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.