In Windows, you can
minimize the download dialog box to a status bar icon. When all the components are
downloaded, a dialog box lets you choose which updates to install.
View PDF documents in the browser (Mac OS)
Acrobat works automatically with Safari to make viewing Adobe PDF documents on the
web easy. The first time you open Acrobat, your system automatically is configured to use
Acrobat to open PDF files in your browser. If you use Windows, you can still configure
Internet Explorer to open PDF files.
Looking at the Work Area
About the work area
Selecting tools
Opening documents
Navigating in documents
Viewing documents
Customizing the work area
Setting preferences
Managing plug-ins
Viewing Adobe PDF documents in a web browser
Working with non-English languages in Adobe PDF files
About the work area
The Acrobat Standard window includes a document pane that displays Adobe PDF documents and a navigation pane
on the left side that helps you browse through the current PDF document. Toolbars at the top of the window and the
status bar at the bottom of the window provide other controls that you can use to work with PDF documents. You
can also open a How To window on the right side with an overview of common tasks.
Acrobat work area A. Toolbars B. Navigation pane (Bookmarks displayed) C. Status bar D. Document pane E. How To
window
Related Subtopics:
Using the navigation tabs
Using context menus
About toolbars
Using the navigation tabs
Tabs display such items as a document's bookmarks, page thumbnails, and articles. Tabs
appear in the navigation pane on the left side of the document pane or in floating panels.
To show or hide tabs in the navigation pane:
Do one of the following:
● Move the pointer over the vertical bar that separates the document pane from the
navigation pane. Click the bar when the pointer icon changes to the Double Arrow icon .
● Choose View > Navigation Tabs > [desired tab].
● Click the tab on the left side of the document pane.
Note: The creator of the Adobe PDF document may set the contents of the navigation
tabs. In some cases, a tab may not contain any content.
To choose a command from a tab Options menu:
Click Options at the top of the tab to open the menu, and choose the command you want.
The commands in each tab vary. To close the menu without choosing a command, click
outside the menu or press Esc.
Click Options to open the menu.
You can also choose commands from the document pane menu. Click the
triangle just above the scroll up arrow to open the menu, and then choose a command.
Using context menus
Acrobat provides context-sensitive menus that display commands for the particular item
under the pointer. For example, you can right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS)
the toolbar area to display a context menu that contains toolbar options and the most
commonly used toolbars.
To choose a command from a context menu:
1. Position the pointer over an item in the work area, such as a comment, toolbar, bookmark,
or document page.
2. Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) to open the context menu, and then
choose the command you want.
About toolbars
The Acrobat toolbar area includes a set of toolbars, some of which appear by default and some of which are
hidden.
Toolbars open by default A. File toolbar B. Tasks toolbar C. Basic toolbar D. Zoom toolbar E. Rotate View toolbar F.
Help toolbar
Buttons on the Tasks toolbar behave somewhat differently from other toolbar buttons. Each of these buttons has a
menu of commands associated with it. Click the arrow to the right of the button name to open the menu. For
example, click the arrow next to the Create PDF button to display a menu of commands related to creating
PDF documents.
Hold the pointer over a tool to see the name of the tool. Hold the pointer over the gripper bar on the left
edge of a toolbar to see the name of the toolbar.
To show or hide toolbars:
Do any of the following:
● Choose View > Toolbars, and then select the toolbar you want to show or hide. A checkmark next to the toolbar
name indicates that the toolbar is displayed.
● Choose Tools, select the appropriate topic, and choose Show [toolbar name] Toolbar.
● Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the toolbar area, and then select the toolbar you want to show
or hide. (See Using context menus.)
● Click the arrow next to a Tasks toolbar button and select the associated toolbar name. The expanded toolbar
appears as a floating toolbar in the document pane. For example, click the arrow next to the Comment & Markup
button , and then select Commenting Toolbar.
● To hide all toolbars, choose View > Toolbars > Hide Toolbars. Choose Show Toolbars to display them again.
● Choose View > Toolbars > Reset Toolbars to display the default set of toolbars.
For information on changing the appearance and position of toolbars, see Customizing the work area.
Selecting tools
As a general rule, you should use the Hand tool when browsing through PDF
documents. However, you can select a number of other helpful tools from the toolbars.
To select a tool:
Do one of the following:
● From the Tools menu, choose the toolbar name, and then choose the tool.
● To select a visible tool in a toolbar, click the tool, or make the appropriate keystroke.
● To select the Hand tool temporarily, without deselecting the current tool, hold down the
spacebar.
● To select the Zoom In tool temporarily, press Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS) and
hold down the spacebar.
● To select a hidden tool, hold down the mouse button on either the related tool or the
triangle next to the related tool until the additional tools appear, and then drag to the tool
you want.
● To replace a visible tool with a hidden tool, click the related tool or the triangle next to it
until the additional tools appear, and click the name of the hidden tool.
● To display hidden tools alongside the other tools, click the related tool or the triangle next
to it, and choose Expand This Button. To collapse the hidden tools, click the left-pointing
arrow to the right of the expanded button.
Clicking the triangle next to a tool to open a hidden group of tools
Related Subtopics:
Using the Properties toolbar
Using the Properties toolbar
The Properties toolbar provides easy access to the properties for many tools and objects,
including links, comments, form fields, media clips, and bookmarks. The item selected
determines the contents of the Properties toolbar.
When the Properties toolbar is displayed, it appears by default as a floating toolbar. If you
prefer, you can dock it next to the other toolbars.
To show or hide the Properties toolbar:
1. Select the object, such as a note comment, that contains the properties you want to edit.
2. Do one of the following:
● Choose View > Toolbars > Properties Bar.
● Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the toolbar area, and choose Properties
Bar from the context menu.
If you want to change properties other than those listed on the Properties toolbar,
right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the object, and choose Properties.
Opening documents
You can open an Adobe PDF document from your email application, from your file
system, on a network from within a web browser, by choosing File > Open in Acrobat, or
by using the new Organizer window. The initial view of the PDF document depends on
how its creator set the document properties. For example, a document might open to a
particular page or at a particular magnification.
When someone sends you a restricted PDF document, you may need to enter a password
to open it. If a document is encrypted, you may not be able to open it without permission
from the person who created the document. In addition, restricted or certified documents
may prevent you from printing a file or copying information to another application. If
you're having trouble opening a PDF document, or if you're restricted from using certain
features, contact the author of the PDF document. For information on opening documents
to which security has been applied, see About security.
If a document is set to open in Full Screen mode, the toolbar, command bar, menu bar,
and window controls are not visible. You can exit Full Screen mode by pressing the Esc
key if your preferences are set this way, or by pressing Ctrl+L (Windows) or Command+L
(Mac OS). (See Reading documents in Full Screen mode.)
To open a PDF document from within Acrobat:
1. Do one of the following:
● Choose File > Open, or click the Open button in the toolbar. In the Open dialog box,
select one or more file names, and click Open. PDF documents usually have the extension .
pdf.
● (Windows) From the File menu, choose a previously opened document's file name.
● (Mac OS) Choose File > Open Recent File, and then choose the document's file name.
● From either the File > Organizer submenu or the Organizer menu on the File toolbar,
choose Collections > [collection name] > [PDF file name]. For information on using
Organizer, see Using the Organizer window.
● From the File or the Organizer menu on the File toolbar, choose History > [time
period] > [PDF file name].
2. If the Document Message Bar appears when a PDF document is opened, the document has
a special status or special features. For example, it may be certified, or it may be part of a
commenting review. The bottom left corner of the status bar displays icons that represent
these special status icons. You can click any of these to view the document status.
If more than one document is open, you can switch between documents by
choosing the document name from the Window menu. In Windows, Acrobat places a
button for each open document on the Windows taskbar. You can click this button to
move between open documents.
To open a PDF document from outside Acrobat:
Do one of the following:
● Open the PDF attachment from within an email application. In most email applications,
you can double-click the attachment icon to open the document.
● Click the PDF file link in your web browser. The PDF document may open within your
web browser. In this case, use the Acrobat toolbars to print, search, and work on your PDF
documents, because the menu commands may apply to the browser and not to the PDF
document. (See Viewing Adobe PDF documents in a web browser.)
● Double-click the PDF File icon in your file system.
Note: In Mac OS, you might not be able to open a PDF document created in Windows by
double-clicking the icon. If double-clicking the icon in Mac OS does not open the
document, choose File > Open in Acrobat.
Navigating in documents
You can navigate in Adobe PDF documents by paging through them or by using
navigational tools such as bookmarks, page thumbnails, and links. You can also retrace
your steps through documents to return to where you started.
Related Subtopics:
Paging through documents
Retracing your viewing path
Navigating with bookmarks
Navigating with page thumbnails
Navigating with links
Viewing layers
Navigating documents with file attachments
Reading article threads
Paging through documents
The navigation controls in the status bar at the bottom of the window provide a quick way
to navigate through documents. In addition, you can use menu commands, the Navigation
toolbar, and keyboard shortcuts for paging through a PDF document.
Navigation controls A. First Page button B. Previous Page button C. Current page D. Next Page
button E. Last Page button F. Go To Previous View button G. Go To Next View button
To go to another page:
Do one of the following:
● To go to the first or last page, click the First Page button or the Last Page button in
the status bar, or choose View > Go To > First Page or Last Page.
● To go to the next or previous page, click the Next Page button or the Previous Page
button on the status bar, or choose View > Go To > Next Page or Previous Page.
● If you are in Fit Page view and the page layout is set to single page, press the Up Arrow or
Down Arrow key to move up or down a page. (See Setting the page layout and
orientation.)
To learn shortcut keystroke hints for paging through documents, see Keys for
moving through a document.
To use the Navigation toolbar:
1. If the Navigation toolbar is hidden, either choose View > Toolbars > Navigation or right-
click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the toolbar area, and then choose Navigation.
2. Click the buttons to move forward or backward through your document.
To jump to a page by its number:
Do one of the following:
● Choose View > Go To > Page, type the page number, and click OK.
● Drag the vertical scroll bar until the number of the page you want to jump to is displayed.
● Select the current page number in the status bar, type the page number to jump to, and
press Enter or Return.
Note: If your document's page numbers are different from the actual page position in the
PDF file, the page position may appear in parentheses in the status bar. For example, if the
first page of an 18-page chapter begins numbering at 223, the numbering might appear as
223 (1 of 18). You can double-click inside the parentheses, change the page-position
number, and press Enter or Return to go to that page. For information on turning on and
off logical page numbers, see Page Display preferences.
To automatically scroll through a document:
1. Choose View > Automatically Scroll.
2. Press Esc to stop scrolling.
Retracing your viewing path
After you have navigated through documents, you can retrace your path back to where
you started.
To retrace your viewing path:
Do one of the following:
● To retrace your path within an Adobe PDF document, choose View > Go To > Previous
View or Next View. The Next View command is available only if you have chosen
Previous View.
● If you're viewing the PDF document in a browser, use options on the Navigation toolbar
to move between views. Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the toolbar
area, and then choose Navigation. Click the Go To Previous View button or the Go
To Next View button . (You can also use the Next View button and the Previous View
button in the browser.)
● To retrace your viewing path through other PDF documents, choose View > Go To >
Previous Document or Next Document. These commands open the other PDF documents
if the documents are closed.
Navigating with bookmarks
Bookmarks provide a table of contents and usually represent the chapters and sections in a
document. Bookmarks appear in the navigation pane. For information on adding
bookmarks to an Adobe PDF document, see Creating bookmarks.
Bookmarks tab A. Bookmarks tab B. Expanded bookmark C. Click to display bookmark Options
menu.
To browse by using a bookmark:
1. Click the Bookmarks tab on the left side of the window, or choose View > Navigation
Tabs > Bookmarks.
2. To jump to a topic by using its bookmark, click the bookmark. Click the plus sign (+) next
to a parent bookmark to expand it. Click the minus sign (-) next to a bookmark to hide its
children.
Note: Clicking a bookmark might perform an action instead of taking you to another
location. It depends on how the bookmark was defined.
If the list of bookmarks disappears when you click a bookmark, click the Bookmarks tab
to display the list again. If you want to hide the Bookmarks tab after you click a
bookmark, click the Options menu at the top of the Bookmarks tab, and select Hide After
Use.
Navigating with page thumbnails
Page thumbnails provide miniature previews of document pages. You can use thumbnails
in the Pages tab to change the display of pages and to go to other pages. The red page-
view box in the page thumbnail indicates which area of the page is displayed. You can
resize this box to change the zoom percentage. (See Magnifying and reducing the view.)
For information on adding thumbnails to a PDF document, see Creating page thumbnails.
To browse by using page thumbnails:
1. Click the Pages tab on the left side of the window, or choose View > Navigation Tabs >
Pages to display the Pages tab.
2. To jump to another page, click the page's thumbnail.
Navigating with links
Clicking a link in a PDF document is like clicking a link on a website. Links take you to
another location in the current document, to other PDF documents, or to websites. The
PDF document creator determines what links look like in the PDF document. For
information on adding links to a PDF document, see Creating links.
Clicking a link can also open file attachments and play 3D content, movies, and sound
clips. To play these media clips, you must have the appropriate hardware and software
installed. For information on changing multimedia preferences, see Setting Multimedia
preferences.
Note: Unless a link was created in Acrobat using the Link tool, you must have the
Automatically Detect URLs From Text option selected in the General preferences for a
link to work correctly.
To follow a link:
1. Select the Hand tool .
2. Position the pointer over the linked area on the page until the pointer changes to the hand
with a pointing finger. (The hand has a plus sign if the link points to the web.) Then click
the link.
Viewing layers
Information can be stored on different layers of an Adobe PDF document. The layers that
appear in the PDF document are based on the layers created in the original application.
You can examine the layers and show or hide the content associated with each layer by
using the Layers tab in the Navigation pane. For more information on working with
layers, see About Adobe PDF layers.
Layers tab A. Eye icon indicates a displayed layer B. Hidden layer
To view layers:
1. Click the Layers tab on the left side of the window, or choose View > Navigation Tabs >
Layers.
2. Click the eye icon to hide a layer's content. Click the empty box to show a hidden
layer's content. A layer is visible when the eye icon is present and hidden when the eye
icon is absent.
Navigating documents with file attachments
Acrobat lets you attach any file to an Adobe PDF document so that any user can open it
for viewing. If the PDF document is moved to a new location, your attachment
automatically goes with it. If you open a PDF document that has files attached, the
Attachment icon appears in the Status tray. You can open these files for viewing, edit
the file attachments, and save your changes to the attachment. (See Opening and saving
attachments.)
Reading article threads
Articles are electronic threads that lead you through a document. An article typically
begins on one page and continues on a different page later in the document, in the same
way as articles skip pages in traditional newspapers and magazines. When you read an
article, the page view zooms in or out so that the current part of the article fills the screen.
For information on adding articles to a PDF document, see Working with articles.
To read an article:
1. Do one of the following:
● Choose View > Navigation Tabs > Articles to open the Articles tab. Then double-click the
article's icon to start reading the article.
Note: You cannot open the Articles tab if you are viewing the PDF document inside a
browser. You must open the document in Acrobat.
● Select the Hand tool , and then click anywhere in the article to start reading it at that
point.
2. The pointer changes to the follow-article pointer. Do any of the following to navigate
through the article:
● To scroll through the article one pane at a time, press Enter or Return or click.
● To scroll backward through the article one pane at a time, Shift-click in the article, or
press Shift+Return.
● To go to the beginning of the article, Ctrl-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS) in
the article.
● To exit the article before reaching the end, press Shift+Ctrl (Windows) or Shift+Option
(Mac OS) and click.
3. When you reach the end of the article, the pointer changes to the end-article pointer. Press
Enter or Return or click to return to the view displayed before you started reading the
article.
Viewing documents
Acrobat provides tools that help you adjust the view of your Adobe PDF documents,
including simple tools such as Zoom In and Zoom Out, and more advanced tools. You can
also adjust the view by rotating pages and determining whether you'll see one page at a
time or a continuous flow of pages. You can view the same PDF document in different
panes using a split-window view, or you can view copies of the same document in
different windows using the New Window command.
Related Subtopics:
Adjusting the page position
Magnifying and reducing the view
Using the Wireframe view
Setting the page layout and orientation
Using split-window view
Viewing a document in multiple windows
Reading documents in read mode
Reading documents in Full Screen mode
Viewing the Info panel
Adjusting the page position
Use the Hand tool to move around the page so that you can view all the areas of it.
Moving an Adobe PDF page with the Hand tool is like moving a piece of paper on a desk
with your hand.
To adjust the page position:
1. Select the Hand tool.
2. Do either of the following:
● Drag the page up or down. Release the mouse button to stop scrolling.
● If the page is zoomed in to a high magnification, drag the page left or right to view a
different area.
Magnifying and reducing the view
The toolbar and status bar offer several methods for magnifying the view of PDF
documents:
● The Zoom In and Zoom Out tools let you change the document's magnification.
● The Dynamic Zoom tool lets you zoom in or out by dragging the mouse or mouse wheel
up or down.
Magnification options on toolbar A. Zoom In tools B. Zoom Out button C. Zoom menu D. Zoom
In button
To increase or decrease magnification:
Do one of the following:
● Click the Zoom In button or the Zoom Out button in the toolbar, or select a
magnification percentage from the toolbar menu.
● From the Zoom menu in the toolbar, choose the Zoom In tool or the Zoom Out
tool , and then click the page. To zoom in on a specific area, use the Zoom In tool to
draw a rectangle. When you're finished zooming, you may want to select the Hand tool.
● Click the magnification percentage area in the toolbar, type a new percentage, and press
Enter or Return.
● From the Zoom menu in the toolbar, select the Dynamic Zoom tool , and then drag up
to zoom in to the area where you begin dragging, or drag down to zoom out from that
location. If your mouse has a mouse wheel, you can roll it forward to zoom in or
backward to zoom out.
When the Zoom In tool is selected, you can hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Option
(Mac OS) while clicking or dragging to zoom out. When the Zoom Out tool is selected,
hold down Ctrl or Command to zoom in. With either zoom tool, hold down Shift to use
the Dynamic Zoom tool.
To change the magnification level by using a page thumbnail:
1. Click the Pages tab on the left side of the window to view the page thumbnails. Each
thumbnail represents a page.
2. Locate the thumbnail for the current page, and then position the pointer over the lower
right corner of the page-view box until the pointer changes.
3. Drag the corner of the box to reduce or expand the view of the page.
A page-view box in a page thumbnail indicates the area of the page currently showing in the
document pane.
To resize a page to fit the window:
Do one of the following:
● To resize the page to fit entirely in the window, choose View > Fit Page, or click the Fit
Page button on the toolbar.
● To resize the page to fit the width of the window, choose View > Fit Width, or click the
Fit Width button on the toolbar. Part of the page may be out of view.
● To resize the page so that its text and images fit the width of the window, choose
View > Fit Visible. Part of the page may be out of view.
To see keyboard shortcuts for resizing the document, open the View menu and
notice the shortcuts for each command.
To return a page to its actual size:
Choose View > Actual Size, or click the Actual Size button on the toolbar. The actual
size for a PDF page is typically 100%, but the document may have been set to another
magnification level when it was created.
Using the Wireframe view
The Wireframe view applies a constant stroke width (one pixel) to lines, regardless of
zoom. When you print the document, the stroke width will print at the true width.
The Wireframe view is off by default. To use the Wireframe view, choose View >
Wireframe. This feature is not available within your browser.
Setting the page layout and orientation
Changing the page layout is especially useful when you want to zoom out to get an overview of the document
layout. You can use the following page layouts when viewing Adobe PDF documents:
● Single Page displays one page in the document pane at a time.
● Continuous arranges the pages in a continuous vertical column.
● Facing arranges the pages side by side, displaying only one or two pages at a time.
● Continuous - Facing arranges the pages side by side in a continuous vertical column. If a document has more than
two pages, the first page is displayed on the right to ensure proper display of two-page spreads.
Single Page, Continuous, Continuous - Facing, and Facing layouts compared
For information on determining how pages are arranged when you use Continuous - Facing layout, see Viewing
document properties.
To set page layout:
1. Do one of the following:
● Choose View > Page Layout, and then choose Single Page, Continuous, Facing, or Continuous - Facing.
● Click the Single Page button , the Continuous button , the Continuous - Facing button , or the Facing
button in the status bar.
2. If necessary, choose View > Fit Page to display the document in the current page layout.
In Single Page layout, choosing Edit > Select All selects all text on the current page. In other layouts, Select
All selects all text in the PDF document.
To rotate the page view:
Choose View > Rotate View > Clockwise or Counterclockwise, or click the Rotate Clockwise button or the
Rotate Counterclockwise button on the toolbar. You can change the view of a page in 90-degree increments.
This changes the view of the page, not its actual orientation, and cannot be saved. If you want the rotation to be
saved with the document, choose Document > Rotate Pages.
Using split-window view
The split-window view divides the document pane into two panes (Split command) or four
panes (Spreadsheet Split command), allowing you to see different views or pages of the
same PDF document at the same time. With the Split command you can scroll, change the
magnification level, or turn to a different page in the active pane without affecting the
other pane. The spreadsheet split-window view is useful if you want to keep column
headings and row labels visible while scrolling through a large spreadsheet or table. In this
mode, changing the magnification in one pane changes the magnification in all panes.
Also, scrolling is coordinated between the panes.
To view a document in a split-window view:
1. Choose Window > Split, or drag the gray box above the scroll bar.
2. Click a pane to make it active, and then scroll or change the magnification to adjust
the view.
3. Drag the splitter bar up or down to resize the panes.
4. Choose Window > Remove Split to restore the document window to a single pane.
To view a document in a spreadsheet split-window view:
1. Choose Window > Spreadsheet Split.
2. Click a pane to make it active, and then scroll or change the magnification to adjust
the view. Note that magnification and scrolling changes are coordinated to ensure that
column headings and row labels are lined up.
3. Drag the horizontal splitter bar up or down and the vertical splitter bar left or right to
resize the panes.
4. Choose Window > Remove Split to restore the document window to a single pane.
Viewing a document in multiple windows
You can create multiple windows for the same document using the Window > New
Window command. New windows have the same size, magnification, and layout as the
original window and open at the same page and on top of the original window. When you
open a new window, Acrobat adds the suffix 1 to the original file name and assigns the
suffix 2 to the new window. You can open multiple windows with the suffix incrementing
with each new window. Closing a window causes the remaining open windows to be
renumbered sequentially; that is, if you have five windows open and you close the third
window that you opened, the windows are renumbered with the suffixes 1 to 4.
To open or close a new window:
1. To open a new window, select Window > New Window.
2. To close a window, click the close box on the window. You are prompted to save any
changes. Closing a window does not close a document if more than one window is open.
3. To close all open windows for a document, choose File > Close. You are prompted to save
any changes before each window is closed.
Note: This feature is not available when PDF documents are viewed in a browser.
Reading documents in read mode
The read mode is designed to give you a clean work area for when you're simply reading
PDF documents. Click the Hide Toolbars button to retain the menu bar and the
navigation pane and move a limited selection of tools to the status bar at the bottom of the
work area. After you click the Hide Toolbars button, a tools menu and zooming features
appear to the right of Hide Toolbars button. Click the tools menu to select a tool. For
information on using the Hand tool, see Adjusting the page position; for the zoom tools,
see Magnifying and reducing the view; for the Select tool, see Copying and pasting text,
tables, and images.
To exit Read Mode, click the Show Toolbars button.
Reading documents in Full Screen mode
In Full Screen mode, Adobe PDF pages fill the entire screen; the menu bar, command bar,
toolbar, status bar, and window controls are hidden. A document creator can set a PDF
document to open in Full Screen mode, or you can set the view for yourself. Full Screen
mode is often used for presentations, sometimes with automatic page advancement and
transitions. (See Setting up a presentation.)
The pointer remains active in Full Screen mode so that you can click links and open notes.
You can use keyboard shortcuts for navigational and magnification commands, and the
Full Screen preferences let you display a navigation bar in Full Screen mode. (See Full
Screen preferences.)
To read a document in Full Screen mode:
Click the Full Screen button in the lower left corner of the document window. Press
Enter or Return or the Down Arrow or Right Arrow key to page through the document.
Press Shift-Return or the Up Arrow or Left Arrow key to page backward through the
document.
Note: If you have two monitors installed, the Full Screen mode of a page may appear on
only one of the monitors. To page through the document, click the screen displaying the
page in Full Screen mode.
To exit Full Screen mode:
Press Esc, if Escape Key Exits is selected in the Full Screen preferences, or press Ctrl+L
(Windows) or Command+L (Mac OS). If the full screen navigation bar is showing, you
can also click the Exit Full Screen button .
Viewing the Info panel
The Info panel lets you see the coordinate position of the mouse pointer within the
document pane. The position numbering begins at the upper left corner of the document.
The Info panel also shows the width and height of a selected object as you resize it.
To use the Info panel:
1. Choose View > Navigation Tabs > Info.
2. Move the mouse pointer to view X and Y coordinates.
To change the panel's measurement units:
From the Options menu in the Info panel, choose a different unit of measurement. The
currently selected option has a checkmark next to its name.
Customizing the work area
You can change the appearance of the work area to better suit your working style. For
example, you can change the appearance and location of toolbars and the navigation pane
and lock their position on the desktop. The work area that you create becomes the default
work area on your system until you change it.
To show or hide the menu bar:
To hide the menu bar, choose View > Menu Bar. To show it again, press F9.
To change the display of a navigation tab:
Do one of the following:
● To change the width of the navigation pane, drag its right border.
● To move a tab to its own floating panel, drag the tab from the navigation pane to the
document pane.
● To move a tab to an existing floating panel or to the navigation pane, drag the tab to the
floating panel or the navigation pane.
● To collapse a floating panel to show only the tabs, click the tab name at the top of the
window. Click the tab name again to return the panel to its full size.
To show or hide tool labels:
Choose View > Toolbars > Show Button Labels > [option].
Note: Tool labels are turned off selectively when space in the toolbar area becomes
limited.
To move a toolbar:
Do one of the following:
● To move a toolbar in the toolbar area, drag the toolbar by the separator bar, which is
located at the left edge of a toolbar.You can move the toolbar within the toolbar area, or
you can drag the toolbar into the document pane to create a floating toolbar. You can drag
the bar back to its original location.
● To move a floating toolbar in the document pane, drag the toolbar by its title bar.
Moving a section of tools from the toolbar area
To lock or unlock the position of toolbars:
Choose View > Toolbars > Lock Toolbars.
The separator bars disappear when toolbars are locked.
Note: Lock Toolbars locks only the position of toolbars in the toolbar area. Floating
toolbars are not locked in position.
To dock toolbars:
Choose View > Toolbars > Dock All Toolbars to expand and dock all floating toolbars in
their default location in the toolbar area. If necessary, the toolbar area expands to three
lines, and toolbar labels are hidden selectively to save space.
To return toolbars to their default configuration:
Choose View > Toolbars > Reset Toolbars.
Setting preferences
You can use the Preferences dialog box in Acrobat Standard to define a default page
layout and customize your application in many other ways. These preferences control the
application on your system; they are not associated with a particular Adobe PDF
document.
Note: If you install any third-party plug-ins, set these preferences using the Third-Party
Preferences menu item.
To set preferences:
1. Do one of the following:
● Choose Edit > Preferences (Windows) or Acrobat > Preferences (Mac OS).
● Choose Preferences from the document pane menu.
2. In the Preferences dialog box, select one of the preference categories from the list at the
left.
3. Select preference options for that feature, and then click OK. Click Cancel to leave the
settings unchanged.
Related Subtopics:
Preference categories
Startup preferences
Page Display preferences
General preferences
Full Screen preferences
Preference categories
You set the preference options by category:
Accessibility
Sets preferences for making Adobe PDF documents easier to access for vision- and
motion-challenged users. (See Setting accessibility preferences.)
Color Management
Sets preferences for interpreting color accurately across devices. (See Managing color in
Acrobat.)
Commenting
Sets preferences for the appearance and functionality of document comments. (See Setting
Commenting preferences.)
Convert From PDF
Sets options for converting Adobe PDF content to various file types using the Save As
command. Any changes you make in the conversion options accessed through the Save As
command are reflected in this preferences panel. (See Converting Adobe PDF documents
to other file formats.)
Note: These settings are not the conversion settings used in the Export All Images
command.
Convert To PDF
Sets options for converting various file types to Adobe PDF files using the Open
command.
Forms
Sets preferences for the appearance and functionality of forms. (See Setting Forms
preferences.)
Full Screen
Sets preferences for navigation, transitions, and mouse behavior when documents are
viewed in full screen mode. (See Full Screen preferences.)
General
Sets miscellaneous preferences, including display, text, and image selection preferences.
(See General preferences.)
Identity
Sets preferences for personal information used for authorship and digital signatures.
International
Sets the language used in Acrobat or lets you choose the language each time you start
Acrobat. You can control the default paragraph direction and turn on options for right-to-
left languages.
Internet
Sets web browser and Internet connection options. You can set preferences to check your
default browser settings for compatibility with the application each time the application
starts, and you can choose a connection speed that is used by the multimedia plug in. This
is also where you set your Internet connection setting. (For more information on setting up
Acrobat as a helper application in Windows, see Viewing Adobe PDF documents in a web
browser.)
JavaScript
Sets preferences for enabling JavaScript. To access the JavaScript Reference Guide for
Acrobat, go to http://partners.adobe.com/links/acrobat (English only) on the Adobe
website.
Multimedia
Sets the preferred media player to play 3D content, movies, and sound clips, as well other
multimedia options. (See Setting Multimedia preferences.)
Page Display
Sets options that define the page display. (See Page Display preferences.)
Reading
Sets reading order and screen reader options, as well as read-out-loud options, such as
pitch, volume, and speed, for speech used in voice delivery. (See Setting Reading
preferences.)
Reviewing
Sets server type and server settings for online reviewing.
Search
Sets preferences for searches and fast find. (See Setting Search preferences.)
Security
Sets the preferred security handler and the preferences for creating and managing digital
signatures and their appearance. (See Setting Digital Signature preferences.)
Spelling
Sets preferences for the spell checker and determines whether spelling will be checked
during typing. (See Setting Spelling preferences.)
Startup
Sets preferences for opening the application and opening documents. (See Startup
preferences.)
Trust Manager
Sets permissions for trusted entities. (See Setting Trust Manager preferences.)
Units & Guides
Defines the measurement units and appearance for rulers and grids.
Updates
Defines how to check for software updates. (See Updating Acrobat.)
Web Capture
Sets preferences for downloading HTML pages from the World Wide Web or an intranet
and converting them to Adobe PDF documents. (See Setting Web Capture preferences.)
Startup preferences
The Startup panel of the Preferences dialog box defines how documents open and how the
application starts. It includes the following options:
Maximum Documents In Most-Recently Used List
Sets the maximum number of documents listed in the File menu (Windows) or when you
choose File > Open Recent File (Mac OS). The default is five for Windows and nine for
Mac OS.
Remember Files In Organizer History For
Sets the maximum period of time for PDF files to be included in the History list.
Reopen Documents To Last Viewed Page
Determines whether documents open automatically to the last viewed page within a work
session.
Use Page Cache
Places the next page in a buffer even before the current page is viewed to reduce the
amount of time required to page through a document.
Allow Layer State To Be Set By User Information
Allows the author of a layered PDF document to specify layer visibility based on user
information.
Display The Document Status Dialog When These Status Items Appear
Determines which documents automatically show a status dialog box when they are
opened.
Display Splash Screen
Determines whether the application splash screen appears each time the application starts.
Use Only Certified Plug-Ins
Ensures that only Adobe-certified third-party plug-ins are loaded.
Page Display preferences
The Page Display panel of the Preferences dialog box includes the following options for
the appearance of pages:
Default Page Layout
Sets the page layout used for scrolling when you first open a document.
Display Art, Trim, and Bleed Boxes
Displays any art, trim, or bleed boxes defined for a document.
Display Large Images
Displays large images. If your system is slow to display image-intensive pages, you may
want to not select this option.
Display Page To Edge
Eliminates the thin white border that is displayed around the edge of Adobe PDF pages
created by some applications. If you do not select this option, pages are printed with a
white border, as defined by the printer driver.
Display Transparency Grid
Displays the grid behind transparent objects.
Use Logical Page Numbers
Enables you to use the Number Pages command to display Adobe PDF page numbering
that matches the numbering printed on the pages. A page's number, followed by the page
position in parentheses, appears in the status bar and in the Go To Page and Print dialog
boxes. For example, if the first page in a document is numbered "i", it might appear as "i
(1 of 10)". If this option is not selected, page numbering information in documents is
ignored and pages are numbered with arabic numbers starting at 1. Selecting this option
should alleviate most cases of unexpected Go Back behavior in your web browser. For
additional information on logical page numbering, see Numbering pages.
Use CoolType
Adjusts text display to work optimally with your monitor.
Overprint Preview
Turns overprint preview on or off. The Overprint Preview mode lets you see (on-screen)
the effects of ink aliasing in the printed output. A printer or service provider may create an
ink alias if a document contains two similar spot colors and only one is required, for
example.
Smooth Text, Line Art, and Images
Select whether to smooth text, line art, or images. The default is to smooth both text and
images.
Use Greek Text Below
Displays text below the designated point size as gray lines (or greeked text) to speed
display time.
Use System Setting
Uses the system settings for monitor resolution.
Custom Resolution
Sets the monitor resolution.
Default Zoom
Sets the magnification level for PDF documents when they are first opened. This value
overrides document settings.
Max Fit Visible Zoom
Sets the maximum magnification level for the fit visible view and for viewing articles.
General preferences
The General panel of the Preferences dialog box provides the following preference
options:
Automatically Save Document Changes To Temporary File Every
Determines how often Acrobat automatically saves changes to an open document.
Automatically Detect URLs From Text
Specifies whether web links that weren't created with Acrobat are automatically identified
in the PDF document and become clickable links.
Open Cross-Document Links In Same Window
Closes the current document and opens the document being linked to in the same window,
minimizing the number of windows open. If the document being linked to is already open
in another window, the current document is not closed when you click a link to the open
document. If you do not select this option, a new window opens each time you click a link
to a different document.
Note: To override this setting, whether selected or deselected, press Ctrl (Windows) or
Option (Mac OS), and choose Open Link In New Window.
Save As Optimizes For Fast Web View
Restructures a PDF document for page-at-a-time downloading from web servers.
Emit Passthrough PostScript When Printing
Enables PostScript XObjects in the PDF file to be emitted when that PDF file is printed to
PostScript printer.
Enable Print Preview
Controls the display window in the Print dialog box that shows how the PDF will print.
Turning this off speeds up the Print dialog box display.
Use Single Key Accelerators To Access Tools
Enables you to select tools with a single keystroke. This is off by default.
Enable Text Selection For The Hand Tool
Enables the Hand tool to automatically function as the Select tool when it hovers over text
in an Adobe PDF document.
Disable Edit Warnings
Disables warning boxes that would normally open when you delete items such as links,
pages, page thumbnails, and bookmarks, for example.
Show Documents in Taskbar
Turns on or off the feature that adds a button to the Windows taskbar for each document
open in Acrobat. You can click this button to move between open documents.
Select Tool Options
Determines the selection order of text and images.
Text Selection Margin Size
Sets the distance, in pixels, that the Select tool has to be from text before it changes to a
text selection pointer. You can set the value from zero to twenty pixels.
Column Selection Margin Size
Sets the distance, in pixels, that the Select tool has to be from the text selection margin
before it switches from text selection to column selection.You can set the value from zero
to twenty pixels. If you set the value at zero pixels, you cannot select columns, only text.
Use Fixed Resolution For Snapshots
Sets the resolution used to copy the image captured with the Snapshot tool.
Enable Version Cue Workgroup File Management
Turns on Version Cue™ and adds the Save A Version command and the Versions
command to the File menu.
Note: To use Version Cue in Acrobat, you must be able to access a Version Cue
Workspace in Adobe Creative Suite.
Full Screen preferences
The Full Screen panel of the Preferences dialog box provides the following navigation and
appearance options when an Adobe PDF document is being viewed in Full Screen mode.
Advance Every
Specifies whether to advance automatically from page to page every set number of
seconds. You can page through a document using mouse or keyboard commands even if
automatic paging is selected.
Loop After Last Page
Lets you page through a PDF document continuously, returning to the first page after the
last. This option is typically used for setting up kiosk displays.
Escape Key Exits
Lets you exit Full Screen mode by pressing the Escape key. If this option is not selected,
you can exit by pressing Ctrl+L (Windows) or Command+L (Mac OS).
Left Click To Go Forward One Page; Right Click To Go Back One Page
Lets you page through an Adobe PDF document by clicking the mouse. You can also page
through a document by pressing Return, Shift-Return (to go backward), or the arrow keys.
Show Navigation Bar
Shows a minimal navigation toolbar regardless of the document settings.
Ignore All Transitions
Removes transition effects from presentations that you view in Full Screen mode.
Default Transition
Specifies the transition effect to display when you switch pages in Full Screen mode and
no transition effect has been set for the document being viewed.
Mouse Cursor
Specifies whether to show or hide the pointer.
Background Color
Specifies the window's background color in Full Screen mode. If you choose Custom, you
can select a color from the system color palette.
Managing plug-ins
Plug-ins add more functionality, but they also increase the required amount of memory
needed. To minimize that memory, you may want to install only the plug-ins that you use.
A plug-in must be located in the plug-ins folder to load correctly. You can temporarily
disable plug-ins when starting your software.
To disable a plug-in:
1. On Windows, open the plug_ins folder inside the Acrobat folder within the Acrobat 7.0
application folder. On Mac OS, Control-click the application icon, and choose Show
Package Contents. Then double-click the Contents folder and open the Plug-ins folder.
2. Select the plug-ins you do not want to load, and move them out of the folder. Some of the
plug-ins may be in folders within the plug-ins folder.
To temporarily disable all plug-ins:
Press the Shift key immediately after starting Acrobat.
Viewing Adobe PDF documents in a web browser
Acrobat makes viewing Adobe PDF documents on the web easy. You can view PDF
documents in your browser, or you can set up Acrobat to work as a separate helper
application so that when you open or download PDF documents from the web, they open
in a separate Acrobat window. If you set your preferences to start Acrobat as a separate
application outside your browser and automatically open linked PDF documents in
Acrobat, you cannot use Fast Web Viewing, form submittal in a browser, or search
highlighting on the web.
To use Acrobat as a helper application:
1. Choose Edit > Preferences (Windows) or Acrobat > Preferences (Mac OS), and select
Internet on the left.
2. Deselect Display PDF In Browser, and click OK.
To set browser and Internet preferences:
1. Choose Edit > Preferences (Windows) or Acrobat > Preferences (Mac OS), and select
Internet on the left.
2. Set the following options, and then click OK.
Display PDF In Browser
Displays any PDF document opened from the web inside the browser window. If this
option is not selected, PDF documents open in a separate Acrobat window.
Check Browser Settings When Starting Acrobat
Checks your default browser settings for compatibility with the application each time the
application starts.
Allow Fast Web View
Downloads PDF documents for viewing on the web one page at a time. If this option is
not selected, the entire PDF file downloads before it is displayed. If you want the entire
PDF document to continue downloading in the background while you view the first page
of requested information, also select Allow Speculative Downloading In The Background.
Allow Speculative Downloading In The Background
Allows a PDF document to continue downloading from the web, even after the first
requested page appears. Downloading in the background stops when any other task, such
as paging through the document, is initiated in Acrobat.
Connection Speed
Choose a connection speed from the menu. This setting is also used by the multimedia
plug in.
Internet Settings
Click to set up your Internet connection. Follow the prompts, or consult your ISP if you
need help.
Related Subtopics:
Viewing in a browser in Windows
Viewing in a browser in Mac OS
Viewing in a browser in Windows
You can view the PDF document in the web browser if you are using Internet Explorer 5.5
or later, Netscape Navigator 7.1 or later, or America Online 9.0 or later. Because keyboard
commands may be mapped to the web browser, some Acrobat shortcuts may not be
available. Similarly, you may need to use the tools and commands in the Acrobat toolbar
rather than the browser toolbar or menu bar. For example, to print a PDF document, you
need to use the Print button in the Acrobat toolbar rather than the Print command in the
browser. (In Internet Explorer, you can choose File > Print, Edit > Copy, and Edit > Find
on the Internet Explorer toolbar.)
Viewing in a browser in Mac OS
Acrobat 7.0 works automatically with Safari version 1.2.3 or later and Mac OS 10.3 or
later to make viewing Adobe PDF documents on the web easy. The first time you open
Acrobat 7.0, your system automatically is configured to use Acrobat to open PDF files in
your browser. Acrobat does not add any tools or menus to the Safari toolbar and menu bar.
Note: Be sure that Safari is not running the first time you start Adobe Acrobat.
When you view PDF documents in your browser, some keyboard commands may not be
available because they are mapped to the web browser. Similarly, you may need to use the
tools and commands in the Adobe Acrobat toolbars rather than the browser toolbar or
menu bar. For example, to print a PDF document, you need to use the Print button in the
Adobe Reader toolbar rather than choosing File > Print in the browser.
Important: If you have Adobe Reader installed on your system and subsequently install
Acrobat Standard, Safari continues to use Adobe Reader to open PDF documents in your
browser. To reconfigure Safari to use Acrobat Standard, you must quit Safari and all
versions of Acrobat or Adobe Reader, start Acrobat, and then start Safari while Acrobat is
running.
Working with non-English languages in Adobe PDF files
Adobe Acrobat lets you view, search, and print PDF documents that contain Asian
(Traditional and Simplified Chinese, Japanese, and Korean), Central and Eastern
European, and Cyrillic text. You can also use these languages when you fill in forms, add
comments, and apply digital signatures.
Related Subtopics:
About Asian-language Adobe PDF files
About Central and Eastern European-language Adobe PDF files
About Asian-language Adobe PDF files
This section covers creating and managing Asian-language PDF files on a non-Asian-
language system. Almost all of the Acrobat features are supported for Traditional and
Simplified Chinese, Japanese, and Korean text.
In Mac OS, application and system support for Asian text is automatic.
In Windows, you must install the Asian language support files by using the custom
installation and selecting the Asian Language Support options under Create Adobe PDF
and View Adobe PDF. You must also have Asian language support installed for your
system.
PDFMaker and the Adobe PDF printer automatically embed most Asian fonts in your file
when creating PDF files. You can control whether Asian Fonts are embedded.
In Windows, you may be able to view and print files that contain Asian languages without
having the necessary Asian language support installed on your system. If you try to open a
PDF file for which language support is required, you are automatically prompted to install
the required language pack.
About Central and Eastern European-language Adobe PDF
files
You can work with Adobe PDF files that contain Cyrillic text (including Bulgarian and
Russian), Central European text, and Eastern European text (including Czech, Hungarian,
and Polish), if the fonts are embedded in the PDF files. If the fonts are embedded, you can
view and print the files on any system. Fonts do not need to be embedded to use the
Search feature.
Note: If you open a PDF file in which form fields or text boxes contain these languages
but the fonts are not embedded and are not installed on your system, choosing Help >
Check For Updates Now automatically prompts you to download and install the necessary
language font kits.
Finding Adobe PDF Files Using Organizer
Using the Organizer window
Using the Organizer window
Organizer helps you find PDF files that you've previously opened and PDF files that you've organized into collections
and favorites. With Organizer, you can see thumbnail images of PDF pages to quickly find files, organize related PDF
files, and quickly browse, find, and sort PDF files that you recently viewed. After you select one or more files, you can
start one of several different tasks using the buttons above the file list.
Organizer window in Windows A. Categories pane displays categories for viewing PDF files B. Files pane lists PDF files
contained in the selected category C. Pages pane displays thumbnails of each page within the selected PDF file
To display the Organizer window:
Click the Organizer button in the File toolbar, or choose File > Organizer > Open Organizer. (To resize a pane
relative to the other panes, drag the vertical line that separates two panes. To resize the entire Organizer window, drag
the left, right, or bottom edge of the window.)
It isn't necessary to open the Organizer window if you want to open a PDF file that's in a collection, to create a
new collection, to add an open PDF document to a collection, or to open a PDF file from your history of opened PDF
files. In Acrobat, click the Organizer button in the File toolbar, or choose File > Organizer or File > History.
These items contain commands that let you do all of these things.
Related Subtopics:
Using the categories pane of the Organizer window
Using the files pane of the Organizer window
Using the pages pane of the Organizer window
Using the categories pane of the Organizer window
The categories pane of the Organizer window contains four categories to help you locate
and organize PDF files that reside on your computer, on a network, and on the web:
● History contains subcategories that list all PDF files that you've opened during a specified
period of time. You can't change the subcategory names or manually add PDF files to the
History, which is automatically updated each time you open a PDF file and as time passes,
but you can clear the entire history by using the Clear History button in the files pane.
You can also control the maximum length of the file history or turn it off with the
Remember Files In Organizer History For option in the Startup preferences.
● My Computer (Windows) or [disk name] (Mac OS) lists the hard drives and folders in
their current hierarchy. This category is especially useful if you know where a particular
PDF file resides.
● Favorite Places lists folders, network locations, and web directories that you've specified
as favorite destinations. This category functions like bookmarks or favorite destinations
that you create for quick access in a web browser, except that the destinations are folders
or drives that contain PDF files. You can add or remove destinations from the Favorite
Places list, but you can't edit the destination names.
● Collections contains collection folders that list all PDF files that you've associated with
each particular collection folder. Each collection folder can point to multiple PDF files no
matter where each PDF file is located; for example, a single collection folder can list PDF
files that are actually located in different folders on your computer, on a network, and also
on the web. You can change each collection folder's name, add new collection folders, and
add PDF files to each collection folder.
To view PDF files in an Organizer category:
1. To expand or collapse a category or folder in the categories pane, click the icon to the left
of the category icon or folder icon.
2. Select a subcategory or folder under a main category. The pages pane lists all PDF files
that are associated with that subcategory or folder.
To organize PDF files with the Collections category:
1. To edit the list of collection folders, do any of the following:
● If you want to rename a collection folder, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac
OS) the collection folder name, choose Rename Folder, and then type the new name.
● If you want to delete a collection folder, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS)
the collection folder name, choose Delete Folder, and then click Yes in the confirmation
dialog box. The PDF files within the collection folder aren't deleted from their original
locations.
● If you want to add a new collection folder, click the Create A New Collection button
in the Organizer window. Or, in Acrobat, choose Create A New Collection from the
Organizer menu in the File toolbar, or choose File > Organizer > Collections > Create A
New Collection. Type a name for the collection.
2. If you want to add a PDF file to a collection folder, do one of the following:
● Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the collection folder name, choose Add
Files, select one or more PDF files, and click Add.
● Select the subcategory or folder that contains the PDF file, right-click (Windows) or
Control-click (Mac OS) the PDF file in the files pane, and choose Add To Folder >
[collection folder name].
● Drag a PDF file from Windows Explorer or Mac OS Finder to the collection folder in the
categories pane.
● After selecting a subcategory in the History, My Computer, or Favorite Places category,
drag a PDF file from the files pane to the desired collection folder.
● In Acrobat, open the PDF file. Choose Add To A Collection from the Organizer menu
in the File toolbar. To add the PDF file to an existing collection, select a collection and
click OK. To add the PDF file to a new collection, click New Collection, type a name for
the collection, and click Create; then click OK.
You can open any PDF file from a collection by using the Open button in the
Organizer window or by simply choosing the PDF file name from a submenu directly in
Acrobat. To open a PDF file from a collection in Acrobat, choose Collections >
[collection name] > [PDF file name] from either the File > Organizer submenu or the
Organizer menu in the File toolbar.
3. If you want to move a PDF file from one collection folder to another, select the collection
folder that contains the PDF file, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the
PDF file in the files pane, and choose Move To Folder > [collection folder name].
4. If you want to remove a PDF file from a collection folder, select the collection folder,
right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the PDF file in the files pane, and
choose Remove From [collection folder name].
To organize PDF files with the Favorite Places category:
1. If you want to add an existing folder or hard drive to the category's list, do one of the
following:
● Click the Add A Favorite Place button , select a folder or hard drive, and click OK.
● Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the desired folder in the My Computer
(Windows) or [disk name] (Mac OS) category, and choose Add [folder name] To Favorite
Places.
● Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the desired subfolder in the Favorite
Places category, and choose Add [favorite place name] To Favorite Places.
2. If you want to remove a folder or hard drive from the list of Favorite Places, right-click
(Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the item, and choose Remove [folder name] From
Favorite Places.
To locate PDF files with the My Computer (Windows) or [disk name] (Mac OS) category:
Select a folder in the My Computer (Windows) or [disk name] (Mac OS) category. All
PDF files within that folder are listed in the files pane.
Using the files pane of the Organizer window
The files pane in the Organizer window lists the PDF files that are within the subcategory
or folder selected in the categories pane; each listing of a PDF file displays the file's name,
modification date, page number, file size, location, and a thumbnail image of the first
page. You can sort the list by file name, metadata information, number of pages, file size,
modification date, and date last opened.
The buttons at the top of the Organizer window let you open, print, email, or combine one
or more selected PDF files; in addition, you can send a selected PDF file for review or
approval, or upload it for a browser-based review.
To work with PDF files in the files pane:
1. Select a subcategory or folder under a main category in the categories pane to display PDF
files in the files pane.
2. If you want to sort the list of PDF files according to a particular property, choose a
property from the Sort By menu. To change the sorting direction, click the Ascending Sort
Order button or the Descending Sort Order button to the right of the Sort By menu.
3. Select the file or files you want to work with: To select a listed PDF file, click it; to select
all of the PDF files listed, click Select All; to add or remove noncontiguous PDF files to
the selection, Ctrl-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) them; to add contiguous
PDF files to the selection, Shift-click.
4. If you want to view the location of the selected PDF files in Windows Explorer or Mac
OS Finder, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS), and choose Show In
Explorer (Windows) or Show In Finder (Mac OS).
5. To perform an action on the selected PDF files, do any of the following:
● If you want to open, print, or email the PDF files, click the button for that task above the
files pane.
● If you want to combine the PDF files into a single PDF file, click Create PDF From
Multiple Files, and then see Creating Adobe PDF files from multiple files.
● If you want to start an email-based review of a PDF file or upload a PDF file for a
browser-based review, make sure that only one PDF file is selected, choose the command
for that task from the Send For Review menu, and then see Setting up an email-based
review, or Setting up a browser-based review.
To erase the history of PDF files that you opened:
1. Select a History subcategory in the categories pane.
2. Click Clear History in the files pane.
Using the pages pane of the Organizer window
The pages pane of the Organizer window displays thumbnails for every page of all PDF files that are selected in the files
pane. The Zoom slider and buttons at the bottom of the pages pane let you adjust the size of the page thumbnails. If a
selected PDF file contains special document properties, such as layers, attachments, or a digital signature, an icon
appears for each property in the thumbnail's title bar; placing the pointer over the icon displays a tool tip identifying
those properties.
Multiple PDF documents selected (left) and thumbnails of each page within the PDF documents (right)
ADOBE PDF CREATION
About creating Adobe PDF files
Creating Adobe PDF files from other applications
Using the Adobe PDF printer
Creating a custom page size
About creating Adobe PDF files
You can convert a variety of file formats to Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), a
universal file format that preserves all the fonts, formatting, images, and color of a source
file, regardless of the application and platform used to create it. Adobe PDF files are
compact and can be exchanged, viewed, navigated, and printed by anyone with free
Adobe Reader software, while maintaining document integrity.
In addition to creating Adobe PDF files from virtually any software application, you can
create PDF files in Adobe Acrobat Standard by scanning and capturing paper documents
and by downloading and converting web pages.
There are many ways to create Adobe PDF files, and the amount of structural information
the PDF files contain depends on how they are created. The more structural information a
PDF document contains the more opportunities you have for successfully reusing the
content and the more reliably a document can be used with screen readers. (See
Understanding how tags affect accessibility.)
For many users, the process for creating Adobe PDF files is almost automatic. Most users
need only be aware that the settings used in the conversion process can be customized
should the quality or size of the Adobe PDF files need to be changed. Other users, because
of their heavy use of images, fonts, and color, for example, routinely prefer to customize
the conversion settings to create the best possible Adobe PDF file for their needs.
Creating Adobe PDF files from other applications
You can create Adobe PDF files from applications other than Acrobat using any of three
methods.
Use the Save As or Export command to create an Adobe PDF file from the current file.
This method is available in such authoring applications as Adobe® InDesign®, Adobe®
Photoshop®, Adobe® Illustrator®, and Adobe® PageMaker®. All the necessary
components for creating Adobe PDF files are installed and configured automatically when
you perform a typical installation. You are ready to create PDF files right away. See the
documentation that came with your application for information on converting files this
way.
Use the Adobe PDF printer. You can create Adobe PDF files from any application that
has a Print command. (See Using the Adobe PDF printer.)
Use PDFMaker, an application in authoring applications that converts documents directly
to PDF. For information on which versions of these applications are supported, visit the
Adobe website (www.adobe.com/acrofamily/main.html).
● To create PDF files from Word, PowerPoint, or Excel files, see Converting Microsoft
Office files (Windows) or Converting Microsoft Office files (Mac OS).
● To create PDF files from Outlook, see Converting Microsoft Outlook email messages
(Windows).
● To create PDF files from Internet Explorer, see Converting web pages in Internet Explorer
(Windows).
● To create PDF files from Access, see Converting Microsoft Access files (Windows).
● To create PDF files from Publisher, see Converting Microsoft Publisher files (Windows).
Using the Adobe PDF printer
In an authoring application such as Adobe InDesign, use the Print command with the
Adobe PDF printer to convert your file to Adobe PDF. Your source document is
converted to PostScript and fed directly to Distiller for conversion to PDF, without
manually starting Distiller. The current Distiller preference settings and Adobe PDF
settings are used to convert the file. If you're working with nonstandard page sizes, see
Creating a custom page size.
Note: The Adobe PDF printer creates untagged PDF files. A tagged structure is required
for reflowing content to a handheld device and is preferable for producing reliable results
with a screen reader. (See Creating tagged Adobe PDF from authoring applications.)
To create an Adobe PDF file using the Print command (Windows):
1. Open the file that you want to convert to an Adobe PDF file in its authoring application,
and choose File > Print.
2. Choose Adobe PDF from the list of printers.
3. Click the Properties (or Preferences) button to customize the Adobe PDF printer setting.
(In some applications, you may need to click Setup in the Print dialog box to access the
list of printers, and then click Properties or Preferences.) For information on customizing
the Adobe PDF printer settings, see Setting Adobe PDF printing preferences (Windows).
4. In the Print dialog box, click OK.
By default, your Adobe PDF file is saved in the folder specified in the printer port. The
default location is My Documents. The file name and destination are controlled by the
Prompt For Adobe PDF Filename setting in Printing Preferences.
To create an Adobe PDF file using the Print command (Mac OS):
1. Open the file that you want to convert to an Adobe PDF file in its authoring application,
and choose File > Print.
2. Choose Adobe PDF from the list of printers.
3. Choose PDF Options from the pop-up menu.
4. For Adobe PDF Settings, choose one of the default settings, or customize the settings
using Distiller. Any custom settings that you have defined are listed.
For most users, the default Adobe PDF conversion settings are adequate. For information
on the default conversion settings, see Using default Adobe PDF settings files. For
information on editing these settings and creating new settings, see Creating custom
Adobe PDF settings.
5. For After PDF Creation, specify whether or not to open the PDF file.
6. Click Print.
7. Select a name and location for your PDF file, and click Save.
By default, your Adobe PDF file is saved with the same file name and a .pdf extension.
Related Subtopics:
Setting Adobe PDF printing preferences (Windows)
Setting Adobe PDF printer properties (Windows)
Configuring the Adobe PDF printer (Mac OS)
Setting Adobe PDF printing preferences (Windows)
Printing preferences apply to all applications that use the Adobe PDF printer, unless you
change the settings in an authoring application by using the Page Setup, Document Setup,
or Print menus.
Note: The dialog box for setting printing preferences is named either Adobe PDF Printing
Preferences, Adobe PDF Printing Defaults, or Adobe PDF Document Properties,
depending on how you access it.
Setting preferences for the Adobe PDF printer
To set Adobe PDF printing preferences:
1. Do one of the following to open the dialog box:
● Open the Printers or Printer And Faxes window from the Start menu. Right-click the
Adobe PDF printer, and choose Printing Preferences.
● In an authoring application such as Adobe InDesign, choose File > Print. Select Adobe
PDF as the printer, and click the Properties (or Preferences) button. (In some applications,
you may need to click Setup in the Print dialog box to access the list of printers, and then
click Properties or Preferences to customize the Adobe PDF settings.)
2. In the Adobe PDF Settings tab, specify conversion settings. You can select a predefined
set of options from the Default Settings menu or click Edit to view or change the settings
in the Adobe PDF Settings dialog box. These options match the Distiller default settings.
For more information, see Using default Adobe PDF settings files and Creating custom
Adobe PDF settings.
3. To add security to the PDF file, choose one of the following options from the Adobe PDF
Security menu:
● Reconfirm Security For Each Job opens the Adobe PDF - Security dialog box each time
you create a PDF file using Adobe PDF printer. Specify settings in the dialog box.
● Use The Last Known Security Settings uses the same security settings as the last time a
PDF file was created using Adobe PDF printer on your machine.
To view or change the security settings, click Edit. For information on setting security
options, see Adding passwords and setting security options.
4. Choose an output folder for the converted PDF file using one of the following methods:
● Select a folder from the Adobe PDF Output Folder menu.
● Click Browse to add or change the output folder.
● Choose Prompt For Adobe PDF Filename to specify a location and file name at
conversion time.
5. Choose a page size from the Adobe PDF Page Size menu. Any custom page sizes that you
have defined are listed on this menu. To define a custom page size, see Creating a custom
page size.
6. Select any of the following options:
● View Adobe PDF Results automatically starts Acrobat and displays the converted
document immediately.
● Add Document Information includes information such as the file name and date and time
of creation.
● Do Not Send Fonts To "Adobe PDF." Check this option if you are creating a PostScript
file.
● Delete Log Files For Successful Jobs automatically deletes the log files unless the job
failed.
● Ask To Replace Existing PDF File displays a dialog box that warns you when you are
about to overwrite an existing PDF file with a file of the same name.
7. Set options on the Layout and Paper Quality tabs, as necessary.
Setting Adobe PDF printer properties (Windows)
In Windows, you can usually leave the Adobe PDF properties unchanged, unless you have
configured printer sharing or set security.
To set Adobe PDF printing properties:
1. Open the Printers window from the Start menu, and right-click the Adobe PDF printer.
2. Choose Properties.
3. Click the tabs, and select options as needed.
To reassign the port that Adobe PDF uses for printing:
1. Quit Distiller if it is running, and allow all queued jobs to Adobe PDF to complete.
2. Open the Printers window from the Start menu.
3. Right-click the Adobe PDF printer, and choose Properties.
4. Click the Ports tab, and then click Add Port.
5. Select Adobe PDF Port from the list of available port types, and click New Port.
6. Select a local folder for PDF output files, and click OK. Then click Close to quit the
Printer Ports dialog box.
7. In the Adobe PDF Properties dialog box, click Apply, and then click OK.
For best results, select a folder on the same system where Distiller is installed. Although
remote or network folders are supported, they have limited user access and security issues.
To delete a folder and reassign Adobe PDF to the default port:
1. Quit Distiller if it is running, and allow a few minutes for all queued jobs to Adobe PDF to
complete.
2. Open the Printers window from the Start menu.
3. Right-click the Adobe PDF printer, and choose Properties.
4. Click the Ports tab.
5. Select the default port, My Documents, and click Apply.
6. Select the port to delete.
7. Click Delete Port, and then click Yes to confirm the deletion.
8. Select the My Documents port again and click Close.
Configuring the Adobe PDF printer (Mac OS)
In Mac OS, you configure the Adobe PDF printer in three places: Distiller, your authoring
application's Page Setup menu, and your authoring application's Print dialog box.
To configure the Adobe PDF printer:
1. In Distiller, specify the Adobe PDF settings, font locations, and security. (See Creating
Adobe PDF files using Acrobat Distiller and Setting Distiller preferences.)
2. In an authoring application such as Adobe InDesign, choose File > Page Setup, and do the
following:
● Select Adobe PDF 7.0 from the Format For menu.
● Specify the paper size, orientation, and scale as necessary. To create custom page sizes,
see Creating a custom page size.
3. In your authoring application, choose File > Print, and select Adobe PDF 7.0 from the
Printer menu.
4. In the pop-up menu below the Presets menu, choose PDF Options, and set any of the
following options:
● Select a set of predefined conversion settings from the Adobe PDF Settings menu if you
want to override default settings. Default settings are the settings currently defined in
Distiller.
● Specify whether to open the converted files in Acrobat in the After PDF Creation menu.
5. Specify print settings as desired in the other menus available in the pop-up menu below
the Presets menu.
Creating a custom page size
It's important to distinguish between page size (as defined in the source application's
Document Setup dialog box for your document) and paper size (the sheet of paper, piece
of film, or area of the printing plate you'll print on). Your page size might be U.S. Letter
(8-1/2-by-11 inches), but you might need to print on a larger piece of paper or film to
accommodate any printer's marks or the bleed area. To ensure that your document prints
as expected, set up your page size in both the source application and the printer.
The list of paper sizes available to Acrobat comes from the PPD file (PostScript printers)
or from the printer driver (non-PostScript printers). If the printer and PPD file you've
chosen for PostScript printing support custom paper sizes, you see a Custom option in the
Paper Size menu. Acrobat supports pages as large as 15,000,000 inches (38,100,000cm)
by 15,000,000 inches (38,100,000cm).
To create a custom page size (Windows):
1. Do one of the following:
● Open the Printers or Printer And Faxes window from the Start menu. Right-click the
Adobe PDF printer, and choose Printing Preferences.
● In an authoring application such as Adobe InDesign, choose File > Print. Select Adobe
PDF as the printer, and click the Properties button. (In some applications, you may need to
click Setup in the Print dialog box to access the list of printers, and then click Properties
or Preferences to customize the Adobe PDF settings.)
2. In the Adobe PDF Settings tab, click the Add button next to the Adobe PDF Page Size
menu.
3. Specify the name, width, height, and unit of measurement. Click Add/Modify to add the
custom page size name to the Adobe PDF Page Size menu.
To create a custom page size (Mac OS):
1. In an authoring application such as Adobe InDesign, choose File > Page Setup.
2. In the Settings pop-up menu, select Custom Paper Size.
3. Click the New button.
4. Specify the name, height, width, and margins. The unit of measurement depends on the
system language.
5. Click Save, and then click OK.
To use the custom page size (Mac OS):
1. Choose File > Page Setup.
2. Select the new custom page size from the Paper Size menu, and click OK.
Creating Adobe PDF Files Using PDFMaker
About Acrobat PDFMaker
Converting web pages in Internet Explorer (Windows)
Converting Microsoft Office files (Windows)
Converting Microsoft Office files (Mac OS)
Converting Microsoft Outlook email messages (Windows)
Converting Microsoft Access files (Windows)
Converting Microsoft Publisher files (Windows)
Editing PDFMaker conversion settings (Windows)
About Acrobat PDFMaker
Files created in a number of applications (including Microsoft Access, Excel, Internet
Explorer, Outlook, PowerPoint, Project, Publisher, Visio, Word, and Autodesk AutoCAD)
can be converted directly to Adobe PDF files without leaving the authoring application. In
all cases, PDFMaker is used for the conversion in each authoring application and the
resulting files are Adobe PDF files.
In Windows, the default Acrobat 7.0 installation installs the PDFMaker feature for the
following third-party applications:
● Microsoft Access 2000, 2002, and 2003
● Microsoft Excel 2000, 2002, and 2003
● Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0
● Microsoft Outlook 2000, 2002, and 2003
● Microsoft PowerPoint 2000, 2002, and 2003
● Microsoft Publisher 2002 and 2003
● Microsoft Word 2000, 2002, and 2003
In Mac OS, the default Acrobat 7.0 installation installs the PDFMaker feature for the
Professional, Standard, and Student and Teacher Editions of the following Microsoft
applications:
● Microsoft Excel X (SR-1), 2004
● Microsoft PowerPoint X (SR-1), 2004
● Microsoft Word X (SR-1), 2004
When you install Acrobat using the default installation settings, the installer identifies
third-party applications on your computer that support PDFMaker and installs the
necessary PDFMaker files that enable those applications to convert files to PDF files. If
you install such a third-party application after installing Acrobat on Windows, the
PDFMaker files are also automatically installed.
Converting web pages in Internet Explorer (Windows)
Acrobat adds the Adobe PDF toolbar and Convert Current Web Page To An Adobe PDF
File button to Internet Explorer 5.01 and later, which allow you to convert the
currently displayed web page to an Adobe PDF file, or convert and perform an activity in
one easy operation.
You can convert more than one web page, even an entire website, to an Adobe PDF
file directly within Adobe Acrobat. (See Creating Adobe PDF files from downloaded web
pages.)
The Internet Explorer Adobe PDF toolbar preferences determine only whether converted
files open in Acrobat automatically, and whether you are prompted to confirm the deletion
of files or addition of pages to an existing PDF file. The Acrobat web page conversion
settings, which are available only in Acrobat, let you set more advanced settings,
including the creation of bookmarks and tags. After you set the Acrobat web page
conversion settings as desired, you need to use the Create PDF From Web Page feature in
Acrobat at least once before the settings take effect in the Internet Explorer web page
conversion feature. (See Specifying conversion settings for capturing web pages.)
When you convert a web page, you can also choose to do one of the following activities
using a menu command:
● Add the converted web page to an existing PDF file.
● Print the page. A converted web page is reformatted to a standard page size with logical
page breaks. This avoids inconsistent results in printing directly from a browser window.
● Email the page. Automatically open your email application with the converted web page
attached.
● Initiate an email-based review. When you send an Adobe PDF document by email for
review, reviewers receive the document as an email attachment. Recipients can add their
comments to it and then send their comments to you.
● Display the Adobe PDF pane in the Internet Explorer window. This provides a convenient
place for managing converted web pages. Folders and PDF files are organized under the
root folder Desktop. You can navigate files and create, rename, and delete folders in this
window, as well as rename and delete files. Only PDF files and folders containing PDF
files are listed. In Windows XP, if you don't see the button in Internet Explorer, choose
View > Toolbars > Adobe PDF.
Note: The files and folders displayed in the Adobe PDF pane are the same files and
folders stored on your system. Only PDF files appear in the Adobe PDF pane; if you
attempt to delete a folder that contains other files (files that are not visible in the Adobe
PDF pane), you are asked to confirm the deletion.
A menu on the PDF toolbar provides easy conversion and print capabilities.
To convert a web page to an Adobe PDF file:
1. In Internet Explorer, open the web page, and do one of the following:
● Click the Convert Current Web Page To An Adobe PDF File button on the Internet
Explorer toolbar.
● Choose Convert Web Page To PDF from the Convert Current Web Page To An Adobe
PDF File pop-up menu.
2. In the Convert Web Page To Adobe PDF dialog box, specify a file name and location, and
then click Save.
The default file name is the text used in the HTML tag <TITLE>. Any invalid characters
in the file name are converted to an underscore when the file is downloaded and saved. If
the Adobe PDF pane is open, the file name is highlighted when the conversion is complete.
To add a converted web page to an Adobe PDF file:
In Internet Explorer, open the web page, and do one of the following:
● Choose Add Web Page To Existing PDF from the Convert Current Web Page To An
Adobe PDF File pop-up menu on the Internet Explorer toolbar. Select the Adobe PDF file
that you want to add the Web page to, and click Save.
● In the Adobe PDF pane, select the PDF file that you want to add the converted page to,
and click the Add button at the top of the Adobe PDF pane. Click Yes if necessary to
clear the confirmation message.
To convert and print a web page in Internet Explorer (Windows):
1. In Internet Explorer, open the web page that you want to convert and print.
2. Choose Print Web Page from the Convert Current Web Page To An Adobe PDF File pop-
up menu.
3. In the Print dialog box, select any required print options, and click Print.
To convert and email a converted web page:
Choose Convert Web Page And Email from the Convert Current Web Page To An Adobe
PDF File pop-up menu.
To open or close the Adobe PDF pane:
In Internet Explorer, do one of the following:
● Choose Adobe PDF Explorer Bar from the Convert Current Web Page To An Adobe PDF
File pop-up menu .
● Choose View > Explorer Bar > Adobe PDF.
You can manage all PDF files on your computer in the Adobe PDF pane in Internet Explorer.
To add, rename, or delete a new folder in the Adobe PDF pane:
Do one of the following:
● To add a new folder at the desktop level, select the Desktop icon in the Adobe PDF pane,
and click the New Folder button
● To add a new folder under an existing folder, select the existing folder in the Adobe PDF
pane and click New Folder, or right-click the folder and choose New Folder.
● To rename or delete a folder, right-click the folder and choose the appropriate command.
To set the Internet Explorer Adobe PDF conversion preferences:
1. In Internet Explorer, choose Preferences from the Convert Current Web Page To An
Adobe PDF File pop-up menu .
2. In the Adobe PDF Preferences dialog box, deselect any options not to be applied, and
click OK.
Converting Microsoft Office files (Windows)
Files created in a number of Microsoft applications can be converted directly to Adobe
PDF without leaving the Microsoft application. In all cases, PDFMaker is used for the
conversion, and the resulting files are Adobe PDF files. To verify which applications are
supported, see About Acrobat PDFMaker.
Choose Adobe PDF > Change Conversion Settings periodically to check which
Adobe PDF conversion settings are being used. Changes made in Distiller and to the
Adobe PDF printer may affect options in the Advanced Settings tab of the PDFMaker
conversion settings.
The default Acrobat installation adds the PDFMaker toolbar, which lets you create Adobe
PDF files quickly and easily from within Microsoft Word, Access, Excel, and PowerPoint.
An Adobe PDF menu is also added. By default, Adobe PDF files created using these
commands and buttons preserve links, styles, and bookmarks present in the source file.
Note: A few PowerPoint features aren't converted when you produce a PDF file from a
PowerPoint file: If a PowerPoint transition doesn't have an equivalent transition in
Acrobat, a similar transition is substituted; if multiple animation effects are in the same
slide, a single effect is used.
If you don't see the Convert To Adobe PDF buttons in the Microsoft application,
choose View > Toolbars > PDFMaker 7.0.
To convert a Microsoft Office file to an Adobe PDF file:
1. Open the file in the Microsoft Office application.
2. Choose Adobe PDF > Change Conversion Settings to change the conversion settings.
(SeeCreating custom Adobe PDF settings.)
3. (Excel) If you want to convert all worksheets in the Excel file, choose Adobe PDF >
Convert Entire Workbook. If this option isn't selected, only the current page is converted.
4. Do one of the following:
● Choose Adobe PDF > [command].
● Click the Convert To Adobe PDF button on the toolbar.
● Click the Convert To Adobe PDF And EMail button on the toolbar. The Adobe PDF
file automatically attaches to a new message in your default email application.
● Click the Convert To Adobe PDF And Send For Review button on the toolbar to
convert the file to an Adobe PDF file and initiate a review process. (See Setting up an
email-based review.)
Note: If PDFMaker anticipates problems generating comments, tags, links, or bookmarks
from the Excel file, messages appear. You can either follow the instructions in the
messages to modify the Excel file or edit the PDFMaker settings. (See About PDF
conversion settings (Microsoft Office files).)
By default, the Adobe PDF file is saved in the same folder as the source file, using the
same file name, but with a .pdf extension.
The conversion of files to Adobe PDF uses the printer settings or page setup you have
chosen for your Microsoft application.
Related Subtopics:
About PDF conversion settings (Microsoft Office files)
Converting Microsoft Word headings and styles to Adobe PDF bookmarks
Converting Microsoft Word document features to Adobe PDF features
About PDF conversion settings (Microsoft Office files)
The options in the Acrobat PDFMaker dialog box determine the settings that the
PDFMaker feature uses to create a PDF file from a Microsoft Office application file. To
learn more about each setting, place your pointer over an option to view a summary of the
option. (To display the Acrobat PDFMaker dialog box, choose Adobe PDF > Change
Conversion Settings in the Microsoft application.)
Note: All of the following options appear in the PDFMaker dialog box for all Office
applications except for the dialog box in Outlook, which contains only View Adobe PDF
Result.
PDFMaker Settings
The following settings control various aspects of the PDF file conversion and process:
● Conversion Settings optimizes the settings according to the output you choose. A
description of the selected option appears below the pop-up menu after you choose an
option; for more detailed information, see Using default Adobe PDF settings files. To
customize a set of conversion settings, click Advanced Settings. (See Creating custom
Adobe PDF settings.)
● View Adobe PDF Result opens Acrobat to view the converted document immediately.
Regardless of whether this option is selected, Acrobat does not start if you convert an
email attachment.
● Prompt For Adobe PDF File Name lets you enter a custom file name for the resulting PDF
file. To save the file in the same folder as the source file, using the same name as the
source file but with a .pdf extension, leave this option unselected.
● Convert Document Information adds document information. Document information from
the Properties dialog box of the source file is added, including title, subject, author,
keywords, manager, company, category, and comments. This setting overrides the printer
preferences and settings in the Advanced panel of the Adobe PDF Settings dialog box.
Application Settings
The following settings appear in many Microsoft Office applications. Additional settings
appear for each application.
● Attach Source File To Adobe PDF attaches the source file as an attachment.
● Add Bookmarks To Adobe PDF converts Word headings and, optionally, styles to
bookmarks in the Adobe PDF file; converts Excel worksheet names to bookmarks; and
converts PowerPoint titles to bookmarks.
● Add Links To Adobe PDF preserves any links when the file is converted. The appearance
of links is generally unchanged. In Excel and PowerPoint, links cannot be created unless
the Enable Accessibility and Reflow options are also enabled.
● Enable Accessibility And Reflow With Tagged PDF embeds tags in the Adobe PDF file.
Converting Microsoft Word headings and styles to Adobe
PDF bookmarks
You control whether to convert Word headings and styles to bookmarks with the options
in the Bookmarks tab of the Acrobat PDFMaker conversion settings. In addition, you can
edit the hierarchy of the bookmarks.
Note: If a file contains paragraphs formatted using discontinuous heading sizes,
PDFMaker inserts blank bookmarks for each missing level.
To change the Bookmark options:
1. In Word, choose Adobe PDF > Change Conversion Settings, and click the Bookmarks tab.
2. To convert Word headings or styles to PDF bookmarks, select the options you want:
Convert Word Headings To Bookmarks and Convert Word Styles To Bookmarks.
Note: When a checkmark appears next to one of these options, all of that option's
elements will convert to bookmarks; if you deselect some headings or styles in step 2, the
checkmark changes to a square to indicate that you've chosen not to convert all elements
for that option.
3. If you don't want particular headings or styles to become PDF bookmarks, deselect the
boxes for those elements in the Bookmark column.
4. If you want to change the hierarchy of the resulting bookmark for an element, choose a
level for that element in the Level column.
Converting Microsoft Word document features to Adobe
PDF features
You can use the PDF conversion settings to convert visible Word comments to PDF notes,
and Word cross-references, tables of contents, footnotes, and endnotes to PDF links.
To change the Word Features options:
1. In Word, choose Adobe PDF > Change Conversion Settings, and click the Word tab.
2. Select the options you want to convert in the Word Features section.
3. If you selected to convert Word comments to PDF notes, do any of the following:
● If you want to exclude all comments from a particular reviewer, deselect the box adjacent
to that reviewer in the Include column.
● If you want a reviewer's PDF notes to be open by default, select the box adjacent to that
reviewer in the Notes Open column.
● If you want to change the color of a particular reviewer's notes, click the icon in the Color
column.
Converting Microsoft Office files (Mac OS)
The default Acrobat installation adds two Convert To Adobe PDF buttons to the toolbar
that let you create Adobe PDF files quickly and easily from within Microsoft Word,
Excel, and PowerPoint. When using these buttons to create PDF files, define the
conversion settings in Distiller.
Note: Password-protected Excel files can't be converted to a PDF file. Also, many
PowerPoint features aren't converted when you produce a PDF file from a PowerPoint file
on Mac OS. For example, animations and transitions aren't converted.
To convert a Microsoft Office file to an Adobe PDF file:
1. Open Distiller, and select the Adobe PDF settings to be used for the file conversion. For
most users, the default settings are adequate. (See Using default Adobe PDF settings files.
For information on editing these settings and creating new settings, see Creating custom
Adobe PDF settings.)
Important: The conversion of files to Adobe PDF is also based on the printer settings or
page setup you have chosen for your Microsoft application. For example, if you are using
Microsoft PowerPoint and choose Handouts from the print dialog box, the PDF file is
based on the Handouts version of the presentation.
2. Open the file in the Microsoft Office application.
3. Click one of the following buttons on the toolbar:
● The Convert To Adobe PDF button .
● The Convert To Adobe PDF And EMail button . The Adobe PDF file automatically
attaches to a new message in your default email application.
4. In the Save dialog box, specify a file name and folder in which to save the PDF file, and
click Save.
By default, the Adobe PDF file is saved in the same folder as the source file, using the
same file name but with a .pdf extension.
5. Click View File to view the converted PDF file in Acrobat. Click Done to return to the
Microsoft application.
Converting Microsoft Outlook email messages (Windows)
Acrobat adds the PDFMaker toolbar to the Microsoft Outlook application, which lets you
convert one or more email messages, or a folder of email messages, to an Adobe PDF file
or append an email message to an existing PDF file. In addition, the Attach As Adobe
PDF toolbar appears in the Outlook email Message window. The Attach As Adobe PDF
toolbar lets you convert a file to a PDF file and attach the PDF file to the email message.
If you've configured an Adobe Policy Server in the Acrobat Security Settings window, the
Attach As Adobe PDF toolbar also contains the Attach As Secured Adobe PDF button,
which lets you restrict access to the PDF file.
PDFMaker toolbar
If you don't see the PDFMaker toolbar in Outlook, choose View > Toolbars >
PDFMaker in Outlook.
To change the PDFMaker conversion settings:
1. Choose Adobe PDF > Change Conversion Settings.
2. From the Compatibility menu, choose the earliest version of Acrobat that you want to be
able to open the resulting PDF file. All later versions of Acrobat can also open the
resulting PDF file.
3. From the Attachments menu, choose whether to include email attachments as attachments
to the resulting PDF file.
4. (Optional) To create PDF bookmarks from the email message's sender, date, and subject,
select Add Bookmarks To Adobe PDFs.
5. In the Page Layout section of the dialog box, set the page size, orientation, and margins.
To convert email messages to a PDF file:
1. In Outlook, select one or more email messages.
2. Click the Convert Selected Messages To Adobe PDF button in the PDFMaker toolbar.
3. Choose File > Save As.
4. In the Save In box, specify a folder in which to save the PDF file, type a file name, and
then click Save.
To convert email messages to a PDF file and append the file to an existing PDF file:
1. In Outlook, select one or more email messages.
2. Click the Convert And Append Selected Messages To An Existing Adobe PDF button .
3. Select the PDF file to which you want to append the new PDF file.
4. Click Open.
To convert a folder of email messages to a PDF file:
1. In Outlook, select the folder.
2. Click the Convert Selected Folder To Adobe PDF button .
3. In the Save In box, specify a folder in which to save the PDF file, type a file name, and
then click Save.
To convert a folder of email messages to a PDF file and append the file to an existing PDF
file:
1. In Outlook, select the folder.
2. Choose Adobe PDF > Convert And Append To Existing Adobe PDF > Selected Folder.
3. Select the PDF file to which you want to append the new PDF file.
4. Click Open.
To convert a file to a PDF file and attach it to an email message:
1. In the Outlook email Message window, click the Attach As Adobe PDF button.
2. Select a file, and click Open to convert the file to a PDF file.
3. Click Save to save the PDF file.
To convert files to secured PDF files and attach them to an email message:
1. In the Outlook email Message window, click the Attach As Secured Adobe PDF button.
Note: The Attach As Secured Adobe PDF button appears only after you've configured an
Adobe Policy Server in the Acrobat Security Settings window.
2. Click Browse, select one or more files to convert, and click Open.
3. Specify the users that can open the PDF file, and then click OK:
● To specify only users that receive the PDF file, select Restrict Access Only To People In
This Message's To:, Cc:, And Bcc: List. In this case, the PDF file isn't secured until you
send the email message.
● To specify only users that are specified by a security policy, select Restrict Access By
Applying The Following Security Policy, and then select a security policy in the list. In
this case, the PDF file is secured before it is attached to the email message.
4. If prompted, enter your user name and password to log into the Adobe Policy Server.
Converting Microsoft Access files (Windows)
You convert Microsoft Access files to Adobe PDF files in the same way as you convert
Office files to Adobe PDF files. (See Converting Microsoft Office files (Windows).) To
edit the PDF conversion settings in Access, choose Adobe PDF > Change Conversion
Settings. (For information on the conversion settings, see About PDF conversion settings
(Microsoft Office files).)
Note: When you convert an Access 2003 or Access 2002 file to a PDF file, Access
reports, tables, queries, and forms are converted. When you convert an Access 2000 file to
a PDF file, only reports are converted.
To convert a Microsoft Access object to an Adobe PDF File:
1. In Microsoft Access, open the Access document.
2. Select the object that you want to convert to a PDF file.
3. Do one of the following:
● Click the Convert To Adobe PDF button in the PDFMaker 7.0 toolbar.
● Click the Convert To Adobe PDF and EMail button in the PDFMaker 7.0 toolbar. The
Adobe PDF file automatically attaches to a new email message in your default email
application.
● Click the Convert To Adobe PDF And Send For Review button in the PDFMaker 7.0
toolbar. The object converts to an Adobe PDF file, and an email-based review process
begins. (See Setting up an email-based review.)
● Choose Adobe PDF > Convert Multiple Reports To Adobe PDF. Select each report that
you want to convert, and click Add Report(s). When all of the reports that you want to
convert appear in the Reports In PDF list, click Convert To PDF.
4. In the Save In box, specify a folder in which to save the PDF file, type a file name, and
then click Save.
Converting Microsoft Publisher files (Windows)
Adobe PDF files converted from Microsoft Publisher support crop marks, bleed marks,
links, bookmarks, spot colors, transparency, and CMYK color conversion.
To convert a Microsoft Publisher file to an Adobe PDF file:
1. Open the Publisher document.
2. Click one of the following buttons on the toolbar:
● The Convert To Adobe PDF button .
● The Convert To Adobe PDF And EMail button . The Adobe PDF file automatically
attaches to a new message in your default email application.
● The Convert To Adobe PDF And Send For Review button . The file converts to an
Adobe PDF file, and an email-based review process begins. (See Setting up an email-
based review.)
3. In the Save In box, specify a folder in which to save the PDF file, type a file name, and
then click Save.
4. (Mac OS) Click View File to view the converted PDF file in Acrobat. Click Done to
return to the Microsoft application.
Editing PDFMaker conversion settings (Windows)
You can use one of several sets of predefined PDFMaker settings for converting
application files to Adobe PDF files, or you can customize the settings in the Acrobat
PDFMaker dialog box. To display the PDF conversion settings, choose Adobe PDF >
Change Conversion Settings in your third-party application. This dialog box has two types
of settings:
● The PDFMaker settings at the top of the dialog box are applicable to all file conversions
that use PDFMaker, regardless of which application created the file.
● The application-specific settings in the lower portion of the dialog box affect only the
named application. For example, if you are creating an Adobe PDF file from Word, these
settings apply only to the conversion of Word files to Adobe PDF.
Both PDFMaker and application-specific settings remain in effect until changed.
PDFMaker conversion settings A. Settings that apply to all applications B. Settings that apply
only to the current application, in this case Microsoft Word
To change the PDFMaker conversion settings:
1. Choose Adobe PDF > Change Conversion Settings.
2. Set the conversion settings in the various tabs:
● Settings determines the PDFMaker and application settings that will be used in the
conversion of the PDF file. (See About PDF conversion settings (Microsoft Office files).)
● Security controls the opening, printing, and editing of your Adobe PDF file. (See Adding
passwords and setting security options.) Note that the encryption level is determined by
the compatibility level set in the conversion settings.
Note: Not all conversion settings are available for all applications. Not all tabs in the
dialog box are available for all applications.
3. When you have set the required options, click OK to apply the settings. Click Restore
Defaults if you want to restore the default application-specific settings.
Creating Adobe PDF Files Using Acrobat
Creating Adobe PDF files using Acrobat Distiller
Creating PostScript files
Creating Adobe PDF files from various file types
Creating Adobe PDF files by dragging and dropping
Creating Adobe PDF files from multiple files
Creating Adobe PDF files from paper documents
Creating Adobe PDF files from downloaded web pages
Creating Adobe PDF files from screen captures
Setting conversion options for image files
Setting conversion options for nonimage files
Setting display options for converted text files
Creating Adobe PDF files using Acrobat Distiller
Acrobat Distiller provides easy and repeatable Adobe PDF creation according to your
specifications. By defining customized settings, you create PDF files that are specifically
tailored to meet your needs.
In the Acrobat Distiller window, you select the Adobe PDF settings to use when
converting documents to PDF files. You can customize the default settings supplied by
Adobe by selecting the settings that most closely resemble your desired output, modifying
the settings to fit your needs, and then saving those settings with a unique file name. This
default settings file can then be distributed to other computers and users to ensure
consistent PDF creation.
From the Acrobat Distiller window, you can open PostScript files for conversion to PDF
files, set security for the PDF files, choose font locations and watched folders for Distiller,
and get help on how to use Distiller. From the Acrobat Distiller window, you can also
control basic processing of jobs, such as pausing, resuming, and canceling, and get
feedback on jobs in the queue.
Acrobat Distiller main window (Windows) A. Menus B. Adobe PDF settings files C. Files in job
queue D. Failed job E. Context menu F. Status window
Note: In Mac OS, there is no context menu. Instead, a Clear List button clears all distilled
jobs from the list.
For your convenience, you can use one of the predefined Adobe PDF settings files
included with Distiller to create PDF files optimized for a specific medium. Once you
become familiar with PDF options, you can customize the settings to change the quality or
size of your PDF files.
To start Acrobat Distiller:
In Acrobat, choose Advanced > Acrobat Distiller. (In Windows, you can also choose Start
> Programs > Acrobat Distiller 7.0.)
To create an Adobe PDF file using Acrobat Distiller:
1. In Distiller, select an Adobe PDF settings file from the Default Settings pop-up menu. For
details, see Using default Adobe PDF settings files.
2. In your authoring application, convert your file to PostScript. (See Creating PostScript
files.)
3. Convert the PostScript file using one of the following methods:
● Choose File > Open, and open the PostScript file.
● Drag the PostScript file to the Acrobat Distiller window. (You can also drag multiple
PostScript files to the Acrobat Distiller window to convert them.)
To control job processing:
Use any of the following methods:
● To temporarily stop processing the current job, click Pause. Or right-click the job queue
(Windows only) and choose Pause. The Pause button changes to Resume.
● To resume processing the current job, click Resume. Or right-click the job queue and
choose Resume (Windows only).
● To stop processing the files, click Cancel Jobs. Or right-click the job queue and choose
Cancel Job(s) (Windows only). Cancel Jobs cancels all selected files waiting to be
distilled or failed jobs in the queue.
● (Windows only) To open the folder where the selected files are, right-click the job queue
and choose Explore.
● (Windows only) To open the selected PDF file in Acrobat, a browser, or Adobe Reader,
right-click the job queue and choose View.
To clear files in the job queue:
Do one of the following:
● (Windows) Right-click the job queue, and choose Clear History.
● (Mac OS) Click the Clear List button above the queue.
All successfully converted files are removed from the list.
To save a history of the job queue (Windows only):
Right-click the job queue, and choose Save History. The list saves as a PDF file.
To add security to Adobe PDF files:
1. In Acrobat Distiller, choose Settings > Security.
2. In the Security dialog box, specify desired security options. For descriptions of security
options, see Password security options. Not all options in this list are available in Distiller.
Related Subtopics:
Setting Distiller preferences
Setting Distiller preferences
The Distiller preferences control global Distiller settings.
To set Distiller preferences:
1. In Acrobat Distiller, choose File > Preferences (Windows), or choose Distiller >
Preferences (Mac OS).
2. Specify any of the following preferences:
● To be notified if a watched folder becomes unavailable or can't be found, select Notify
When Watched Folders Are Unavailable.
● (Windows) To be warned if less than 1 MB of space is available on the hard disk where
Distiller is installed, select Notify When Windows TEMP Folder Is Nearly Full. (The hard
disk space you need to convert to PDF is often double the size of the PostScript file being
processed.)
● To specify the name and location for files when using drag-and-drop or the Print
command, select Ask For PDF File Destination.
● To be warned if you are about to overwrite an existing PDF file, select Ask To Replace
Existing PDF File.
● To automatically open the converted PDF file, select View PDF When Using Distiller.
● To automatically delete the log files used to track messages generated during a distilling
session, unless the job failed, select Delete Log Files For Successful Jobs.
Note: Distiller tracks the status of all files during a distilling session. The information that
appears in the Distiller window saves to a file called messages.log. The messages.log file
is located at \Documents and Settings\[current user]\Application Data\Adobe\Acrobat
\Distiller 7 (Windows) or Users/[current user]/Library/Application Support/Adobe/
Acrobat/Distiller 7 (Mac OS). To view the messages.log file, open it in a text editor.
Creating PostScript files
In some cases, you might first want to create a PostScript file and then convert this file to
Adobe PDF. For example, advanced users might want to use this method to fine-tune the
creation of the PDF document by inserting Distiller parameters or pdfmark operators into
the PostScript file. For details, see the Acrobat Distiller Parameters manual and pdfmark
Reference Manual at http://partners.adobe.com/links/acrobat (English only) on the Adobe
website. For information on combining PostScript files, see the Acrobat Distiller
Parameters manual.
In authoring applications such as Adobe InDesign, use the Print command with the Adobe
PDF printer to convert your file to PostScript. Print dialog boxes can vary from
application to application. For instructions for creating a PostScript file from your specific
application, see the application's documentation.
Keep the following guidelines in mind when creating PostScript files:
● Use PostScript LanguageLevel 3 whenever possible to take advantage of the most
advanced features of PostScript.
● Use the Adobe PDF printer as your PostScript printer.
● (Windows) When you create a PostScript file, you have to send the fonts used in the
document. To send the fonts, click the Adobe PDF Settings tab in the Adobe PDF Printing
Preferences dialog box, and deselect Do Not Send Fonts To "Adobe PDF". (See Using the
Adobe PDF printer.)
● Give a PostScript file the same name as the original document, but with the extension .ps.
When Distiller creates the Adobe PDF document, it replaces the .ps extension with .pdf.
This makes it easy to keep track of the original, PostScript, and PDF versions. Some
applications use a .prn extension instead of the .ps extension. Distiller recognizes both .ps
and .prn extensions.
● Color and custom page sizes are available if you use the PPD file that comes with Acrobat
Distiller 7.0. Choosing a PPD file from some other printer may cause PDF documents
without appropriate color, font, or page-size information.
● When using FTP to transfer PostScript files between computers, especially if the
platforms are different, send the files as 8-bit binary data to avoid converting line feeds to
carriage returns or vice versa.
Related Subtopics:
Using watched folders to convert PostScript files automatically
Using watched folders to convert PostScript files
automatically
You can configure Distiller to look for PostScript files in certain folders called watched
folders. Distiller can monitor up to 100 watched folders. When Distiller finds a PostScript
file in the In folder of a watched folder, it converts the file to Adobe PDF and moves the
PDF document (and usually the PostScript file and any associated log file) to the Out
folder. A watched folder can have its own Adobe PDF settings and security settings that
apply to all files processed from that folder. Security settings for a watched folder take
priority over the security settings for Distiller. For example, Distiller does not convert a
PostScript file in a watched folder if the file is marked with read-only permission.
However, if security is set for Distiller but not for the watched folder, Distiller applies its
security settings to files in the folder when converting them.
In Windows, the settings and preferences are unique to each user, with the exception of
the Adobe PDF settings files, which are shared and stored in \Document Settings\All Users
\Documents\Adobe PDF\Settings. On a non-NTFS system, custom settings files stored in
this settings folder are read- and write-accessible by every user on the system. On an
NTFS system, only files created by respective users are read- and write-accessible.
Settings files created by other users are read-only.
Note: The default settings files installed with Distiller (Windows) are Read Only and
Hidden.
In Mac OS, each user's settings and preferences for Distiller are not normally accessible to
any other user. To share a watched folder with other users, the folder's creator must set the
appropriate permissions on the In and Out folders. This enables other users to copy files to
the In folder and get files from the Out folder. The creator must be logged into the system
and have Distiller running. The other users must log in remotely to access the live
watched folder and have their files processed.
Important: You can't set up watched folders as a network service for other users. Every
user who creates Adobe PDF documents must have an Acrobat license.
To set up watched folders:
1. In Acrobat Distiller, choose Settings > Watched Folders.
2. Click Add Folder, and select the target folder. Distiller automatically puts an In folder and
an Out folder in the target folder. You can place In and Out folders at any level of a disk
drive.
3. If you want to remove a folder, select the folder and click Remove Folder. Make sure that
Distiller has finished processing all the files in the folder before you remove it.
Note: When you remove a watched folder, Distiller does not delete the In and Out folders,
their contents, or the folder.joboptions file. You can delete these manually when
appropriate.
4. To define security options for a folder, select the folder and click Edit Security. Set the
options as described in Password security options. Click OK to return to the Watched
Folders dialog box.
A security icon is prepended to any folder name for which security is set. To return a
folder to the original options selected in the Distiller window, select the folder, and click
Clear Security.
5. To set Adobe PDF conversion settings for the folders, do one of the following, and then
click OK:
● To edit the Adobe PDF settings to be applied to a folder, select the folder, click Edit
Settings, and edit the Adobe PDF settings. (See Creating custom Adobe PDF settings.)
This file is saved to the watched folder as folder.joboptions.
● To use a different set of Adobe PDF settings, select the folder and click Load Settings.
You can use any settings that you have defined, named, and saved. (See Creating custom
Adobe PDF settings.)
6. Set options to manage the processing of files:
● Enter a number of seconds to specify how often to check the folders. You can enter up to
9999. (For example, 120 equals 2 minutes and 9999 equals about 2 and 3/4 hours.)
● Choose what to do with a PostScript file after it has been processed. The file can be
moved to the Out folder along with the PDF file or deleted. Any log file is also
automatically copied to the Out folder.
● To delete PDF files after a certain period of time, enter a number of days, up to 999. This
option also deletes PostScript and log files, if you have chosen to delete them.
Creating Adobe PDF files from various file types
You can convert different types of files to Adobe PDF by opening the files using the
Create PDF From File command. Supported file types are listed in the Open dialog box, in
the Files Of Type (Windows) or Show (Mac OS) menu. You can use the default
conversion settings or customize the conversion settings.
In Windows, you can also right-click a file in Windows Explorer and choose a Convert To
Adobe PDF command from the context menu. In Mac OS, you can Control-click a file
and choose an Open command to convert files. The last-used Adobe PDF settings file is
used to create the PDF file. The Convert To Adobe PDF command is not available for file
types that cannot be converted.
You can convert multiple source files of different types and consolidate them into
one PDF file using the Create PDF From Multiple Files command. (See Creating Adobe
PDF files from multiple files.)
To create an Adobe PDF file using the Create PDF From File command:
1. In Acrobat, choose File > Create PDF > From File, or click the Create PDF button on
the toolbar and choose From File.
2. Select your file type from the Files Of Type menu (Windows) or the Show menu (Mac
OS), and locate the file you want to convert to an Adobe PDF file.
3. If you want to customize the conversion settings, click the Settings button to change the
conversion options. For image file formats, you can set conversion options for
compression and color management. (See Setting conversion options for image files.) For
other file formats, you can set Adobe PDF settings and security settings. (See Setting
conversion options for nonimage files.)
Note: The Settings button is unavailable if no conversion settings can be set for the
selected file type or if you choose All Files for the file type.
4. Click OK to apply the settings.
5. Click Open to convert the file to an Adobe PDF file.
Depending on the type of file being converted, the authoring application may open
automatically or a progress dialog box may appear.
Creating Adobe PDF files by dragging and dropping
You can convert a variety of image, HTML, and plain-text file types to Adobe PDF files
by dragging the files into the document pane of the Acrobat window or onto the Acrobat
icon.
To create an Adobe PDF file by dragging and dropping:
Do one of the following:
● (Windows) Drag the file into the open Acrobat window or onto the Acrobat icon.
Note: If you have a file open in the Acrobat window and you drag a file into the document
pane, the converted file opens as a new PDF file.
● (Mac OS) Drag the file onto the Acrobat icon.
Creating Adobe PDF files from multiple files
You can convert different types of files and combine them into one Adobe PDF file by
using the Create PDF From Multiple Files command in Acrobat. You can also use this
command to combine PDF files. This command uses the conversion settings specified in
the Convert To PDF preferences.
Adobe PDF documents created from multiple files have structured bookmarks that enable
you to print, delete, or extract individual documents from the combined PDF document.
(See Extracting, moving, and copying pages and Deleting and replacing pages.)
After you have created a composite PDF file, you can add headers and footers, including
page numbers, and a background or watermark to improve the document's appearance.
(See Adding headers and footers and Adding watermarks and backgrounds.)
To convert multiple files:
1. Do one of the following:
● Choose File > Create PDF > From Multiple Files, or click the Create PDF button on
the toolbar and choose From Multiple Files.
● In the Organizer window, select files and then click Create PDF From Multiple files.
2. In the Create PDF From Multiple Documents dialog box, do any of the following to select
files to be converted:
● Click Browse (Windows) or Choose (Mac OS) to locate the first file to be converted.
Double-click the file, or Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) to add
multiple files from the same folder.
● Select Include All Open PDF Documents to automatically add all open PDF files to the
list of files to combine.
● In the Include Recently Combined Files menu, select from the last 10 combined files.
● Select a PDF file and click Preview to view it. Click OK to close the viewing window.
You can add the same file more than once if, for example, you need to add blank
pages or transition pages between other files.
3. Rearrange files in the list as needed (files are converted and consolidated in the order
shown in this list):
● To move a file up or down in the file list, select the file name and click Move Up or Move
Down.
● Drag files within the list.
● To remove a file from the list, select the file name and click Remove.
4. Click OK. Acrobat converts and consolidates the files into one Adobe PDF file.
Depending on the method used to create the source files, a progress dialog box may show
the conversion of the files. Some source applications may start and close automatically.
When the conversion is complete, the consolidated PDF file opens, and you are prompted
to save the file.
To specify conversion settings for different file types:
1. In the Preferences dialog box, click Convert To PDF on the left.
2. Select a file type from the list.
3. Click Edit Settings, and specify options as desired.
Note: Not all file types have settings that can be edited. For those file types, the Edit
Settings button is unavailable.
Creating Adobe PDF files from paper documents
You can create an Adobe PDF file directly from a paper document using a scanner.
During scanning, you can specify whether to create a searchable Adobe PDF file by
applying optical character recognition (OCR) while scanning, or create an image-only
PDF file--that is, a bitmap picture of the pages that can be viewed but not searched.
If you create an image-only PDF file and later want to search, correct, or copy text in the
file, or make the file accessible to vision and motion impaired users, you can use the
Recognize Text Using OCR command to run OCR and find the characters. (See
Converting image-only scanned pages to searchable text.)
Note: If you need to convert large volumes of legacy paper documents into searchable
PDF archives, consider purchasing the Adobe Acrobat® Capture® software.
Related Subtopics:
Converting scanned pages to Adobe PDF
Using Image Settings options
Scanning tips
Converting image-only scanned pages to searchable text
Correcting words on converted pages
Converting scanned pages to Adobe PDF
You can use the Create PDF From Scanner command to run your scanner. Before you
begin scanning, make sure that your scanner is installed and working correctly. Follow the
scanner instructions and test procedures to ensure proper setup. (See Scanning tips.)
TWAIN scanner drivers, which are industry-standard drivers compatible with almost all
desktop scanners, are supported, together with Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) drivers
on Windows XP.
Note: Adobe PDF documents created from scanned pages are compatible with Acrobat
5.0 and later. For compatibility with Acrobat 4.0, use a compression method other than
JBIG2.
To create Adobe PDF files from scanned pages:
1. In Acrobat, choose File > Create PDF > From Scanner, or choose From Scanner from the
Create Adobe PDF menu on the toolbar.
You can apply OCR and add tags for accessibility while scanning paper documents.
2. In the Create PDF From Scanner dialog box, select your scanning device.
3. Choose Front Sides or Both Sides format. (The scanner's settings might overwrite these
settings in Acrobat. For example, if you select Both Sides in Acrobat and Single Side in
the scanner, only one side scans.)
4. Specify whether to create a new PDF document or append the converted scan to the
currently open PDF document. If no PDF document is open, the Destination menu is
unavailable, and the converted scan becomes a new document.
5. Select Recognize Text Using OCR if you want to apply OCR and font and page
recognition to the text images and convert them to normal text. Click Settings, and specify
options.
● Primary OCR Language specifies the language for the OCR engine to use to identify the
characters. In the Japanese version of Acrobat, the roman languages are available only if
you perform a Custom installation and select Roman Language Support. In non-Japanese
versions of Acrobat, the Japanese language is available only if you perform a Custom
installation and select Asian Language Support.
● PDF Output Style allows you to specify either Searchable Image or Formatted Text &
Graphics. Choose Searchable Image to have a bitmap image of the pages in the
foreground and the scanned text on an invisible layer beneath. The appearance of the page
does not change, but the text becomes selectable and readable. Choose Formatted Text &
Graphics to reconstruct the original page using recognized text, fonts, pictures, and other
graphic elements.
● Downsample Images decreases the number of pixels in color, grayscale, and monochrome
images. Downsampling of scanned images is performed after OCR is complete.
6. Select Add Tags To Document (Improves Accessibility For Disabled Users) if you want
Acrobat to analyze how the page is laid out, which defines the reading order. This option
is available only if you select Recognize Text Using OCR.
7. Click Image Settings to set compression and filtering options. (See Using Image Settings
options.)
8. Click Scan.
9. Set additional scanning options for your scanner, and finish scanning. Click Next if you
are scanning multiple pages; click Done when you finish. (The scanning operation and
options available vary with the type of scanner.)
Note: If you try to select text in a scanned PDF file that does not have OCR applied,
Acrobat asks if you want to run OCR. If you click OK, the Recognize Text dialog box
opens. (See Converting image-only scanned pages to searchable text.)
Using Image Settings options
The Image Settings options control how scanned images are filtered and compressed in
the Adobe PDF document. Default settings are suitable for a wide range of document
pages, but you may want to change settings for higher quality images, smaller file sizes, or
scanning issues.
Two controls determine how each scanned page is represented in the PDF document:
● For Color/Grayscale, select either Adaptive or JPEG.
● For Monochrome, select JBIG2, Adaptive, or CCITT Group 4.
Only one of these two controls is applied to each scanned page. After you click the
Acrobat Scan control, you can choose the scanned page size, resolution, number of colors,
and bits per pixel in the scanner's TWAIN interface. When you press Scan in the TWAIN
interface, the scanner starts, and Acrobat receives and processes the scanned page,
applying the Monochrome control to 1-bit per pixel black-and-white input, or the Color/
Grayscale control.
Adaptive
Divides each page into black-and-white, grayscale, and color regions and chooses a
representation that preserves appearance while highly compressing each kind of content.
Adaptive compression works on grayscale and RGB input greater than 150 ppi or on
black-and-white input greater than 400 ppi. At lower resolution, only one kind of image is
used in the adaptively compressed output. The recommended scanning resolutions are 300
ppi for grayscale and RGB input, or 600 ppi for black-and-white input.
JPEG
Applies JPEG compression to the entire grayscale or RGB input page. (See Methods of
compression.)
JBIG2
Applies the JBIG2 compression method to black-and-white input pages. At high quality
settings (with the slide bar set far to the right, at 0.95 or higher), the page is compressed
using the lossless method. At lower quality settings, text is highly compressed. JBIG2
compressed text pages typically are 60% smaller than CCITT Group 4 compressed pages,
but processing is slow. JBIG2 compression is compatible with Acrobat 5.0 (PDF 1.4).
CCITT Group 4
Applies CCITT Group 4 compression to black-and-white input page images. This fast,
lossless compression method is compatible with Acrobat 3.0 (PDF 1.2). (See Methods of
compression.)
Slide Bar
Use the slide bar to set the balance between smallest file size and maximum image
quality. The slide bar does not affect black-and-white output for CCITT Group 4. If the
slide bar covers a numerical range between 0.0 and 1.0, with 0.0 being the lowest quality
and 1.0 being the highest, then at the position 0.95, the JBIG2 implementation switches to
lossless compression. For JPEG output, the default setting gives compact pages of good
quality; higher settings result in more accurately compressed, less compact pages; lower
settings increase compression and reduce quality. For Adaptive compressed output, the
slide bar determines both the JPEG quality of gray and color output images and the use of
low-resolution images to represent some page content.
Deskew
Rotates the skewed page so that it appears vertical and not at an angle.
Background Removal
Affects gray and color input but has no effect on black-and-white input. This filter makes
nearly-white page areas white. If the background is not white, Adaptive applies JPEG
compression, resulting in poor compression. Low, Medium, and High settings increase the
darkness of the not-quite-white clutter, which the filter makes white. For good results,
calibrate your scanner using its contrast and brightness or other controls so that a scan of a
normal black-and-white laser printer page has dark gray or black text and a white
background. With this calibration, the Background Removal filter should produce good
results for its Off or Low settings. However, if something printed on the backside of a
page shows through, or if off-white paper or newsprint is scanned, the Medium or High
setting may be preferred to clean up the page.
Edge Shadow Removal
Removes dark streaks that occur at the edges of scanned pages, where the scanner light is
shadowed by the paper edge.
Despeckle
Removes isolated black marks in black-and-white page content. Low uses a basic
peephole filter. Medium and High use both a peephole filter and a large area filter that
removes larger spots farther from nearby features.
Descreen
Removes halftone dot structure. Most printing technologies represent a continuous range
of color by controlling the size of tiny dots (yellow, cyan, magenta, and black) on a page.
Higher resolution scans typically preserve some of this unwanted dot structure. If it is not
removed, the dot structure reduces JPEG compression significantly, and it may cause
Moire patterns when viewing or reprinting a PDF.
The Descreen filter typically works best on 200 to 400 ppi grayscale or RGB input or, for
Adaptive compression, on 400 to 600 ppi black-and-white input. The Auto setting
(recommended) allows Acrobat to choose when to descreen; it applies the filter for 300
ppi or higher grayscale and RGB input, and disables it for 200 ppi or lower input. The Off
setting disables the filter. Consider choosing the Off setting when scanning a page with no
pictures or filled areas, or when scanning at a resolution higher than the range at which the
filter is effective.
Halo Removal
On (recommended) removes excess color at high-contrast edges, which may have been
introduced during either printing or scanning. This filter is used only on color input pages.
Scanning tips
Before you scan paper documents, consider the following tips and techniques:
● Acrobat scanning accepts images between 10 and 3,000 ppi. However, if you select
Searchable Image or Full Text & Graphics for PDF Output Style, input resolution of 144
ppi or higher is required, and input resolution higher than 600 ppi is downsampled to 600
ppi or lower.
● For most pages, black-and-white scanning at 300 ppi produces text best suited for
conversion. At 150 ppi, OCR accuracy is slightly lower, and more font-recognition errors
occur; at 400 ppi and higher resolution, processing slows and compressed pages are
bigger. However, if a page has many unrecognized words or very small text (9 points or
smaller), try scanning at higher resolution. Scan in black and white whenever possible.
● When Recognize Text Using OCR is disabled, the full 10 to 3,000 ppi resolution range
permitted by Acrobat may be input, but the recommended resolution is still 144 and
higher ppi. For Adaptive compression, 300 ppi is recommended for grayscale or RGB
input, or 600 ppi for black-and-white input.
Note: Pages scanned in 24-bit color, 300 ppi, at 8-1/2--by-11 inches (21.59cm-by-
27.94cm) result in large images (25 MB) prior to compression. Your system may require
at least twice that amount of virtual memory available to be able to scan. At 600 ppi, both
scanning and processing typically are about four times slower than at 300 ppi.
● Avoid dithering or halftone scanner settings. These can improve the appearance of
photographs, but they make it difficult to recognize text.
● For text printed on colored paper, try increasing the brightness and contrast by about 10%.
If your scanner has color-filtering capability, consider using a filter or lamp that drops out
the background color. Or if the text is not crisp or suffers from dropout, try adjusting
scanner contrast and brightness to clarify the scan.
● If your scanner has a manual brightness control, adjust it so that characters are clean and
well formed. If characters are touching, use a higher (brighter) setting. If characters are
separated, use a lower (darker) setting.
Characters that are too thin, well-formed, and too thick
Converting image-only scanned pages to searchable text
If you did not apply OCR when you scanned the paper document, you can apply it
afterward using the Recognize Text Using OCR command. OCR software enables you to
search, correct, and copy the text in a scanned Adobe PDF file. You can convert the pages
in one of three file formats: Formatted Text and Graphics, Searchable Image (Exact), and
Searchable Image (Compact). All formats apply OCR and font and page recognition to the
text images and convert them to normal text. The searchable image file types have a
bitmap image of the pages in the foreground and the converted text on an invisible layer
beneath.
You can use the Recognize Text Using OCR command on pages that were scanned or
imported at 144 ppi and higher.
To convert scanned pages to searchable text:
1. Open the file you want to convert, and choose Document > Recognize Text Using OCR >
Start.
2. Specify the pages to be converted.
3. Under Settings, click the Edit button if you want to change the primary OCR language, the
PDF output style, or the image downsampling. For PDF Output Style, choose Searchable
Image (Exact) to keep the original image in the foreground and place searchable text
behind the image. Choose Searchable Image (Compact) to apply compression to the
foreground image to reduce file size but also reduce image quality. Choose Formatted
Text & Graphics to reconstruct the original page using recognized text, fonts, pictures,
and other graphic elements.
4. In the Recognize Text dialog box, click OK.
Correcting words on converted pages
If you choose the PDF Formatted Text and Graphics format as the PDF Output Style,
Acrobat "reads" bitmaps of text and tries to substitute words and characters for the
bitmaps. When it isn't certain of a substitution, it marks the word as a suspect. Suspects
are shown in the PDF as the original bitmap of the word, but the text is included on an
invisible layer behind the bitmap of the word. This makes the word searchable even
though it is displayed as a bitmap. You can accept these suspects as they are, or you can
use the TouchUp Text tool to correct them.
Note: You must convert your scanned page to formatted text and images before you can
correct suspect words.
To review and correct suspect words on converted pages:
1. Do one of the following:
● Choose Document > Recognize Text Using OCR > Find All OCR Suspects. All suspect
words on the page are enclosed in boxes. Click any suspect word to show the suspect text
in the Find Element dialog box.
● Choose Document > Recognize Text Using OCR > Find First OCR Suspect.
Note: If you close the Find Element window before correcting all suspect words, you can
return to the process by choosing Document > Recognize Text Using OCR > Find First
OCR Suspect, or by clicking any suspect word with the TouchUp Text tool.
2. Choose OCR Suspects from the Find menu, and click Find.
3. Compare the word in the Suspect text box with the actual word in the scanned document,
and do one of the following:
● To accept the word as correct, click Accept And Find. You move to the next suspect word.
● Correct the word directly in the Suspect box, and then click Accept And Find to move to
the next suspect word.
● To ignore the suspect word and move to the next suspect, click Find Next.
● If the suspect was incorrectly identified as text, click the Not Text button.
4. Review and correct the remaining suspect words, and then close the Find Element dialog
box.
Creating Adobe PDF files from downloaded web pages
An Adobe PDF file created from HTML pages is like any other PDF file. You can
download and convert web pages by specifying a URL, by opening web pages from a link
in an Adobe PDF file, and by dragging and dropping a web link or HTML file onto an
Acrobat window icon.The web pages are converted to PDF and opened in the document
pane. You can navigate through the file and add comments and other enhancements to it.
Any links on the pages are still active in the PDF file--just click a link to download and
convert the linked web pages, and add them to the end of the PDF file.
Note the following when converting web pages:
● Before converting a web page to an Adobe PDF file, be sure that you can access the
Internet.
● You can download HTML pages, JPEG and GIF images (including the last frame of
animated GIF images), text files, and image maps.
● One web page may correspond to more than one PDF page because long HTML pages are
divided into standard-size pages (depending on the PDF page layout settings).
● HTML pages can include tables, links, frames, background colors, text colors, and forms.
Cascading stylesheets and Macromedia® Flash™ are supported. HTML links turn into
links, and HTML forms turn into PDF forms.
● The default/index.html frame downloads only once.
● You can determine whether to reference digital media components by URL, not include
them, or embed the files where possible. (See Setting display options for converted HTML
pages.)
● Depending on the options selected when downloading and converting web pages, an
Adobe PDF file created from web pages can display special tagged bookmarks that retain
web information, such as the URLs for all links on the pages. Use these tagged bookmarks
to navigate, reorganize, add, or delete pages in your PDF file. You can also add more
tagged bookmarks to represent paragraphs, images, table cells, and other items on the
pages. For information on using these tagged bookmarks, see Extracting, moving, and
copying pages and Deleting and replacing pages.
● To convert Chinese, Japanese, and Korean (CJK) language web pages to PDF on a roman
(Western) system in Windows, you must have installed the CJK language support files
while installing Acrobat. (Also, it is preferable to select an appropriate encoding from the
HTML conversion settings.) (See About Asian-language Adobe PDF files.)
Note: In Windows, if you try to open a PDF file that uses double-byte fonts and you don't
have the necessary fonts installed, Acrobat asks if you want to install the necessary fonts
kit.
Related Subtopics:
Converting web pages by specifying a URL
Downloading and converting linked web pages
Specifying conversion settings for capturing web pages
Setting display options for converted HTML pages
Setting Web Capture preferences
Converting web pages by specifying a URL
You can download and convert web pages from the top level of a URL, with each web
page becoming multiple PDF pages if necessary. You determine whether to download
pages from the top level of a site, from a specified number of levels below the top level, or
from the entire site. If you later append another level to a site that is already converted to a
PDF file, only the additional levels are added.
To convert web pages by specifying a URL:
1. In Acrobat, do one of the following:
● To open the pages in a new PDF file, choose File > Create PDF > From Web Page, or
choose From Web Page from the Create PDF menu on the toolbar.
● Click the Create PDF From Web Page button on the toolbar.
● To add the pages to the end of the current file, choose Advanced > Web Capture >
Append Web Page.
2. Enter the URL for the web pages, or browse to locate the page.
3. Enter the number of levels you want to include, or select Get Entire Site to include all
levels from the website.
Some websites may have hundreds or even thousands of pages and can take a long
time to download, as well as use up your system's hard disk space and available memory,
causing a system crash. You may want to begin by downloading only one level of pages
and then go through them to find particular links to download.
4. Specify the following options:
● Stay On Same Path downloads only web pages subordinate to the URL you provide.
● Stay On Same Server downloads only web pages stored on the same server as the pages
for the URL you provide.
5. To set options that apply to all web pages you convert, click Settings. You can define a
page layout for PDF documents, set options for converted HTML and plain text, and
choose to generate items such as tagged bookmarks. (See Specifying conversion settings
for capturing web pages.)
6. Click Create.
If you're downloading more than one level of pages in Windows, the Download Status
dialog box moves to the background after the first level is downloaded. Choose
Advanced > Web Capture > Bring Status Dialogs To Foreground to see the dialog box
again.
Note: You can view PDF pages while they are downloading; however, you cannot modify
a page until the download process is complete. Your software may seem unresponsive at
times if it is downloading many pages.
Downloading and converting linked web pages
If a web page that you converted to an Adobe PDF file contains links, you can download
and convert any of these linked web pages. The new pages can be appended to the current
PDF file or opened in a new file. After pages have been converted, links to these pages
change to internal links, and clicking a link takes you to the PDF page, rather than to the
original HTML page on the web.
To convert linked web pages and append them to the PDF document:
Do one of the following:
● Click a web link in your PDF document. If necessary, specify where to open the converted
web page. If your Web Capture preferences are set to open web links in Acrobat, a plus
sign appears with the Hand tool when you point on a web link; if your preferences are set
to open web links in a web browser, a W appears with the Hand tool. You can press Shift
to toggle to the other setting temporarily.
● Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the web link, and choose Append To
Document.
● Choose Advanced > Web Capture > View Web Links. The dialog box lists all the links
on the current page or on the tagged bookmark's pages. Select the links to download, and
click Download. Click Properties to set the download options. (See Specifying conversion
settings for capturing web pages.)
If you're downloading more than one level of pages in Windows, the Download Status
dialog box moves to the background after the first level is downloaded. Choose Advanced
> Web Capture > Bring Status Dialogs To Foreground to see the dialog box again.
To convert and append web pages for all links on a page:
Do one of the following:
● Choose Advanced > Web Capture > Append All Links On Page.
● Choose Advanced > Web Capture > View Web Links. Click Select All, and click
Download.
To convert and open linked web pages in a new PDF document:
Do one of the following:
● Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the web link, and choose Open
Weblink As New Document.
● Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) the web link.
To copy the URL of a web link:
Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the web link, and choose Copy Link
Location.
Specifying conversion settings for capturing web pages
You can specify conversion settings for each type of file to be downloaded. These options
apply to web pages to be converted to PDF, not to pages already converted. You can use
the Preferences dialog box to restore the original options.
To open the Web Page Conversion Settings dialog box:
1. Do one of the following:
● Choose File > Create PDF > From Web Page, or choose From Web Page from the Create
PDF menu on the toolbar.
● Click the Create PDF From Web Page button on the toolbar.
● Choose Advanced > Web Capture > Append Web Page.
2. Click Settings.
To set general conversion settings:
1. In the Web Page Conversion Settings dialog box, click the General tab.
2. For File Type Settings, select the file type to be downloaded. If you select HTML or Plain
Text as the file type, you can control the font properties and other display characteristics.
(See Setting display options for converted HTML pages and Setting display options for
converted text files.)
3. Select any of the following:
● Create Bookmarks to create a tagged bookmark for each converted web page, using the
page's title (from the HTML Title element) as the bookmark name. If the page has no title,
the URL is used as the bookmark name.
● Create PDF Tags to store a structure in the PDF file that corresponds to the HTML
structure of the original web pages. If this option is selected, you can create tagged
bookmarks for paragraphs, list elements, table cells, and other items that use HTML
elements.
● Place Headers & Footers On New Pages to place a header and footer on every page. The
header shows the web page's title, and the footer shows the page's URL, the page number
in the downloaded set, and the date and time of the download.
● Save Refresh Commands to save a list of all URLs and remember how they were
downloaded in the PDF file for the purpose of refreshing (updating) pages. This option
must be selected before you can update a PDF-converted website.
To set page layout conversion settings:
1. In the Web Page Conversion Settings dialog box, click the Page Layout tab.
2. Select a page size, or enter a width and height in the boxes below the Page Size menu.
3. Specify orientation and margins.
4. Select the scaling options, and then click OK.
● Scale Wide Contents To Fit Page (Windows) or Scale Contents To Fit Page (Mac OS)
rescales a page's contents, if necessary, to fit the width of the page. If this option is not
selected, the paper size adjusts to fit the page's contents if necessary.
● Switch To Landscape If Scaled Smaller Than changes the orientation of the page from
portrait to landscape if the contents of a page are scaled beyond a specified percentage. If
the new version is less than 70% (the default setting) of the original size, the display
switches to landscape. This option is available only if you selected portrait orientation.
Setting display options for converted HTML pages
You can determine the font properties and other display characteristics, such as text and
background colors, of HTML pages that you convert to Adobe PDF pages.
To set display options for HTML pages:
1. Do one of the following to open the Web Page Conversion Settings dialog box:
● Choose File > Create PDF > From Web Page, or choose From Web Page from the Create
PDF menu on the toolbar.
● Click the Create PDF From Web Page button on the toolbar.
● Choose Advanced > Web Capture > Append Web Page.
2. Click Settings.
3. In the Web Page Conversion Settings dialog box, click the General tab.
4. Double-click HTML, or select HTML, and click Settings.
5. In the General tab, select from the following options:
● Default Colors sets the default colors for text, page backgrounds, web links, and text that
replaces an image in a file when the image is unavailable. For each color, click the color
button to open a palette, and select the color. If you want to use these colors on all pages,
select Force These Settings For All Pages. If you do not select this option, your colors are
used only on pages that don't have colors defined.
● Background Options specifies whether to display colors and tiled images in page
backgrounds and colors in table cells. If you do not select these options, converted web
pages may look different than they do in a web browser, but they may be easier to read if
printed.
● Wrap Lines Inside PREs Longer Than wraps preformatted (HTML) lines of text if they
are longer than a specified length. The web page is scaled so that the longest line on the
page fits on the screen. Select this setting if an HTML file you're downloading has
unreasonably long lines of preformatted text.
● Multimedia determines whether to reference multimedia (such as SWF files) by URL,
disable multimedia capture, or embed multimedia files when possible.
● Convert Images includes images in the conversion to PDF. If you do not select this option,
an image is indicated by a colored border (and possibly text, if specified by the page's
design).
● Underline Links underlines textual web links on the pages.
6. Click the Fonts And Encoding tab to specify language encoding and fonts for body text,
headings, or preformatted text:
● Input Encoding sets the encoding of a file's text.
● Language Specific Font Settings determine the font used for text. To change the fonts
used to display body text, headings, and preformatted text, click Change, select new fonts
from the menus, and click OK.
● Font Size sets the font sizes used for body text, headings, and preformatted text.
● Embed Platform Fonts When Possible stores the fonts used on the pages in the PDF file so
that the text always appears in the original fonts. Note that embedding fonts increases the
size of the file.
Setting Web Capture preferences
You can set several preferences for opening Adobe PDF documents created from web
pages and for customizing the process of converting web pages to Adobe PDF documents.
To set Web Capture preferences:
1. In the Preferences dialog box, select Web Capture on the left.
2. In the Verify Stored Images menu, specify how often to check if images have changed on
the website.
3. Choose whether to open linked pages in Acrobat or in a web browser.
4. Select Show Bookmarks Panel When New PDF File (Created From Web Page) Is Opened
to automatically open the navigation pane and display tagged bookmarks when you open a
new file. (If this option is not selected, the navigation pane is closed when you open
converted web pages, but the tagged bookmarks are still created. Click the Bookmarks tab
to see the tagged bookmarks in the document pane.)
5. Select Always or After to skip secured pages when downloading multiple levels of a
website. (If you select After, a password dialog box appears that times out and skips the
secured pages after the specified number of seconds.)
6. Click Reset Conversion Settings To Defaults if you want to change the conversion settings
back to their original settings.
Creating Adobe PDF files from screen captures
You can quickly convert screen captures to Adobe PDF files.
To convert screen captures to Adobe PDF files:
Do one of the following:
● (Windows) In an authoring application such as Adobe Photoshop, capture the current
window to the Clipboard. Then in Acrobat, choose File > Create PDF > From Clipboard
Image, or choose From Clipboard Image from the Create PDF menu. (You can also use
the PrntScrn key to copy the screen to the Clipboard.)
● (Mac OS) Choose Acrobat > Services > Grab > [Screen, Selection, or Timed Screen].
(Grab is the Mac OS X screen-capture utility.) Your screen capture automatically converts
to an Adobe PDF file and opens.
Setting conversion options for image files
You can set compression and color management options for supported image files. The
compression settings are predefined (and unavailable) for JPEG and JPEG2000.
Note: JPEG2000 compression is not backward compatible with Acrobat 4.0. Full object
stream compression is not backward compatible with Acrobat 4.0 or 5.0.
Set the compression to be applied to monochrome, grayscale, and color images:
● For Monochrome, choose CCITT G4 to apply a general-purpose method that produces
good compression for most types of monochrome images. Choose JBIG2 (Lossless) or
JBIG2 (Lossy) to apply better compression than that obtained with CCITT G4. In lossy
mode, the compression ratios can be several times higher.
● For Grayscale or Color, choose ZIP to apply compression that works well on images with
large areas of single colors or repeating patterns, such as screen shots, simple images
created with paint programs, and black-and-white images that contain repeating patterns.
Choose JPEG, quality minimum to maximum, to apply compression that is suitable for
grayscale or color images, such as continuous-tone photographs that contain more detail
than can be reproduced on-screen or in print. Choose JPEG2000, quality Lossless, to
apply lossless compression with additional advantages, such as progressive display.
(JPEG2000 is the international standard for the compression and packaging of image data.
For more information, see Compressing and downsampling images.
Set the RGB, CMYK, Grayscale, and Other color management options:
● Preserve Embedded Profiles uses the embedded ICC profile from the input file.
● Off discards profiles from the input file.
● Ask When Opening displays a dialog box that allows you to choose whether to embed or
discard the ICC profile from the input file. The size of the profile is given.
Setting conversion options for nonimage files
You can set Adobe PDF settings and Adobe PDF Security settings for supported
application files. For Adobe PDF settings, you can select a predefined set of options or
you can edit the settings by clicking View. (See Using default Adobe PDF settings files
and Creating custom Adobe PDF settings.)
For Adobe PDF Security, you can select a predefined option--None, Reconfirm Security
For Each Job, or Use Last Known Security Settings.You can use one of these default
settings to apply security, or you can edit the setting by clicking Edit. (See About
document security.)
(Windows) For Microsoft Office files, you can also select options for enabling
accessibility and reflow, adding bookmarks and links, and converting an entire Excel
workbook.
Setting display options for converted text files
You can determine the font properties and other display characteristics of text files that
you convert to Adobe PDF files.
To set display options for plain text files:
1. Do one of the following to open the Web Page Conversion Settings dialog box:
● Choose File > Create PDF > From Web Page, or choose From Web Page from the Create
PDF menu on the toolbar.
● Click the Create PDF From Web Page button on the toolbar.
● Choose Advanced > Web Capture > Append Web Page.
2. Click Settings.
3. In the General tab of the Web Page Conversion Settings dialog box, double-click Plain
Text, or select Plain Text, and click Settings.
4. In the General tab, select from the following options:
● Colors set the default colors for text and page backgrounds. For each color, click the color
button to open a palette, and select the color.
● Wrap Lines At Margin wraps lines that reach the margin of the text files. (It is generally a
good idea to select this option because web pages have no preset page width. Otherwise,
lines are defined only by carriage return or new line characters, and the page is scaled so
the longest line fits on the screen.)
● Reflow Text is available when Wrap Lines At Margin is selected. (See Understanding and
optimizing Reflow.)
● Limit Lines Per Page limits the number of lines that can appear on a PDF page to the
specified number.
5. Click the Fonts And Encoding tab to specify fonts for body text, headings, or preformatted
text:
● Input Encoding sets the encoding of a file's text.
● Language Specific Font Settings determine the font used for text. To change the fonts
used to display text, click Change, select a new font from the menu, and click OK to apply
the changes.
● Font Size sets the font size used for text.
● Embed Platform Font When Possible stores the font used on the pages in the PDF file so
that the text always appears in the original fonts. Note that embedding fonts increases the
size of the file. (See Accessing and embedding fonts.)
Adobe PDF Settings
Using default Adobe PDF settings files
Creating custom Adobe PDF settings
Adobe PDF settings options
Making custom Adobe PDF settings available to other users
Compressing and downsampling images
Accessing and embedding fonts
Using default Adobe PDF settings files
Adobe PDF settings, which are customizable, determine the characteristics of the PDF file
created. You can choose from several sets of default Adobe PDF settings. (Options may
vary depending on the Adobe authoring application.) You should evaluate the default PDF
settings with your service provider and decide whether to use those or create a custom set
based on their prepress and post-processing requirements.
Note: Check your Adobe PDF settings periodically. The applications and utilities that
create Adobe PDF files use the last set of Adobe PDF settings defined or selected. The
settings do not automatically revert to the default settings.
To use a default Adobe PDF settings file:
1. Do one of the following:
● Start Acrobat Distiller 7.0.
● In authoring applications or utilities, target the Adobe PDF printer. (See Using the Adobe
PDF printer.)
● (Windows) In the Acrobat PDFMaker dialog box, choose Adobe PDF > Change
Conversion Settings.
2. Choose from the following options in the Default Settings (or Conversion Settings) pop-
up menu.
High Quality Print
Creates PDF files that have higher resolution than the Standard job option file. It
downsamples color and grayscale images to 300 ppi and monochrome images to 1200 ppi,
prints to a higher image resolution, and preserves the maximum amount of information
about the original document. PDF files created with this settings file can be opened in
Acrobat 5.0 and Acrobat Reader 5.0 and later.
Press Quality
Creates PDF files for high-quality print production (for example, for digital printing or for
separations to an imagesetter or platesetter), but does not create files that are PDF/X-
compliant. In this case, the quality of the content is the highest consideration. The
objective is to maintain all the information in a PDF file that a commercial printer or
prepress service provider needs in order to print the document correctly. This set of
options downsamples color and grayscale images to 300 ppi and monochrome images to
1200 ppi, embeds subsets of fonts used in the document (if allowed), and prints a higher
image resolution than the Standard settings. Print jobs with fonts that cannot be embedded
will fail. These PDF files can be opened in Acrobat 5.0 and Acrobat Reader 5.0 and later.
Note: Before creating an Adobe PDF file to send to a commercial printer or prepress
service provider, find out what the output resolution and other settings should be, or ask
for a .joboptions file with the recommended settings. You may need to customize the
Adobe PDF settings for a particular provider and then provide a .joboptions file of your
own.
Smallest File Size
Creates PDF files for displaying on the Web or an intranet, or for distribution through an
email system for on-screen viewing. This set of options uses compression, downsampling,
and a relatively low image resolution. It converts all colors to sRGB, and does not embed
fonts unless absolutely necessary. It also optimizes files for byte serving. These PDF files
can be opened in Acrobat 5.0 and Acrobat Reader 5.0 and later.
Standard
Creates PDF files to be printed to desktop printers or digital copiers, published on a CD,
or sent to a client as a publishing proof. This set of options uses compression and
downsampling to keep the file size down, but also embeds subsets of all (allowed) fonts
used in the file, converts all colors to sRGB, and prints to a medium resolution. Note that
Windows font subsets are not embedded by default. PDF files created with this settings
file can be opened in Acrobat 5.0 and Acrobat Reader 5.0 and later.
Creating custom Adobe PDF settings
You may want to create custom conversion settings for certain jobs or output devices. The
selections you make determine such things as whether the document fonts are embedded and
subsetted at 100%, how vector objects and images are compressed and/or sampled, and
whether the resulting Adobe PDF file includes high-end printing information such as OPI
comments. For detailed information about all the settings, see Adobe PDF settings options.
Default settings files cannot be modified, but can be duplicated to help create new settings
files.
Note: If the PDF file is intended for high-end printing, ask your service provider for their
custom .joboptions file with the recommended output resolution and other settings. This way,
the PDF file you give them will have characteristics optimized for your print workflow.
To create custom Adobe PDF settings:
1. Do one of the following to access the Adobe PDF Settings options, depending on the
application or utility you're using:
● In Acrobat Distiller, select one of the predefined sets of options from the Default Settings
menu to use as a starting point, and then choose Settings > Edit Adobe PDF Settings.
● In authoring applications or utilities, target the Adobe PDF printer. (See Using the Adobe PDF
printer.)
● In the Acrobat PDFMaker dialog box, click Advanced Settings in the Settings tab. (See
Editing PDFMaker conversion settings (Windows).)
2. (Windows) To switch between settings, select Show All Settings at the bottom left, and then
select an Adobe PDF settings option from the list on the left.
Adobe PDF Settings dialog box (Windows) A. Predefined Adobe PDF settings B. Options panels
3. Change the desired options in the various panels:
● General options set Adobe PDF file compatibility, default page size (for EPS files), resolution,
and other file settings. (See General options.)
● Images options reduce file size by changing the way images, text, and line art are compressed.
(See Images options.)
● Fonts options affect font embedding. (See Fonts options.)
● Color options specify how to manage color. (See Color options.)
● Advanced options set DSC comment processing and other options that affect the conversion
from PostScript. (See Advanced options.)
4. To save your changes, do one of the following:
● Click OK to apply the changes to a new version of the current settings file.
● Click Save As to save the changes as a different Adobe PDF settings file. Enter a unique,
descriptive name for the new settings file, and then click Save. The new file is saved as a .
joboptions file in the same location as the default files.
By default, PDF settings files are saved in the following folders:
● (Windows) \Documents and Settings\All Users\Shared Documents\Adobe PDF 7.0\Settings
● (Mac OS) Library/Application Support/Adobe/PDF/Settings
Note: By default, the edited settings file uses the name of the Adobe PDF settings on which it
is based. For example, if you edit the Press Quality settings, your first custom conversion
settings are saved in a file named Press Quality (1).
To remove custom Adobe PDF settings files:
In Acrobat Distiller, choose Settings > Remove Adobe PDF Settings, and double-click the file
you want to remove.
Adobe PDF settings options
You can edit the options in a selected settings file. The settings panels appear different in
Windows and Mac OS.
Related Subtopics:
General options
Images options
Fonts options
Color options
Advanced options
General options
The General options enable you to specify the version of Acrobat to use for file
compatibility and other file and device settings.
Adobe PDF Settings dialog box with the General panel displayed
Compatibility
Sets the compatibility level of the Adobe PDF file. When you create PDF files, you need to
decide which PDF version to use. Generally speaking, you should use the most recent
version (in this case version 1.6) unless there's a specific need for backward compatibility,
because the latest version will include all the latest features and functionality. However, if
you're creating documents that will be distributed widely, consider choosing Acrobat 4.0
(PDF 1.3) or Acrobat 5.0 (PDF 1.4) to ensure that all users can view and print the
document. The following table compares some of the functionality in Adobe PDF files
created using the different compatibility settings.
Acrobat 4.0 (PDF
1.3) Acrobat 5.0 (PDF
1.4) Acrobat 6.0 (PDF
1.5) Acrobat 7.0 (PDF 1.6)
PDF files can be
opened with
Acrobat 3.0 and
Acrobat Reader 3.0
and later.
PDF files can be
opened with
Acrobat 3.0 and
Acrobat Reader 3.0
and later. However,
features specific to
later versions may
be lost or not
viewable.
Most PDF files can
be opened with
Acrobat 4.0 and
Acrobat Reader 4.0
and later. However,
features specific to
later versions may
be lost or not
viewable.
Most PDF files can be
opened with Acrobat 4.0
and Acrobat Reader 4.0
and later. However,
features specific to later
versions may be lost or
not viewable.
ICC color
management is not
supported.
ICC color
management is
supported.
ICC color
management is
supported.
ICC color management
is supported.
Cannot contain
artwork that uses
live transparency
effects. Any
transparency must
be flattened prior to
converting to PDF
1.3.
Supports the use of
live transparency in
artwork.
Supports the use of
live transparency in
artwork.
Supports the use of live
transparency in artwork.
Layers are not
supported. Layers are not
supported. Preserves layers
when creating PDF
files from
applications that
support the
generation of
layered PDF
documents, such as
Illustrator CS or
InDesign CS.
Preserves layers when
creating PDF files from
applications that support
the generation of layered
PDF documents, such as
Illustrator CS or
InDesign CS.
DeviceN color
space with 8
colorants is
supported.
DeviceN color
space with 8
colorants is
supported.
DeviceN color
space with up to 31
colorants is
supported.
DeviceN color space
with up to 31 colorants is
supported.
Smooth-shaded
objects are
converted to images.
Smooth shading is
supported. Smooth shading is
supported. Smooth shading is
supported.
Masked images do
not display or print
correctly.
Masked images
display and print
correctly.
Masked images
display and print
correctly.
Masked images display
and print correctly.
Pages can be up to
45 inches
(114.3cm) in either
dimension.
Pages can be up to
200 inches (508cm)
in either dimension.
Pages can be up to
200 inches (508cm)
in either dimension.
Pages can be up to
15,000,000 inches
(31,800,000cm) in either
dimension.
Double-byte fonts
can be embedded.
(Distiller converts
the fonts when
embedding.)
Double-byte fonts
can be embedded. Double-byte fonts
can be embedded. Double-byte fonts can be
embedded.
TrueType fonts are
not searchable. TrueType fonts are
searchable. TrueType fonts are
searchable. TrueType fonts are
searchable.
40-bit RC4 security
supported. 128-bit RC4
security supported. 128-bit RC4
security supported. 128-bit RC4 and 128-bit
AES (Advanced
Encryption Standard)
security supported.
Object Level Compression
Consolidates small objects (each of which isn't compressible itself) into streams that can
then be efficiently compressed. Off does not compress any structural information in the
PDF document. Select this option if you want users to view, navigate, and interact with
bookmarks and other structural information using Acrobat 5.0 and later. Tags Only
compresses structural information in the PDF document. Using this setting results in a PDF
file that can be opened and printed with Acrobat 5.0, but any accessibility, structure, or
tagged PDF information will not be visible by Acrobat 5.0 or Acrobat Reader 5.0; Acrobat
6.0 and later and Adobe Reader 6.0 and later are able to view this information.
Auto-Rotate Pages
Automatically rotates pages based on the orientation of the text or DSC comments. For
example, some pages (such as those containing tables) may require the document to be
turned sideways to be read. With Auto-Rotate Pages selected, choose Individually to rotate
each page based on the direction of the text on that page. Choose Collectively by File to
rotate all pages in the document based on the orientation of the majority of text.
Note: If Process DSC Comments is selected in the Advanced panel and if %%Viewing
Orientation comments are included, these comments take precedence in determining page
orientation.
Binding
Specifies whether to display a PDF file with left-side or right-side binding. This affects the
display of pages in the Facing Page - Continuous layout and the display of thumbnails side
by side.
Resolution
Emulates the resolution of a printer for PostScript files that adjust their behavior according
to the resolution of the printer they are printing to. For most PostScript files, a higher
resolution setting results in larger but higher quality PDF files, while a lower setting results
in smaller but lower quality PDF files. Most commonly, resolution determines the number
of steps in a gradient or blend. You can enter a value from 72 to 4000. Generally, however,
you should leave this at the default setting unless you plan to print the PDF file on a
specific printer and you want to emulate the resolution defined in the original PostScript
file.
Note: Increasing the resolution setting increases file size and may slightly increase the time
required to process some files.
Pages
Specifies which pages to convert to Adobe PDF. Leave the To box empty to create a range
from the page number you enter in the From box to the end of the file.
Embed Thumbnails
Embeds a thumbnail preview for each page in the PDF file. Embedding thumbnails
increases the PDF file size. Versions of Acrobat 5.0 and later (including Adobe Reader)
automatically generate thumbnails dynamically whenever you click the Pages tab of a PDF
file. Therefore, you can deselect this setting when users of Acrobat 5.0 and later will view
and print the document.
Optimize For Fast Web View
Restructures the file for page-at-a-time downloading (byte serving) from web servers. This
option compresses text and line art, regardless of what you have selected as compression
settings on the Images panel. This makes for faster access and viewing when downloading
the file from the web or a network.
Default Page Size
Specifies the page size to use when one is not specified in the original file. Typically,
PostScript files include this information, except for EPS files, which give a bounding box
size, but not a page size. The maximum page size allowed is 15,000,000 inches
(31,800,000cm) in either direction.
Images options
The Images options specify compression and resampling for images. You may want to
experiment with these options to find an appropriate balance between file size and image
quality. (See Compressing and downsampling images.)
Adobe PDF Settings dialog box with the Images panel displayed
Downsample
To downsample color, grayscale, or monochrome images, Distiller combines pixels in a
sample area to make one larger pixel. You provide the resolution of your output device in
dots per inch (dpi) and enter a resolution in pixels per inch (ppi) in the For Images Above
box. For all images with resolution above this threshold, Distiller combines pixels as
needed to reduce the image's resolution (ppi) to the specified dpi setting. (See Compressing
and downsampling images.)
● Average Downsampling To averages the pixels in a sample area and replaces the entire
area with the average pixel color at the specified resolution.
● Subsampling To chooses a pixel in the center of the sample area and replaces the entire
area with that pixel at the specified resolution. Subsampling significantly reduces the
conversion time compared with downsampling, but results in images that are less smooth
and continuous.
● Bicubic Downsampling To uses a weighted average to determine pixel color and usually
yields better results than the simple averaging method of downsampling. Bicubic is the
slowest but most precise method, resulting in the smoothest tonal gradations.
The resolution setting for color and grayscale should be 1.5 to 2 times the line screen ruling
at which the file will be printed. (As long as you don't go below this recommended
resolution setting, images that contain no straight lines or geometric or repeating patterns
won't be affected by a lower resolution.) The resolution for monochrome images should be
the same as the output device, but be aware that saving a monochrome image at a
resolution higher than 1500 dpi increases the file size without noticeably improving image
quality.
You should also consider whether users need to magnify a page. For example, if you are
creating a PDF document of a map, consider using a higher image resolution so that users
can zoom in on the map.
Note: Resampling monochrome images can have unexpected viewing results, such as no
image display. If this happens, turn off resampling and convert the file again. This problem
is most likely to occur with subsampling, and least likely with bicubic downsampling.
The following table shows common types of printers and their resolution measured in dpi,
their default screen ruling measured in lines per inch (lpi), and a resampling resolution for
images measured in pixels per inch (ppi). For example, if you were printing to a 600-dpi
laser printer, you would enter 170 for the resolution at which to resample images.
Printer resolution Default line screen Image resolution
300 dpi (laser printer) 60 lpi 120 ppi
600 dpi (laser printer) 85 lpi 170 ppi
1200 dpi (imagesetter) 120 lpi 240 ppi
2400 dpi (imagesetter) 150 lpi 300 ppi
Compression/Image Quality
Sets the compression to be applied to color, grayscale, and monochrome images. For color
and grayscale images, also sets the image quality.
For color or grayscale images, choose ZIP to apply compression that works well on images
with large areas of single colors or repeating patterns, such as screen shots, simple images
created with paint programs, and black-and-white images that contain repeating patterns.
Choose JPEG, quality minimum to maximum, to apply compression that is suitable for
grayscale or color images, such as continuous-tone photographs that contain more detail
than can be reproduced on-screen or in print. Choose JPEG2000, quality Lossless, to apply
lossless compression with additional advantages, such as progressive display. Choose
Automatic (JPEG) or Automatic (JPEG2000) to determine automatically the best quality
for color and grayscale images. (JPEG2000 is the new international standard for the
compression and packaging of image data. For more information on JPEG2000, see
Conversion options for JPEG and JPEG2000 format.) To display JPEG2000 options, you
must select Acrobat 6.0 (PDF 1.5) or later from the Compatibility menu on the General
panel.
For monochrome images, choose CCITT Group 4, CCITT Group 3, ZIP, or Run Length
compression. (For more information, see Methods of compression.) Make sure that
monochrome images are scanned as monochrome and not as grayscale. Scanned text is
sometimes saved as grayscale images by default. Grayscale text compressed with the JPEG
compression method is muddy at best, and may be unreadable.
Anti-Alias To Gray
Smooths jagged edges in monochrome images. Choose 2 bit, 4 bit, or 8 bit to specify 4, 16,
or 256 levels of gray. (Anti-aliasing may cause small type or thin lines to look blurry.)
Compression of text and line art is always on. If you need to turn it off, you can do so by
setting the appropriate Distiller parameter. For details, see the Acrobat Distiller Parameters
manual at http://partners.adobe.com/links/acrobat (English only) on the Adobe website.
Policy
Specifies how to process images when they are below the resolution you define. For Color,
Grayscale, and Monochrome images, enter a resolution, and then select either Ignore, Warn
And Continue or Cancel Job from the pop-up menu.
Fonts options
The Fonts options specify which fonts to embed in an Adobe PDF file, and whether to
embed a subset of characters used in the PDF file. You can embed OpenType, TrueType,
and Type 1 fonts. Fonts that have license restrictions are preceded by the Lock icon . If
you select a font with a license restriction, the nature of the restriction is described in the
explanation area of the Adobe PDF Options dialog box.
For more information on working with fonts, see Accessing and embedding fonts.
Note: When you combine PDF files with the same font subset, Acrobat attempts to
combine the font subsets.
Adobe PDF Settings dialog box with the Fonts panel displayed
Embed All Fonts
Embeds all fonts used in the file. Font embedding is required for PDF/X compliance.
Embed OpenType Fonts
Embeds all OpenType fonts used in the file, and maintains Open Type font information for
advanced line layout. This option is available only if Acrobat 7.0 (PDF 1.6) is selected
from the Compatibility menu in the General panel.
Subset Embedded Fonts When Percent Of Characters Used Is Less Than
Specifies a threshold percentage if you want to embed only a subset of the fonts. For
example, if the threshold is 35, and less than 35% of the characters are used, Distiller
embeds only those characters.
When Embedding Fails
Specifies how Distiller should respond if it cannot find a font to embed when processing a
file. You can have Distiller ignore the request and substitute the font, warn you and
substitute the font, or cancel processing of the current job.
Always Embed
To embed only certain fonts, move them into the Always Embed list. Make sure that
Embed All Fonts is not selected.
Never Embed
Move fonts that you do not want to embed to this list. If necessary, choose a different font
folder from the pop-up menu to display the font in the font list. Ctrl-click (Windows) or
Command-click (Mac OS) to select multiple fonts to move.
Note: Fonts that have license restrictions are preceded by a padlock icon. If you select a
font with a license restriction, the nature of the restriction is described in the explanation
area of the Adobe PDF Options dialog box.
Add Name
If the font you want is not in a font folder, click Add Name, enter the name of the font,
select Always Embed List (or Never Embed List), and click Add. For information on
getting an exact font name, see Finding PostScript font names.
Note: A TrueType font can contain a setting added by the font's designer that prevents the
font from being embedded in PDF files.
Remove
Removes a font from the Always Embed or Never Embed list. This does not remove the
font from your system; it just removes the reference to it in the list.
Note: Adobe Acrobat 7.0 does not include the Times, Helvetica, and ZapfDingbats fonts
that have been included in Acrobat 5.0 and earlier. If you want these fonts to be viewed and
printed in the PDF files that you create, embed the fonts.
Color options
Whether you are using color management information in the PostScript file, using Distiller
CSFs, or defining custom settings, you set all color management information for Distiller
on the Color panel of the Adobe PDF Settings dialog box. For more information on color
management, see Managing color in Acrobat.
Adobe PDF Settings dialog box with the Color panel displayed
Settings File
Choose the color setting you want to use. This menu contains a list of color settings that are
also used in major graphics applications, such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator.
The color setting you choose determines the other options available in this dialog box. For
example, if you choose anything other than None, all options other than those for Device-
Dependent Data are predefined and dimmed. You can edit the Color Management Policies
and Working Spaces settings only if you select None for Settings File. For a description of
the color settings, see Using predefined color management settings.
Color Management Policies
If you selected None from the Settings File menu, choose a color management policy to
specify how Distiller converts unmanaged color in a PostScript file when you are not using
a Distiller CSF.
● Leave Color Unchanged. Leaves device-dependent colors unchanged and preserves device-
independent colors as the nearest possible equivalent in PDF. This is a useful option for
print shops that have calibrated all their devices, have used that information to specify color
in the file, and are only outputting to those devices.
● Tag (or Convert) Everything For Color Management. If you selected Acrobat 4.0 (PDF 1.3)
or later compatibility on the General panel, this option tags (embeds) color objects with an
ICC profile when distilling files and calibrates color in the images, making colors in the
resulting PDF files device-independent. If you selected Acrobat 3.0 (PDF 1.2)
compatibility, this option does not embed ICC profiles in the files. However, device-
dependent color spaces in files (RGB, Grayscale, and CMYK) are converted to device-
independent color spaces (CalRGB, CalGray, and LAB).
● Tag (or Convert) Only Images For Color Management. If you selected Acrobat 4.0 (PDF
1.3) compatibility on the General panel, this option tags (embeds) ICC profiles only in
images, not in text or vector objects, when distilling files. This prevents black text from
undergoing any color shift. If you selected Acrobat 3.0 (PDF 1.2) compatibility, this option
does not embed ICC profiles in the files. However, device-dependent color spaces in
images (RGB, Grayscale, and CMYK) are converted to device-independent color spaces
(CalRGB, CalGray, and LAB). Text and vector objects are not converted.
● Convert All Colors To sRGB (or Convert Everything To CalRGB). Calibrates color in the
file, making the color device-independent, similar to Tag (or Convert) Everything for Color
Management. If you selected Acrobat 4.0 (PDF 1.3) or later compatibility on the General
panel, CMYK and RGB images are converted to sRGB. If you selected Acrobat 3.0 (PDF
1.2) compatibility, CMYK and RGB images are converted to calibrated RGB (CalRGB).
Regardless of the compatibility option you select, grayscale images are left unchanged.
This option usually reduces the size and increases the display speed of PDF files, because
less information is needed to describe RGB images than CMYK images. Because RGB is
the native color space used on monitors, no color conversion is necessary during display,
which contributes to fast online viewing. This option is recommended if the PDF file will
be used online or with low-resolution printers.
● Convert All Colors To CMYK. Converts color spaces to DeviceGray or DeviceCMYK
according to the options specified in the Working Spaces menu. All Working Spaces must
be specified.
Rendering Intent
Choose a method to map colors between color spaces. The result of any particular method
depends on the profiles of the color spaces. For example, some profiles produce identical
results with different methods.
● Default means that the intent is specified in the output device rather than in the PDF file. In
many output devices, Relative Colorimetric is the default intent.
● Perceptual aims to preserve the visual relationship between colors so it's perceived as
natural to the human eye, even though the color values themselves may change. This intent
is suitable for photographic images with lots of out-of-gamut colors.
● Saturation tries to produce vivid colors in an image at the expense of color accuracy. This
rendering intent is suitable for business graphics like graphs or charts, where bright
saturated colors are more important than the exact relationship between colors (such as in a
photographic image).
● Absolute Colorimetric leaves colors that fall inside the destination gamut unchanged. Out-
of-gamut colors are clipped. No scaling of colors to destination white point is performed.
This intent aims to maintain color accuracy at the expense of preserving relationships
between colors and is suitable for proofing to simulate the output of a particular device.
● Relative Colorimetric compares the extreme highlight of the source color space to that of
the destination color space and shifts all colors accordingly. Out-of-gamut colors are
shifted to the closest reproducible color in the destination color space. Relative colorimetric
preserves more of the original colors in an image than Perceptual.
Note: In all cases, intents may be ignored or overridden by color management operations
that occur subsequently to the creation of the PDF file.
Working Spaces
For all Color Management Policies values other than Leave Color Unchanged, choose a
working space to specify which ICC profiles are used for defining and calibrating the
grayscale, RGB, and CMYK color spaces in distilled PDF files.
● For Gray, choose a profile to define the color space of all grayscale images in files. This
option is available only if you chose Tag Everything For Color Management or Tag Only
Images For Color Management. The default ICC profile for gray images is Adobe Gray -
20% Dot Gain. You can also choose None to prevent grayscale images from being
converted.
● For RGB, choose a profile to define the color space of all RGB images in files. The default,
sRGB IEC61966-2.1, is generally a good choice because it is becoming an industry
standard and is recognized by many output devices. You can also choose None to prevent
RGB images from being converted.
● For CMYK, choose a profile to define the color space of all CMYK images in files. The
default is U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2. You can also choose None to prevent CMYK
images from being converted.
Note: Choosing None for all three working spaces has the same effect as selecting the
option Leave Color Unchanged.
You can add ICC profiles (such as ones provided by your print service bureau) by
placing them in the ICCProfiles folder in the Common folder, the Windows\System\Color
folder (Windows), or the System Folder/ColorSync folder (Mac OS).
Preserve CMYK Values For Calibrated CMYK Color Spaces
Describes what to do with color values for device-independent CMYK color spaces
(CIEBasedDEFG). If this option is selected, then device-independent color values will be
treated as device-dependent (DeviceCMYK) values, and device-independent color spaces
will be ignored and discarded. If this option is not selected, then device-independent color
spaces will convert to the CMYK working space. This option is available only if Convert
All Colors To CMYK is selected in the Color Management Policies menu. The PDF/X-1a
settings files have the Color Management Policy set to Convert All Colors To CMYK with
this option selected.
Preserve Under Color Removal And Black Generation
Retains these settings if they exist in the PostScript file. Black generation calculates the
amount of black to be used when trying to reproduce a particular color. Undercolor
removal (UCR) reduces the amount of cyan, magenta, and yellow components to
compensate for the amount of black that was added by the black generation. Because it
uses less ink, UCR is generally used for newsprint and uncoated stock.
Preserve Halftone Information
Retains any halftone information in files. Halftone information consists of dots that control
how much ink is deposited by halftone devices at a specific location on the paper. Varying
the dot size and density creates the illusion of variations of gray or continuous color. For a
CMYK image, four halftone screens are used: one for each ink used in the printing process.
In traditional print production, a halftone is produced by placing a halftone screen between
a piece of film and the image and then exposing the film. Electronic equivalents, such as in
Adobe Photoshop, let users specify the halftone screen attributes before producing the film
or paper output. Halftone information is intended for use with a particular output device.
When Transfer Functions Are Found
Specifies how to handle transfer functions in PDF files. Transfer functions are used for
artistic effect and to correct for the characteristics of a specific output device. For example,
a file that is intended for output on a particular imagesetter may contain transfer functions
that compensate for the dot gain inherent with that printer.
● Remove deletes any applied transfer functions. Applied transfer functions should be
removed, unless the PDF file is to be output to the same device that the source PostScript
file was created for.
● Preserve retains the transfer functions traditionally used to compensate for dot gain or dot
loss that may occur when an image is transferred to film. Dot gain occurs when the ink dots
that make up a printed image are larger (for example, due to spreading on paper) than in the
halftone screen; dot loss occurs when the dots print smaller. With this option, the transfer
functions are kept as part of the file, and are applied to the file when the file is output.
● Apply does not keep the transfer function, but applies it to the file, changing the colors in
the file. This is useful for creating color effects in a file.
Advanced options
The Advanced options specify which Document Structuring Conventions (DSC) comments
to keep in an Adobe PDF file and how to set other options that affect the conversion from
PostScript. In a PostScript file, DSC comments contain information about the file (such as
the originating application, the creation date, and the page orientation) and provide
structure for page descriptions in the file (such as beginning and ending statements for a
prologue section). DSC comments can be useful when your document is going to print or
press.
When you work with the Advanced options, it is helpful to have an understanding of the
PostScript language and how it is translated to PDF. See the PostScript Language
Reference, Third Edition (Addison-Wesley) and the PDF Reference, Fifth Edition, Version
1.6 at http://partners.adobe.com/links/acrobat (English only) on the Adobe website.
Note: The ASCII Format option has been removed from Distiller, but is still available as a
Distiller parameter. For details, see the Acrobat Distiller Parameters manual at http://
partners.adobe.com/links/acrobat (English only) on the Adobe website.
Adobe PDF Settings dialog box with the Advanced panel displayed
Allow PostScript File To Override Adobe PDF Options
Uses settings stored in a PostScript file rather than the current PDF settings file. Before
processing a PostScript file, you can place parameters in the file to control compression of
text and vector objects, downsampling and encoding of sampled images, and embedding of
Type 1 fonts and instances of Type 1 Multiple Master fonts. For details, see the Acrobat
Distiller Parameters manual at http://partners.adobe.com/links/acrobat (English only) on
the Adobe website.
Allow PostScript XObjects
PostScript XObjects store fragments of PostScript code to be used when a PDF file is
printed on a PostScript printer. Such objects are sometimes used to achieve special results
on particular printers that cannot be achieved using normal PDF or printing methods.
PostScript XObjects are rarely needed and should only be used in controlled workflows
where there is no other option. PostScript XObjects are generated only if the PostScript
information contains instructions intended specifically for Distiller to make them. To
display this option, you must select either the Standard or Smallest File Size option from
the Default Settings menu.
Convert Gradients To Smooth Shades
Converts blends to smooth shades for Acrobat 4.0 and later, making PDF files smaller and
potentially improving the quality of final output. Distiller converts gradients from Adobe
Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Macromedia Freehand, CorelDraw, Quark XPress, and
Microsoft PowerPoint.
Create Job Definition Format (JDF) File
Produces a standardized XML-based job ticket with information about the file for a
printing press.
Preserve Level 2 Copypage Semantics
Uses the copypage operator defined in LanguageLevel 2 PostScript rather than in
LanguageLevel 3 PostScript. If you have a PostScript file and select this option, a
copypage operator copies the page. If this option is not selected, the equivalent of a
showpage operation is executed, except that the graphics state is not reinitialized.
Preserve Overprint Settings
Retains any overprint settings in files being converted to PDF. Overprinted colors are two
or more inks printed on top of each other. For example, when a cyan ink prints over a
yellow ink, the resulting overprint is a green color. Without overprinting, the underlying
yellow would not be printed, resulting in a cyan color.
Overprinting Default Is Nonzero Overprinting
Prevents overprinted objects with zero CMYK values from knocking out CMYK objects
beneath them. This is accomplished by inserting the "OPM 1" graphics state parameter into
the PDF file wherever the "Setoverprint" operator is present.
Save Adobe PDF Settings Inside PDF File
Embeds the settings file used to create the PDF file. You can open and view the settings
file (which has a .joboptions extension) in the Attachments tab in Acrobat. (Choose View >
Navigation Tabs > Attachments.) The Adobe PDF settings file becomes an item in the
EmbeddedFiles tree inside the PDF file. For details, see the PDF Reference, Fifth Edition,
Version 1.6 at http://partners.adobe.com/links/acrobat (English only) on the Adobe website.
Save Original JPEG Image In PDF If Possible
Processes compressed JPEG images (images that are already compressed using DCT
encoding) without recompressing them. If this option is selected, Distiller decompresses
JPEG images to ensure that they are not corrupt, but it does not recompress valid images,
thus processing the original image untouched. With this option selected, performance
improves because only decompression, not recompression, occurs, and image data and
metadata are preserved.
Save Portable Job Ticket Inside PDF File
Preserves a PostScript job ticket in a PDF file. The job ticket contains information about
the PostScript file, such as page size, resolution, and trapping information, rather than
about content. This information can be used later in a workflow or for printing the PDF.
Use Prologue.ps and Epilogue.ps
Sends a prologue and epilogue file with each job. Prologue.ps files can be used to add
custom PostScript code that you want to have executed at the beginning of every PostScript
job being converted. This file can be used for many purposes, including adding a cover
page to a job or defining PostScript procedures for gathering statistics while a PostScript
job is executing. Epilogue.ps files can be used to add custom PostScript code that you want
to have executed at the end of every PostScript job being converted. This file can be used
for many purposes, including running PostScript procedures for summarizing and printing
job statistics collected during conversion.
Sample Prologue.ps and Epilogue.ps files are located in Documents and Settings\All Users
\Shared Documents\Adobe PDF 7.0\Data (Windows), and /Library/Application Support/
Adobe PDF/Data (Mac OS).
Note: Distiller processes prologue and epilogue files only if both files are present and
located properly. The two files must be used together.
Convert Smooth Lines To Curves
Reduces the amount of control points used to build curves in CAD drawings, which results
in smaller PDF files and faster on-screen rendering. For detailed information about this
option, see the Acrobat Distiller Parameters manual at http://partners.adobe.com/links/
acrobat (English only) on the Adobe website.
Process DSC Comments
Maintains DSC (document structuring conventions) information from a PostScript file.
● Log DSC Warnings displays warning messages about problematic DSC comments during
processing and adds them to a log file.
● Preserve EPS Information From DSC retains information, such as the originating
application and creation date for an EPS file. If this is deselected, the page is sized and
centered based on the top left corner of the top left object and lower right corner of the
lower right object on the page.
● Preserve OPI Comments retains information needed to replace a For Placement Only
(FPO) image or comment with the high-resolution image located on servers that support
Open Prepress Interface (OPI) versions 1.3 and 2.0. For detailed information on OPI, see
http://partners.adobe.com/links/acrobat (English only) on the Adobe website.
● Preserve Document Information From DSC retains information such as the title, creation
date, and time. When you open a PDF file in Acrobat, this information appears in the
Document Properties Description panel (File > Document Properties > Description).
● Resize Page And Center Artwork For EPS Files centers an EPS image and resizes the page
to fit closely around the image. This option applies only to jobs that consist of a single EPS
file.
Making custom Adobe PDF settings available to other
users
You can reuse and share settings with other users. If you save the custom settings file in
the default settings folder, it becomes available to all users, and is included in the Default
Settings menu. But you can also add Adobe PDF settings files that were saved in another
location to the Default Settings menu.
To add custom Adobe PDF settings to the Default Settings menu:
Do one of the following:
● Drag the .joboptions file onto the Distiller window.
● In Acrobat Distiller, choose Settings > Add Adobe PDF Settings, and then double-click
the desired PDF settings file. (PDF settings files have the extension .joboptions.) The
settings file appears as the selected option in the Default Settings menu.
● Drag a PDF settings file to the default folder, where it becomes the selected option in the
Default Settings menu.
Compressing and downsampling images
When converting PostScript files to Adobe PDF, you can compress text and line art
(which is also called vector objects), and compress and downsample color, grayscale, and
monochrome images. Line art is described with a mathematical equation and is usually
created with a drawing program such as Adobe Illustrator. Images are described as pixels
and are created with paint programs or from scanners. Monochrome images include most
black-and-white illustrations made by paint programs and any images scanned with an
image depth of 1 bit. Adobe Photoshop, for example, works with images.
When you downsample (or decrease the number of pixels), information is deleted from
the image. With Distiller, you specify an interpolation method--average downsampling,
bicubic downsampling, or subsampling--to determine how pixels are deleted. Depending
on the settings you choose, compression and downsampling can significantly reduce the
size of a PDF file with little or no loss of detail and precision.
Related Subtopics:
Methods of compression
Applying different settings to different images
Methods of compression
Distiller applies ZIP compression to text and line art, ZIP or JPEG compression to color
and grayscale images, and ZIP, CCITT Group 3 or 4, or Run Length compression to
monochrome images.
Suitable compression methods for different art types A. ZIP B. JPEG C. CCITT D. Run Length
You can choose from the following compression methods:
● ZIP works well on images with large areas of single colors or repeating patterns, such as
screen shots and simple images created with paint programs, and for black-and-white
images that contain repeating patterns. Acrobat provides 4-bit and 8-bit ZIP compression
options. If you use 4-bit ZIP compression with 4-bit images, or 8-bit ZIP with 4-bit or 8-
bit images, the ZIP method is lossless, which means it does not remove data to reduce file
size and so does not affect an image's quality. However, using 4-bit ZIP compression with
8-bit data can affect the quality, since data is lost.
Note: Adobe implementation of the ZIP filter is derived from the zlib package of Jean-
loup Gailly and Mark Adler, whose generous assistance we gratefully acknowledge.
● JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) is suitable for grayscale or color images, such
as continuous-tone photographs that contain more detail than can be reproduced on-screen
or in print. JPEG is lossy, which means that it removes image data and may reduce image
quality, but it attempts to reduce file size with the minimum loss of information. Because
JPEG eliminates data, it can achieve much smaller file sizes than ZIP compression.
Acrobat provides six JPEG options, ranging from Maximum quality (the least
compression and the smallest loss of data) to Minimum quality (the most compression and
the greatest loss of data). The loss of detail that results from the Maximum and High
quality settings is so slight that most people cannot tell an image has been compressed. At
Minimum and Low, however, the image may become blocky and acquire a mosaic look.
The Medium quality setting usually strikes the best balance in creating a compact file
while still maintaining enough information to produce high-quality images.
● CCITT (International Coordinating Committee for Telephony and Telegraphy) is
appropriate for black-and-white images made by paint programs and any images scanned
with an image depth of 1 bit. CCITT is a lossless method. Acrobat provides the CCITT
Group 3 and Group 4 compression options. CCITT Group 4 is a general-purpose method
that produces good compression for most types of monochrome images. CCITT Group 3,
used by most fax machines, compresses monochrome images one row at a time.
● Run Length is a lossless compression option that produces the best results for images that
contain large areas of solid white or black.
Applying different settings to different images
When Distiller processes a file, it normally applies the compression settings to images
throughout the file. If you want images in a file to be compressed and downsampled using
different methods, you can do this in several ways:
● Use Adobe Photoshop to resample and compress images before processing with Distiller.
In this case, you should deselect the compression and downsampling or subsampling
options in Distiller.
● Create separate PostScript files for each part of the document you want to process
differently, and use different compression options to distill each part. Then use Distiller to
merge the files. (See Creating PostScript files.)
● Create color, grayscale, and monochrome images. Then select different compression and
downsampling settings for each image type.
● Insert Distiller parameters before images in a PostScript file. You can use this technique to
process every image in a document differently. This technique is the most difficult,
because it requires knowledge of PostScript programming. For more information on using
parameters, see the Acrobat Distiller Parameters manual at http://partners.adobe.com/links/
acrobat (English only) on the Adobe website.
Note: To apply the inserted Distiller parameters, select Allow PostScript File to Override
Adobe PDF Settings. This option is on the Advanced panel of the Adobe PDF Settings
dialog box in Distiller. However, selecting this option overrides the settings you selected
in the Adobe PDF dialog boxes.
Accessing and embedding fonts
When converting a PostScript file to Adobe PDF, Distiller needs access to the file's fonts
to be able to insert appropriate information in the PDF file. Distiller can access a file's
fonts in several ways:
● Type 1, TrueType, and OpenType fonts can be included in the PostScript file. For
information on including fonts in a PostScript file, see the documentation that came with
the application and printer driver you are using to create the PostScript file.
● Type 1 and OpenType fonts can be included in font folders that Distiller monitors. The
fonts are called out by name in the PostScript file, and Distiller looks in the folders to get
the actual fonts.
● Width-only versions of many common Chinese, Japanese, and Korean fonts are included
in Acrobat. Make sure that the fonts are available on your computer. To install them in
Windows, choose Complete when installing Acrobat, or choose Custom and select the
Asian Language Support option. In Mac OS, Asian language fonts are installed
automatically.
Note: Distiller does not support Type 32 fonts.
Related Subtopics:
Adding and removing fonts
About font embedding and substitution
Previewing Adobe PDF documents without embedded fonts
Finding PostScript font names
Adding and removing fonts
Acrobat provides a default font folder for Distiller to monitor. You can also add your own
font folders. If a PostScript file that Distiller is converting refers to a font but does not
contain the font itself, Distiller looks in these folders for the font information.
By default, fonts are searched for in the following Windows folders:
● \Resource\Font in the Acrobat folder
● \Windows\Fonts
By default, fonts are searched for in the following Mac OS folders:
● /Resource/Font in the Acrobat folder
● /Users/[user name]/Library/Fonts
● /Library/Fonts
● /System/Library/Fonts
To add or remove a font folder:
1. In Acrobat Distiller, choose Settings > Font Locations. The dialog box displays a list of
the folders that Distiller searches for fonts. These folders can be on your hard drive or on a
network.
Distiller indicates that a font folder is available by displaying a folder icon to the left of
the folder name. If no icon appears, or if an icon with an x through it appears with a folder
name, the connection to the folder has probably been lost. You'll need to reestablish the
connection.
2. To add a font folder, click Add, select the folder to add, and click OK (Windows) or
Select Folder (Mac OS).
Note: To provide Distiller with access to a font folder that has been moved, use this dialog
box to remove the folder listed in its old location and add it in its new location.
3. To remove a font folder, select the folder, and click Remove.
4. Select Ignore TrueType Versions Of Standard PostScript Fonts to exclude TrueType fonts
that have the same name as a font in the PostScript 3 font collection.
5. Click OK.
About font embedding and substitution
A font is embedded only if it contains a setting by the font vendor that permits it to be
embedded. Embedding prevents font substitution when readers view or print the file, and
ensures that readers see the text in its original font. Embedding increases file size only
slightly, unless the document uses double-byte fonts--a font format commonly used for
Asian languages.
You can embed the entire font, or just a subset of the characters used in the file.
Subsetting ensures that your fonts and font metrics are used at print time by creating a
custom font name. That way, your version of Adobe Garamond®, not your service
provider's version, can always be used by the service provider for viewing and printing.
When Acrobat cannot embed a font due to the font vendor's settings, and someone who
opens or prints an Adobe PDF file does not have access to the original font, a Multiple
Master typeface is temporarily substituted: AdobeSerifMM for a missing serif font, and
AdobeSansMM for a missing sans serif font.
The Multiple Master typeface can stretch or condense to fit, to ensure that line and page
breaks in the original document are maintained. The substitution cannot always match the
shape of the original characters, however, especially if the characters are unconventional
ones, such as script typefaces. (For Asian text, Acrobat uses fonts from the installed Asian
language kit or from similar fonts on the user's system. Fonts from some languages or
with unknown encodings cannot be substituted; in these cases, the text appears as bullets
in the file.)
If characters are unconventional (left), the substitution font will not match (right).
Acrobat can embed roman Type 1 and TrueType fonts in an Adobe PDF file to prevent
font substitution if users don't have that font on their system or available to their printer.
Type 1 and TrueType fonts can be embedded if they are included in the PostScript file, or
are available in one of the font locations that Distiller monitors and not restricted from
embedding.
Note: In some cases, TrueType fonts that have gone through a PostScript driver can no
longer be searched, copied, cut, or pasted. To minimize this problem, use Acrobat on the
same system on which the PostScript file was created, and make sure that the TrueType
fonts used in the file are available on the system.
Previewing Adobe PDF documents without embedded fonts
You may want to see a preview of how substituted fonts will look in your Adobe PDF
document to help you decide which fonts to embed.
To preview an Adobe PDF document without embedded fonts:
In Acrobat, choose Advanced > Use Local Fonts to specify whether Acrobat should
ignore the fonts installed on your system. When Use Local Fonts is not selected, Acrobat
displays the PDF file using substitute fonts for all fonts that are not embedded. If a font
cannot be substituted, the text appears as bullets, and Acrobat displays an error message.
You can also print the PDF file using substituted fonts.
Finding PostScript font names
If you need to enter a font name manually on the Fonts panel of the Adobe PDF Settings
dialog box, you can use an Adobe PDF file to find the exact spelling of the name.
To find a PostScript font name:
1. Use any application to create a one-page document with the font.
2. Create an Adobe PDF file from the document.
3. Open the PDF file with Acrobat, and choose File > Document Properties > Fonts.
4. Write down the name of the font, using the exact spelling, capitalization, and hyphenation
of the name as it appears in the Font Info dialog box.
5. Click OK to close the dialog box.
Saving and Converting Adobe PDF Content
Saving Adobe PDF files
Reducing Adobe PDF file size
Converting Adobe PDF documents to other file formats
Converting images to an image format</