Adobe® Acrobat®: creating PDFs Learn how to use Adobe Acrobat to create PDF (Portable Document Format) files, one of the most common formats for color-rich and highly formatted documents. This class includes an overview of the many uses of PDF files and walks you through the steps of creating a PDF file. You'll also learn techniques for optimizing your PDFs for delivery over the web or to a professional print shop.
Lessons
1. Behind the scenes of a PDF This lesson introduces you to the technology behind PDFs, explores some common uses for PDFs, and explains what software you need to create your own PDFs. You'll also learn advantages of PDFs over HTML pages. 2. Create PDFs You can create PDFs directly from a number of document creation applications or from within Acrobat. Learn how to do both, and how to select which option is right for you. You'll also find out how to include multimedia in your PDFs. 3. Optimize PDFs This lesson describes optimizing PDFs for print, online distribution, and other uses. It includes information on new Acrobat tools for tailoring output, and best practices that help you configure Acrobat for the best possible output. 4. Secure PDFs This lesson provides an overview of the different Acrobat security options. It looks at protecting PDFs with passwords and encryption, preventing printing and other changes, and removing sensitive information. 5. Review documents and collaborate with Acrobat Acrobat provides robust document reviewing, tracking, and collaboration tools. In this lesson, you'll learn how to electronically initiate a review cycle, add comments, track and manage shared reviews, and initiate web conferencing. 6. Acrobat and professional printing Acrobat is the preferred file format for service bureaus and print shops. This lesson will give you system and color management tips, and show you how to prepare and package complete PDFs for your printing provider.
Behind the scenes of a PDF
This lesson introduces you to the technology behind PDFs, explores some common uses for PDFs, and explains what software you need to create your own PDFs. You'll also learn advantages of PDFs over HTML pages.
Welcome
Adobe® Acrobat® is the premier software application for creating PDF (Portable Document Format) files, one of the most common formats for color- The right tool rich and highly formatted documents. This class includes an overview of the many uses of PDF files and walks you through the steps of creating a PDF. You'll also learn techniques for optimizing your PDFs for delivery over the web Make sure that you have the or to a professional print shop. latest version of Acrobat to take advantage of the latest features. This class looks at the PDF format, the software you use to create PDFs, and some useful and practical applications of the technology in the real world. When you're done with this class, you'll have the skills you need to turn even your most complex documents into files you can share with anyone. This class is geared toward business and marketing professionals, graphics » Adobe® Acrobat® 8 artists, or anyone who wants to use PDFs at work or home.
Here's what to expect in the lessons:
Lesson 1 introduces you to the technology behind PDFs, explores some common uses for PDFs, and explains what software you need to create your own PDFs. You'll also learn the advantages of using PDFs over HTML pages. Lesson 2 teaches you how to create PDFs directly from a number of document-creation applications or from within Acrobat. You'll also find out how to include multimedia in your PDFs. Lesson 3 describes how to optimize PDFs for print, online distribution, and other uses. It includes information on new Acrobat tools for tailoring output, and best practices that help you configure Acrobat for the best possible output. Lesson 4 provides an overview of the different Acrobat security options. It looks at protecting PDFs with passwords and encryption, preventing printing and other changes, and removing sensitive information. Lesson 5 discusses Acrobat's robust document reviewing, tracking, and collaboration tools. You'll learn how to initiate a review cycle, add comments, track and manage shared reviews, and initiate web conferencing. Lesson 6 covers Acrobat as the preferred file format for service bureaus and print shops. You'll learn system and color management tips, and how to prepare and package complete PDFs for your printing provider.
Beyond the lessons, be sure to complete the assignments and quizzes. When you're done with those, visit the message board. It's the perfect place to discuss class topics and to swap questions and comments with other students and your instructor.
Take a few moments to meet your instructor and fellow students on the class message board, and let them know a little about you.
Let's get started with the topics in Lesson 1.
Behind the scenes of a PDF
The Adobe PDF is a powerful standard for sharing and distributing documents in today's wired world. Documents saved in the PDF format retain all of their design and layout elements, including fonts, color, and images in a file format that anyone can view on any computer with the free Acrobat® Reader installed.
You can create documents in just about any application running on any platform and convert them to PDFs. This means you can turn documents you create in Adobe InDesign®, Microsoft® Word, Quark® QuarkXPress®, or any other proprietary application into a common format that users can access, even if they don't have the application you used to create the file installed on their system. Better yet, PDFs are well-suited for both online and print distribution.
PDF technology helps to optimize document quality while reducing document size, which ensures PDF files stay truly portable. You can email PDFs or make them available for download on your website. In addition, recent PDF innovations enable you to add interactive features, such as forms users can fill in, and other useful extras to the PDFs you create.
Alternately, PDFs can retain all of the details of a four-color document that you plan to have professionally printed. In fact, PDF has become the standard format for delivering electronic documents to print shops and service bureaus for printing.
Now that you know what a PDF is and about its many benefits, find out how to create a PDF.
What does it take to create a PDF?
To create a PDF, you need a few pieces of software and a little knowledge. You'll find out about the software now and gain the knowledge later. Impressive printing results
A document PDFs translate to print documents much more smoothly than webpages. If The first thing you need to create a PDF file is a document. This may be an you plan to use your PDFs as existing document that you want to share with others who don't have the presentation documents, try document-creation software you used, or a new document you need to create an HP color LaserJet and get from scratch. Either way, you use document-creation software to build the professional quality at document before you convert it to the PDF format. competitive prices.
You can create PDFs directly from the majority of the document-creation software packages available on the market today after you install the Adobe Acrobat software (discussed next). The following are some of the well-known software packages that integrate well with Acrobat for quick PDF creation:
Microsoft: Access, Excel, FrontPage, Internet Explorer, Outlook, PowerPoint, » HP Color LaserJet Project, Publisher, Visio, and Word 2600n printer series Adobe: Illustrator®, InDesign, and PhotoShop® Other Products: Autodesk® AutoCAD®, Corel® WordPerfect®, IBM Lotus Notes, QuarkExpress, CorelDRAW®, and Corel Paint Shop Pro® Photo XI
Remember, this is only a brief list. Most major document-creation software released in the last two years supports PDF creation. Even if your software doesn't support direct PDF creation, the Adobe Acrobat software will do the » Printer and MFP buying work for you. (You'll find out how a bit later in the class.) guide
PDF is a portable file format that you use to share documents. You always create your documents with a separate software package, such as Microsoft Word or Adobe InDesign first, and then convert them to the PDF format. Adobe Acrobat isn't document-creation software, but rather PDF- creation software that works with existing documents.
Adobe Acrobat 8 software
There are several editions of Adobe Acrobat 8, all of which are available for trial download or purchase on the Adobe website. Let's take a brief look at each of them:
Adobe Acrobat Standard: This is the basic package that enables you to create and work with PDF files. It retails for approximately $299 (the upgrade is $99) and is available in both Windows and Mac OS versions. Adobe Acrobat Professional: This package offers advanced publishing features, such as the creation of fillable electronic forms, technical drawings, and advanced support for the print production process. It retails for approximately $449 (the upgrade is $159) and is available for computers running the Windows or Mac OS operating systems. Adobe Acrobat 3D: This package contains all of the functionality of the Professional edition, and also enables you to insert and publish 3D files into PDF documents. This edition is also designed for converting computer-aided design documents to PDF. Adobe Acrobat Elements: This is a streamlined version of Acrobat that enables users to create PDF files and use security features, but doesn't offer any of the document reviewing or combining features found in the Standard edition. It's also available only to organizations willing to purchase 100 or more licenses.
Adobe Reader is a free program that enables users to view and print PDF files but not create them. You can download Reader directly from the Adobe website. It's available for a wide variety of platforms, including Microsoft Windows, Mac OS®, various Linux and Unix distributions, Windows® Mobile® Pocket PC, and Palm® OS®.
The edition of Acrobat you choose depends on your specific requirements. Chances are, the Standard edition is sufficient, as long as you plan to create PDF documents other than fillable forms, and don't need advanced technical drawing functionality or the ability to support complex print production processes.
This class focuses on features in Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional. Many, but not all, of the features are also found in the Standard edition. To see a comparison of the features across the Acrobat 8 product family, visit the Acrobat Product comparison web page. To make sure you can complete all lessons in this class, use Acrobat 8 Professional. You can download and install a 30-day free trial from the Adobe website.
Now that you know what you need to create a PDF, you'll find out some of the many ways you can put PDFs to work for you.
Why use a PDF?
Chances are you're taking this class because you want to know more about how to create PDFs and you have at least one PDF project in mind. If not, PDFs have a variety of uses you might not have even considered, so now is a good time to review the wide range of PDF applications.
The portability of the PDF format makes it the perfect choice for many different kinds of materials, and the ability to create interactive forms and online documents in PDF format increases its utility. By using the PDF format, you can share your carefully designed documents for both viewing and printing. You don't need to worry about how to preserve fonts, colors, links, and layouts across different software packages and computing platforms. You only have to create the document once.
Well, that's enough theory. What follows are some real examples of PDF uses.
Brochures, catalogs, and product slicks PDF is perfect for capturing and maintaining design information. All of your design choices stay with the document. Complicated formatting and graphic layouts are no problem. PDFs have become the format of choice for marketing and sales professionals in all industries.
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For example, HP compiles a well-organized and nicely designed data sheet for every product. You can pick up one of these data sheets in print at a trade show or from a salesperson, but you can also download and print your own copies from any HP product page. This use of the PDF format makes documents that were once only available in print now available online, but with its formatting intact.
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Large text documents, user guides, and manuals
You can tag and reference different sections of content within a PDF to create complex interactive tables of contents, indices, and other navigational aids. Document users can jump quickly to the necessary data regardless of document size. For this reason, most major software applications today distribute their documentation in PDF format. Forms and applications
The ability to preserve complicated formatting and send that layout to a printer makes PDF well-suited for delivering forms and applications that rely on efficient use of space. Acrobat now supports interactive forms that users can electronically complete, with no need for pen or typewriter. Users can also submit and manage these forms online, depending on their software configuration.
The best examples of how well PDFs manage forms are all of the IRS tax forms that are available for download online in PDF format. It's no longer necessary to drive around town looking for a paper copy of that hard-to-find tax form. You can download any form, instruction manual, or publication from the IRS website.
If you have trouble accessing the links in this class, you may not have any version of Acrobat installed on your system. Take a few minutes to download the free version of Adobe Reader to view these files.
Creating forms
Creating forms that people simply download, print, and fill in is as simple as creating any other PDF document: You create the form in your favorite software and convert it to PDF. However, creating PDF forms that users can fill in electronically saves them quite a few steps. Acrobat uses Adobe LiveCycle Designer to help you create fill-in forms. Just select Forms > Create New Form from the Adobe main menu and follow the prompts. Adobe LifeCycle Designer launches automatically during the form creation process. You can create forms from an Acrobat template, an electronic document (such as Word), an imported spreadsheet, or a scanned document using OCR (optical character reader) software.
The functionality to create fillable forms is available only in Adobe Acrobat Professional and 3D.
As you can see, few document types won't benefit from the PDF protocol. PDF files are lightweight, powerful, precise, and universal. They're the perfect solution for sharing wide ranges of content in today's connected world.
Now that you've learned how to put PDFs to work for you, find out whether it's best to use PDF or HTML documents on a website.
PDF or HTML?
Most software packages have an ability to export data or created documents into HTML. HTML documents are lightweight, generally small, and like PDFs, Reliable HP are accessible to anyone possessing the correct software: an HTML browser. workstations There will be times when HTML is a better option (most notably when you have some formatting flexibility), but PDF does have some benefits that you won't find in HTML. If running Acrobat along with your other applications is causing your computer to slow dramatically or crash, it Advanced formatting is time for a reliable, powerful, and affordable HP workstation. If you're familiar with HTML, you know how clumsy it is to design web pages that involve complicated tables or other advanced formatting. A PDF document eliminates this, which ultimately translates into better readability.
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You don't have many options when printing HTML files. A single file can span multiple pages, and you have no real control on how the document is paginated or arranged. HTML also supports a limited number of fonts. PDF documents print on paper as they appear on screen, and the document's fonts are embedded in the document so they always print properly. » Workstation buying guide
Easy to use
One of HTML's inherent advantages is the ability to build documents that users can easily navigate. You can create web pages that link tables of contents, indexes, and related content. You can also link content within your document to external websites. The newest version of the PDF format offers this same functionality. As you saw in the example PDFs on the previous page, you can create interactive tables of contents and indexes that let readers instantly access them from any spot in the PDF. You can also make live links to websites and other external applications. Moving on
Now that you've learned a little bit about Acrobat, you're ready to take a closer look at the application. Lesson 2 covers the creation of PostScript files from your favorite document-creation application, and the details of creating PDFs using PDFMaker and Distiller. Before you move on to Lesson 2, be sure to complete the assignment and quiz for Lesson 1, and then stop by the class message board to discuss how you plan to use PDF technology with your instructor and fellow students. See you there.
Assignment #1
Make a list of documents that you already have or plan to create that you think are good candidates for the PDF format. For each document, list the following:
The software you used to create the file or plan to use to create the file. The version of Acrobat necessary to create the PDF. How you plan to use the PDF file. Are you going to link to it from a website, burn it to a CD, send it via email, or deliver it to a print shop for professional printing? The features that you've seen in other PDFs that you would like to include in your PDF. Some options include password protecting your PDF, adding hyperlinks and bookmarks, and creating forms users can fill out electronically.
Quiz: #1
Question 1: Which of the following Acrobat versions can you use to create simple PDF files from Microsoft Word documents? (Check all that apply.) A) Adobe Acrobat Reader B) Adobe Acrobat Standard C) Adobe Acrobat Professional D) Adobe Acrobat Elements
Question 2: Which of the following Acrobat versions can you use to create fillable electronic forms? A) Acrobat Reader B) Acrobat Standard C) Acrobat Professional D) Acrobat Elements
Question 3: Which of the following applications can you use to generate content for Acrobat files? (Check all that apply.) A) Microsoft Word B) Microsoft Excel C) Adobe Photoshop D) QuarkExpress
Question 4: True or False: Acrobat supports embedded links like those used in HTML. A) True B) False
Question 5: True or False: Acrobat uses Adobe LiveCycle Designer to help you create fill-in PDF forms. A) True B) False
Create PDFs
You can create PDFs directly from a number of document creation applications or from within Acrobat. Learn how to do both, and how to select which option is right for you. You'll also find out how to include multimedia in your PDFs.
The magic of PostScript®
Adobe PostScript is the key to PDF, and is an older technology than PDF. If you've done any high-end printing work in the last 10 years or so, you may be familiar with PostScript. Even if you aren't, you can still use it to create PDFs. So why is PostScript so important?
Modern printing technology has centered on the PostScript protocol. This is because it offers a universal language for output devices such as printers that allows for a common software interface regardless of the hardware configuration. The PostScript protocol handles files sent to 150-dpi (dots per inch) inkjet printers the same way it handles files destined for 6,000-dpi color image setters.
In a world without PostScript, the scenario would be very different. Each application that produced files for printing would have to know how to speak with hundreds of different hardware platforms. It would have to account for a wide range of typefaces and graphic formats. Each printer manufacturer might choose to represent or measure color in a unique way. In short: chaos.
PostScript eliminates this confusion. If an application and output device are both PostScript-enabled, you're in business and you should have no further problems.
Although PostScript is an open protocol, it's a registered trademark of the Adobe Corporation.
So, if PostScript is so great and translates documents into a universal language, why do we need PDF? Why not just create PostScript files that can be read by all sorts of hardware? The keyword is portability. PostScript files are designed to be used by printers -- the files are neither "lightweight" nor easy to work with. Furthermore, because PostScript is a printer language, it has no way to convey its information visually. The PDF format completes the process. It translates the PostScript information into a truly portable format that can be carried to a printer, an email account, or a web page with ease.
Now that you understand a bit about PostScript, learn about the differences between the two main engines that create PDF files -- PDFMaker and Distiller.
PDFMaker versus Distiller
The Standard and Professional versions of the Acrobat 8 software have two engines for creating PDFs: the basic PDF writer (known as PDFMaker) and Distiller. Although there's no real difference in the technology behind the two, there is a difference in the level of flexibility and configuration that each engine offers.
PDF-enabled software packages, such as Microsoft Word and Adobe InDesign, use PDFMaker to create PDFs directly from within the document creation software. PDFMaker works behind the scenes and automatically conducts most PDF processing, offering you little say in key decisions. The results come easy and fast, but they're not always exactly what you're after.
By contrast, Distiller is more robust. Distiller takes a PostScript file you create from within your document-creation software (more on that later in the lesson), gives you the opportunity to specify exactly which properties you'd like your PDF to have, and then produces the PDF file. Distiller offers a more hands-on approach -- one that requires a little more attention and understanding of the PDF protocol. There are also certain features that are only supported in PDFs generated specifically by Distiller.
If you aren't sure whether you should work with PDFMaker or Distiller, take the easy route first and create the PDF first with PDFMaker within your PDF- enabled application. If you aren't satisfied with the results, you can try again with Distiller.
The remainder of this lesson shows you how to create PDFs using both PDFMaker and Distiller.
Create PDFs
Many major software applications come with built-in PDF support. However, to unlock that support, you have to purchase and install the Acrobat software. Great deals Once you do, you can create PDFs in those applications via the PDFMaker right at your fingertips. To make it even easier, many of these applications place a PDF button on the toolbar or make the PDF functionality obvious in the Want to incorporate images menu choices after you install the Acrobat software. into your PDFs? Save on scanners and digital cameras or check out other printing and imaging special offers Moving forward, this lesson includes instructions on how to create PDFs in from HP. Microsoft Word 2003. Although the information here is specific to Word, just about every PDF-enabled application uses similar processes and dialog boxes.
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After you install Acrobat, Microsoft Word gives you a few easy ways to create PDFs directly from Word itself:
Select Adobe PDF > Convert to Adobe PDF. Click the Convert to Adobe PDF button the Acrobat installation conveniently adds to your Word toolbar. Click the Convert to Adobe PDF and Send for Review button on the Word toolbar. This button is located to the right of the Convert to Adobe PDF button. (You'll learn about document reviewing in Lesson 5.)
Any of these options automatically begins the PDF creation process and finishes by asking you to choose a PDF file name, as shown in Figure 2-1. (You may be asked to save the file if you haven't already done so.)
Figure 2-1: Save Adobe PDF File As dialog box.
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After you provide a file name and location, you're done. You've created your first PDF file.
General settings
Although it was quite simple to create a basic PDF file in the previous section, there are also a number of ways you can customize the PDF creation process. To begin customization, select Adobe PDF > Change Conversion Settings.
The Acrobat PDFMaker dialog box appears. Most of the options on the Settings tab, shown in Figure 2-2, relate specifically to conversion settings and application settings. Figure 2-2: Settings tab of the Acrobat PDFMaker dialog box.
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As you can see, assistance is available via the Help button located at the bottom of the dialog box.
Security options
The Security tab, shown in Figure 2-3, lists all of the options that affect document security. It enables you to specify a document password as well as specific permission settings. You'll explore PDF security in Lesson 4 of this class.
Figure 2-3: Security tab of the Acrobat PDFMaker dialog box.
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The Word tab, shown in Figure 2-4, contains application-specific settings. It enables you to provide Acrobat with instructions on handling document features, such as footnotes and comments.
Figure 2-4: Word tab of the Acrobat PDFMaker dialog box.
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Bookmark options
The Bookmarks tab, shown in Figure 2-5, gives you the tools you need to create documents that are easy to navigate and read.
Figure 2-5: Bookmarks tab of the Acrobat PDFMaker dialog box.
Enlarge image On this tab, you equate certain headers, styles, or document structure elements with PDF bookmarks. This means you can take a document's organizational structure and build navigational bookmarks like the ones shown in Figure 2-6.
Figure 2-6: An Acrobat file that uses bookmarks.
Create multiple-document PDFs
In addition to generating a PDF of a single document, you can combine several different documents -- even in different formats -- into one PDF file. All of the formatting in the original documents remains intact in the new PDF.
To create a multiple-document PDF:
1. Select File > Combine Files in Acrobat. 2. Select the files you want to include in the PDF. 3. Select a file size and conversion setting: Smaller File Size, Default File Size, or Larger File Size. Click Next. 4. Select Merge files into a single PDF or Assemble files into a PDF Package. If you select the latter, you're prompted to select a cover sheet. Click Create.
Merging multiple files creates a single PDF file with the files listed as pages in sequential order. Packaging multiple files creates a package in which the recipient can use navigation tools to access each file separately.
Convert email messages to PDF
You can convert a Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes message to a PDF document to send to others without fear of your original message being changed. To convert a message to PDF:
In Outlook, select an email message, and then select Adobe PDF > Convert to Adobe PDF > Selected Messages. In the Save Adobe PDF As dialog box, select a folder, name the file, and click Save. In Lotus Notes, select Actions > Convert Selected Messages To Adobe PDF. Save the file when you're finished.
Embed media clips in a PDF
Acrobat enables you to add media clips -- audio and video -- in a PDF as long as the media is playable in Windows Media Player, Flash Player, RealPlayer, or QuickTime.
To add a media clip to a PDF:
1. In Acrobat, select Tools > Advanced Editing > Movie Tool (or Sound Tool). 2. If Acrobat prompts you to save a copy of your file, click Save a Copy. 3. Drag an area in your file where you want the media clip to appear (called the play area). 4. In the resulting dialog box, select a compatibility option: Acrobat 6 (and later) or Acrobat 5 (and earlier). 5. Browse to select a multimedia file, and then click OK. 6. Select a poster image to display in the play area when the media clip is not playing. 7. Save the file.
When you open this PDF file and click the media play area, a dialog box prompts you to play the multimedia content one time only or add it to your list of trusted documents. Select either option and then click Play.
You must use Acrobat 3D to include 3D designs and computer-aided design files in a PDF.
Alternatives
So far, we've only discussed creating a PDF file within the confines of an application. However, it's also possible to create it using other methods:
Acrobat Distiller: This application is discussed on the next page of this lesson. Adobe Acrobat: The application itself enables you to build PDF files from various documents and other PDF files. Just open the files you wish to manipulate and Acrobat converts them to PDFs. Adobe PDF printer: Acrobat automatically installs a "printer" on your system called Adobe PDF. You can print to this printer from any application that supports printing. Rather than printing to a physical printer, you're taken to the Save Adobe PDF File As dialog box. Next, find out how to use Distiller to create PDFs.
Create PDFs with Distiller
Now it's time to take a closer look at Distiller. As you learned earlier, one of the reasons Distiller is so powerful is the wide range of control it gives you over the whole PDF creation process. Whether you plan to send your document to a printer or make it available on the internet, Distiller can help produce the perfectly optimized PDF to get the job done.
Before you begin: create a PostScript file
To try your hand at Distiller, or to take advantage of its enhanced options, you have to create PostScript files to feed through Distiller. Creating a PostScript file is actually as easy as printing a document, except you're printing to a file instead of to an actual printer. To create a PostScript file in Microsoft Word, follow these steps:
1. Select File >Print to open the Print dialog box. 2. Select a PostScript printer in the Name list, and then check the Print to file check box. 3. Click OK. 4. Give your PostScript file a name and save it somewhere easy to find. 5. Click OK.
If Distiller won't process your file, you may need to add a PostScript-compatible printer driver. You may do so from the Printers and Faxes Control Panel by adding a new printer that has a "PS" in the printer name, such as HP LaserJet 8000 Series PS.
The result of this quick process is a PostScript file with a .ps extension. Locate the file on your hard disk and double-click. If you've installed Distiller, it will launch, as shown in Figure 2-7, and automatically convert your PostScript file to a PDF file of the same name. Figure 2-7: Acrobat Distiller dialog box.
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Some applications and printers combine to produce PostScript files with the .prn extension. If your application generates such a file, rename it with the .ps extension to avoid any difficulties with Acrobat.
If, for some reason, Distiller doesn't automatically launch when you double-click your PostScript file, just select Start > All Programs > Adobe Distiller. In Distiller, select File > Open to browse your hard disk, find the file, and open it.
Now that you know the basics of generating PDF files, learn about your options and configuration choices for controlling version compatibility, colors, fonts, and more.
Beyond the preset options
Distiller has even more options to choose from than PDFMaker. To access them, you need to open Distiller manually, either from the Start menu or by Stock up selecting Advanced > Print Production > Acrobat Distiller within Acrobat.
Print your Acrobat PDFs with In Distiller, select Settings > Edit Adobe PDF Settings, which opens the exceptional printing supplies Standard - Adobe PDF Settings dialog box. from HP that will produce superior documents.
The dialog box opens with the General panel displayed, shown in Figure 2-8, on which you define basic document setup and compatibility configurations. You can also set the version compatibility for the PDF file you're generating. This is particularly important if you're publishing PDFs for users of older versions of Acrobat. Keep in mind some features aren't available in older versions -- most notably some advanced navigational and design features. See the Acrobat user guide for more information. » Printing supplies
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Figure 2-8: Standard - Adobe PDF Settings dialog box.
Enlarge image Image options
The Images panel, shown in Figure 2-9, enables you to specify how Distiller handles embedded images.
Figure 2-9: Images panel of the Standard - Adobe PDF Settings dialog box.
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This panel contains downsampling, compression, and anti-aliasing settings that impact image processing.
Font options
You manage the fonts in your PDF on the Fonts panel, shown in Figure 2-10.
Figure 2-10: Fonts panel of the Standard - Adobe PDF Settings dialog box.
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Your settings on this panel determine which fonts will be automatically embedded into the PDF files. Embedded fonts help the PDF display and print correctly, even if users don't have the font installed on their machines or printers. However, the more fonts you embed, the longer the file takes to load and navigate. You should not embed commonly used fonts (such as the ones listed in the Never Embed section of the Fonts panel shown in Figure 2-10).
Color options
Use the options on the Color panel, shown in Figure 2-11, to manage advanced color settings for the PDF file. These options apply only to documents that will be displayed or printed in color -- and especially to those documents destined for high-end color output.
Figure 2-11: Color panel of the Standard - Adobe PDF Settings dialog box.
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If you use the Adobe Color Management System, you can select a file here to automatically calibrate document color.
Advanced options
Like the color settings, many of the options on the Advanced panel, shown in Figure 2-12, don't apply to the majority of PDF files. Figure 2-12: Advanced panel of the Standard - Adobe PDF Settings dialog box.
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If you use DSC (Document Structuring Conventions), you make related choices here. If you're using Postscript prologue and epilogue files, you'll make the choice here as well.
You use prologue and epilogue files to add custom PostScript code that runs at the beginning or end of every converted PostScript job.
Standards options
The Standards panel, shown in Figure 2-13, contains PDF document options designed to assist with the print production process.
Figure 2-13: Standards settings panel of the Standard - Adobe PDF Settings dialog box.
Enlarge image You use the Standards options to check the document for compliance with certain printing standards, such as PDF/X and PDF/A. You'll learn more about these settings in Lesson 6 of this class.
Moving on
As you can see, Acrobat offers you a wide range of possibilities when planning, building, and managing your PDFs. You can build them for multiple audiences and purposes, with the guarantee that your file can get the job done the way you intended. In Lesson 3, you'll learn how to tweak your PDF files to optimize them for the web and print formats, and how you can better prepare your source documents to be converted to PDF files. Before you move on, be sure to complete the assignment for this lesson and take the quiz to test what you've learned. Also, stop by the message board to see how your fellow students are faring thus far and to ask any questions you might have about creating PDFs.
Assignment #1
For this assignment:
1. Select a test document that you can open and edit in your favorite document-creation application, such as Microsoft Word or Adobe InDesign. 2. Use PDFMaker to create a PDF of the document within the document-creation application. (Just click the Convert to Adobe PDF button on the toolbar, or select Adobe PDF > Convert to Adobe PDF from the main menu.) 3. While in the document-creation application, create a .ps file. 4. Close the document-creation application. 5. Open Distiller. Create a PDF of the same test document, and save it with a different file name.
Is one process easier than the other? Do you see any noticeable difference in the quality of the PDFs you created?
Quiz: #1
Question 1: Which Acrobat utility enables you to convert PostScript files to PDF files? A) Adobe Reader B) Convert to PDF tool C) PDFMaker D) Acrobat Distiller
Question 2: Which Acrobat utility is invoked when you select the Convert to Adobe PDF menu item in Microsoft Word? A) Adobe Reader B) Acrobat Professional C) PDFMaker D) Acrobat Distiller
Question 3: Which tab within the Acrobat settings enables you to specify how footnotes should be handled in a Microsoft Word document? A) Security B) Word C) General D) Bookmark
Question 4: Which extension should be assigned to files intended for use within Acrobat Distiller? A) .prn B) .pdf C) .doc D) .xls E) .ps
Question 5: Which Acrobat Distiller tab contains options used to implement Document Structuring Conventions? A) Advanced B) Standards C) General D) Color E) Image
Optimize PDFs
This lesson describes optimizing PDFs for print, online distribution, and other uses. It includes information on new Acrobat tools for tailoring output, and best practices that help you configure Acrobat for the best possible output.
Optimization basics: fonts and colors
As you create documents that might end up in PDF format, there are a few considerations related to font and color choice that you need to keep in mind. A little work ahead of time in your source document can help you avoid problems when your PDF is complete.
Regardless of which Acrobat engine you use to create your PDFs -- PDFMaker or Distiller -- these techniques still apply.
Fonts
Remember that PDF documents can embed or store fonts within the document. This means that printers or computers don't need to have that font loaded for them to properly display your document. If you're not sure of which fonts any given PDF includes, in Acrobat Reader, you can find out by selecting File > Document Properties and clicking the Fonts tab. The Fonts tab lists all of the fonts embedded in a PDF file, as shown in Figure 3-1. Figure 3-1: The Fonts tab in Adobe Reader.
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Don't have Adobe Reader yet? Go to the Adobe website and click the Get Adobe® Reader® button, and then download and install the software. Or, click www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html to go directly to the download.
However, this display is only relevant after you create a PDF. How do you choose fonts that are going to go into a PDF document? In general, most fonts you encounter will work well in a PDF document -- especially if they're embedded. This is also true for foreign language character sets.
Type 1 or TrueType?
If you're familiar with the terms, you probably know a bit about these two font classes already. Type 1 fonts (also known as PostScript fonts) and True Type fonts look the same to the naked eye. Although they're technically different, that doesn't really make a difference here. You just need to remember these two things:
Type 1 fonts generally work with zero problems in all versions of Acrobat. You can embed Type 1 fonts as needed, although because they tend to be more standardized, you may not need to embed many of these fonts. True Type fonts can be embedded in versions of Acrobat 4.0 and later. If you're preparing PDFs in later versions of Acrobat that need to be compatible with versions earlier than 4.0, you may have to switch to Type 1 fonts instead.
Color
As with fonts, the PDF format is pretty well-equipped to handle most color challenges. However, that does not mean that there aren't important things to consider when choosing and using colors.
One of the problems PDF technology faces when dealing with colors is the universality of the PDF format. The PDF protocol was designed to communicate with a wide range of hardware devices and software applications. Each one of these devices or applications may represent and manage color in a different way.
You can use a CMS (Color Management System) to attempt to interpret color in standard ways across different devices. Adobe's CMS is a powerful tool for anyone doing a lot of color production work. Newer versions of PDF also support ICC (International Color Consortium) color management.
RGB versus CMYK
If you're given a choice of color modes, go with RGB, especially if you plan to use PDFMaker. Although both modes are technically compatible with PDF, PDFMaker handles RGB faster and more efficiently. This applies to spot colors as well as images, such as pictures, line art, or other placed art objects.
As you create a variety of PDF files, you'll soon realize that file sizes can get quite large. Acrobat includes tools for optimizing and compressing files to attain a proper balance between rich, detailed PDFs and file size. You'll learn how to optimize, resample, and compress your PDF files next.
More about color
To learn more about using color options to prepare your document for professional printing, refer to the Acrobat user guide and the Adobe website for more information on the Adobe Color Management System.
Keep it lean: optimizing, resampling, and compression
The process of optimizing a PDF essentially involves carefully balancing file size with your document output and design requirements. You want a Creative vision document that includes enough information to display as you intended, but no more than necessary. A happy medium between the two ensures that your PDFs load quickly, have fast navigation, and are easy to distribute. Your monitor is not just a tool; it's a creative partner that brings your ideas to life, giving them shape, clarity, Compression versus resampling and color. HP monitors will display your PDFs in brilliant detail. As you tweak your PDF files so they strike the delicate balance between file size and output, you need to consider both compression and resampling.
Resampling » HP LP2065 flat panel monitor Resampling essentially means changing the actual pixel construction of a file, and therefore, the size of the file itself. When you resample a file, you re-create the file with less data, and therefore, a smaller size. It works because certain printers (or web browsers) don't need all of the data present in a file. By eliminating bits of unnecessary data (especially unused colors), you can preserve image quality while reducing file size.
In a PDF, you'll generally downsample, which means you're attempting to reproduce the image using less data. Again, the process relies on most output devices not needing all of an image's data to reproduce it faithfully. Compression
PDFs support two different types of compression technologies for reducing file size by compressing image files: ZIP and JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group). Each of these two methods has distinct, unique advantages.
ZIP compression is best for images with either large areas of solid color or patterns. ZIP can be lossless, which means no data is removed from the file when it's compressed. JPEG compression is best for grayscale or color photographs. Because JPEG compression is lossy -- meaning image quality can suffer -- use caution when compressing images this way. The Distiller options also offer different quality levels of JPEG compression: minimum, low, medium, high, and maximum.
Although many web users cannot tell the difference between high- and low- JPEG compressions, it's often readily apparent on the printed page.
How to optimize
How you optimize your file depends entirely on your PDF's final destination. You need to optimize documents that you're going to display and use online in favor of file size over document quality. PDFs designed for professional printing have the opposite need.
Distiller has a set of predefined output options designed to produce PDFs optimized for the web, a standard office printer, or a professional printer. These are good benchmarks by which to set your optimization options.
Optimize for the web
There's one priority when you're optimizing PDF files for the web: speed. You want to build documents that display, send, or download quickly. At the same time, you want to take care to preserve document formatting and design choices you've made. PDF gives you a completely new world of ways to convey your ideas and information over the internet, but you have to move quickly to do so.
Acrobat Distiller offers different compression options for your document. As you saw when looking at compression options, you can control how different image types are compressed. The average web browser needs only 72 dpi for a sharp display; therefore, you can quickly reduce file size just with graphic compression alone. When you convert a collection of 300 dpi graphics to 72 dpi, the change in file size is significant.
A more important innovation that debuted way back in Acrobat 5.0 was the introduction of Fast Web View technology. This allows files to download page by page rather than all at once. Users can start viewing the document while the rest of it loads (called streaming), ensuring a nice steady flow of information between document and user.
Optimize for print Your priority when optimizing for print is quality. Moreover, because you're not necessarily trying to save space, it's an easier task than preparing documents for the web. You still have some choices to make, but you don't face the same constraints of time and resources.
Although file size might be a minor consideration, you're generally not racing to bring a file under 32 KB (kilobytes), as you might be if your file were headed for the web. Larger file sizes mean less compression and resampling is required. At the same time, you can also generally embed fewer fonts and interactive features into printed PDF documents, which means the creation process is faster.
Before you decide not to embed fonts in your PDF file, check with your print shop or service bureau to be sure they have the fonts you used in your document. Missing fonts are one of the primary reasons print jobs are late or incorrect. When in doubt, embed all fonts.
Get dirty with Distiller
There's really only one way to learn the ins and outs of optimization (apart from reading a thick book): experiment. Play with the job options Distiller offers. That's one of the benefits of PDFs. From one source file, you can create multiple variations specifically constructed for a particular purpose or audience.
As you tweak Distiller's options, you can click the Save button to keep a copy of any setting changes you've made. This will help you save time if you discover the right settings for a particular job that you might find yourself dealing with again.
Next, we'll take a tour of Acrobat's PDF Optimizer tool.
PDF Optimizer
After reading the last section, you should now have a basic understanding of how optimization works and the methods used to optimize a PDF document manually within the confines of Acrobat Distiller. This lesson covered that material first to provide you with a fundamental understanding of the basics. Now it's time to learn the shortcuts.
Beginning with Acrobat 6.0, Adobe introduced the PDF Optimizer, a tool within the Acrobat program that enables you to automatically optimize your documents. Let's experiment with it a bit. Open Acrobat Standard and then open a PDF document of your choice. Preferably, pick one that has many pictures in it and several different fonts.
It's best if you select a document that you created yourself; otherwise, it may already be optimized.
Start the PDF Optimizer by selecting Advanced > PDF Optimizer from the Acrobat menu. The PDF Optimizer dialog box appears. Your first task is to analyze the properties of the current document. Click the Audit space usage button in the upper-right corner to open the Audit Space Usage dialog box, shown in Figure 3-2. Figure 3-2: Audit Space Usage dialog box.
After you're done reviewing the space audit information, click OK to continue and return to the PDF Optimizer dialog box.
Images
The Images panel in the PDF Optimizer, shown in Figure 3-3, offers options for customizing the way Acrobat handles images embedded within your documents.
Figure 3-3: Images panel of the PDF Optimizer dialog box.
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Do you recall from the previous page of this lesson that the two ways to reduce the size of image files are downsampling and compression? The Images panel enables you to choose the resampling and/or compression techniques to use on color images, grayscale images, and monochrome images.
Alternatively, you can let Acrobat do the work for you by using the Optimize Scanned PDF menu option. Close PDF Optimizer, and with your document open in Acrobat, select Document > Optimize Scanned PDF. The Optimize Scanned PDF dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 3-4.
Figure 3-4: Optimize Scanned PDF dialog box.
Use the slider bar to select the balance you'd like between image quality and document size, and then click OK.
Fonts
The Fonts panel, shown in Figure 3-5, enables you to unembed fonts from your PDF files.
Figure 3-5: Fonts panel of the PDF Optimizer dialog box.
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To remove fonts, select them in the Embedded fonts list and use the Move button to put them into the Fonts to unembed list.
Transparency
The Transparency panel, shown in Figure 3-6, enables you to select a low-, medium-, or high-resolution transparency setting, which flattens the transparency artwork in the PDF, reducing file size.
Figure 3-6: Transparency panel of the PDF Optimizer dialog box.
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Not all PDFs contain transparent artwork. If your PDF doesn't have them, the Transparency check box isn't checked by default.
Discard Objects
The Discard Objects panel, shown in Figure 3-7, enables you to remove objects from within the PDF file. Some PDFs, for example, include multiple objects of the same image. When optimizing a PDF, you can use the Discard Objects panel to eliminate the unnecessary objects and reduce file size.
Figure 3-7: Discard Objects panel of the PDF Optimizer dialog box.
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Discard User Data
Much like the Discard Objects panel, you use the Discard User Data panel, shown in Figure 3-8, to remove data from PDF files. In some instances, you want to remove all personal information from a PDF, or just remove metadata, attachments, and so on. Figure 3-8: Discard User Data panel of the PDF Optimizer dialog box.
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You'll learn how to remove hidden text and sensitive information in Lesson 4.
Clean Up
The final panel, Clean Up, is shown in Figure 3-9.
Figure 3-9: Clean Up panel of the PDF Optimizer dialog box.
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This panel enables you to perform a number of miscellaneous document cleanup tasks that may reduce the size of the PDF, such as removing invalid bookmarks and links.
The last item on the Clean Up panel, Optimize the PDF for fast web view, enables you to use the web optimization technique discussed on the previous page of this lesson.
After you've finished selecting your options, click OK. The Save Optimized As dialog box appears. You're asked to select a name for your file. You can either overwrite the original PDF with the optimized file or, alternatively, give the optimized file a new name.
If you're experimenting with image quality, be sure to give the file a new name. After you've lowered the quality of an image, you cannot increase it again.
You learned a lot about PDF optimization in this lesson; however, there's still many more details to cover in Acrobat regarding optimal files. Whenever you want additional information on an Acrobat topic, select the Help menu.
Moving on
In this lesson, you learned about optimizing PDF documents. Before you move on to Lesson 4, take the time to complete the assignment and quiz for this lesson. After you've completed these tasks, move on to the next lesson where you'll learn how to add security features to your PDFs. In addition, don't forget to visit the message board to find out what your instructor and fellow students are doing.
Assignment #1
In this assignment, you implement the optimization techniques learned in Lesson 3. To complete the assignment, follow these steps:
1. Select a PDF file with a mix of text and graphics. 2. Use the PDF Optimizer to reduce the size to an optimal level. 3. Make appropriate image compression, font embedding, and document cleanup decisions based upon the content of the document and its intended use.
Discuss the settings you chose with your classmates on the message board.
Quiz: #1
Question 1: Which Acrobat-supported compression format is most appropriate for color photos? A) LZH B) ZIP C) ARC D) BAK E) JPEG
Question 2: Which Acrobat-supported compression format is most appropriate for grayscale photos? A) LZH B) ZIP C) ARC D) BAK E) JPEG
Question 3: Which Acrobat-supported compression format is most appropriate for documents with large areas of solid color? A) LZH B) ZIP C) ARC D) BAK E) JPEG
Question 4: Which panel in the PDF Optimizer do you use to enable fast web viewing for your PDF files? A) Clean Up B) Transparency C) Images D) Fonts
Question 5: Which resolution does the average web browser require for a sharp display? A) 50 dpi B) 67 dpi C) 72 dpi D) 89 dpi E) 108 dpi
Secure PDFs
This lesson provides an overview of the different Acrobat security options. It looks at protecting PDFs with passwords and encryption, preventing printing and other changes, and removing sensitive information.
Keep PDFs secure
Creating an important document nowadays generally means coming up with some way to keep it secure. Acrobat's PDF security settings allow you to Safe and secure create and distribute PDFs with the peace of mind that users won't tamper with them or alter them without your permission. HP ProLiant servers provide industry-leading Passwords are the primary means you can use to protect a PDF file from management, performance unwanted use or changes. To give you the most flexibility, you don't have to and availability for your small- include this level of security in the PDF when you generate it (although you can medium business. in Distiller). Instead, you can add it later when you're ready to disseminate the PDF.
Remove sensitive information from PDFs » HP ProLiant ML370 G4 server Before you share a PDF with others, in certain circumstances you may want to remove all personally identifying or sensitive information. Sometimes this data is hidden. If you can't locate it, select Document > Examine Document from the Acrobat menu. Figure 4-1 shows a document that contains metadata, bookmarks, and hidden page and image content.
» Server buying guide Figure 4-1: The Examine Document dialog box shows the results of a document scan.
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To remove any of the items, leave the boxes checked -- to keep information in the PDF, remove the check mark next to an item. Click the Remove all checked items button. In the resulting confirmation dialog box, click OK. You're reminded that no changes will be in effect until you save the PDF.
Add security in Distiller
You can add a password to your PDF as it generates by using the Distiller options. In Distiller, select Settings > Security to open the Adobe PDF -Security dialog box, shown in Figure 4-2.
Figure 4-2: Adobe PDF - Security dialog box.
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In Acrobat, you can use two different passwords in a PDF file. The first, the Document Open Password, is used solely to open a document and should be distributed to all intended recipients of a password-protected PDF. The second password, the Permissions password, is used to alter the security settings of a PDF document and should normally be kept secret.
When you assign a password to a PDF, you can restrict the way users interact with your document, in addition to restricting who has access to it. The following sections describe Acrobat password restriction options.
Require a password to open the document
When users attempt to open your PDF file, they're prompted to enter a password. Without this password, the document is encrypted and useless. This feature allows you to securely distribute confidential information via email or the internet.
If you use password protection, be sure to prearrange the password with the document recipient by telephone, regular mail, or some offline means. If you send a document as an attachment to a message that says, "The password is Apple," you might as well not bother encrypting the file in the first place. If a hacker intercepts the message, he or she will have both the file and the password.
Restrict printing
This is a great feature if you're using PDFs to send work to a client. They can view the document but cannot print it, which ensures that your work stays yours (and you get paid). This is also a good setting to use when you need to distribute sensitive information. The choices you have under the Printing Allowed option are the following:
None: Disallows printing entirely Low Resolution (150dpi): Allows low-resolution printing only High Resolution: Allows high-resolution printing
Restricting printing is not foolproof. There's nothing to stop a document recipient from extracting data from a file using the Print Screen option of their operating system.
Restrict changes
This is yet another useful setting to use when distributing drafts of your work to colleagues or clients. It prevents anyone who might have the full version of the Acrobat software from changing PDF settings or even adding additional security. It's also a good way to distribute important news material or other items that you don't want altered or edited. There are several different permission levels that you may grant users of your PDFs in the Changes Allowed drop-down list:
None Inserting, deleting, and rotation of pages Fill-in form fields and signing Commenting, filling-in form fields, and signing Any except extracting pages
Enable copying of text, images, and other contents
This setting determines whether users can cut and paste portions of a PDF document. Leaving it unchecked makes the PDF truly read-only. Although people can still manually type any text they see in your PDF into a separate document they can edit, this makes it much more difficult for them to move information out of your PDF and into a different document.
Enable text access for screen reader devices for the visually impaired
If you select this option, screen reading devices can access the underlying text of your document.
Enable plaintext metadata
This option is available only if you're using Acrobat 6.0 or higher security settings. It allows search engines and other software packages that support XML (Extensible Markup Language) to gain access to the document metadata containing content such as the document title, summary, and author's name.
Add security to an existing PDF
If you have an existing PDF that you created in Distiller or PDFMaker, you can add password security to it using the Acrobat software. To configure the security settings for the document, open it in Acrobat and select Advanced > Security > Show Security Properties. The Document Properties dialog box appears with the Security tab selected, as shown in Figure 4-3, displaying a summary of the document restrictions. Because no security has been added to this document yet, all of the document restrictions display "Allowed."
Figure 4-3: Document Properties dialog box, Security tab.
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Select Password Security from the Security Method drop-down list on the Security tab. The Password - Security Settings dialog box appears, with the same options found in the Adobe PDF - Security dialog box shown previously in Figure 4-2.
Now that you understand how to add security to a PDF, move on to learn about certifying PDFs.
Certify PDFs
Acrobat 6.0 and higher enables you to certify PDF files to provide assurances to document recipients. The first step in this process is to create your own digital certificate for use in the public key infrastructure. Acrobat supports a number of certificate types, including self-signed certificates, Microsoft Windows certificates, and those generated by a third party.
In this class, you'll work exclusively with self-signed certificates, due to the expense involved in obtaining third-party certificates. However, you should keep in mind that this type of certificate is suitable only for communicating with known recipients with whom you may physically exchange certificates. If you must exchange certificates over the internet, the use of a third-party certification authority is critical.
Generate your own certificate
The first step of the PDF encryption process is to generate your own self- signed digital certificate. Do this by following these steps:
1. Select Advanced > Security Settings. The Security Settings dialog box appears. 2. In the left panel, select Digital IDs, and then click the Add ID button on the toolbar. The Add Digital ID dialog box appears.
1. Select the Create a self-signed digital ID for use with Acrobat option, and then click Next.
Throughout this class and in the real world, you'll hear the terms digital ID and digital certificate used interchangeably.
1. Acrobat prompts you to choose how to store the digital ID. Select one of the following, and then click Next.
New PKCS#12 digital ID file: Saves the ID in standard encryption format to share with others
Windows Certificate Store: Saves the ID on your hard disk where other Windows applications can access it
1. Fill in your identity information in the resulting window, shown in Figure 4-4. Click Next.
Figure 4-4: Entering your identify information for a self-signed digital ID.
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1. Select a location to save your digital ID file. If you're using a Windows system, the file has a .pfx extension. On Macintosh systems, it has a .p12 file extension. You also need to enter a password and confirm it. Passwords are case-sensitive and must be a minimum of six characters. When you're done, click Finish.
You're returned to the Security Settings dialog box, which shows a summary of your digital certificate's details.
Make the certificate accessible for future use
Now you need to instruct Acrobat to use the ID for future signature and encryption operations. To do this, perform the following:
1. With the certificate highlighted in the Security Settings dialog box, select Usage Options > Use for Signing. Acrobat places a check mark next to the Use for Signing option, as shown in Figure 4-5.
Figure 4-5: The certificate is configured to be used for signing.
1. Repeat the previous step for the Use for Encryption option. Certify a PDF
After you've created your own digital ID, you can use the certificate to certify digitally the PDF files. This certification provides recipients with the assurance that you created the PDF document and that it was not altered after you signed it.
To certify a document, perform the following:
1. Select File > Save as Certified Document from within Acrobat. The Save as Certified Document dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 4-6, providing details of the certification process. Click OK.
Figure 4-6: Save as Certified Document dialog box.
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1. The resulting dialog box, shown in Figure 4-7, instructs you to close the box and then drag your cursor to a location in the document where you want the signature field to appear. Click OK and follow those instructions.
Figure 4-7: This dialog box instructs you to create a signature field in the PDF.
1. The Certify Documents dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 4-8. Select a digital ID from the Digital ID drop-down list at the top, enter the appropriate password, and select an appearance. The Permitted Changes after Certifying drop-down list offers these choices:
No changes allowed Form fill-in and digital signatures Annotations, form fill-in, and digital signatures
1. Select the option appropriate for your needs, and then click Sign. Figure 4-8: Certify Documents dialog box.
1. The Save As dialog box appears. Select a document name and location, and then click Save.
Recipients of a document are always notified of a certification, regardless of the option you choose during this step.
If you chose to visibly sign the document, a certification mark similar to that shown in Figure 4-9 appears on the document.
Figure 4-9: Certification mark.
If you're not familiar with digital certificates, you can find excellent tutorials and information on the web; just search for digital certificates. Next, you'll learn how to encrypt a PDF.
Encrypt PDFs
Encryption is a security measure that ensures that only intended recipients can view a document. You can share digital certificates with single users, or use High performance digital IDs to encrypt PDF files so multiple recipients can securely read them, desktop but no one else.
Create your PDFs with our most secure and powerful HP Share digital certificates Compaq desktop.
Acrobat uses the FDF (Form Data Format) file format to facilitate the exchange of certificates between users. To provide another user with a copy of your digital certificate, you need to create your own .fdf file.
To do so: » HP Compaq dc7700 small form factor PC
1. Select Advanced > Security Settings. 2. Select your digital ID from the list, and then click the Export button. The Data Exchange File - Export Options dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 4-10.
» Desktop buying guide
Figure 4-10: Data Exchange File - Export Options dialog box.
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1. Select one of the options to export the digital ID to send via email or to save to a file. Click Next and follow the prompts. 2. When you're finished, close the Security Settings dialog box.
To request a digital ID from another user, select Advanced > Manage Trusted Identifies from the Acrobat menu. Click Request Contact. Acrobat then walks you through the process of requesting the digital ID and sending the recipient a copy of your own ID.
Encrypt PDFs for multiple recipients
To encrypt a document for multiple recipients: 1. Select Advanced > Security > Certificate Encryption. 2. The Applying New Security Settings dialog box appears, confirming you want to change security in the document. Click Yes. The Certificate Security Settings Wizard starts. 3. In the General settings screen, as shown in Figure 4-11, click Next to accept the default settings.
With the Discard these settings after applying option selected, the settings will apply only to the current document and not all documents.
Figure 4-11: The General settings screen of the Certificate Security Settings Wizard.
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1. In the Select recipients screen, select your personal digital ID. It's extremely important that you add yourself to the list of authorized recipients. If you don't include your own certificate, you won't be able to view the document after you've saved it. 2. After selecting your own certificate, you're asked to include the certificates of other users that you'd like to authorize to view the encrypted document. Click Search and follow the prompts. 3. When you're done, click Finished.
The next time you save the document, those security settings are added.
Moving on
In this lesson, you learned how to add security to PDF documents and remove sensitive information. Before you move on to Lesson 5, complete the assignment and quiz for this lesson. In addition, don't forget to visit the message board to find out what your instructor and fellow students are doing. After you've completed these tasks, move on to Lesson 5, where you'll learn about Acrobat's document review features.
Assignment #1
Using one of the PDFs you created in the Lesson 3 assignment, add password protection to your PDF, and then select the settings that prevent users from either printing or copying text from the PDF. Next, test your security settings by doing the following: Try to open the PDF without the password. Use the password to open the PDF, and then try to print it. Use the password to open the PDF, and then try to copy text from it into another document.
If you have problems with your security settings, ask for help on the message board.
Quiz: #1
Question 1: Which of the following terms commonly refer to digital IDs? A) Private key B) Public key C) Digital signature D) Digital certificate
Question 2: True or False: Restricting printing can completely prevent a user from printing any portion of a PDF document. A) True B) False
Question 3: Which of the following is not an option for controlling use of a digitally certified PDF document? A) No changes allowed B) Allow any changes to the document C) Form fill-in and digital signatures D) Annotations, form fill-in, and digital signatures
Question 4: True or False: Document certification is known only to recipients when you make the signature visible. A) True B) False
Question 5: Which type of file is used to exchange digital certificates with other Acrobat users? A) .pfx B) .pxf C) .fdf D) .p12 E) .cer
Review documents and collaborate with Acrobat
Acrobat provides robust document reviewing, tracking, and collaboration tools. In this lesson, you'll learn how to electronically initiate a review cycle, add comments, track and manage shared reviews, and initiate web conferencing.
Electronic review process
Adobe Acrobat 8 includes an extremely flexible document review process that enables you to quickly and easily collaborate with colleagues around the world on PDF documents. You can manage this process via email or the web. Participants using Acrobat 6.0 or higher or the free Adobe Reader 7.0 or higher may participate in the electronic review process.
In this lesson, you'll learn the processes used to initiate an electronic review, participate in the review, and manage the process itself.
Initiate an email review
When you initiate an email-based PDF review, participants receive the PDF document along with applicable review information embedded in the document. The recipient then uses Acrobat to make comments on the file itself and returns the revisions to the originator via email.
The process of initiating an email-based review is quite straightforward:
1. In Acrobat, open the PDF document you'd like others to review. This file will become the master file -- you'll merge comments from the reviewers into this file. 2. Click the Review & Comment button on the toolbar, and then select Attach for Email Review.
If you haven't already configured Acrobat with your personal information, the Identity Setup dialog box appears. Enter your identifying information into the fields, and then click Complete.
1. The Send by Email for Review Wizard starts. In the Getting Started screen, select a PDF to send for review. Click Next. 2. In the Invite Reviewers screen, shown in Figure 5-1, fill in the email addresses of the people you'd like to participate in the review. Separate multiple email addresses with a semicolon or hard return.
Figure 5-1: Invite Reviewers screen.
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1. (Optional) To ensure that all returned reviews go to a specific person's email address, click the Customize Review Options button. The Review Options dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 5-2. Enter the email address of the person who should receive the reviews, and then click OK. You're returned to the Invite Reviewers screen.
Figure 5-2: Review Options dialog box.
1. Click Next. The Preview Invitation screen appears. 2. Make any changes you'd like to the default message, and then click Send Invitation.
Depending on the email software you're using, you may see a warning that an application is attempting to send email on your behalf. This is a standard security precaution and should not be cause for alarm.
1. When you receive the outgoing mail notification message, click OK.
All of the recipients you've selected automatically receive an email message inviting them to participate in the review along with the appropriate PDF file.
Invite additional participants
If you'd later like to add additional participants to an email-based review, do the following:
Open the PDF file that you used to initiate the review. From the toolbar, select Review & Comment > Invite Additional Reviewers. Repeat the invitation process used to initiate the review, including only the email addresses of new participants.
Initiate a browser review
Browser-based reviews are more complicated to set up but offer added collaboration advantages. Reviewers may actually see (but not modify or delete) each other's comments in real time. This enables members of the review team to interactively collaborate during the review process. The downside is that you must have access to a web server used to host the file during the review process.
Browser-based reviews offer significant enhancements over email-based reviews. If you plan to use the document review features of Acrobat 8 extensively, you should consult your system administrator about implementing the collaboration technology necessary to support these features. It may be as simple as creating a shared location on a network folder, or creating a secured portion of your existing web server. Edit reviewing preferences
Before you can initiate a browser-based review, you need to configure the appropriate browser-based review settings for your collaboration environment. To do this, select Edit > Preferences, and then select Reviewing in the left pane. The Shared Reviews panel appears on the right, as shown in Figure 5-3.
Figure 5-3: Shared Reviews panel.
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The process of setting up an online comments repository is beyond the scope of this class. Please contact your local system administrator and obtain the appropriate settings to enter in this screen.
Start the review
After you've configured the appropriate settings, the process of initiating a browser-based review is similar to that used to initiate an email-based review:
1. Open the PDF file you'd like others to review. This document becomes the master file. 2. Click Review & Comment, and then select Send for Shared Review. The Send PDF for Shared Review Wizard starts. 3. In the Provide Shared Review Folder Location screen, select a shared network folder into which you'll upload and share the PDF. Click Next.
If you need assistance with this step, please contact your system administrator.
1. In the Decide How to Send the PDF File screen, shown in Figure 5-4, select one of the options: send an invitation with the PDF attached, send an invitation with a link to the PDF, or don't send an invitation and save the file locally. Click Next. Figure 5-4: Decide How to Send the PDF File screen.
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1. In the Invite Reviewers screen, shown in Figure 5-5, fill in the email addresses of the people you'd like to participate in the review in the Required Reviewers field. To cc: other people, add their email addresses in the Optional Reviewers field. Check the Set Deadline check box and enter a date to add a deadline to the PDF review. Click Next.
Figure 5-5: Invite Reviewers screen.
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1. If you selected to send an invitation to the reviewers, the Preview the Email Invitation screen appears. Make any changes you'd like to the default message, and then click Finish. 2. Acrobat processes the review requests. When you receive the outgoing mail notification message, click OK.
Participants receive an email with the text you entered (or the template text) as well as an attached PDF file, or an FDF file that contains only details of the review process necessary for Acrobat to retrieve the PDF file. The next step in the PDF review process is commenting on documents. That's covered in the next section.
Comment on documents
If you're invited to participate in a PDF review, you'll find the process quite simple. When you receive the invitation, there's an attached PDF file that On the go contains the details necessary to configure Acrobat for the review. Simply open this file and Acrobat should open and walk you through the review process. There is no reason to be chained to your desk while If you're participating in an email-based review, the PDF file contains all of the creating your PDFs. With HP data necessary to participate. If you're participating in a browser-based review, notebook PCs, you can use Acrobat attempts to connect to the appropriate file storage location to retrieve Acrobat from nearly the PDF, along with any comments already made by other reviewers. anywhere.
You should see a copy of the PDF file, along with the document message bar and the Comment & Markup toolbar, shown in Figure 5-6.
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Figure 5-6: The document message bar and Comment & Markup toolbar appear automatically. » Notebook buying guide
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If you're participating in a browser-based review, you can work on the document even while you're offline. Just open the document in your web browser, click the Server status button in the document message bar, and select Work Offline. When you're ready to update the master document, click the Server status button again, select Work Online, and then click the Publish Comments button on the document message bar. Your comments are transmitted to the master PDF file on the server, and you receive comments from other document reviewers, if any.
The toolbar contains the following tools you can use to review the PDF document.
Sticky Note tool
This tool enables you to insert balloon-style comments in the text. After selecting the tool, click the portion of the document on which you'd like to comment. The Sticky Note tool opens a balloon window where you type your comments. It automatically inserts your name (as registered with Acrobat) and the current date and time. An example of a comment inserted using the Sticky Note tool is shown in Figure 5-7. Figure 5-7: A Sticky Note tool comment.
Text Edits tool
This tool enables you to actually modify the text contents of the document. Choose to insert, replace, or delete any text contained within the PDF document. The edits you make are temporary; subject to review by the document originator. An example of a text edit made using this tool is shown in Figure 5-8. In this example, the reviewer changed the phrase, "out-of-the-box" to "out of the box."
Figure 5-8: Example of using the Text Edits tool.
Stamp tool
This tool enables you to place seals on the document. When you select the tool, you can choose from a number of different stamps in several different categories. You can use the Stamp tool to add standard document markings, such as Confidential, Received, or Approved. Some of the stamps also include dynamic content based on your identity, the current time, and your company name. An example of a dynamic Revised stamp is shown in Figure 5-9. Figure 5-9: Example of the Revised Stamp tool.
Highlight Text tool
This tool enables you to highlight text in the document. An example of a portion of text highlighted using this tool is shown in Figure 5-10.
Figure 5-10: Example of highlighted text.
Other tools
The other tools located on the Comment & Markup toolbar enable you to add a callout or text box, add arrows and other shapes to call attention to parts of the document, and draw freehand shapes (Pencil tool). Just hover your mouse cursor over each tool to read its description.
That's the document review process in a nutshell. When you're finished with the review, click Send Comments (email review) or Publish Comments (browser review) to reply to the review initiator.
Next, learn how to track and manage reviews.
Track and manage reviews
After you've initiated a review, you need to manage the process, tracking the edits made by various reviewers and deciding which ones to keep in the final PDF document. Acrobat facilitates this process with an automated review tracking and management functionality.
Use Review Tracker Acrobat's Review Tracker functionality lets you keep tabs on all outstanding reviews using a single interface. Click Review & Comment on the main toolbar, and then select Review Tracker to open the Review Tracker window, as shown in Figure 5-11.
Figure 5-11: Review Tracker window.
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Review Tracker enables you to see the current status of all requested reviews. You can also use it to send a message to all reviewers, remind those who haven't completed the review that it's outstanding, and invite additional reviewers to participate in the review process.
Review comments
After you've received all of the appropriate comments, you can use Acrobat to review those comments and decide which changes you will and won't incorporate into the master document.
When you're reviewing the master document, you'll see various reviewer comments scattered throughout the document based on the location the reviewer placed each comment. If you don't feel like browsing through the entire document searching for comments, Acrobat provides a master list -- the Comments List pane -- at the bottom of the document, as shown in Figure 5-12. This Comments List pane contains a complete list of all comments made by all reviewers in sequential order throughout the document. When you click a comment (or use the Next and Previous buttons to navigate), Acrobat automatically shows you the comment in its proper context.
Figure 5-12: Comments List pane.
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As you read each comment, you can click the Reply button to reply to the comment, or delete the comment by clicking the Delete button (trash can). You can also select one of the options within the Set Status menu on the Comments List pane. The options are:
Migration: None, Not Confirmed, and Confirmed Review: None, Accepted, Cancelled, Completed, and Rejected
You can modify the status of a particular comment at any time during the comment review process.
Merge comments Merging all reviewers' comments into the master file is a fairly simple process. If you're conducting an email-based review, open the PDF you receive from each reviewer, review the comments, delete those you don't want, and then click the Merge Comments onto Master PDF button on the document message bar. Acrobat automatically opens the original (master) PDF file and inserts the reviewers' comments. If you're conducting a browser-based review, the PDF file stored on the server will automatically contain all current reviewer comments.
Next, learn about the new collaboration feature associated with Acrobat 8 Professional -- Acrobat Connect.
Use Acrobat® Connect™ for web conferencing
The Acrobat Connect service lets you and your team collaborate in real time over the web. All you need is an internet connection and a web browser. With Acrobat Connect, you can perform document reviews, share computer screens and video, incorporate audio and teleconferencing, use whiteboards, and more.
You can sign up for a free 54-day trial of Acrobat Connect. However, the service is fee based for continued use after that period.
To use Acrobat Connect:
1. In Acrobat, click the Start Meeting button on the main toolbar. 2. You're prompted to sign in using an Adobe user name and password. If you haven't established an account yet, click the Create Trial Account button and establish a user name and password. Click Continue. 3. Accept the Acrobat Connect agreement, and then click Next. 4. If you're new to Acrobat Connect, you must verify your email address. Check your email client for an email from Adobe, and then click the validation link in the email. Close your email message and switch back to Acrobat Connect in your web browser. 5. In the Name Your Meeting URL screen shown in Figure 5-13, create a URL for your meeting room by entering your name, project title, or unique identifier in the URL field. Click Next.
Figure 5-13: Name Your Meeting URL screen.
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1. Once your meeting room is set up, click the Start a Meeting Now button. If you have any problems connecting to Acrobat Connect, a web page appears indicating further steps to take. Click the troubleshooting page link. Acrobat Connect tests your system and helps you fix any problems.
The Welcome to Acrobat Connect screen, shown in Figure 5-14, is your main interface for web-based meetings. Use the buttons in the middle of the screen to invite participants and share your screen.
Figure 5-14: Welcome to Acrobat Connect screen.
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The tools along the left side of the screen enable you to use your computer's camera to display and watch video, see a list of participants signed in, chat with participants during the meeting, and record notes. For more information on conducting an Acrobat Connect meeting, click the Meeting and Help buttons at the top of the screen.
Moving on
In this lesson, you learned how to use Acrobat's document review features to coordinate activity among multiple document reviewers. Before you continue, take the time to complete the assignment and quiz for this lesson, and then head over to the message board to post comments and questions. After you've completed these tasks, move on to Lesson 6, where you'll learn how Acrobat supports the professional printing process.
Assignment #1
In Lesson 5, you learned how to use Acrobat Professional's document review functionality. For this assignment:
1. Select a PDF file that you're currently working on and would like other users to provide comments. 2. Initiate an email-based review of that document among multiple reviewers. 3. After the reviewers have sent you their comments, incorporate them into the original PDF.
Quiz: #1 Question 1: Which types of files are sent to reviewers who are invited to participate in a browser-based review of a PDF document? (Check all that apply.) A) PDF B) FDF C) PDQ D) FDQ E) PDR
Question 2: True or False: After starting an e-mail-based review, you must create a new review to add additional reviewers. A) True B) False
Question 3: Which versions of Acrobat allow a reviewer to participate in a PDF document review initiated by an originator using Acrobat Professional 8? (Check all that apply.) A) Acrobat 6.0 B) Adobe Reader 6.0 C) Acrobat 5.0 D) Adobe Reader 7.0
Question 4: Adobe Connect enables meeting participants to share screens and video, but you must use Review Tracker to conduct shared reviews in real time. A) True B) False
Acrobat and professional printing
Acrobat is the preferred file format for service bureaus and print shops. This lesson will give you system and color management tips, and show you how to prepare and package complete PDFs for your printing provider.
Prepare your system
Over the past decade, Adobe's PDF format has become extremely popular. In fact, almost everyone has the Adobe Reader installed on their system, making PDF the de facto file exchange format for the internet. What you might not know about Acrobat is that it's also becoming the format of choice for professional designers and printers working with their clients. In fact, Acrobat has a number of specialized color and print process-management features designed to support professional printing. In this lesson, we'll take a look at some of these features and learn how you can use them to create printer-ready output.
Before you begin exploring Acrobat's professional printing features, it's important that you take some time to properly prepare your system. As you're probably aware, different output devices (monitors, printers, and so on) represent colors in different ways.
If you don't have experience with color calibration, you may wish to seek assistance from someone familiar with the process before continuing.
Calibrate your monitor Monitors are notorious for their distortion of colors. Indeed, if you've never calibrated your monitor before, it's likely that it's far off from standard color schemes. The best way to calibrate your monitor is to use an ICC (International Color Consortium) color profiling utility. Two of the more common utilities are:
Adobe Gamma Apple monitor calibration
These two tools are the most cost-effective way to calibrate and maintain your monitor's color profile. Consult the documentation supplied with the utilities to determine the appropriate procedure for calibrating your monitor. If you're looking for the best color calibration solution, you may wish to consider purchasing a dedicated hardware monitor calibration tool.
Output device color profiles
Just as you need to calibrate your monitor, you also need to provide your operating system with device-specific color profiles for each of your output devices. If you're using a high-end output device, you may normally obtain these color profiles from the device manufacturer.
These profiles are sometimes included on a CD included in the device documentation package.
When you obtain the color profile, place it in an appropriate location for your operating system. These locations are:
Microsoft Windows XP: Windows\System32\Spool\Drivers\Color Microsoft Windows 2000: WinNT\System32\Spool\Drivers\Color Microsoft Windows NT 4.0: WinNT\System32\Color Mac OS:
The use of color profiles helps ensure that the colors you see on your monitor (assuming it's been properly calibrated) match the output you receive from your printer (or other output device).
Next, dive into color management concepts and learn how to tweak Adobe Acrobat's settings.
More about Adobe Gamma and color calibration
To find out more about Adobe Gamma, read the Using Adobe Gamma on Windows article on the Adobe website. To find out more about calibrating monitors in general, read the Monitor Calibration Tools article on the MacWorld website. And for more information on the ICC, visit its website.
Color management
Acrobat offers a comprehensive color management facility designed to support those users that need advanced color management capabilities. In this section, Color solutions you'll learn about color models, as well as how to use Acrobat's predefined color settings and how to create customized working spaces. When printing color PDFs with HP's printing solutions, the only limit is your Color models imagination.
It's important that you have an understanding of the common color models used in the printing industry. The three common models are named after the colors they use and are as follows:
RGB (Red, Green, Blue): Uses the three additive colors to represent the » Color printing center space of available colors. It measures the amount of light reflected back to the eye. When working with paper, this represents the colors of light that reflect off the paper back into the eye. On a computer monitor, the RGB values represent the colors that are emitted by the monitor and received by the eye.
Combining additive colors creates white.
CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, blacK): Takes the opposite approach to the RGB model and measures the amount of light absorbed by the paper. Cyan, magenta, and yellow together are known as subtractive colors because, when combined, they create pure black -- the absence of color. In the printing industry, the CMYK model is used to implement four-color process printing. Grayscale: Used to describe black-and-white images. In this model, each pixel is assigned a brightness percentage where 0 percent is black and 100 percent is white.
These color models are the foundation of color printing. A solid understanding of them is essential if you plan to work with professional printers.
If all this talk about color models and color management schemes doesn't make sense to you, don't worry about it. Your professional printer can help you work through the process of getting Acrobat ready to create printer- ready output. After all, once you're up and running, it will certainly make your printer's life easier.
Predefined color management
You can meet the vast majority of your color needs with Acrobat's predefined color management settings. To access this portion of the Acrobat preferences, select Edit > Preferences, and then select Color Management in the left pane. You'll see the window shown in Figure 6-1.
Figure 6-1: Color Management settings. Enlarge image
The Settings drop-down list defaults to Monitor Color; however, you should change it depending on the type of equipment used by your printer and the specific application you're working on. Most users in the United States select the North America General Purpose 2 or North America Prepress 2 setting. Either of these settings use the CMYK model to implement color settings that comply with the SWOP (Specifications for Web Offset Publications). Other options include:
Emulate Acrobat 4.0 Europe General Purpose 2, Europe Prepress 2, and Europe Web/Internet Color Management Off Japan Color for Newspaper, Japan General Purpose 2, Japan Magazine Advertisement Color, Japan Prepress 2, Japan Web/Internet North America Web/Internet Photoshop 5 Default Spaces Web Graphics Defaults Custom
Consult your printing provider to determine the appropriate settings to use for your environment.
Customize working spaces
If you're using a specialized output device, you may want to create your own working space rather than using one of the predefined color management options. You do this using the same preferences pane used to select a color management option. Select Custom from the Color Setup, Settings area of the Color Management preferences, and then specify the appropriate working space options under the RGB, CMYK, and/or Grayscale drop-down menus.
Output intents
Another Acrobat color management option is the use of device-dependent output intents. Although you could certainly use an embedded color profile or customized working space to describe the colors for your intended output device, the use of output intents enables you to greatly reduce the size of the final PDF file. To use output intents, check the Output Intent overrides working spaces checkbox in the Color Management panel, as shown in Figure 6-1.
There's a lot to learn about color management, and this section just scratched the surface. You can dive deeper into color management settings by applying different settings to the same document and saving the file using different file names. Send some test copies to a printer and see the results for yourself. The next section covers some tips for preparing your output for a print shop.
Prepare for the printer
Acrobat includes a number of techniques designed to ensure that your document is ready for professional printing. In this final portion of the class, Vibrant color you'll examine some previewing techniques and learn how the PDF/X format printing supports the professional printing process.
For printing your color PDFs with laser quality at an with laser quality at an Preview color separations affordable price, look to HP color inkjet printers.
Acrobat enables you to view color separation plates on your monitor before the printer prepares them. If you've properly calibrated your monitor with an ICC- compliant profile, the colors you see on your screen should exactly match those produced by your printer.
To preview color separations, select Advanced > Print Production > Output » HP Officejet 7410 all-in- Preview. The Output Preview dialog box appears with Separations selected in one series the Preview list, as shown in Figure 6-2. In the Show drop-down list, select various settings and watch how the document in the background changes to represent the requested view.
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Figure 6-2: Output Preview dialog box.
When you're finished, click the Close (X) button in the upper-right corner of the Output Preview dialog box to close it.
Preview transparency flattening
Acrobat also enables you to preview how a document will look after it's been flattened. To access the transparency Flattener Preview dialog box, shown in Figure 6-3, select Advanced > Print Production > Flattener Preview. Figure 6-3: Flattener Preview dialog box.
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You may adjust the flattener settings using the controls that appear along the left side of the dialog box. After you've made the appropriate settings, click Refresh and the new preview of the image appears on the right. You may modify the settings as many times as you like. Just click Refresh each time you'd like your preview updated. When you're finished, click the Close button in the dialog box.
Preflighting documents
Acrobat's true professional printing power comes in its ability to perform a thorough preflight inspection of a document prior to transmitting it to a professional printer. This inspection analyzes the document for any possible problems that might arise during the printing process.
It's important to note that preflight inspections merely report possible problems to you. Preflighting a document does not correct any deficiencies in your PDF. You have to adjust those manually.
When you're ready to run a preflight inspection of your document, select Advanced > Print Production > Preflight to initiate the process. The Preflight dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 6-4, prompting you to select a preflight profile. Figure 6-4: Preflight dialog box.
When you request a preflight inspection of a document, Acrobat takes a list of predefined document rules and compares your document to those rules, seeking any potential deficiencies. Those rules are contained in the many preflight profiles you may choose from during the preflight inspection. The preflight profiles offered by Acrobat include:
Compatible with Acrobat 3 (or 4, 5, 6, or 7) Digital printing PDF analysis PDF fixups PDF/A compliance PDF/X compliance Prepress
To run the preflight inspection, select the appropriate profile and click Execute. Acrobat conducts the inspection, which may take a significant amount of time, depending on the complexity of your PDF file. After the inspection is complete, the Preflight dialog box appears containing the results of the inspection, as shown in Figure 6-5.
Figure 6-5: Preflight dialog box with inspection results. Enlarge image
The preflight inspection results include a remarkable amount of detail about any potential problems encountered during the inspection. You may locate a potential problem in the document by clicking each item in the preflight results. You may also drill down into the results to get detailed information by expanding each node of the tree using the + icons. An example of an expanded preflight inspection error node is shown in Figure 6-6.
Figure 6-6: Expanded Preflight inspection error.
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Your printer may request that you include a copy of a preflight validation report when you transmit your final PDF file. You may obtain this report by clicking the Report button in the Preflight dialog box.
PDF/X and PDF/A
PDF/X (Portable Document Format Exchange) and PDF/A (Archive) are ISO (International Organization for Standardization) standards used for the exchange of PDF documents among organizations. PDF/X files contain all of the information necessary to generate output and are ready for the printer. PDF/A files are stripped of some PDF features, making them more suitable for long-term archiving purposes. Your printing provider may request that you provide all output in PDF/X format.
There are two main types of PDF/X documents:
PDF/X-1a: Supports CMYK processing only. This format does not allow Color Management functionality. PDF/X-3: Allows the use of device-independent color. This format supports limited use of halftone screen frequencies (a feature not supported in PDF/X- 1a).
Acrobat includes a third format, PDF/X-4, which is in draft as of this writing but scheduled to be available in 2007. To create a PDF/X output file, click the Not a PDF/X file icon in the Preflight dialog box. The Preflight: Convert to PDF/X dialog box, shown in Figure 6-7, appears. Select the PDF/X standard you wish to use: PDF/X-1a or PDF/X-3.
Figure 6-7: Preflight: Convert to PDF/X dialog box.
After selecting the appropriate option, click OK. The Preflight dialog box shows the results of converting the PDF to PDF/X format, as shown in Figure 6-8.
Figure 6-8: Preflight dialog box results after selecting PDF/X-3 as the format and compatible with Acrobat 5.
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If problems were encountered during the conversion, Acrobat lists them in the Preflight dialog box. Correct the settings and run the conversion again. When you're finished -- your document is preflighted and ready for the printer. Moving on
Congratulations! You've now reached the conclusion of this class on creating PDFs with Adobe Acrobat. In this lesson, you learned how to use Acrobat's advanced functionality to interact with professional printers. Before you shut down the computer, take the time to complete the assignment and quiz for this lesson. They'll reinforce the concepts you learned in this class and help you make the most of Acrobat. Be sure to stop by the message board a final time to discuss this and other lessons with your classmates and instructor.
Assignment #1
In Lesson 6, you learned a number of color and print process management techniques supported by Acrobat that can assist you with preparing files for professional printing. For this assignment:
1. Select a file that you plan to have professionally printed. 2. Run a preflight inspection of the file. Select a few different settings, such as Compatible with Acrobat 4 and PDF/X-1a and PDF/X-3 to see how your document stacks up. 3. Correct any problems and run the preflight inspection again.
Quiz: #1
Question 1: Which color model is based on the additive colors? A) CMYK B) Grayscale C) CMK D) RGB
Question 2: Which color model is based on the subtractive colors? A) CMYK B) Grayscale C) CMK D) RGB
Question 3: Which of the following utilities can you use to generate ICC-compliant color profiles? (Check all that apply.) A) Hardware devices B) Adobe Gamma C) Adobe Photoshop D) Apple monitor calibration
Question 4: Which file format do you use to include output intents? A) PDF B) FDF C) PDF/X D) PDR
Question 5: True or False: The PDF/X-1a format supports limited use of halftone screen frequencies. A) True B) False
Question 6: True or False: Output intents may override Acrobat working spaces. A) True B) False
Question 7: True or False: Preflighting a document corrects any problems before you send the file to the printer. A) True B) False
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