Adobe Acrobat 4.0 User guide
Below you will find brief information for Acrobat 4.0. This guide helps you understand how to use Adobe Acrobat 4.0 for universal document exchange. It covers creating PDF documents from various sources like electronic files, web pages, and scanned documents. The guide explains the work area with its menus, toolbars, and palettes. You can learn how to convert files, customize PDF navigation, annotate documents, create PDF forms, add interactive features, index documents, and distribute them. Moreover, the guide highlights the features of Acrobat 4.0, including structured bookmarks, digital signatures, and document comparison.
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Contents
• Getting Started
• Looking at the Work Area
• Converting Electronic Files to PDF
• Setting Acrobat Distiller Options
• Converting Scanned Documents to PDF
• Converting Web Pages to PDF
• Customizing PDF Navigation
• Working with PDF Documents
• Annotating PDF Documents
• Creating and Using PDF Forms
• Adding Interactive Features
• Indexing Document Collections
• Searching Catalog Indexes
• Distributing Documents in PDF
• Working with Digital Signatures
• Troubleshooting
• Index
Page 2
How to use this online guide
The online Adobe Acrobat User Guide provides detailed information on all the
Acrobat commands and features for both Windows and Mac OS systems.
Go to the table of contents.
Go to the index.
Go to the Search command, or choose Edit > Search > Query.
How to print this online guide
Because the pages of this online guide are optimized for online viewing, you may prefer to print them two to a page (two-up). The Acrobat CD also includes a print-on-demand version of this online user guide (AcroHelpForPrint.pdf ) optimized for printing on 8-1/2-by-11 or A4 stock. The print-on-demand version of the user guide is in the Help folder on your CD.
To print pages two up:
1 Choose File > Print Setup (Windows) or File > page Setup (Mac OS).
2 Follow the instruction for your platform:
■ In Windows, click Options, select 2 up on the paper tab, click OK to return to the Print Setup dialog box, and click OK again to close it.
■ On a Macintosh, choose 2 Up from the Layout menu and click OK.
Note : If you can’t perform step 2 in Windows, you may not be using the Adobe
PostScript printer driver. In this case, install the Adobe printer driver from the
Acrobat CD. See the Getting Started guide for installation instructions.
3 Choose File > Print.
4 Indicate the page range.
5 Click OK (Windows) or Print (Mac OS).
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Getting Started
Page 4
Getting Started
Welcome to the Adobe
®
Acrobat
®
program—the essential tool for universal document exchange. You can use Acrobat to publish virtually any document in
Portable Document Format (PDF). Documents in PDF preserve the exact look and content of the originals, complete with fonts and graphics, and they can be distributed by e-mail or stored on the World Wide Web, an intranet, a file system, or a CD for other users to view on Microsoft
®
Windows
®
, Mac OS, and
UNIX
®
platforms.
What’s new in Acrobat 4.0
Version 4.0 of Adobe Acrobat includes many improvements to the interface that streamline your work on PDF files. A tool bar and command bar give you easy access to both new and familiar Acrobat features, while the status bar provides quick ways to change the on-screen display. Floating palettes with bookmarks, thumbnails, annotations, signatures, articles, and destinations offer enhanced display, navigation, and editing functionality. And in addition to the menu bar at the top of the screen, Acrobat now provides contextsensitive menus with commands related to the item under the pointer.
Getting Started
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Acrobat 4.0 also includes many new features:
Converting documents to PDF You can now simply drag and drop many popular file types to the Acrobat icon or Acrobat window to convert the files to PDF.
Microsoft Office macros Acrobat installs macros in the Microsoft Office applications in Windows so that you can create PDF files directly from those applications. The PDFMaker macro is installed for Microsoft Word 97, Word 2000,
PowerPoint 97, and PowerPoint 2000; it can create PDF files using Acrobat
Distiller
®
or PDFWriter, and it supports new Acrobat features such as structured bookmarks. The PDFWriter macro works with Microsoft Word 95, PowerPoint
95, Excel 95, Excel 97, and Excel 2000.
Opening documents in Acrobat With the Open command in Acrobat for
Windows, you can now open documents from many popular applications and convert them automatically to PDF.
Opening Web pages You can download HTML pages from the Web in Acrobat and convert the pages to PDF at the same time. Any links on the pages in PDF retain an association with the Web site so that you can click links to download additional pages quickly.
Web Buy You can download eBooks, reference works, technical manuals, structured business documents, newspapers, and periodicals, for example, as secure
PDF files that you can unlock to read and search on your personal computer or reading device.
Getting Started
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Distiller job options Distiller now provides more options for converting documents to PDF. You can use one of three predefined sets of job options to optimize PDF files for different purposes, and you can customize and save your own sets of job options. The 4.0 job options include the ability to manage color in your documents and even embed ICC profiles to maintain accurate color in
PDF files from one ICC-aware application or output device to another.
CMYK color options With the Prepress dialog box in Acrobat, you can bypass any color management system and preserve the original CMYK and gray values in a PDF document if the file is to be used to make color plates for printing.
Annotations Acrobat provides an extensive array of annotation tools for marking up text and attaching notes and commentaries to PDF documents.
You can create annotations in text, graphic, and audio formats, and even embed entire files.
Structured bookmarks You can use the new structured bookmarks to reorganize or delete content in PDF. Acrobat generates these bookmarks when you create PDF from a Microsoft Word file or from a Web page. You can also use structured bookmarks generated from Web pages to download additional pages.
Destinations You can create custom destinations to give other users the ability to navigate to specific named locations across PDF documents. These links are easier to maintain than links to pages because they are not affected by the addition or deletion of pages in the target document.
Getting Started
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Digital signatures You can now add a digital signature to the current version of a PDF document in Acrobat. You can also see all the signatures that have been added to the document, check the validity of signatures, and go back to an earlier signed version of a document.
Document comparison Acrobat can now show you differences between analogous pages in two versions of a PDF document. It marks all differences on the pages, including content revisions and even subtle formatting changes you may not be able to see.
Page renumbering You can renumber pages in Acrobat in a variety of ways— for example, you can make the PDF numbering match the original document’s numbering.
Text formatting The table/formatted text select tool allows you to select tables and text in a PDF document and retain the original formatting when you copy
(or import) them into other applications. You can specify vertical or horizontal format, the type of text flow, and whether you want ANSI (simple text) or Rich
Text Format (RTF).
Support for other languages You can now create, view, and print PDF documents that have Japanese, Korean, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified
Chinese text, even on a non-native system, as long as you have the proper support files installed. (The original documents must be authored on a native system.) You can create, view, and print documents that have Cyrillic, Eastern
European, and Middle Eastern text on a native system, using the Englishlanguage version of Acrobat.
Getting Started
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About support for Asian languages
In Acrobat 4.0, you can create, view, and print PDF documents that contain
Japanese, Korean, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese text by installing the Asian support files. In Windows, install Acrobat with the custom installation, and select the Asian Language Support option. In Mac OS, use the custom installation, and select the Asian Language Kit and the Asian Language
Distiller Extensions options.
All of the Acrobat features are supported for Asian-language text, with the following exceptions:
■ In Windows, you can use Distiller to create PDF files from documents with
Asian text on any system, as long as you have the Asian language support files installed, but you cannot use PDFWriter to create these files unless you are on a native-language system. In Mac OS, you can use either Distiller or PDFWriter to create files on any system, as long as you have the Asian Language Kit installed.
The original documents must be created on a native system.
■ In Windows, you can use the Web Capture command in Acrobat to download
Web pages with Japanese text, and you can use the Open command to convert some types of Japanese documents to PDF. To take advantage of these features, you must have the Acrobat Asian language files installed on your system. These features are not available for the other Asian languages.
■ The Acrobat Catalog tool, the Search command, the Compare Pages,
Compare Words, and Compare Words and Fonts commands, and the Paper
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Capture feature are not available for Asian text. The PDFMaker macro is available for Japanese language files only.
■ You can use the text annotation tool to attach comments to Japanese text and the table/formatted text select tool to select Japanese text; these features are not supported for other Asian text. The text markup tools for highlighting, striking through, and underlining are not available for any Asian text.
■ You can create forms that have Japanese text and fill in form fields with
Japanese text. You can also use the digital signature feature in Japanese documents. These features are not available for other Asian text.
Note: Asian text in bookmarks, annotations, and the Document Info dialog boxes require support from the operating system to display correctly.
About support for Eastern European and Middle Eastern languages
You can create, view, and print PDF documents in Acrobat 4.0 that contain
Cyrillic text (including Bulgarian, Russian, and Ukrainian), Eastern European text (including Czech, Hungarian, and Polish), and Middle Eastern text (Arabic and Hebrew). If the fonts are embedded in the PDF documents, you can view and print the documents on any system. However, you must have the proper
(language kit) fonts installed on a system to be able to create the documents, or to view or print them without the fonts being embedded.
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Acrobat creates bookmarks for documents with Cyrillic, Eastern European, and
Middle Eastern text, and you can use the text annotation tool to attach comments to the text. You can use the Find command to search for Cyrillic and
Eastern European text. Other features in Acrobat 4.0 are not supported for these languages.
Resources for learning Acrobat
Adobe provides documentation and services for learning how to use Acrobat and for solving problems as you work with PDF files.
Acrobat documentation
The printed and online documentation in the Acrobat package get you up and running with Acrobat and should answer most of your questions:
Adobe Acrobat Getting Started Guide Contains information on system requirements and features in the program, and tells how to install the software on
Windows and Mac OS systems. This guide is included in the package in printed form and as the introductory chapter of the online user guide.
Adobe Acrobat User Guide Provides detailed information on all Acrobat commands and features, for both Windows and Mac OS systems. This online user guide is designed to be used as a reference tool in your everyday work with Acrobat. To open the user guide, choose Acrobat Guide from the Acrobat
Help menu.
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The user guide has a table of contents with links you can click to go to particular chapters and sections. To go to the table of contents, click the First
Page button at the top of any page in the guide.
In addition, there are two indexes: a traditional book-type index and a full-text index generated by Acrobat Catalog. To use the traditional index, click Index in the table of contents, or click the index icon at the top of any page. Clicking a term in the traditional index takes you to the main discussion of that subject.
To use the full-text index, choose Edit > Search > Query, or click the Search
Query button on the Acrobat command bar. When you search for a term in the full-text index, you go to the first occurrence of the subject; you can use the
Find Again command to go to subsequent occurrences.
The Acrobat CD includes a print-on-demand version of the user guide, with the same material but on larger pages more suitable for printing. You can print pages from the online user guide, but if you’re printing more than a few pages, you’ll find it quicker and more efficient to print from the print-on-demand version. The print-on-demand version of the user guide (AcroHelpForPrint.pdf ) is in the Help folder on your Acrobat CD.
Adobe Acrobat Tour Gives you a quick overview of Acrobat. This online tour uses sample files to illustrate some of the most important features in the software and includes step-by-step instructions for working with those features yourself. To start the tour, choose Acrobat Tour from the Acrobat
Help menu.
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You’ll find a print-on-demand version of the tour (AcroTourForPrint.pdf ) in the
Help folder on your Acrobat CD.
The Adobe Web site
Visit the Adobe Web site for up-to-the minute information on technology related to Acrobat, links to Acrobat plug-ins, product tips, support updates, and much more.
In Acrobat, click the Adobe Web site button , or choose File > Adobe Online.
Use the dialog box that appears to update pages from the Web site manually, to configure how often to update pages automatically, or to set up your proxy service.
In your Web browser, you can go to the main page of the Adobe Web site by entering the URL www.adobe.com.
On the Adobe Web site home page, you can click a country name in the Adobe
Sites pop-up menu to choose a language for viewing the site. The exact information in the site may vary from one language version to another.
Classroom in a Book
®
Classroom in a Book is the official training series for Adobe software developed by experts at Adobe and published by Adobe Press. For information on purchasing Adobe Acrobat 4.0 Classroom in a Book , visit the Adobe Web site
(www.adobe.com), or contact your local book distributor.
Getting Started
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Training & Certification
The Adobe Training & Certification Programs are designed to help Adobe customers improve and promote their product proficiency skills. The Adobe
Certified Expert (ACE) program is designed to recognize the high-level skills of expert users. Adobe Certified Training Providers (ACTP) use only Adobe
Certified Experts to teach Adobe software classes. Available in either ACTP classrooms or on site, the ACE program is the best way to master Adobe products. For Adobe Certified Training Programs information, visit the
Partnering with Adobe Web site at partners.adobe.com.
About the Acrobat package
The Acrobat package includes the Adobe Acrobat CD-ROM, Adobe Acrobat
Getting Started (a printed copy of this chapter), and a printed registration card.
The Adobe Acrobat CD contains the following:
■ Adobe Acrobat software for your platform.
■ Adobe Acrobat Reader software for your platform.
■ Adobe PostScript® printer drivers and other utilities you may need.
■ An online user guide that provides complete documentation for Acrobat and its plug-ins.
■ An interactive online Tour that takes you through Acrobat, with accompanying sample files and step-by-step instructions.
Getting Started
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■ Sample interactive forms and related materials to help you design your own forms in Acrobat.
■ A Security folder with information from vendors who are providing digital signature capabilities in Acrobat.
■ A Software Development Kit (SDK) with libraries, source code, and documentation for developing plug-ins that extend the functionality of Acrobat.
■ Tryout versions of Adobe flagship products.
System requirements
Acrobat requires certain hardware and software components to be able to run properly. (See “Troubleshooting” in the online User Guide for tips on maximizing Acrobat performance and suggestions for reducing memory requirements.)
Windows
■ An Intel
®
i486
™
or Pentium
®
processor-based personal computer (Pentium recommended).
■ Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT
®
4.0 with Service Pack 3 or later.
■ 16 MB of RAM for Acrobat on Windows 95 and Windows 98, 24 MB of RAM for
Acrobat on Windows NT (32 MB recommended).
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■ 32 MB of RAM for the Paper Capture plug-in (64 MB recommended).
■ A hard drive with at least 80 MB of available space (150 MB for Asian font support).
■ A CD drive.
Mac OS
■ An Apple Power Macintosh computer.
■ Apple System Software version 7.5.3 or later for Acrobat. (Version 8.6 or later is required for Web Capture.)
■ 6 MB of RAM for Acrobat (12 MB recommended).
■ 16 MB of RAM for Distiller or the Paper Capture plug-in (32 MB recommended).
■ A hard drive with at least 80 MB of available space (150 MB for Asian font support).
■ A CD drive.
Getting Started
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Registration
Please register your copy of Acrobat so that Adobe can provide you with the highest quality software, offer technical support, and keep you informed of new Acrobat software developments.
You can use the enclosed registration card, or register online at the end of the installation process or at a later date.
Follow the on-screen instructions to register at the end of the installation process.
To register online at a later date:
1 Follow the instructions for your platform:
■ In Windows, click the Start Menu, choose Programs > Adobe Acrobat 4.0, and click Register Acrobat 4.0.
■ In Mac OS, open the Adobe Acrobat 4.0 folder, and double-click the Adobe
Registration Utility icon.
2 Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the registration.
Getting Started
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Installing and starting Acrobat (Windows)
You install the Acrobat program files from the CD-ROM. Note that you cannot run Acrobat from the CD; you must install the components onto your hard drive and run the software from that drive.
Important: If you have an earlier version of Acrobat on your system, Adobe recommends uninstalling it before installing Acrobat 4.0. See the documentation for the earlier Acrobat version for information on uninstalling.
Installing Acrobat (Windows)
In addition to Adobe Acrobat, the Acrobat installer includes the AdobePS™ printer drivers and a set of Distiller PostScript Printer Description (PPD) files.
The PPD files provide information about the particular printer (such as what fonts are on the printer’s ROM) for the AdobePS driver. Before using Distiller to create PDF files, you may need to select a PPD file for the printer you intend to use. (See Chapter 2, “Converting Electronic Files to PDF,” in the online User
Guide for details.)
Getting Started
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The default installation in Windows includes macros that allow you to create
PDF files easily in Microsoft Office applications. If you have Microsoft Word 97,
Word in Microsoft Office 2000, PowerPoint 97, or PowerPoint 2000 on your system, the PDFMaker macro is installed. If you have Word 95, PowerPoint 95,
Excel 95, Excel 97, or Excel 2000 on your system, the PDFWriter macro is installed.
Note: The serial number for your copy of the software is located on the printed registration card.
To install Acrobat (Windows):
1 Restart Windows, and do not start any other applications.
2 Insert the Adobe Acrobat CD into your CD drive.
3 In the Adobe Acrobat 4.0 Setup dialog box, click Next whenever you are ready to proceed to the next panel. Follow the on-screen instructions to move past the introduction, to select a country, and to accept the license agreement.
4 Select the type of installation you want:
■ Typical installs the program files for Acrobat, Acrobat Catalog, Acrobat
Distiller, PDFWriter, PDFMaker, several standard plug-ins, and the online documentation.
■ Compact installs only the Acrobat, Distiller, PDFWriter, and PDFMaker program files.
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■ Custom lets you specify what components to install. You can include any of the components in the typical installation, plus support for PDF documents with Asian-language text and the accessories QuickTime 3.0 and Photoshop
®
5.0 PDF Plug-in.
For a description of any component that can be installed, select Custom, and click Next. Then select the component in the list to see a description of it.
You can click Back to return to the panel for selecting a type of installation if you do not intend to continue with the custom installation.
5 If you want to change the destination folder for the Acrobat files, click
Browse, and use the browser to locate a folder.
6 Click Next.
7 If you selected custom installation, select the components you want to install, and click Next. The dialog box displays the amount of disk space required to install each component and the amount of space available. You can also select a component in the list and click Change to include or remove any item within that component.
Note: The Acrobat Capture ® plug-in requires Acrobat and PDFWriter. If you select the Capture plug-in, you must also select Acrobat Program Files and
PDFWriter Program Files or already have them installed.
8 Enter your name, your organization (optional), and the serial number for your copy of the program, and then click Next.
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9 Click Yes to verify the user information.
10 Click Next to begin the installation. When the process is complete, a message tells you that Acrobat is installed. You can register as part of the installation process, or you can cancel the registration when prompted and register at a later time.
11 Select Yes, and click Finish to restart your computer.
Configuring Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator
®
for image or
PDF editing in Acrobat
If you install Adobe Acrobat after installing Adobe Photoshop 5.0, Acrobat will automatically supply Photoshop with a PDF plug-in that enables you to take an image from a PDF document, edit it in Photoshop, save it, and return the image to the PDF document. If you install Photoshop after installing Acrobat, however, you may need to configure this application manually.
Adobe Illustrator 7 and Illustrator 8 install a PDF plug-in that enables you to take a PDF page from a PDF document, edit it in Illustrator, save it, and return the page to the PDF document. There should be no need to configure this manually.
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To configure Adobe Photoshop manually:
1 Copy the Photoshop plug-in file PDFFormat.8bi from the Program
Files\Adobe\Acrobat 4.0\Acrobat folder to the
Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop 5.0\Plug-ins\File Formats folder.
2 Quit Photoshop if it is running. The next time you start Photoshop, it should recognize the plug-in.
Starting Acrobat (Windows)
To use Acrobat, you must have installed the files from the CD onto your local hard drive. You cannot run Acrobat from your CD-ROM drive.
To start Acrobat (Windows):
Click the Start Menu, choose Programs > Adobe Acrobat 4.0, and click the name of the program you want to start. You can also double-click the Adobe
Acrobat icon on your desktop to start the Acrobat program, or double-click a
PDF file icon to start the program with that file open.
Start the Adobe Acrobat 4.0 program to view, enhance, or create PDF documents. Start Acrobat Catalog to build a searchable index for a collection of
PDF documents. Start Acrobat Distiller to customize Distiller job options, change the Distiller preferences, set up watched folders, or convert PostScript files to PDF.
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To start Acrobat without plug-ins (Windows):
Hold down Shift immediately after starting up the Acrobat program.
Uninstalling Acrobat (Windows)
You can remove all of the Acrobat components installed on your system with the Uninstall utility.
To uninstall Acrobat (Windows):
Click the Start Menu, choose Programs > Adobe Acrobat 4.0, and click Uninstall
Adobe Acrobat 4.0. Click Yes to confirm that you want to remove the program.
Installing and starting Acrobat (Mac OS)
You install the Acrobat program files from the CD-ROM. Note that you cannot run Acrobat from the CD; you must install the components onto your hard drive and run the software from that drive.
Important: If you have an earlier version of Acrobat on your system, Adobe recommends uninstalling it before installing Acrobat 4.0. See the documentation for the earlier Acrobat version for information on uninstalling.
Getting Started
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Installing Acrobat (Mac OS)
In addition to Adobe Acrobat, the Acrobat installer includes the AdobePS™ printer driver and a set of Distiller PostScript Printer Description (PPD) files. The
PPD files provide information about the particular printer (such as what fonts are on the printer’s ROM) for the AdobePS driver. Before using Distiller to create
PDF files, you may need to select a PPD file for the printer you intend to use.
(See Chapter 2, “Converting Electronic Files to PDF,” in the online User Guide for details.)
Note: The serial number for your copy of the software is located on the printed registration card.
To install Acrobat (Mac OS):
1 Insert the Adobe Acrobat CD into your CD drive.
2 Double-click the Install Adobe Acrobat 4.0 icon.
3 In the Adobe Acrobat Installer dialog box, click Continue to move past the introduction.
4 Specify the type of installation you want:
■ To use the standard installation, choose Easy Install from the pop-up menu.
This installs the program files for Acrobat, Acrobat Catalog, Acrobat Distiller,
PDFWriter, several standard plug-ins, and the online documentation.
Getting Started
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■ To install only particular components, choose Custom Install, and select the components in the list box. You can include any of the components in
Easy Install, plus support for PDF documents with Asian-language text
(Language Kit).
For a description of any component that can be installed, choose Custom
Install to see a list of the components, and click the I button to the right of the component you want in the list.
5 Click Install, and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation. When the process is complete, a message tells you that Acrobat is installed. You can register as part of the installation process, or cancel the registration when prompted and do it at a later time.
6 Click Restart to restart your computer.
Installing QuickTime (Mac OS)
You need QuickTime to be able to play QuickTime movies pointed to from PDF files. QuickTime is installed on most Mac OS computers, but if you need it, you can install it from the Acrobat CD.
To install QuickTime (Mac OS):
1 Insert the Adobe Acrobat CD into your CD drive.
2 Open the QuickTime folder, and open the Readme file.
3 Follow the installation instructions in the Readme file.
Getting Started
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Starting Acrobat (Mac OS)
To use Acrobat, you must have installed the files from the CD onto your local hard drive. You cannot run Acrobat from your CD drive.
To start Acrobat (Mac OS):
Open the Adobe Acrobat 4.0 folder, and double-click the icon for the program you want to start. Or double-click a PDF file icon to start the program with that file open.
Start the Adobe Acrobat 4.0 program to view, enhance, or create PDF documents. Start Acrobat Catalog to build a searchable index for a collection of
PDF documents. Start Acrobat Distiller to customize Distiller job options, change the Distiller preferences, set up watched folders, or convert PostScript files to PDF.
If you installed Japanese fonts with Acrobat, the first time you start Distiller you are asked to process the fonts for use with Distiller. Click OK to allow Distiller to process the fonts. (See Chapter 3, “Setting Acrobat Distiller Options” in the online User Guide for more information.)
To start Acrobat without plug-ins (Mac OS):
Hold down Shift immediately after starting up the Acrobat program.
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Managing plug-ins
Acrobat uses plug-ins to add more functionality. Plug-ins increase the required amount of memory needed to run Acrobat. To minimize the amount of memory needed to run Acrobat, you may want to install only the plug-ins you use with the program. A plug-in must be located in the Acrobat Plug-ins folder to load with Acrobat. If the plug-in is moved to another location, it will not load with the program. Alternatively, you can temporarily disable plug-ins when starting Acrobat.
If you install Acrobat after you install Photoshop, the Acrobat installer will automatically supply Photoshop with a PDF plug-in that enables you to edit an image in a PDF document using Photoshop. With this plug-in, you can edit an image in Photoshop while in the PDF document, save the changes, and automatically return the image to the PDF document for viewing. The Acrobat
Installer puts the required Photoshop plug-in in the File Formats folder in your
Photoshop application folder. The plug-in file is named PDFFormat.8bi
(Windows) or PDFFormat (Mac OS). If you install Photoshop after you’ve installed Acrobat, you will need to configure the application manually.
Adobe Illustrator 7.0 and 8.0 automatically install a PDF plug-in that enables you to select a graphic object in a PDF document, edit it in Illustrator, save the changes, and automatically return the image to the PDF document for viewing.
There should be no need to configure this manually.
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To configure Adobe Photoshop to work with Acrobat:
1 Open Windows Explorer, and locate the Photoshop plug-in in Program Files
> Adobe > Acrobat 4.0 > Acrobat > Photoshop > PDFFormat.8bi.
2 Copy this file to Program Files > Adobe > Photoshop 5.0 > Plug-ins > File
Formats.
3 Shut down Photoshop if it is currently running. When you restart Photoshop, it will recognize the new plug-in.
To disable a plug-in:
1 Open the Plug-ins folder in your Acrobat folder.
2 Select the plug-ins you do not want to load. Some of the plug-ins may be in folders within the Plug-ins folder.
3 Move the selected plug-ins to the Optional folder in the Acrobat folder
(Windows) or the Optional Plug-ins folder in the Acrobat folder (Mac OS).
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To temporarily disable all plug-ins:
Hold down the Shift key immediately after starting the Acrobat program.
To increase the processing speed of the Paper Capture plug-in:
Do one of the following:
■ Add more RAM than the required 32 MB minimum.
■ In Windows, have available the required 32 MB of RAM and free disk space equal to twice the size of the largest uncompressed image you will process.
Looking at the Work Area
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Looking at the Work Area
You use Acrobat to view and work in PDF documents—both your own documents and documents created by other users. The Acrobat work area provides a powerful set of features for navigating in PDF documents, for adjusting the magnification and other aspects of your view, for controlling the look of documents when they open, and for customizing interaction with them in many other ways.
Using the work area
The Acrobat work area includes a window with a document pane for viewing
PDF documents and a navigation pane with bookmarks, thumbnails, annotations, and so on related to the current document. A menu bar, command bar, tool bar, and status bar around the outside of the window provide everything you need to work with documents.
A
Looking at the Work Area
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I
B
C
D
E F G H
A. Command bar B. Menu bar C. Adobe Online button D. Tool bar E. Navigation pane
F. Palette menu G. Status bar H. Document pane I. Document pane menu
Looking at the Work Area
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The buttons and menus in the status bar provide quick ways to change your on-screen display and to navigate through documents.
A B C D E F G H I J
A. Navigation Pane button B. Magnification level C. Magnification pop-up menu D. First Page button E. Previous Page button F. Current page G. Next Page button H. Last Page button
I. Page size J. Page Layout pop-up menu
Using commands and tools
The command bar contains buttons for many of the most commonly used commands in Acrobat. The document pane menu contains a smaller group of commands for setting General preferences and for getting information on the current document.
The tool bar contains tools for scrolling and zooming; cropping pages; changing the appearance of text; adding graphics, annotations, and signatures; and making other changes to the current PDF document. A small triangle at the lower right of a tool indicates the presence of hidden tools.
To show or hide the command bar, menu bar, or tool bar:
Do one of the following:
■ To show or hide the command bar, choose Window > Show Command Bar or
Window > Hide Command Bar.
Looking at the Work Area
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■ To hide the menu bar, choose Window > Hide Menu Bar. To show it again, press F7.
■ To show or hide the tool bar, choose Window > Show Tool Bar or
Window > Hide Tool Bar.
To move the command bar or tool bar over the window (Windows):
Drag the bar by its right or bottom edge or by a separator bar between two groups of icons. You can drag the bar back to its original location to reattach it.
To choose a command from the command bar:
Click the button.
To choose a command from the document pane menu:
Position the pointer over the triangle in the upper right corner of the document pane, hold down the mouse button to open the menu, and drag to the command you want.
To select a tool in the tool bar:
Do one of the following:
■ To select a visible tool, click the tool, or press the letter key shown in the tool’s tip. (Move the pointer over a tool to see its tip.)
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■ To select a visible tool for only one use, Ctrl-click (Windows) or Option-click
(Mac OS) the tool. This works for any tool except zoom, select text, select graphic, crop, movie, and article.
■ To select a hidden tool, hold down the mouse button on the related tool with the triangle until the additional tools appear, and then drag to the tool you want. Or hold down Shift, and press the letter key showing in the tool’s tip to cycle through the group of tools.
Press on a tool with a triangle to open a hidden group of tools.
■ To select the hand tool temporarily, hold down the spacebar. To select the zoom-in tool temporarily, hold down Ctrl-space (Windows) or Command-space
(Mac OS). To select zoom-out temporarily, hold down Ctrl-Alt-space (Windows) or Command-Option-space (Mac OS). The tools are selected as long as you hold down the keys.
Using context menus
In addition to menus in fixed locations in the work area, Acrobat provides context-sensitive menus that display commands for the particular item under the pointer.
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To choose a command from a context menu:
1 Position the pointer over an item in the work area, such as a thumbnail, annotation, bookmark, or document page.
2 Hold down the right mouse button (Windows), or press Control and hold down the mouse button (Mac OS), until the context menu appears. Then drag to the command you want.
Using palettes
Palettes help you organize and keep track of a document’s bookmarks, thumbnails, signatures, annotations, articles, and destinations. Palettes can be docked inside the navigation pane, or they can float in windows over the work area.
They can also be grouped with other palettes.
To show or hide the navigation pane:
Click the Navigation Pane button in the status bar, or click the left border of the document pane.
To show or hide a palette:
Choose the palette’s Show or Hide command from the Window menu. The palette appears in the navigation pane or in a floating window, depending on where the palette was located the last time it was visible.
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To change the display of a palette:
Do the following:
■ To change the width of the navigation pane while it is visible, drag its right border.
■ To bring a palette to the front of its group, click the palette’s tab.
■ To move a palette to another group, drag the palette’s tab to the other group.
The other group can be in the navigation pane or in a floating window. You can drag a palette to an existing group or drag a palette over the document pane to create a new floating window for it.
Drag the palette’s tab to another group.
■ To move a palette to its own floating window, drag the palette’s tab to the document pane.
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■ To collapse a floating palette window to show only the tabs, double-click any tab in the palette. Double-click a tab again to return the window to its full size.
■ To move a floating palette window, drag it by the title bar.
To choose a command from a palette menu:
Position the pointer over the triangle in the upper right corner of the palette, hold down the mouse button to open the menu, and drag to the command you want.
Press on the triangle in a palette to open a palette menu.
Creating PDF documents
You begin the Acrobat process by converting existing documents or source material to PDF. Acrobat creates a copy of the source material in PDF (it does not alter the original material). The source material can be in a variety of formats:
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Electronic files from applications To convert an electronic file to PDF, you can drag and drop the file to Acrobat, use the Create PDF command or Acrobat icon in a Microsoft Office application, “print” the file to PDF from another application, or (in Windows) simply open the file in Acrobat. You can also set a variety of options that precisely control the fonts, colors, compression, and
other characteristics of your converted files. See Chapter 2, Converting
Electronic Files to PDF for details.
Web pages In Acrobat, you can collect one page or all pages from any portion of a Web site. The Web pages are converted to one PDF document and maintain all the original links. You can click the links to download more pages or to go to a URL on the Web. See Chapter 5,
for details.
Printed pages You can run a scanner from Acrobat to convert printed pages to an image-only form of PDF, which stores a bitmap picture of the pages. If you want to be able to search, index, and correct text on the pages, you can use the
Paper Capture feature to turn the file into a full-text searchable PDF file.
Acrobat performs optical character recognition (OCR) on the pages to convert them from PDF Image Only to searchable PDF Normal. See Chapter 4,
Converting Scanned Documents to PDF for details.
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Image files Import image files into Acrobat to convert them to a PDF image.
Acrobat can import many common graphic file formats, including TIFF, BMP,
PCX, GIF, and JPEG. If the imported images have text and if you’d like to make them full-text searchable, use the Paper Capture feature to convert the pages from PDF Image Only to searchable PDF Normal. See
Buying PDF documents off the Web
The Web Buy feature lets you buy and download eBooks, reference works, technical manuals, structured business documents, newspapers, and periodicals as PDF files that have been locked with the Adobe secure PDF technology to protect the copyrights of authors and publishers. Web Buy lets you unlock these files so that you can read and search them on your personal computer or reading device. A series of Web pages pops up in your browser to guide you through the process.
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Setting your Web Buy preferences
Sellers of electronic documents may require that the use of an electronic document be tied to a particular computer or storage device. You can specify in the Web Buy preferences dialog box what computer or storage device information you are willing to make available to sellers automatically when you purchase a secure PDF document over the Web. An advisory page will pop up in your Web browser if a seller seeks information other than that you have defined in your Web Buy preferences dialog box.
To set your Web Buy preferences:
1 Select File > Preferences > Web Buy.
2 Define the information you want to make available automatically to a seller:
■ Select Internal computer ID to give the seller your computer ID. You cannot edit your computer ID from this dialog box.
■ Select User Identifier (Logon Name) to give the seller your user ID. You cannot edit your user identifier from this dialog box.
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■ Select Storage Device for Document if you want to lock the PDF document to the default storage device in your computer.
Note: If you lock a document to a portable device such as a Zip cartridge or Jaz drive, the document is portable. If you lock a document to your computer, the document can be read only on that machine.
■ Select the Other Identifier (Windows) or Alternate Identifier (Mac OS) text box to lock the document to a storage device such as a Zip cartridge or a Jaz drive that is visible to your computer. To add a storage device to the Other
Identifier (Windows) or Alternate Identifier (Mac OS) text box, be sure the storage device is installed, and then click Refresh (Windows) or Refresh Device
List (Mac OS) in the dialog box. All the devices that are visible to your computer are listed in the right panel. Select the required storage device, and click the arrow to copy the storage device to the text box. Select the required text box.
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3 Click OK.
Important: You must set the Certified plug-ins only option in the General preferences to use the Web Buy feature.
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Reading downloaded PDF files
When you install the Web Buy plug-in, Acrobat installs Rotate View buttons on the Acrobat command bar. These buttons let you rotate pages clockwise or counterclockwise for easier viewing. Acrobat also installs the Retain View On
Close option in the Preferences file. Select this option if you want your electronic document to open automatically at the last page you were looking at when you closed the document, and at the same view.
To rotate the displayed page:
Click the Rotate View 90 o CW button or Rotate View 90 o CCW button on the command bar to rotate the displayed page clockwise or counterclockwise, respectively. The page is rotated in 90-degree increments.
To set the Retain View On Close option:
Choose File > Preferences > Retain View On Close. (Your document will open automatically at the same page and view when the option is selected.)
Opening PDF documents
The creator of a PDF document can set the document to open in a variety of ways. For example, a document might open to a particular page number, at a particular magnification, or with the bookmarks or thumbnails visible.
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If a document is set to open in Full Screen view, the tool bar, command bar, menu bar, and window controls are not visible. You can exit Full Screen view by pressing Escape, if your preferences are set this way, or by pressing Ctrl+L
(Windows) or Command+L (Mac OS). For more on this view, see
Reading documents in Full Screen view .
To open a PDF document:
Do one of the following:
■ Click the Open button , or choose File > Open. In the Open dialog box, select the filename, and click Open. PDF documents usually have the extension .pdf.
■ Choose the document’s filename from the File menu. The menu lists the four PDF documents you last opened.
■ Double-click the file icon in your file system.
Note: On Mac OS, you may not be able to open a PDF document created in
Windows by double-clicking the icon. If double-clicking the icon on Mac OS does not open the document, use File > Open in Acrobat to open the document, close the document, and try again. After you’ve used the Open command once on the document, you’ll be able to open the document next time by doubleclicking.
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Adjusting the view of PDF documents
You can change the magnification level of a PDF document and set a page layout that determines whether you’ll see one page at a time or a continuous flow of pages.
Magnifying and reducing the view
The minimum and maximum zoom levels available depend on the current page size.
If you need to magnify a page to a size larger than the window, use the hand tool to move the page around so that you can view all the areas on it.
Moving a PDF page with the hand tool is like moving a piece of paper on a desk with your hand.
To increase magnification:
Do one of the following:
■ Select the zoom-in tool , and click the page.
■ Select the zoom-in tool, and drag to draw a rectangle, called a marquee, around the area to magnify.
■ Click the Magnification button in the status bar, and choose a magnification level.
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To decrease magnification:
Do one of the following:
■ Select the zoom-out tool , and click the page.
■ Select the zoom-out tool, and drag to draw a marquee the size you want the reduced page to be.
■ Click the Magnification button in the status bar, and choose a magnification level.
Note: When the zoom-in tool is selected, you can press Ctrl (Windows) or
Option (Mac OS) while clicking or dragging to zoom out instead of in. When the zoom-out tool is selected, press Ctrl or Option to zoom in.
To change the magnification level using a thumbnail:
Position the pointer over the lower right corner of the red page-view box in the thumbnail until the pointer changes to a double arrow . Then drag the corner of the box to reduce or expand the view of the page.
To resize a page to fit the window:
Do one of the following:
■ To resize the page to fit entirely in the window, click the Fit In Window button
, or choose View > Fit in Window.
■ To resize the page to fit the width of the window, click the Fit Width button
, or choose View > Fit Width. Part of the page may be out of view.
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■ To resize the page so that its text and graphics fit the width of the window, choose View > Fit Visible. Part of the page may be out of view.
To return a page to its actual size:
Click the Actual Size button , or choose View > Actual Size. The actual size for a PDF page is typically 100%, but the document creator may have set it to another magnification level.
Setting the page layout
You can use three page layouts when viewing PDF documents:
■ Single Page layout displays one page in the document pane at a time.
■ Continuous layout arranges the pages in a continuous vertical column.
■ Continuous - Facing layout arranges the pages side by side. This configuration accommodates a two-page spread display and multiple-page viewing in the window. If a document has more than two pages, the first page is displayed on the right to ensure proper display of two-page spreads.
Single Page layout, Continuous layout, Continuous - Facing layout
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In Single Page layout, the Edit > Select All command selects all text on the current page. In Continuous and Continuous - Facing layouts, it selects all text in the PDF document.
To set page layout:
Do one of the following:
■ Click the Page Layout button in the status bar, and choose a page layout.
■ Choose Single Page, Continuous, or Continuous - Facing from the
View menu.
To see two-page spreads most efficiently, use the Continuous - Facing page layout, and choose View > Fit Width.
Reading documents in Full Screen view
In Full Screen view, PDF pages fill the entire screen; the menu bar, command bar, tool bar, status bar, and window controls are hidden. A document creator can set a PDF document to open in Full Screen view, or you can set the view for yourself. Full Screen view is often used for presentations, sometimes with automatic page advancement and transitions.
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The pointer remains active in Full Screen view so that you can click links and open notes. You can use keyboard shortcuts for navigational and magnification commands, even though the menus and tool bar are not visible. You can also set preferences to define how Full Screen view appears on your system.
To read a document in Full Screen view:
Choose View > Full Screen. Press Return or the Down or Right Arrow key to page through the document. Press Shift-Return or the Up or Left Arrow key to page backward through the document.
Note: If you’re using Mac OS and have two monitors installed, the Full Screen view of a page appears on only one screen. To page through the document, click the screen displaying the page in Full Screen mode.
To exit Full Screen view:
Press Escape, if your Full Screen preferences are defined this way, or press
Ctrl+L (Windows) or Command+L (Mac OS).
To set preferences for Full Screen view:
1 Choose File > Preferences > Full Screen.
2 Select the navigation options:
■ Advance Every specifies whether to advance automatically from page to page every set number of seconds. You can page through a document using mouse or keyboard commands even if automatic paging is selected.
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■ Advance On Any Click lets you page through a PDF document by clicking the mouse. If this is not selected, you can page through a document by pressing
Return, Shift-Return (to go backward), or the arrow keys.
■ Loop After Last Page lets you page through a PDF document continuously, returning to the first page after the last. This option is typically used for setting up kiosk displays.
■ Escape Key Exits lets you exit Full Screen view by pressing the Escape key.
If this is not selected, you can exit by pressing Ctrl+L (Windows) or
Command+L (Mac OS).
3 Choose the appearance options:
■ Background Color specifies the window’s background color. If you choose
Custom, the system color palette is displayed. See your computer’s user guide for instructions on setting a custom color.
■ Default Transition specifies the transition effect to display when you switch pages in Full Screen view.
■ Mouse Cursor specifies whether to show or hide the cursor in Full
Screen view.
■ Zoom To (Mac OS) selects a monitor to use for Full Screen view when two monitors are installed. You can choose Main (for the monitor with the menu bar), Largest Intersection (for the monitor that displays the largest portion of the document), Deepest (for the monitor with the most colors), Widest (for the
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4 Click OK.
Navigating in PDF documents
You can navigate in PDF documents by paging through them or by using navigational structures. You can also retrace your steps through documents to return to where you started.
Paging through documents
Acrobat provides buttons, keyboard shortcuts, and menu commands for paging through a PDF document.
Note: If you use the number keys on your keyboard’s number pad, make sure
Num Lock is off.
To go to another page:
Do one of the following:
■ To go to the next page, click the Next Page button in the command bar or status bar, press the Right Arrow key, press Ctrl (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) and the Down Arrow key, or choose Document > Next Page.
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■ To go to the previous page, click the Previous Page button in the command bar or status bar, press the Left Arrow key, press Ctrl (Windows) or
Option (Mac OS) and the Up Arrow key, or choose Document > Previous Page.
■ To move down one line, press the Down Arrow key.
■ To move up one line, press the Up Arrow key.
Note: The Down and Up Arrow keys move you one line at a time when you are not in Fit in Window view. In Fit in Window view, these keys move you one page at a time.
■ To move down one screenful, press Page Down or Return.
■ To move up one screenful, press Page Up or Shift+Return.
■ To go to the first page, click the First Page button in the command bar or status bar, press the Home key, or choose Document > First Page.
■ To go to the last page, click the Last Page button in the command bar or the status bar, press the End key, or choose Document > Last Page.
To jump to a page by its number:
Do one of the following:
■ Select the current page number in the status bar, type the page number to jump to, and press Return.
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If the Use Logical Page Numbers option is selected in General preferences, and if your document’s page numbers are different from the page position in the
PDF file, the page position appears in parentheses in the status bar. For example, if a first page is numbered “iii”, the numbering might appear as “iii(1 of
10)”. You can double-click inside the parentheses, edit the page-position number, and press Return to go to that page.
■ Choose Document > Go To Page, type the page number, and click OK.
If the Use Logical Page Numbers option is selected in General preferences, and your document’s page numbers are different from the page position in the PDF file, you can enter the page-position number in parentheses in Go To Page to go to that page.
■ Drag the vertical scroll bar until the number of the page you want to jump to is displayed.
Browsing with navigational structures
Acrobat offers a wide range of navigational structures to help you move to specific places in PDF documents:
■ Bookmarks provide a visual table of contents and usually represent the chapters, sections, and other organizational items in a document.
■ Thumbnails provide miniature previews of document pages. You can use thumbnails to edit pages, to change the display of pages, and to go to other
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■ Links take you to specific locations another user (usually the document creator) has defined; these locations can be in the current document, in other electronic files, or in Web sites. A link usually points to a titled section or other organizational item.
■ Articles are electronic threads that lead you through a document. An article typically begins on one page and continues on another, just as articles do in traditional newspapers and magazines. When you read an article, Acrobat zooms in or out so the current part of the article fills the screen.
■ Destinations are links that take you to locations a user has defined. Generally, these links go to other documents.
To browse with a bookmark:
1 Show the Bookmarks palette. You may need to choose Window > Show
Bookmarks to open the palette or click the Bookmarks tab to bring the palette to the front of its group.
2 To jump to a topic using its bookmark, click the bookmark’s icon or text in the palette.
Note: Clicking a bookmark might perform an action, such as playing a movie, instead of taking you to another location. It depends on how the bookmark was defined.
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The bookmark for the part of the document currently showing is boldfaced.
If the navigation pane disappears when you click a bookmark, the document creator has activated the Hide After Use command. To show the navigation pane again, click the Show Navigation Pane button on the command bar.
Deselect Hide After Use in the navigation pane’s palette menu if you want the navigation pane to remain open after you click a bookmark.
Bookmarks can be subordinate to other bookmarks in their hierarchy; a higher level bookmark in this relationship is the parent, and a lower level bookmark is the child. You can collapse a parent bookmark in the palette to hide all its children. When a parent bookmark is collapsed, it has a plus sign (Windows) or a triangle (Mac OS) next to it. If the bookmark you want to click is hidden in a collapsed parent, click the plus sign or triangle next to the parent to show it.
To select the bookmark for the part of the document showing in the document pane, choose Find Current Bookmark from the Bookmarks palette menu, or click the find current bookmark icon at the bottom of the palette. If the bookmark is hidden in a collapsed parent, the parent bookmark is opened so you can see the selected bookmark.
To browse with a thumbnail:
1 Show the Thumbnails palette. You may need to choose Window > Show
Thumbnails to open the palette or click the Thumbnails tab to bring the palette to the front of its group.
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2 Do one of the following:
■ To jump to another page, double-click the page’s thumbnail.
■ To display another part of the current page, position the pointer over the edge of the page-view box in the page’s thumbnail until the pointer changes to a hand tool . Then drag the box to move the view area.
To follow a link:
1 Select the hand tool , a zoom tool, or a selection tool.
2 Position the pointer over the linked area on the page until the pointer changes to a hand with a pointing finger . (The hand has a plus sign in it if the links point to the Web.) Then click the link.
Note: Clicking a link might perform an action, such as playing a movie, instead of taking you to another location. It depends on how the link was defined.
To read an article:
1 Do one of the following:
■ Show the Articles palette. Then double-click the article’s icon in the palette to start reading at the beginning of the article.
■ Select the hand tool . Then click in the article to start reading it at that point, or press Ctrl (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) and click anywhere in the article to start reading at the beginning.
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2 The pointer changes to the follow article pointer . Navigate through the article:
■ To go to the next page in the article, press Return or click.
■ To go to the previous page, press Shift-Return, or press Shift and click.
■ To go to the beginning of the article, press Ctrl (Windows) or Option (Mac
OS) and click.
■ To exit the article before reaching the end, press Shift-Ctrl (Windows) or
Shift-Option (Mac OS) and click.
3 When you reach the end of the article, the pointer changes to the end article pointer . Press Return or click to return to the view displayed before you started reading the article.
To follow a destination:
1 Show the Destinations palette. You may need to choose Window > Show
Destinations to open the palette or click the Destinations tab to bring the palette to the front of its group.
2 Choose Scan Document from the Destinations palette menu, or click the
Scan Document button at the bottom of the palette.
3 To change the sort order of names in the palette, do one of the following:
■ Click the Name bar at the top of the Destinations palette to list the destinations alphabetically by name.
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■ Click the Page bar at the top of the Destinations palette to list the destinations by their order in the document.
4 To jump to a topic using its destination, right-click (Windows) or Controlclick (Mac OS) the destination in the palette, and choose Go To Destination from the context menu.
Retracing your viewing path
After you have paged through documents or used navigational structures to move through documents, you can retrace your path back to where you started. You can go 64 steps back in Acrobat, or 32 steps back for documents in external browser windows.
To retrace your viewing path:
Do one or more of the following:
■ To retrace your path within a PDF document, click the Go To Previous View back. Or click the Go To Next View button , or choose Document > Go
Forward for each step forward.
■ To retrace your viewing path through other PDF documents, choose
Document > Go Back Doc for each step back or Document > Go Forward Doc for each step forward. Or hold down Shift, and click the Go Back or Go Forward button. This command opens the other PDF documents if the documents are closed.
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Finding words in PDF documents
You can use the Find command to find a complete word or part of a word in the current PDF document. Acrobat looks for the word by reading every word on every page in the file, including text in form fields.
If a full-text index has been created for your PDF document, you can search the index for a word rather than using the Find command. A full-text index is an alphabetized list of all the words used in a document or, more typically, in a collection of documents. Searching with an index is much faster than using the
Find command, because when Acrobat looks for a word in the index it goes right to the word in the list rather than reading through the documents. See
Chapter 12, Searching Catalog Indexes for more information.
To find a word using the Find command:
1 Click the Find button , or choose Edit > Find.
2 Enter the text to find in the text box.
3 Select search options if necessary:
■ Match Whole Word Only finds only occurrences of the complete word you enter in the text box. For example, if you search for the word stick, the words
tick and sticky will not be highlighted.
■ Match Case finds only words that contain exactly the same capitalization you enter in the text box.
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■ Find Backwards starts the search from the current page and goes backward through the document.
■ Distinguish Between Full And Half Width Kana finds only those Kana characters that exactly match the text you enter. This option is available only in the Japanese version of Acrobat.
4 Click Find. Acrobat finds the next occurrence of the word.
To find the next occurrence of the word:
Do one of the following:
■ Choose Edit > Find Again.
■ Reopen the Find dialog box, and click Find Again. (The word must already be in the Find text box.)
Getting information on PDF documents
When you view a PDF document, you can get information on the file, such as the title, the fonts used, and any security settings. Some of this information is set by the person who created the document, and some is generated by
Acrobat. You can change any of the information that can be set by the document creator (unless the file has been saved with security settings that do not allow you to change the document).
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To get information on the current document:
Choose from the File > Document Info menu or from the document pane menu to open an information dialog box. (You can open only the General,
Security, and Font dialog boxes from the document pane menu.)
■ General shows basic information about the document. The title, subject, author, and keywords may have been set by the document creator and can be changed. If you create an index in Acrobat, you can search for these items in
Acrobat to find particular documents.
Note: Acrobat Catalog and many Web search engines use the title to describe the document in their search results list. If a PDF file does not have a title, the filename appears in the results list instead. A file’s title is not necessarily the same as its filename.
The binding option affects how the pages are arranged side by side when you view pages using the Continuous - Facing page layout. This is provided so that the arrangement of pages will match the reading direction (left to right or right to left) of text in the document. Right Edge binding is useful for viewing Arabic or Hebrew text or vertical Japanese text. You can change this setting.
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Some information is generated by Acrobat and cannot be modified. This includes the application that created the original document, the Acrobat utility that produced the PDF file, the date and time the PDF file was created and last changed, whether the file was optimized for online Web viewing, the file size, and the PDF version number. Acrobat generates this information from comments in the PostScript file.
■ Open describes the opening view of the PDF document. This includes the initial window size, the opening page number and magnification level, and whether bookmarks, thumbnails, the tool bar, and the menu bar are displayed.
You can change any of these settings to control how the document displays the next time it is opened.
■ Fonts lists the fonts and the font types used in the original document, and the fonts, font types, and encoding used in Acrobat to display the original fonts. Only the fonts viewed in the document so far are listed. To see a list of all fonts used in the entire document, click List All Fonts.
Note: You can look at this dialog box to see what fonts were used in the original document and whether the same fonts are used in Acrobat. If substitute fonts are used and you aren’t satisfied with their appearance, you may want to install the original fonts on your system or ask the document creator to recreate the document with the original fonts embedded in it.
■ Security shows whether or not the file has passwords and describes other security settings.
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■ Prepress gives information about the document that may be helpful in a prepress workflow. The Trapping pop-up menu describes whether trapping has been applied to the file; this information can be used by prepress software to determine whether to apply trapping to the file at print time. The Print 4 Color setting tells whether four-color ICC profiles should be treated as devicedependent CMYK.
■ Index gives the name of an autoindex associated with the file. Opening the file adds the associated index to the list of indexes that can be searched. The
Browse button in this dialog box allows you to mount a different index for the file.
■ Base URL displays the base Uniform Resource Locator (URL) set for Weblinks in the document. Specifying a base URL makes it easy for you to manage
Weblinks to other Web sites. If the URL to the other site changes, you can simply edit the base URL and not have to edit each individual Weblink that refers to that site. The base URL is not used if a link already contains a complete
URL address.
Printing PDF documents
You can specify a range of pages to print in the Acrobat Print dialog box, or you can specify noncontiguous pages or a particular page area to print before opening the dialog box.
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To print a PDF document:
1 If necessary, do one of the following:
■ To select pages to print, click thumbnails in the Thumbnails palette. You can
Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) thumbnails to select noncontiguous pages, or Shift-click to select a contiguous range of pages. You can also select a contiguous page range in the Print dialog box.
■ To select an area on a page to print, select the graphics select tool , and drag on the page to draw the area you want.
2 Use File > Page Setup to set general printing options. The available options will vary with different printers and drivers. See your printer driver documentation for details.
3 Click the Print button , or choose File > Print. Specify the printer, page range, number of copies, and other options, and click OK. Most of the options are the same as they are for other applications, but note the following:
■ Selected Pages Or Selected Graphic (Windows) or Selected Thumbnails/
Graphic (Mac OS) prints only the pages or page area you selected before opening the Print dialog box.
■ Page From/To prints a range of pages. In Windows, if the Use Logical Page
Numbers option is selected in General preferences, you can enter pageposition numbers in parentheses to print those pages. For example, if the first page of a document is numbered “iii”, you can enter (1) to print that page.
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■ Annotations prints Acrobat annotation graphics on the pages. The annotations are always printed as closed, even if they are open on the pages online.
■ Fit To Page scales pages up or down (and if necessary rotates them) to fit the paper size currently installed in your printer. This is not available in most other applications.
■ Print As Image (Windows) prints the pages as bitmap images. (In Mac OS, this is set in the Print Method pop-up menu.) You may want to print pages as images if they have too many fonts to print as PostScript or if the pages use non-embedded Asian fonts not available on your system.
■ Print Method, in Windows, specifies which level of PostScript to generate for the pages. Choose the level of PostScript appropriate for your printer. In Mac
OS, this specifies whether to print using PostScript (without selecting level) or to print pages as bitmap images.
■ Force Language Level 3 (Mac OS) prints the pages using LanguageLevel 3
PostScript. Select this option if you’re printing PostScript to a file rather than to a printer and you want to use LanguageLevel 3 PostScript. (When you send
PDF to a printer, let the printer driver specify what level of PostScript to use.)
This is available only when you choose PostScript in the Print Method pop-up menu; if you choose PostScript in the menu and do not select this option,
PostScript Level 2 is used.
■ Download Asian Fonts downloads Asian fonts to a PostScript printer. Select this option if you want to print a PDF document with Asian fonts but do not
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Note: Some fonts cannot be downloaded to a printer, either because the font is a bitmap or because embedding of the font is restricted in that document. In these cases, a substitute font is used for printing, and the printed output may not match the screen display exactly. See
Previewing substituted fonts for infor-
mation on seeing what substituted fonts will look like on another system.
If Download Asian Fonts is not selected, the PDF document prints correctly only if the referenced fonts are installed on the printer. If the fonts are not on the printer but the printer has similar fonts, the printer substitutes the similar fonts. If there are no suitable fonts on the printer, Courier is used for the text.
If you have a PostScript Level 1 printer that does not support Type 0 font extensions, or if Download Asian Fonts does not produce the results you want, print the PDF document as a bitmap image. Printing a document as an image may take longer than using a substituted printer font.
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■ Use Printer Halftone Screens prints halftones using the printer’s halftone screens. If you do not select this option, the halftones are printed using halftone information from the PDF file.
Note: If Use Printer Halftone Screens is not selected, and if the halftone information sent to the printer from the PDF file is not appropriate for that printer, the screens may produce “muddy” images.
Setting Acrobat preferences
You can use preferences to define a default page layout, set an author name for annotations, select a browser for Weblinks, and customize Acrobat in many other ways. General preferences settings are described here. For information on other sets of preferences, see the index.
Note: These preferences control the Acrobat application on your system; they are not associated with a particular document.
To open a preferences dialog box:
Choose a dialog box from the File > Preferences menu.
To set General preferences:
Choose File > Preferences > General, or choose Preferences from the document pane menu. Define a default page layout, a color management system, and other basic options, and click OK.
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■ Default Page Layout sets a page layout used for scrolling when you first open a document. You can display pages one at a time as you scroll, continuously one above the next, or continuously side by side.
■ Page Units specifies a unit of measure for displaying page size in the status bar and in the Crop dialog box.
■ Substitution Fonts specifies multiple master fonts that Acrobat uses to substitute for Type 1 and TrueType
™
fonts not available on your computer. If
PDF documents do not print because of insufficient printer memory, choose
Sans from the Substitution Fonts pop-up menu. If you change this setting, the change takes effect the next time you start Windows or your Macintosh.
■ Application Language sets a language for the Acrobat user interface. The pop-up menu shows the languages you installed with Acrobat. If you choose a different language, the change takes effect the next time you start the application.
■ Use Greek Text Below displays text below the designated point size as gray lines (or greeked text) to speed display time.
■ Smooth Text And Images smooths the edges of text and monochrome images to minimize the contrast between the background and the text or image. This sometimes improves the quality of the display on-screen, especially with larger text sizes.
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■ Display Large Images displays images larger than 128K. If you do not select this option, a gray box appears in place of a large image. Selecting this option can slow down paging through a document.
■ Display Page To Edge prints PDF documents to the edge of the pages. If you do not select this option, pages from PDF documents are printed with a white border, as defined by the printer driver.
■ Use Logical Page Numbers allows you to set page numbering in a PDF document using the Document > Number Pages command. You typically do this when you want PDF page numbering to match the numbering printed on the pages. A page’s number, followed by the page position in parentheses, appears in the status bar and in the Go To Page, Delete Pages, and Print dialog boxes. For example, if the first page in a document is numbered “i”, it might appear as “i(1 of 10)”. If this option is not selected, Acrobat ignores page numbering information in documents and numbers pages using arabic numbers starting at 1.
■ Default Zoom sets the magnification level for PDF documents when they are first opened. This affects only documents that have Default set for their magnification in Document Info > Open.
■ Max “Fit Visible” sets the maximum magnification level for the Fit Visible view and for viewing articles.
■ Color chooses a color management system for interpreting color accurately across devices. See
Setting color options for information on how a color
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■ Allow Background Downloading allows a PDF document to continue downloading from the Web, even after the first requested page displays onscreen in a Netscape Navigator-compatible browser. If you do not select this option, only the requested page downloads to your computer, and other pages are downloaded as you request them.
Note: You will get unexpected results from the Go Back command in your Web browser if you do not select this option. For example, if you link to another document from a partially downloaded PDF document and then want to return to that document by using Go Back, you return to the first page of the
PDF document, even if you were not on the first page. This option should alleviate most cases of unexpected Go Back behavior in your Web browser.
■ Display Splash Screen At Startup shows the splash screen each time Acrobat is started.
■ Display Open Dialog At Startup shows the Open dialog box each time
Acrobat is started.
■ Open Cross-Doc Links In Same Window opens linked PDF documents and views in one window to minimize the number of windows open in Acrobat. If you do not select this option, a new window is opened for each new Go To
View link. If a linked document is open when a Go To View link to it from
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Note: To override this setting, either selected or deselected, you can press Ctrl
(Windows) or Option (Mac OS) when clicking a link.
■ Use Page Cache places the next page in a buffer even before you view the page in Acrobat. This reduces the amount of time it takes to page through a document.
■ Allow File Open Links warns you of security risks when you open a file in another application from a link in a PDF document and gives you a chance to cancel the operation. If this option is not selected, links to files in other applications are disabled.
■ Web Browser Integration displays PDF documents in your Web browser when viewing PDF documents on the Web. If you do not select this option, the documents display in Acrobat as a helper application to the Web browser. See
Configuring Web browsers for viewing PDF
for more information on viewing
PDF documents on the Web.
■ Skip Editing Warnings disables warning boxes when you delete notes, links, pages, thumbnails, bookmarks, and other items in PDF documents.
■ Certified Plug-ins Only loads only Adobe-certified third-party plug-ins. This option must be selected if you are using the Web Buy feature. If you change this option, you must restart Acrobat by clicking Relaunch in the General
Preferences dialog box.
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Viewing PDF documents on the Web
You can view PDF documents that are on the World Wide Web or an intranet using a Web browser. Every document on the Web is identified by a unique address called a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). When a PDF document is stored on the Web, you can click a URL link to it to open the document in your
Web browser. You can also read PDF documents that are embedded in HTML pages on the Web.
Reading PDF documents in a Web browser
PDF documents can display in Web browsers compatible with Netscape
Navigator 3.0 (or later) or Internet Explorer 3.0 (or later). The necessary plug-ins are automatically installed when you install Acrobat. For information on getting your browser ready, see
Configuring Web browsers for viewing PDF .
When you view a PDF document in a Web browser, all of the Acrobat Reader tools are available in the browser. In Windows, you can click the two small vertical lines (next to the Adobe icon at the left of the tool bar) to minimize or maximize the tool bar.
Note: Many keyboard commands are mapped to the Web browser rather than to Acrobat, so some Acrobat keyboard shortcuts may not be available in the browser window.
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Searching in a Web browser
Some Web search engines index PDF documents as well as HTML documents on Web servers. And some search engines support PDF search highlighting, although not all search engines that support PDF indexing support search highlighting.
If you visit a Web site that uses a search engine that indexes PDF documents, your search results list may include PDF documents. If the Web site uses a search engine that supports PDF search highlighting, and if you open one of the PDF documents in the search results list, the Highlight Next and
Highlight Previous buttons activate on the Acrobat command bar in your
Web browser. The search term is also highlighted in the document.
To go to the next search hit, click the Highlight Next button. To go to the previous hit, click the Highlight Previous button. These two commands jump across PDF documents, but not across HTML documents.
Reading PDF documents embedded in HTML
HTML pages can include embedded PDF documents. An embedded PDF document normally displays an image of the first page of the document in the
HTML document. The PDF document can be configured by the HTML author to display, when clicked, in a separate window. The document displays in a browser window or in an Acrobat window, depending on how you have configured your browser.
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If an embedded PDF file is not configured to open in a separate window, you can interact with the file in a browser compatible with Internet Explorer, but not one compatible with Netscape Navigator. For example, links would not be active in a PDF file displayed embedded in HTML in Netscape Navigator, but they would be active in Internet Explorer. For more information, see
Embedding PDF documents in HTML using the <EMBED> tag .
Configuring Web browsers for viewing PDF
You can view PDF documents in Web browsers compatible with Netscape
Navigator 3.0 (or later) or Internet Explorer 3.0 (or later). The Web browser you use, the Web server, and several other factors determine how your system handles the PDF documents.
About viewing PDF documents on the Web
Here are four possible scenarios for viewing PDF on the Web:
■ The browser supports PDF viewing, the PDF file is optimized, and the Web server supports page-at-a time downloading (byte-serving), so the PDF file downloads a page at a time and displays in the Web browser window. This is the fastest scenario possible for viewing PDF documents on the Web.
■ The browser supports PDF viewing, but the PDF file is not optimized or the server does not support byte-serving, so the entire PDF file downloads to the machine with the browser and then appears within the browser window.
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■ The browser supports PDF viewing, and PDF files are embedded in an HTML page. An ActiveX browser such as Internet Explorer supports navigating through the document. Netscape Navigator-compatible browsers can display the PDF document within an HTML page, but require a link to a full-window view for navigation.
■ Acrobat or Acrobat Reader is configured as a helper application for the browser, and the browser may support PDF viewing within the browser window. The entire PDF file downloads to the machine with the browser, and the Acrobat viewer launches as a separate application and displays the
PDF document.
Enabling page-at-a-time downloading
With page-at-a-time downloading (byte-serving), the Web server sends only the requested page of information to the user, not the entire PDF document. As a reader of the PDF document, you do not have to do anything to make this happen; it is communicated in the background between Acrobat and the Web server. If you want the entire PDF document to continue downloading in the background while you view the first page of requested information, be sure
Allow Background Downloading is selected in the General preferences dialog box (default). For more information, see
If your Web server does not support page-at-a-time downloading, you can use a CGI application to do it.
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Setting up Acrobat as a helper application
If your Web browser does not display PDF documents in the browser window, or if you prefer not to view PDF documents in the Web browser, you can set up
Acrobat as a helper application in your browser’s preferences. Then, when you view a PDF document on the Web, Acrobat will start and display the document.
When Acrobat works as a helper application, you cannot use page-at-a-time downloading, form submittal in a browser, or search highlighting on the Web, and you cannot view embedded PDF documents.
To set up your Web browser to recognize PDF files, you must define a MIME type and a file type. The file type should be pdf. The MIME type should be application/pdf. See your browser’s documentation for information on configuring it.
If you are using Netscape Navigator 2.0 or later with Windows or on a
Macintosh, and if you want to use Acrobat as a helper application, rename the
PDFViewer plug-in or delete it from the Netscape plug-in folder. The plug-in is named nppdf32.dll (Windows) or PDFViewer (Mac OS).
To use Acrobat as a helper application in Windows:
1 Choose File > Preferences > General.
2 Select Web Browser Integration, and click OK.
Note: This is not necessary in Mac OS.
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Installing the Web browser plug-in
Browsers compatible with Netscape Navigator need the nppdf32.dll file
(Windows) or PDFViewer plug-in (Mac OS) to display PDF. When you install
Acrobat, this plug-in is automatically installed in the Netscape plug-in folder, if you have Navigator on your system. If you install Navigator after installing
Acrobat, or if you’re using another browser compatible with Navigator, you can install this plug-in yourself.
To install the Web browser plug-in (Windows):
1 Open the Browser folder in the Acrobat folder.
2 Copy the nppdf32.dll file to your Web browser’s plug-ins folder.
To install the Web browser plug-in (Mac OS):
1 Open the Web Browser Plug-in folder in the Acrobat folder.
2 Copy the PDFViewer plug-in to your Web browser’s plug-ins folder.
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Converting Electronic Files to PDF
You can use Acrobat to convert an electronic file from virtually any application to the Portable Document Format (PDF). Acrobat can use two different utilities—PDFWriter and Acrobat Distiller—to make this conversion for you. In general, PDFWriter converts files more quickly, but Distiller gives you more control over the process and provides higher quality output.
About the methods of converting files
Acrobat provides several ways to convert electronic files to PDF. Use whichever method yields the most suitable PDF output and is most convenient for your situation:
■ In the Windows desktop, drag a file’s icon onto the Acrobat icon or a Distiller icon or into the Acrobat application window. In the Mac OS desktop, drag a file’s icon onto the PDFWriter icon. See
Creating PDF files with PDFWriter and
Creating PDF files with Distiller for details.
■ In a Microsoft Office application in Windows, use a File menu command or an
Acrobat icon on the Microsoft tool bar to create a PDF file from the current document in one quick step. Acrobat installs macros in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint on your system to enable this. See
Microsoft applications (Windows) for details.
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■ In Mac OS 7.6.1 or later, the AdobePS 8.6 driver lets you create PDF files
(using Distiller) directly from within authoring applications using Create Adobe
PDF. See Creating PDF files with Distiller for details.
■ In the Windows version of Acrobat, use the File > Open command to open a file from another application. Acrobat converts the file to PDF and opens it in
one step. See Creating PDF files with Distiller for details.
■ In an authoring application, use the File > Print command with an Acrobat printer driver to “print” the current document as PDF. See
Creating PDF files with PDFWriter and
Creating PDF files with Distiller
for details.
■ In some authoring applications, including Adobe FrameMaker
®
and Adobe
PageMaker
®
, use a Save or Export command to create a PDF file from the current document. See the documentation that came with your application for information on converting files this way.
■ Create a PostScript file from a document, and then use Distiller to convert that file to PDF. This requires more manual steps than the other methods but gives you better control over the conversion settings. You can also convert
PostScript files to PDF as a batch process and combine multiple PostScript files into a single PDF file. See
Converting PostScript files to PDF
, Using watched folders to convert PostScript to PDF
, and
Combining multiple PostScript files into one PDF file for details.
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About the Portable Document Format (PDF)
PDF is a file format that represents a document in a manner independent of the hardware, operating system, and application software used to create the file.
Adobe Systems developed PDF to enable documents to be transferred and shared across computer platforms. This section gives some background on how
PDF works. For more detailed information, see the Portable Document Format
Reference Manual, available from the Adobe Web site (www.adobe.com).
You do not need to understand how PDF works to be able to use Acrobat.
Properties of PDF
Here are some highlights of how documents are stored in PDF:
■ PDF represents text and graphics by using the imaging model of the
PostScript language. Like a PostScript program, a PDF page description draws a page by placing “paint” on selected areas, which allows for device independence and resolution independence.
■ PDF files are extremely portable across diverse hardware and operatingsystem environments. PDF makes use of binary as well as ASCII-encoded data.
■ To reduce file size, PDF supports JPEG, CCITT Group 3, CCITT Group 4, ZIP, and
LZW industry-standard compression filters.
■ PDF files contain information necessary for either displaying embedded fonts or for font substitution. A PDF file contains a font descriptor for each font used
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Page 80 in the document. The font descriptor includes the font name, character metrics, and style information. If a font used in a document is available on the computer on which the document is viewed, or if it’s embedded in the PDF file, it is used.
If the font is not available or is not embedded, a special serif or sans serif
Multiple Master font is used to simulate the font. This solution applies to Type 1 fonts and to fonts in the TrueType format. Symbol fonts and Expert fonts are automatically embedded or converted to graphics.
■ PDF font substitution does not cause documents to reformat. Substitute fonts created from serif and sans serif Multiple Master fonts retain the width and height of the original characters.
■ A PDF file contains a cross-reference table that can be used to locate and directly access pages and other important objects in the file. Because it uses this cross-reference table (called xref ), the time needed to view a given page can be nearly independent of the total number of pages in a document.
■ PDF is designed to be extensible; that is, new features can easily be added to the file format through the plug-in architecture. (Plug-ins are software programs that add functionality to a base program such as Acrobat.)
PDF file construction
PDF files are constructed in layers:
■ One layer contains the text and image content of the document.
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■ A second layer contains enhancements, such as bookmarks, hypertext links, and article information.
■ A third layer contains basic information about the file, such as font information and the cross-reference table needed for navigating the PDF file.
Because of this layered construction, you can replace pages in a PDF file while retaining established links. When you replace a page, you remove the content layer but not the enhancement layer, so the enhancement information is retained. This reduces the amount of work it takes to maintain the electronic document, because you do not have to recreate the links.
About PDFWriter and Distiller
Acrobat can use either PDFWriter or Distiller to convert your files to PDF. Both utilities are included in the default Acrobat installation. PDFWriter is a printer driver that converts files directly to PDF from another software application.
Distiller is a tool that converts PostScript files to PDF, and in many cases it provides higher quality output than PDFWriter. (In some installations, Distiller can also convert the original file to PostScript and then convert the PostScript to PDF.) PDFWriter is often quicker to use than Distiller.
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Your workflow process and the file’s type and contents may determine which utility is most suitable for your purposes. If you’re converting simple business memos and other documents that have only text, either utility should be acceptable. But if you need precise control over the conversion process, or if you’re converting documents with rich graphical content, Distiller is more appropriate than PDFWriter.
Susan Hall
A document appropriate for PDFWriter and one appropriate for Distiller
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When to use PDFWriter
PDFWriter is a printer driver that converts files to PDF quickly. It is most suitable for documents that contain mainly text. Here are a few guidelines that can help you decide when to use PDFWriter:
■ You’re converting simple business documents, such as those created with
Microsoft Word or Excel.
■ Your documents do not contain Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) graphics.
■ Your system has a limited amount of RAM.
■ You want to produce PDF files more quickly than you can with Distiller.
For information on using PDFWriter, see
Converting files to PDF in Microsoft applications (Windows)
and Creating PDF files with PDFWriter .
When to use Distiller
Distiller creates a PDF file from a PostScript version of a document. A PDF file created by Distiller maintains all the formatting, graphics, and photographic images from the original document, and it provides more precise control over the conversion process than PDFWriter. Here are a few guidelines that can help you decide when to use Distiller:
■ You’re converting documents created with desktop publishing applications such as Adobe PageMaker, Adobe FrameMaker, Adobe Illustrator, QuarkXPress, or Macromedia FreeHand.
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■ Your documents contain EPS graphics.
■ You need to choose specific resampling and compression methods for bitmap images in the documents.
■ The documents have color management information or use deviceindependent color.
■ You need to preserve PostScript features, such as document structuring convention (DSC) comments, in the PDF files.
■ You need to send PDF files to a prepress shop or a service provider for highend publishing.
■ You want to convert PostScript files to PDF in a batch process.
■ You’re using the Create PDF File command in Word 97 and want to include bookmarks and links.
■ You want to embed Asian fonts in PDF files.
For information on using Distiller, see
Converting files to PDF in Microsoft applications (Windows) ,
Creating PDF files with Distiller
, and
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Converting files to PDF in Microsoft applications
(Windows)
The default Acrobat installation in Windows includes macros that allow you to create PDF files quickly and easily from Microsoft Office applications. A macro called PDFMaker works with Microsoft Word 97, Word 2000, PowerPoint 97, and
PowerPoint 2000; a PDFWriter macro works with Microsoft Word 95, Power-
Point 95, and Excel 97, 95, and 2000. These macros are installed automatically with Acrobat if you have the Microsoft application on your system.
When you create a PDF file directly from Microsoft Word, you can set options that control the appearance and other aspects of the PDF file. The PDFMaker macro (with Word 97) can create PDF using either PDFWriter or Distiller, and it supports Acrobat 4.0 features such as structured bookmarks. The PDFWriter macro (with Word 95) is a more basic utility that uses PDFWriter to create
PDF files.
To convert a file to PDF in a Microsoft application (Windows):
Do one of the following:
■ In Microsoft Word 97 or Word 2000, choose File > Create Adobe PDF, or click the Create Adobe PDF icon on the Microsoft application tool bar. Select
PDFWriter or Distiller, set other options if necessary, and click Create. You can click the Help button in this dialog box to open a document with more information.
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■ In Microsoft Word 95, choose File > Create Adobe PDF > Print, or click the
Create Adobe PDF icon on the Microsoft application tool bar.
■ In PowerPoint 97 or PowerPoint 2000, click the Create Adobe PDF icon on the
Microsoft application tool bar.
■ In Excel 95, 97, or Office 2000, choose File > Create Adobe PDF, or click the
Create Adobe PDF icon on the Microsoft application tool bar.
Creating PDF files with PDFWriter
PDFWriter “prints” a document quickly in PDF. You can drag and drop to create
PDF files with PDFWriter or use the Print command in your authoring application. PDFWriter is most suitable for simple business documents that contain mostly text. If your documents have rich graphical content, use Distiller instead.
When you create a PDF file with PDFWriter, you can provide a title, a subject, an author name, and other keywords for the file in the Document Information dialog box. This information can be used in searches on the file and is optional.
If you do not provide a title, the filename will be used as the title in search results lists. For more information, see
Getting information on PDF documents .
In most cases, PDFWriter’s default compression and font settings create an acceptably small and efficient PDF file. If you want more control over file size or image quality, see
Setting PDFWriter properties for information on changing
these settings.
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To create a PDF file with PDFWriter by dragging and dropping (Mac OS):
1 Drag the file’s icon onto the PDFWriter icon on the desktop.
2 In the Print dialog box for PDFWriter, enter a page range. You can also set options if these appear in your Print dialog box:
■ View PDF File opens the new PDF file automatically in Acrobat.
■ Short (DOS) File Names truncates the filename to an 8.3 DOS filename.
■ Prompt For Document Info lets you attach search information to the PDF file.
3 Click OK.
4 If the Document Information dialog box appears, enter a title and other search keywords, and click OK. (The information is optional.) This dialog box appears if Prompt For Document Info is selected in the Print dialog box.
5 In the Save As dialog box, enter a filename and location, and click Save.
Note: If the PDFWriter icon is not on your Mac OS desktop, open the Chooser, select the PDFWriter printer driver, and close the Chooser.
To create a PDF file with PDFWriter using the Print command (Windows):
1 Open the document in its authoring application.
2 Choose File > Print.
3 In the Print dialog box, choose Acrobat PDFWriter from the Printer Name menu, enter the page range, and click Print or OK. In some applications, you
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Page 88 may need to click Setup in the Print dialog box to get access to the Printer
Name menu.
4 In the Save As dialog box, enter a filename and location for the PDF file, and set other options if necessary:
■ View PDF File opens the new PDF file automatically in Acrobat.
■ Edit Document Info opens the Document Information dialog box so you can provide search keywords for the PDF file. Enter a title and other keywords, and click OK. (The information is optional.)
5 Click Save.
To bypass the Save As dialog box and view the document in Acrobat before saving it in PDF, hold down the Control key, and click the Print button in the application’s tool bar, or the Print or OK button in the Print dialog box. Then use the Save command in Acrobat to save the file in PDF. To be able to use this shortcut, PDFWriter must be selected as the default printer.
To create a PDF file with PDFWriter using the Print command (Mac OS):
1 Open the document in its authoring application.
2 Do one of the following:
■ Hold down the shortcut key (Control by default), and choose File > Print. This uses PDFWriter to create a PDF file without changing your printer driver
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Mac OS applications.)
■ Open the Chooser, select the PDFWriter printer driver, and close the Chooser.
Then return to the application, and choose File > Print.
3 In the Print dialog box for PDFWriter, enter a page range. You can also set options if these appear in your Print dialog box:
■ View PDF File opens the new PDF file automatically in Acrobat.
■ Short (DOS) File Names truncates the filename to an 8.3 DOS filename.
■ Prompt For Document Info lets you attach search information to the PDF file.
4 Click OK.
5 If the Document Information dialog box appears, enter a title and other search keywords, and click OK. (The information is optional.) This dialog box appears if Prompt For Document Info is selected in the Print dialog box.
6 In the Save As dialog box, enter a filename and location, and click Save.
To change the shortcut key for PDFWriter (Mac OS):
Choose PDFWriter Shortcut from the Control Panel in the Apple menu, define a new shortcut, and close the Shortcut window. You can set any combination of
Control, Option, and Shift.
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Setting PDFWriter properties
The PDFWriter properties control the page setup, the compression settings, and the font embedding of all PDF files created with PDFWriter.
Changing the page setup
The page setup for PDFWriter determines the size and orientation of pages. In
Windows, you can also set the resolution of PDF files you send to a printer.
To change the page setup:
1 Do one of the following:
■ In a Windows application, choose File > Print (Print Setup in some applications), select Acrobat PDFWriter from the Printer Name menu, and click
Properties (Setup in some applications). This will change the settings for the open file and for other files you convert to PDF during the current session with this application.
■ In the Windows 95 or 98 desktop, choose Settings > Control Panel > Printers from the Start menu, right-click Acrobat PDFWriter, choose Properties, click the Details tab, and click Setup. In the Windows NT desktop, choose Settings >
Printers from the Start menu, right-click Acrobat PDFWriter, and choose
Document Defaults. This will change the settings for all PDF files created with PDFWriter.
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■ In a Mac OS application, hold down the shortcut key (Control by default), and choose File > Page Setup. Or open the Chooser, select the PDFWriter printer driver, close the Chooser, and then choose File > Page Setup in an application.
This will change the settings for all PDF files created with PDFWriter.
2 To change the page size, do one of the following:
■ Select Standard, and choose a page size from the menu.
■ Select Custom, choose a unit of measure, and enter the page dimensions and margins. The minimum page size is 1-by-1 inch; the maximum is 45-by-45 inches.
3 To change the orientation, select Portrait or Landscape.
4 To change the scaling, enter a percentage in the Scaling text box. Scaling lets you magnify or shrink the document for printing. For example, a document that is 8-1/2-by-14 inches can be scaled to 75% to fit on a 8-1/2-by-11-inch page. Similarly, if an 8-1/2-by-11-inch document is scaled to 200%, you will need to adjust the page size to 17-by-22 inches to display the entire page.
5 To change the resolution (Windows), choose a Resolution value. The resolution setting determines the number of dots per inch (dpi) with which a PDF file is printed and can sometimes alter character spacing. For best results, use the resolution setting of the printer chosen when the original file was created.
6 Click OK.
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Changing the compression options
PDFWriter can compress text, line art, and bitmap images to reduce file size.
You can change the compression options for specific purposes, or remove compression altogether if file size is not an issue. Because small files open and display more quickly than large ones, you should normally compress a PDF file as much as possible without noticeably degrading the quality of the images in it. In most cases, the PDFWriter default compression settings create an acceptably small PDF file.
PDFWriter can also downsample high-resolution bitmap images to reduce file size. A bitmap consists of digital units called pixels. Downsampling reduces the number of pixels in a file by averaging the color of pixels in a sample area and replacing that area with one pixel of the averaged color. By default, PDFWriter downsamples images to the following resolutions:
■ Color images are downsampled to 96 dpi (Windows) or 72 dpi (Mac OS).
■ Grayscale images (those that have a continuous tone of gray, such as black and white photographs) are downsampled to 96 dpi (Windows) or 150 dpi
(Mac OS).
■ Monochrome images (those in which each pixel is either black or white, with no shades of gray) are downsampled to 300 dpi.
Note: PDFWriter does not downsample 8-bit grayscale images, and it does not downsample when the bitmap source rectangle is smaller than the image rectangle.
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If you need more precise control over compression and resampling, use
Distiller instead of PDFWriter. For information on the Distiller and PDFWriter compression options and a more detailed discussion of the subject, see
Applying compression and resampling to PDF files .
You may want to try different compression settings to fine tune the balance between image quality and file size. Create a few PDF files from your document using different types of compression, and compare the results.
Zoom in at 200% or 400%, and look at a detail of the same image in each file.
For your final PDF file, use the compression settings that produced the smallest file with acceptable image quality.
To change the compression options:
1 Do one of the following:
■ In a Windows application, choose File > Print (Print Setup in some applications), select Acrobat PDFWriter from the Printer Name menu, and click
Properties (Setup in some applications). This will change the settings for the open file and for other files you convert to PDF during the current session with this application.
■ In the Windows 95 or 98 desktop, choose Settings > Control Panel > Printers from the Start menu, right-click Acrobat PDFWriter, choose Properties, click the
Details tab, and click Setup. In the Windows NT desktop, choose Settings >
Printers from the Start menu, right-click Acrobat PDFWriter, and choose
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Document Defaults. This will change the settings for all PDF files created with
PDFWriter.
■ In a Mac OS application, hold down the shortcut key (Control by default), and choose File > Page Setup. Or open the Chooser, select the PDFWriter printer driver, close the Chooser, and then choose File > Page Setup in an application.
This will change the settings for all PDF files created with PDFWriter.
2 Click the Compression Options tab (Windows), or click the Compressions button (Mac OS).
3 Select the options you want:
■ Compress Text And Line Art applies ZIP compression (a lossless method) to all text and line art in the file.
■ ASCII Format creates PDF files in ASCII text format. This option is useful if you want to open files in a text editor to read or edit them, but it increases file size.
■ Downsample Images downsamples bitmap images to a lower resolution.
Turn this option off if you want a specific resolution.
4 To apply compression to color or grayscale images, select the appropriate
Compress Using option, and choose a method from the pop-up menu.
PDFWriter applies the compression to all color or grayscale bitmap images in the PDF files.
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5 To apply compression to monochrome images, select the Compress Using option, and choose a method from the pop-up menu. PDFWriter applies the compression to all monochrome bitmap images in the PDF files.
6 To restore the original compression options, click Default.
7 Click OK.
Embedding fonts in PDF files
PDFWriter can embed Roman Type 1, TrueType, and base fonts (Windows only) in a PDF file. This ensures that the original font is used for display and printing on computers that do not have the font installed. Adobe Type Manager (ATM) must be installed and loaded as a control panel for PDFWriter to be able to embed Type 1 fonts. PDFWriter cannot embed Asian fonts.
PDFWriter embeds only the set of characters used in the file if fewer than
35% of the characters in a font are used in the file. (Standard Roman fonts contain 256 characters; 35% of a Roman font is approximately 90 characters.)
You cannot change this threshold in PDFWriter. If you need more precise control, see
Setting the Fonts job options for information on embedding fonts
with Distiller.
Note: When you combine PDF files that have the same font subset, the subsets are not combined. As a result, combining files with subsets of fonts may result in a large file. To combine subsets using PostScript files, see
PostScript files into one PDF file .
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If you do not embed fonts in a PDF file and a user opens the file on a system that does not have the file’s fonts, Acrobat temporarily substitutes fonts. For
Roman text, Acrobat uses serif and sans serif Multiple Master fonts to simulate the original font. For Asian text, Acrobat uses fonts from the installed Asian
Language Kit or from similar fonts on the user’s system. (See
About font embedding and substitution for an example.) If you embed a font and the user
has that font on their system, they can edit the text in the PDF file.
An embedded font typically adds about 30K to 40K to a PDF file. If it is not important that readers see the file in its original fonts, do not embed fonts. Let
Acrobat use substitute fonts when necessary. This will produce the smallest file possible.
To help you decide which fonts to embed in a PDF file, you can get a preview of how the substituted fonts will look in the file. See
Previewing substituted fonts .
To modify which fonts are embedded in a PDF file:
1 Do one of the following:
■ In a Windows application, choose File > Print (Print Setup in some applications), select Acrobat PDFWriter from the Printer Name menu, and click
Properties (Setup in some applications). This will change the settings for the open file and for other files you convert to PDF during the current session with this application.
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■ In the Windows 95 or 98 desktop, choose Settings > Control Panel > Printers from the Start menu, right-click Acrobat PDFWriter, choose Properties, click the
Details tab, and click Setup. In the Windows NT desktop, choose Settings >
Printers from the Start menu, right-click Acrobat PDFWriter, and choose
Document Defaults. This will change the settings for all PDF files created with
PDFWriter.
■ In a Mac OS application, hold down the shortcut key (Control by default), and choose File > Page Setup. Or open the Chooser, select the PDFWriter printer driver, close the Chooser, and then choose File > Page Setup in an application.
This will change the settings for all PDF files created with PDFWriter.
2 Click the Font Embedding tab (Windows), or click the Fonts button (Mac OS).
3 To rebuild the set of available fonts, click Rebuild (Mac OS).
4 Do one of the following:
■ To embed all fonts used in the file, select Embed All Fonts.
■ To embed only certain fonts, make sure Embed All Fonts is not selected, and move the fonts you want embedded to the Always Embed list. You can move a font by selecting it in the Available Fonts list and clicking the Add button associated with the Always Embed list or by dragging the font to this list. Ctrlclick (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) to select multiple fonts. Shift-click to select a contiguous range of fonts.
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■ To embed all but some fonts, select Embed All Fonts, and move the fonts you do not want embedded to the Never Embed list. You can move a font by selecting it in the Always Embed list and clicking the Add button associated with the Never Embed list or by dragging the font to this list. Ctrl-click
(Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) to select multiple fonts. Shift-click to select a contiguous range of fonts.
■ To remove a font from the Always Embed or Never Embed list, select the font, and click Remove, or drag the font to the Available Fonts list. If you remove a symbol font from the Never Embed list, it is added back to the list if you reinstall PDFWriter or if you click the Default button.
Note: Some TrueType fonts cannot be embedded. You will not be able to remove these fonts from the Never Embed list.
Font types are indicated in the font lists in the following ways:
■ Type 1 fonts have the Type 1 icon next to the font name.
■ TrueType fonts have the TrueType icon next to the name.
■ Underlined font names indicate symbol fonts, such as ITC Zapf Dingbats
®
.
Acrobat cannot substitute these, which is why (except for any symbol base font) they are on the Always Embed list by default.
In Windows, the font lists show additional restrictions by color:
■ Black font names indicate normal fonts with no restrictions, except as indicated by any underlining.
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■ Blue font names indicate base fonts. These fonts are in the Never Embed list by default.
■ Red font names indicate TrueType fonts that cannot be embedded. These fonts will appear only in the Never Embed list.
■ Green font names are for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean fonts.
5 To restore the original font settings, click Default.
6 Click OK.
Previewing substituted fonts
When a user opens a PDF document, the text in the file appears in its original font if that font is embedded in the file, or if the user has the font installed on their system. If the font is not available, the text is displayed in a substitute font.
For Roman text, Acrobat uses serif and sans serif Multiple Master fonts to simulate the original font. For Asian text, Acrobat uses fonts from the installed
Asian language kit or from similar fonts on the user’s system. Fonts from some languages or with unknown encodings cannot be substituted; in these cases, the text appears as bullets in the file.
You can embed fonts in a PDF file to be sure that users will see text in the right font, but embedding fonts can dramatically increase the size of the file. You may want to see a preview of how substituted fonts will look in your PDF file to help you decide which fonts to embed.
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To preview substituted fonts in a PDF file:
Choose View > Use Local Fonts to specify whether Acrobat should ignore the fonts installed on your system. (The command has a check mark by it when
Acrobat is using the fonts; it has no check mark when Acrobat is not using the fonts.) When Use Local Fonts is off (that is, it does not have a check mark by it),
Acrobat displays the PDF file using substitute fonts for all fonts that are not embedded. If a font cannot be substituted, the text in it appears as bullets, and
Acrobat displays an error message. This enables you to see how your PDF file will appear on a computer that doesn't have these fonts installed.
Note: For a PDF file to be portable, at a minimum you should embed the fonts that cannot be substituted.
When Use Local Fonts is off, the PDF file also prints using substituted fonts.
Creating PDF files with Distiller
Distiller creates a PDF file from a PostScript version of a document. A PDF file created by Distiller maintains all the formatting, graphics, and photographic images from the original document, and it usually provides higher quality output than PDFWriter. For more on the comparison with PDFWriter, see
Note: For Distiller to be able to create PDF files, you must have a PostScript printer driver on your system set up with a Distiller PostScript printer description (PPD) file. The default Acrobat installation includes the latest
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AdobePS drivers for Windows and Mac OS. Adobe recommends using these drivers or later versions. If you did not use the default installation and did not include one of these drivers in a custom installation, you can install one manually from your Acrobat CD. You can also find the most recent printer drivers on the Adobe Web site (www.adobe.com).
To set up a default PostScript printer with an AdobePS printer driver
(Mac OS):
1 Open the Chooser, and select the AdobePS printer driver.
2 Select a PostScript printer, and click Setup.
3 Click Select PPD, and select Acrobat Distiller (PPD) in the list
4 Click Select, and click OK. Close the Chooser.
5 Within your application, choose File > Page Setup to create a Create Adobe
PDF desktop printer (System 7.6.1 or later).
You can drag and drop to create PDF files with Distiller or use the Print command in the authoring application. In Windows, you can also open files in
Acrobat to convert them to PDF. Distiller uses a file’s source application and your PostScript driver to create a PostScript file and then converts the
PostScript to PDF using the current set of Distiller job options. You should have
16 MB of available memory to run Distiller (32 MB are recommended).
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Distiller can create a PDF file with Asian-language text as long as it has the information it needs to process the fonts used in the document. See
Preparing to convert Asian text to PDF (Windows) or
Preparing to convert Asian text to
Note: When processing large files, Distiller can slow down other tasks on your system. If you frequently use Distiller to process files of 10 MB or more, and especially if you process groups of ten or more files at a time, consider running
Distiller on a stand-alone system.
To create a PDF file with Distiller by dragging and dropping (Windows):
1 Do one of the following:
■ To save the file in a new PDF file, drag the file’s icon onto the Acrobat icon or the Distiller icon or onto the title bar in the Acrobat application window. The new file opens in Acrobat.
■ To append the file to an existing PDF file, drag the file’s icon onto the existing
PDF file in the Acrobat application window.
You can drag a file from Adobe FrameMaker, Corel WordPerfect, or Microsoft
Word, Excel, or PowerPoint; an HTML or text file; or an image file of type GIF,
JPEG, TIFF, PCX, PNG, or BMP. Files from FrameMaker, WordPerfect, and the
Microsoft applications are always saved in a new PDF file, even if you drag them onto an existing file.
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2 If you created a new PDF file (rather than appending to a file), choose File >
Save As in Acrobat, enter a filename and location for the new file, and click Save.
Note: If the Distiller icon is not on your Windows desktop, select AcroDist.exe in your Acrobat Distiller folder in the file system, choose File > Create Shortcut, and drag the shortcut to the desktop.
To create a PDF file with Distiller by dragging and dropping (Mac OS 7.6.1 or later):
1 Drag the file’s icon onto the Create Adobe PDF icon to launch the authoring application and open the Print dialog box with Create Adobe PDF printer selected.
2 Select the required job options, set the view preferences, and click Print.
To create a PDF file with Distiller by opening the file in Acrobat (Windows):
1 Choose File > Open, choose All Files from the Files Of Type pop-up menu, select the file you want to convert to PDF, and click Open.
You can open a document from Adobe FrameMaker, Corel WordPerfect, or
Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint; an HTML or text file; or an image file of type GIF, JPEG, TIFF, PCX, PNG, or BMP.
2 Choose File > Save As, enter a filename and location for the new PDF file, and click Save.
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To create a PDF file with Distiller using the Print command (Windows):
1 Open the document to convert in its authoring application.
2 Choose File > Print.
3 Choose Acrobat Distiller from the Printer Name menu, enter other print options you want, and click Print or OK. In some applications, you may need to click Setup in the Print dialog box to get access to the Printer Name menu.
By default, Distiller appends the extension .pdf and places the file in the PDF
Output folder in your Acrobat folder. You can configure Distiller to ask you for a location when it creates PDF files. See
Setting Distiller preferences for details.
To create PDF files with Distiller using Create Adobe PDF (Mac OS 7.6.1 or later):
1 In your authoring application, open the file you want to turn into a PDF file.
Important: For Adobe PageMaker 6.5, in order to access Create Adobe PDF, you must have Desktop Printing enabled in the Extensions Manager. Afterward, simply drag and drop the application file you want to turn into a PDF onto the
Create Adobe PDF desktop icon. You will get a print-optimized PDF (unless you previously changed this default setting in another application’s Print dialog box). The PDF file is saved to your desktop.
2 Choose File > Page Setup.
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3 From the Printer pop-up menu, select Create Adobe PDF. Close the Page
Setup dialog box.
Note: Do not confuse Create Adobe PDF with Acrobat PDFWriter. Create Adobe
PDF, which uses the full-feature Distiller, offers the full range of Adobe
PostScript 3 capabilities that you expect from your professional authoring applications, including support for EPS files.
Accessing Create Adobe PDF from an application’s Page Setup dialog box (Mac OS)
4 Choose File > Print. In the Printer pop-up menu, verify that the printer is
Create Adobe PDF and that the destination is File.
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5 In the Job Options pop-up menu, choose Print Optimized, Press Optimized, or Screen Optimized. (For information on Job Options, see
Selecting Distiller job options .) If you added custom job options files to your Distiller Settings
folder, you can select these options also. For information on adding job options files, see
Setting Distiller job options .
6 Click Save to create the PDF file.
7 Type a filename, browse to a destination for your PDF file, and then click Save.
Selecting Distiller job options
The Distiller job options define compression, font embedding, color management, and many other properties for all PDF files that Distiller creates.
Acrobat comes with three sets of options already defined for common scenarios:
■ The Screen Optimized job options are suggested for PDF files that will be displayed on the World Wide Web or an intranet, or that will be distributed through an e-mail system for online viewing.
■ The Print Optimized job options are suggested for PDF files that are intended for printers or digital copiers, that will be published on a CD, or that will be used as a publishing proof, for example.
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■ The Press Optimized job options are suggested for PDF files that will be printed as high-quality final output.
You cannot modify these three predefined sets of job options, but you can start with any of these three and create new sets based on them, or define and save sets of options from scratch. See
Setting Distiller job options for more infor-
mation on the three predefined sets of options and for instructions on specifying custom options.
Note: Before creating a PDF file to send to a commercial printer or a service bureau, check with the provider to find out what the output resolution and other settings should be, or ask them to provide a .joboptions file containing their recommended settings. You may need to customize the job options for a particular provider and then provide them with a .joboptions file of your own.
To select Distiller job options:
1 Start the Distiller application.
2 Choose a set of job options from the Job Options pop-up menu. You can choose a predefined set of options (Screen Optimized, Press Optimized, or Print
Optimized), or you can choose a set that you have already defined and saved.
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Creating PostScript files to convert to PDF
A PostScript file contains a detailed description of each page in an electronic document. Distiller interprets this information to create a PDF file that accurately preserves the look and content of the original document.
When Distiller creates a PDF file, it uses the original file’s application and the
PostScript driver on your system to create a PostScript file and then converts the PostScript file to PDF. You may sometimes want to create PostScript files manually so you have more control over the page descriptions or so Distiller can batch process the PostScript files in a watched folder.
You can insert Distiller parameters in a PostScript file to control PDF processing of the file. For example, you might use parameters to embed fonts or to set downsampling for individual images. See the related technical notes on your
Acrobat CD for more information.
Note: Inserted Distiller parameters will not be applied unless you select Allow
PostScript File To Override Job Options in Distiller’s Advanced job options. For more information, see
Setting the Advanced job options .
Tips on creating PostScript files
Because Print dialog boxes can vary from application to application, it is difficult to provide specific instructions for creating a PostScript file from each application. For specific instructions on creating a PostScript file from the application you are using, see the application’s user manual.
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Keep the following guidelines in mind when creating PostScript files:
■ Give a PostScript file the same name as the original document, but with the extension .ps. When Distiller creates the PDF file, it replaces the .ps extension with .pdf. This makes it easy to keep track of the original, PostScript, and PDF versions of a document.
■ Color and custom page sizes are available if you use one of the Acrobat
Distiller 4.0 PPDs. Choosing a PPD from some other printer may result in PDF files that do not contain appropriate color, font, or page size information. In other words, if your source document is intended for PDF rather than directly for print, use the AdobePS printer driver and the Acrobat Distiller PPD to create your PostScript files.
■ To create PDF files with custom page sizes, select a printer that supports custom sizes. The Acrobat Distiller PPDs support custom page sizes. For information on PPDs, see
About printer drivers and PostScript printer description
.
■ When using FTP to transfer PostScript files between computers, send the files as 8-bit binary data to avoid conversion of line feeds to carriage returns or vice versa.
■ In Mac OS, do not select Substitute Fonts, Smooth Text, or Smooth Graphics in the PostScript Options panel of the Page Setup dialog box. If you select these options, the printer driver smooths graphics by adding many tiny images to
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■ The file Pdfmrkex.ps is a PostScript file that has examples of how to create various markers for such things as cropping pages, adding annotations, and creating text in articles directly in the PostScript file. This file is located in the
Acrobat/Distiller/Xtras folder and can be viewed in a text editor. You need to be familiar with the PostScript language to use this file. See the related technical note on your Acrobat CD for more information.
About printer drivers and PostScript printer description (PPD) files
A printer driver is a software utility that helps transfer information between an application and a specified printer, enabling the application to control the printer. The AdobePS printer driver is an example of a PostScript printer driver.
A PostScript printer description (PPD) file provides the PostScript language extensions, or information, needed to use particular features available on a specific model of printer. A PPD file also includes information about the fonts built into the ROM of each printer.
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Setting up a Distiller printer (Windows)
The AdobePS printer driver and an Acrobat Distiller PPD are included in the default Acrobat installation. You can set up additional Distiller printer drivers— for example, if you need to have both an RGB printer and a CMYK printer, or if you want to have different printers for different applications. For each Distiller printer, you need to select a PPD and a destination folder for the PDF output.
The AdobePS printer driver uses a folder called PDF Output in your Acrobat folder as the destination for PDF files. You can change this to another folder, which can be helpful if you prefer to keep PDF files in another part of your hard drive or if the drive with the PDF Output folder is full.
To set up a printer to use the AdobePS driver and a Distiller PPD
(Windows):
1 Launch the setup utility for AdobePS Printer Driver from the Drivers folder on your Acrobat CD.
2 Follow the online instructions to progress through the introduction, accept the license agreement, and copy the setup program to your local disk.
3 Choose Local Printer as your printer type, and click Next.
4 Locate the Xtras folder in your Acrobat Distiller folder, select an Acrobat
Distiller PPD in the list, and click Next.
5 Select FILE: in the list of ports, and click Next.
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6 Follow the online instructions to proceed with the setup, and click Exit when you are finished.
7 Choose Settings > Printers from the Windows Start menu.
8 Do one of the following:
■ In Windows 95 or 98, right-click the printer you want to use, and choose
Properties. Click the Fonts tab, click Send Fonts As, choose Type 42 (for
TrueType fonts) or Outlines (for Type 1 outline fonts) from the pop-up menu, enter 1 as the threshold, and click OK. Click OK in the Properties dialog box.
■ In Windows NT, right-click the printer you want to use, and choose
Document Defaults. Click the Advanced tab, select TrueType Font Download
Option under PostScript Options, select Automatic or Native TrueType (for
TrueType fonts) or Outline (for Type 1 outline fonts), and click OK.
Note: Entering the threshold value in Windows 95 or 98 ensures that TrueType fonts will not be converted to Type 3 fonts in a PostScript file. Type 3 fonts can cause PDF files to be unnecessarily large. Instead, the fonts will be converted to
Type 42 or Type 1.
To change a Distiller printer to use a different output folder:
1 Choose Setting > Printers from the Windows Start menu, right-click on the
Distiller printer, and choose Properties.
2 Click Add Port, select PDF Port, and click New Port.
3 Select an output folder in the browser, and click OK.
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4 Click Close in the Printer Ports dialog box, and click OK in the Properties dialog box.
Creating PostScript files in Windows
You can create PostScript files in Windows using the AdobePS driver and an
Acrobat Distiller PPD with the source application. AdobePS and a PPD are installed automatically in the default Acrobat installation. For information on
using a different driver or PPD, see Setting up a Distiller printer (Windows) .
To create a PostScript file from a source application (Windows):
1 Open the document to convert in its authoring application.
2 Choose File > Print.
3 Choose the PostScript printer from the Printer Name pop-up menu. In some applications, you may need to click Setup in the Print dialog box to get access to the Printer Name menu.
4 Select Print Only To File, and enter a name and location for the PostScript file.
Use .ps as the filename extension (for example, “myfile.ps”).
Note: Some applications use a .prn extension instead of the .ps extension that you designate. Distiller recognizes both .ps and .prn extensions.
5 Enter other print options you want, and click Print or OK.
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6 If the Save As dialog box appears, choose All Files (*.*) from the Save As Type menu, and click Save. This dialog box appears if you’re using the Acrobat
Distiller printer.
Creating PostScript files in Mac OS
You can create PostScript files in Mac OS using the AdobePS driver and an
Acrobat Distiller PPD with the source application. AdobePS and a PPD are installed automatically in the default Acrobat installation.
To create a PostScript file from a source application (Mac OS):
1 Make sure you have a default PostScript printer set up with the AdobePS printer driver. If necessary, open the Chooser, select the AdobePS printer driver, select a PostScript printer, and click Setup. Then click Select PPD, select Acrobat
Distiller (PPD) in the list, click Select, and click OK. Close the Chooser.
2 Open the document in its authoring application.
3 Choose File > Page Setup, choose the PostScript printer from the Format For pop-up menu, enter other setup options you want, and click OK.
4 Choose File > Print, and choose Save as File from the main pop-up menu to change the options panel in the dialog box.
5 Choose PostScript Job from the Format pop-up menu, enter the PostScript options you want, and click Save.
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6 In the Save As dialog box, enter a name and location for the PostScript file, and click Save. Use .ps as the filename extension (for example, “myfile.ps”).
Converting PostScript files to PDF
Once you have a PostScript file, you’re ready to convert the file to PDF. You can open the PostScript file in Distiller, drag and drop the file onto the Distiller icon, place the file in a watched folder for batch processing, or specify the Distiller and file pathnames in the Run dialog box in Windows. Distiller converts the file to PDF using the current set of job options.
While Distiller converts a PostScript file to PDF, the Distiller window shows information about the job:
■ The Info area in the window tells the name and size of the PostScript file and the source of the job request, such as User Selection or Watched Folder. The bar in the Progress area illustrates the progress of the job.
■ The pane at the bottom of the window gives the source and destination pathnames, the start time, and any error messages. This information remains in the pane after processing is complete until you convert another file or quit
Distiller; it is also stored in the Messages.log file in the Distiller folder. You can lengthen the Distiller window to view more messages.
To convert a PostScript file by opening it in Distiller:
1 Start the Distiller application.
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2 Choose File > Open, and use the browser to select the PostScript file. Choose
All Files from the Files Of Type pop-up menu if the PostScript file has an extension other than .ps (such as .prn).
3 Do one of the following:
■ Click Open, enter a name and location for the PDF file, and click Save.
■ Hold down Shift (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) while clicking Open. The PDF file has the same name as the PostScript file, plus the extension .pdf, and is stored in the same folder as the PostScript file.
To convert a PostScript file by dragging and dropping:
Do one of the following:
■ Drag the file’s icon onto the Distiller icon on the desktop or into the Distiller window. The PDF file has the same name as the PostScript file, plus the extension .pdf, and is stored in the same folder as the PostScript file.
■ Hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS), and drag the file’s icon onto the Distiller icon or into the Distiller window. In the Save As dialog box, enter a filename and location for the PostScript file, and click Save.
To place a Distiller icon on your desktop in Windows, select AcroDist.exe in your file system, choose File > Create Shortcut, and then drag the new icon to the desktop. In Mac OS, select Acrobat Distiller 4.0 in your file system, choose
File > Make Alias, and then drag the new icon to the desktop.
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To convert a PostScript file using the Run command (Windows):
1 Choose Run from the Windows Start menu.
2 Enter the pathname of Distiller on your system, a space, and then the pathname of the file to be converted. If there are spaces within a pathname, enclose the pathname in quotation marks. To convert more than one file, separate the pathnames with a comma. The files are processed in the order they are listed, with one PDF file for each PostScript file.
For example: "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 4.0\Distillr\AcroDist.exe"
C:\q1\chart.ps,C:\q1\report.ps
3 Click OK.
To interrupt or cancel a processing job:
Do one of the following in the Distiller window:
■ Click Pause to have Distiller stop distilling after it finishes processing the current PostScript file. Click Resume when you’re ready to go on to the next file.
■ Click Cancel Job to stop processing on the current PostScript file. Distiller begins processing the next file. If a PDF file is partially processed, Distiller deletes the file and creates a log file (with the name filename.log) reporting that the job was terminated at the user’s request. The log file is saved in the same folder as the PostScript file.
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Using watched folders to convert PostScript to PDF
You can configure Distiller to look in certain folders for PostScript files. When it finds a PostScript file in the In folder in one of these watched folders, it converts the file to PDF and moves the resulting PDF file to the Out folder. A watched folder can have its own Distiller job options and security settings that will apply to all files processed from that folder.
Distiller does not convert a PostScript file in a watched folder if the file is marked with read-only permission. In Windows, however, you can convert a read-only file using the Open command in Acrobat.
Important: You cannot set up watched folders as a network service for other users. Every user who creates PDF files must have his or her own Acrobat license. Use watched folders only for converting your own files.
To set up watched folders:
1 Start the Distiller application.
2 Choose Settings > Watched Folders.
3 For each folder you want to add, click Add. Use the browser to select the folder, and click OK. Distiller automatically puts an In folder and an Out folder in the watched folder (unless it already has In and Out folders). Distiller can monitor up to 100 watched folders.
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You can place In and Out folders at any level of a disk drive. In Windows, for example, you can create a pair of DOS folders E:\In and E:\Out by selecting E:\ as a watched folder. To do this in Mac OS, select the drive as a watched folder.
4 Set options for the folders:
■ To define security options for a folder, select the folder, click Security, and set
the options you want. See Adding security to PDF files for more information.
■ To select an existing set of job options for a folder, select the folder, click Load
Options, and select a job options file. See Setting Distiller job options for more
information. This file is saved to the watched folder as folder.joboptions. The original job options file is not changed or moved.
■ To customize or define and save your own set of job options, click Job
Options or Load Options. See Setting Distiller job options for more information.
The resulting file is saved to the watched folder as folder.joboptions. Any original job options file is not changed or moved.
■ To return a folder to the original options selected in the Distiller window, select the folder, and click Clear Options.
5 Set options to manage the processing of files:
■ Enter a number of seconds to specify how often to check the folders. You can enter a value from 1 to 9999. (For example, 120 equals 2 minutes and 9999 equals about 2-3/4 hours.)
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■ Choose what to do with a PostScript file after it has been processed. The file can be moved to the Out folder along with the PDF file or deleted altogether.
Any log file is also automatically copied to the Out folder.
■ To delete PDF files after a certain period of time, select the option and enter a number of days. You can enter a value from 1 to 999. This option also deletes
PostScript and log files, if you have chosen to delete them.
6 Click OK.
To remove a watched folder:
Select a folder in the Watched Folders dialog box, and click Remove.
Note: When you remove a watched folder, Distiller does not delete the In and
Out folders, their contents, or the Folder.JobOptions file. You can delete these when appropriate.
To convert a PostScript file to PDF in a watched folder:
1 Copy the PostScript file to the In folder in the watched folder. Distiller checks the In folder for PostScript files on a set schedule and converts any files in it to PDF.
Important: If two PostScript files with the same name are placed in an In folder, the second PDF file created by Distiller automatically replaces the first.
2 After the file has been converted, move the PDF file out of the Out folder to save it.
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Combining multiple PostScript files into one PDF file
Distiller can convert two or more PostScript files together to produce a single
PDF file. If the PostScript files have embedded font subsets, Distiller gives the resulting PDF file only one subset for each font. This is much more efficient than creating a set of several PDF files with duplicate font subsets.
For more information on font subsets, see
Embedding fonts in PDF files with
To combine PostScript files into one PDF file:
1 Start a text editor or a word processor.
2 Choose File > Open, use the browser to locate Runfilex.ps (Windows) or
RunFilEx.ps (Mac OS) in the Acrobat Distiller Xtras folder, and open the file as a text file with carriage returns.
3 Follow the instructions in the Runfilex.ps or RunFileEx.ps file. Note that this utility combines PostScript files in the order in which they are listed.
4 Choose File > Save As, and save the modified Runfilex.ps or RunFileEx.ps under a new name. Use the name you want Distiller to give the PDF file. For example, if you name the file Handbook.ps, Distiller creates a PDF file called
Handbook.pdf. If you’re using a word processor, save the file as a text file.
5 Quit the text editor or word processor.
6 Open the file in Distiller.
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7 Convert the combined file to PDF, or place the file in an In folder to be converted later.
8 When the PDF file is ready, open the file in Acrobat and make sure that all of the document parts are present and in the correct order.
To combine PostScript files that are in the same folder:
Follow the instructions in the Rundirex.txt (Windows) or RunDirEx.txt (Mac OS) file in the Acrobat Distiller Xtras folder.
Converting image files to PDF
You can import BMP, GIF, JPEG, PCX, PICT (Mac OS only), PNG, or TIFF image files into Acrobat. If you have a digital camera with a TWAIN scanner driver connected to your computer, you can also import a JPEG from the camera into
Acrobat. An imported image is automatically converted to the PDF Image Only format. The maximum image size you can import is 45-by-45 inches.
In the PDF Image Only format, images and text are bitmaps, and therefore text cannot be edited. If your converted image has text, you may want to “capture” the image to change the bitmap text to regular PDF text that can be edited and searched in Acrobat. See
Capturing pages to convert to searchable text for
information. For information on editing images in PDF documents, see
Editing graphic objects within PDF documents .
An imported image can be in a new PDF file or appended to an existing file.
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To convert image files by importing:
1 Choose File > Import > Image.
2 Do one of the following:
■ In Windows, select an image file, and click Open. You can Control-click to select multiple files or Shift-click to select a contiguous range of files.
■ In Mac OS, select an image file, click Add, and click Done. You can select and click Add to convert multiple files or click Add All to convert all files in the folder list.
Note: When you import multiple image files, the images are combined into one
PDF file. You may be able to select up to 50 image files on either platform, depending on your system’s resources.
3 If a Destination dialog box appears, select Current Document to append the images to the current PDF file, or select New Document to create a new PDF file. Then click OK.
This dialog box appears if a PDF file is already open when you choose File >
Import > Image. If no file is open, Acrobat creates a new PDf file with the filename “Untitled,” plus the extension .pdf.
4 If you selected New Document in the Destination dialog box, choose
File > Save As, enter a filename and location, and click OK.
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To convert image files by dragging and dropping:
Do one of the following:
■ In the Windows desktop, drag an image file’s icon onto the Acrobat icon on the desktop or into the Acrobat application window. You can Control-click to select multiple file icons or Shift-click to select a contiguous range of icons to drag. If you drag onto the icon or the title bar of the application window,
Acrobat creates a new PDF file for each image. If you drag into a PDF file in the application window, the images are appended to that file.
■ In the Mac OS desktop, drag the image file’s icon onto the PDFWriter icon.
You can Shift-click to select a contiguous range of icons to drag. Acrobat creates a new PDF file for each image.
To convert an image file by opening it in Acrobat:
1 Choose File > Open. In Windows, choose Image Files from the Files Of Type pop-up menu, select the file you want to convert to PDF, and click Open. In Mac
OS, choose File > Open, select the file you want to convert to PDF, and click
Open. You can convert only one image file at a time using this method.
2 Choose File > Save As, enter a filename and location for the new PDF file, and click Save.
To convert JPEG images by scanning from a digital camera:
1 Turn on your digital camera, and connect it to the computer.
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2 In Acrobat, choose File >Import > Scan.
3 Choose the digital camera and a page format from the pop-up menus. The
Device pop-up menu lists all TWAIN drivers and Photoshop Acquire plug-ins installed on your system.
4 Select whether to add the images to the end of the current PDF file or to put them in a new file.
5 Click Scan.
6 Select the image or images in the digital camera’s interface. In most cases, you also need to click a button or send the image to Acrobat in some other way. See the documentation that came with your camera for details.
7 Click Done.
Exporting to PostScript or EPS for color separations
You can export a PDF file to PostScript for use in printing and prepress applications. The PostScript file will include full DSC comments and other advanced information preserved by Distiller.
You can also create an EPS file of any page in a PDF document for placement in another application file. The placed EPS file will generate color separations correctly.
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To export to PostScript or EPS:
1 Choose File > Export > PostScript or EPS.
2 Choose a PostScript or EPS file format.
3 Choose a PostScript language level for file formatting. Choose Language
Level 1 if the file is an EPS file that will be placed in another document and color separated as part of that other document.
Note: If you’ve used LanguageLevel 3 PostScript operators for smooth shading or image masks, the file will not be translated correctly.
4 Select ASCII or Binary to specify what type of file to create.
5 Enter a page range. If an EPS file format is selected, each page in the range will be saved as a separate EPS file.
6 Choose a set of fonts for the exported file.
7 Select whether to convert TrueType fonts to Type 1 and whether to include
RGB and Lab images and halftone screens. The availability of these options varies depending on which PostScript language level you’re using.
8 Click Save, enter a filename and location, and click Save again.
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Specifying prepress options
You can use the Prepress Info dialog box to declare whether a PDF file contains trapping information. This can help prevent a service bureau from adding potentially conflicting trapping commands to the file. See the documentation that came with your authoring application for details on including trapping information in a PostScript file.
The Prepress Info dialog box also lets you bypass a color management system and thus preserve the original CMYK and gray values in the PDF file, if the file is used to make color plates for printing. The CMYK and gray values may have been set when an image was originally scanned, or they may have been set in the authoring application in which it was created or edited (such as Adobe
Photoshop). You can have the CMYK and gray values in the PDF file pass directly to the output device, rather than going through a color management system that might calibrate the values.
For more information on ICC profiles and color management, see
and
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To specify prepress options:
1 Open the PDF file, and choose File > Document Info > Prepress.
2 Choose a Trapped option:
■ Yes if the file contains trapping information, or No if the file does not contain trapping information.
■ Unknown if you do not know whether the file contains trapping information.
3 To preserve the original CMYK and gray values in the PDF file, select Print 4
Color ICC Profiles as Device CMYK.
4 Click OK.
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Setting Acrobat Distiller Options
Acrobat Distiller converts PostScript files to PDF files. You can select fonts to embed in the new PDF file, define how to compress images in the file, choose a profile to provide color information about images in the file, and customize the conversion in many other ways.
You do not need to explicitly start Distiller when converting documents. You do need to start Distiller, though, when setting its options. For information on using Distiller to convert documents to PDF, and advice on whether to use
Distiller or PDFWriter, see
Converting Electronic Files to PDF .
Setting Distiller job options
The Distiller job options define compression and resampling, font embedding, color management, and many other properties for PDF files thatDistiller creates.
Distiller comes with three predefined sets of options:
■ The ScreenOptimized job options are suggested for PDF files that will be displayed on the World Wide Web or an intranet, or that will be distributed through an e-mail system for on-screen viewing. This set of options uses compression, downsampling, and a relatively low resolution; converts all colors to CalRGB, CalGray, or Lab; maintains compatibility with Acrobat 3.0; and
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■ The PrintOptimized job options are suggested for PDF files that are intended for desktop printers, digital copiers, publishing on a CD-ROM, or to send to a client as a publishing proof. In this set of options, file size is still important, but it is not the only objective. This set of options uses compression and downsampling to keep the file size down, but it also embeds subsets of all fonts used in the file, tags everything for color management, and prints to a medium resolution to create a reasonably accurate rendition of the original document.
■ The PressOptimized job options are suggested for PDF files that will be printed as high-quality final output to an imagesetter or platesetter, for example. In this case, file size is not a consideration. The objective is to maintain all the information in a PDF file that a commercial printer or service bureau will need to print the document correctly. This set of options downsamples color and grayscale images at 300 dpi, monochrome images at 1200 dpi, embeds subsets of all fonts used in the file, prints to a higher resolution, and uses other settings to preserve the maximum amount of information about the original document.
For details on each of these job options, view the settings in their job options dialog boxes.
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You cannot modify these three predefined sets of Distiller job options.
However, you can create new ones based on them, or you can define and save your own custom sets of options and use them at any time. For example, in many cases you may have particular fonts you need to use, or you may want to experiment with compression to find a suitable balance between file size and image quality.
Note: Before creating a PDF file to send to a commercial printer or a service bureau, check with the provider to find out what the output resolution and other settings should be, or ask them to provide a .joboptions file containing their recommended settings. You may need to customize the job options for a particular provider and then provide them with a .joboptions file of your own.
To set the Distiller job options:
1 Start Distiller.
2 Choose one of the sets of predefined job options from the Job Options popup menu in Distiller’s main window: ScreenOptimized (for online viewing, such as for the Web), PrintOptimized (for typical print use), and PressOptimized (for high-end print use).
3 To define a custom set of Distiller job options, choose Settings > Job
Options.
4 Make changes to the job options. You can move from one panel to another by clicking the tabs at the top of the dialog box:
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■ For information on the General job options, see
Setting the General job options .
■ For information on the Compressions job options, see,
Applying compression and resampling to PDF files
.
■ For information on the Fonts job options, see
Embedding fonts in PDF files with Distiller .
■
For information on the Color job options, see Setting color options
.
■ For information on the Advanced job options, see
Setting the Advanced job options .
5 Do one of the following:
■ To apply the changes to the current job options, click OK. If the current options file is one of the three predefined ones, a Save As dialog box appears, so that you can rename the current options file.
■ To save the changes as a different job options file and make that the new job options file, click Save As. Then enter a name and location for the new job options, click Save in the Save Job Options As dialog box, and click OK. By default, these files are saved in the Distillr/Settings folder in the Acrobat folder.
You cannot overwrite the three predefined sets of options.
Note: Although you can save a set of options in any folder, you can only see job option files in the Distiller window that are saved in the default (Settings) folder.
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Setting the General job options
The General job options allow you to specify the version of Acrobat for file compatibility and other file and device settings, including resolution and optimization.
You can create PDF files that are compatible with Acrobat 3.0 or Acrobat 4.0. If you create files with Acrobat 4.0 compatibility, the resulting PDF files may not be compatible with earlier versions of Acrobat. These are some of the differences between PDF files created with Acrobat 3.0 and 4.0 compatibility.
Acrobat 3.0 compatibility
PDF files can be opened by Acrobat viewers 3.0 and later.
Acrobat 4.0 compatibility
PDF files can be opened by Acrobat viewers 3.0 and later. However, some or all of the document may be unviewable if opened with versions earlier than 4.0.
Patterns display as 50% gray, but print correctly.
Patterns display and print correctly
Places halftone information in file
Users can preserve, remove, or apply
Transfer functions.
Places halftone information in file if
Preserve Halftone Information is selected in the Color dialog box.
Users cannot preserve or remove Transfer functions.
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Acrobat 3.0 compatibility
Can convert all colors to CalRGB
ICC profile color management supported
DeviceN color space is converted to alternate color space.
Smooth shaded objects are converted to images.
Masked images do not display or print correctly.
Can convert pages up to 45 inches to PDF
Can convert documents up to 32,768 pages long, depending on disk space and available memory
Cannot embed double-byte fonts
TrueType fonts not searchable
Supports PDF level 1.2
Acrobat 4.0 compatibility
Can convert all colors to sRGB.
ICC profile color management supported
DeviceN color space is supported.
Smooth shading is supported.
Masked images display and print correctly.
Can convert pages up to 200 inches to PDF
Can convert documents of unlimited length, depending on disk space and available memory
Can embed double-byte fonts
TrueType fonts can be searchable
Supports PDF level 1.3
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The compatibility also determines the type of settings available in the Color panel of Job Options.
To set the General job options:
1 Start Distiller.
2 Select an existing set of job options from the Job Options menu in the
Acrobat Distiller dialog box to use as a starting point.
3 Choose Settings > Job Options.
4 Choose a compatibility setting from the pop-up menu. The 4.0 compatibility creates a PDF version 1.3 file, which takes advantage of 4.0 improvements to
Acrobat and LanguageLevel 3 PostScript. But unless you know that all recipients of your PDF files have Acrobat 4.0, you can use the 3.0 compatibility
(which creates a PDF version 1.2 file) until they have upgraded to ensure access to your files.
It is a good idea to keep a copy of the original file so that you can make 3.0- or 4.0-compatible PDF versions at any time.
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5 Select other options:
■ ASCII Format creates the PDF file in ASCII text format. This option is useful if you want to open the file in a text editor to read or edit it, or if you want to send a PDF file across networks or mail gateways that don’t support binary files. You should normally leave this unselected to save the file in binary format and create a smaller file.
■ Optimize PDF optimizes a PDF file to reduce file size. To optimize a file,
Acrobat removes repeated background text, line art, and images, replacing them with pointers to the first occurrences of those objects, and restructures the file to prepare for page-at-a-time downloading from Web servers. This option compresses text and line art regardless of what you have selected in the
Compression settings. This makes for faster access and viewing when downloading the file from the Web or a network. For more information, see
Optimizing PDF documents for the Web .
■ Generate Thumbnails creates a thumbnail preview for each page in the PDF file. For more information, see
Note: Adding thumbnails increases the file size of the PDF file.
■ Resolution specifies a resolution for vector objects and type in EPS files in dots per inch (dpi). You can enter a value from 72 to 4000. However, note that a low-resolution setting can cause banding in gradients and change the positioning of objects slightly. Generally, you should leave this at the default
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Distiller to emulate the resolution defined in the original PostScript file.
Note: Increasing the resolution setting increases the file size and may slightly increase the time required to process some files.
■ Binding specifies whether to display a PDF file with left-side or right-side binding. This affects the display of pages in the Facing Page - Continuous layout and the display of thumbnails side by side.
6 Do one of the following:
■ To apply the changes to the current job options, click OK.
■ To save the changes as a different job options file and make that the new job options file, click Save As. Then enter a name and location for the new set, click
Save in the Save Job Options As dialog box, and click OK. By default, these files are saved in the Distillr/Settings folder (Windows) or Distiller/Settings folder
(Mac OS) in the Acrobat folder. You cannot overwrite the three predefined sets of options.
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Applying compression and resampling to PDF files
When converting files, you can have Distiller compress text and line art, and compress and resample color, grayscale, and monochrome bitmap images.
Depending on the settings you choose, compression and resampling can significantly reduce the size of a PDF file with little or no loss of detail and precision.
■ Line art, or vector graphics, is described with a mathematical equation; it is usually created with a drawing program such as Adobe Illustrator.
■ Bitmap images are described as pixels and are created with paint programs or from scanners. Monochrome bitmap images include most black-and-white illustrations made by paint programs and any images scanned with an image depth of 1 bit.
About methods of compression
Distiller applies ZIP compression to text and line art; ZIP or JPEG compression to color and grayscale bitmap images; and ZIP, CCITT Group 3 or 4, or Run
Length compression to monochrome images:
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Push Button
Chuck
Handbook
HOT AIR BALLOON
Napa, California to EUREKA
Winery Avenue
NAPA VALLEY
AIRWAY
Napa Road
V in ya e rd
N ap a-S ono ma
Hwy to SAN FRANCISCO
NAPA
N
Come join us for the wonderful festival in the sky. Come join us for the wonderful festival in the sky.
10/28-29/1999
6:30am-Sunset
COLBERT TECHNICAL GEAR
A
Young
Music Source
OAK
Sounds of Nature Vol.2
B
Sales Plan
Push Button Chuck
C D
Suitable compression methods for different source art types: A. ZIP B. JPEG C. CCITT
D. Run Length
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■ ZIP is a compression method that works well on images with large areas of single colors or repeating patterns, such as screen shots and simple images created with paint programs, and for black-and-white images that contain repeating patterns. Acrobat provides 4-bit and 8-bit ZIP compression options. If you use 4-bit ZIP compression with 4-bit images, or 8-bit ZIP with 4-bit or 8-bit images, the ZIP method is lossless, which means it does not remove data to reduce file size and so does not affect an image’s quality. However, using 4-bit
ZIP compression with 8-bit data can affect the quality, since data is lost.
Note: Adobe’s implementation of the ZIP filter is derived from the zlib package of Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler, whose generous assistance we gratefully acknowledge.
■ The JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) compression method is suitable for grayscale or color images, such as continuous-tone photographs that contain more detail than can be reproduced on-screen or in print. JPEG is
lossy, which means that it removes image data and may reduce image quality, but it attempts to reduce file size with the minimum loss of information.
Because JPEG eliminates data, it can achieve much smaller file sizes than ZIP compression.
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Acrobat provides five JPEG options, ranging from Maximum quality (the least compression and the smallest loss of data) to Minimum quality (the most compression and the greatest loss of data). The loss of detail that results from the Maximum and High quality settings are so slight that most people cannot tell an image has been compressed; at Minimum and Low, however, the image may become blocky and acquire a mosaic look. The Medium quality setting usually strikes the best balance in creating a compact file while still maintaining enough information to produce high-quality images.
■ The CCITT (International Coordinating Committee for Telephony and Telegraphy) compression method is appropriate for black-and-white images made by paint programs and any images scanned with an image depth of 1 bit. CCITT is a lossless method.
Acrobat provides the CCITT Group 3 and Group 4 compression options. CCITT
Group 4 is a general-purpose method that produces good compression for most types of monochrome images. CCITT Group 3, used by most fax machines, compresses monochrome bitmaps one row at a time.
■ Run Length is a lossless compression option that produces the best results for images that contain large areas of solid white or black.
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About resampling
Resampling refers to changing the pixel dimensions (and therefore file size) of an image. When you downsample (or decrease the number of pixels), information is deleted from the image. When you resample, new pixel information is added based on color values of existing pixels.
Distiller can downsample or subsample a bitmap image to reduce the amount of data in the image to no more than what an output device needs. You should resample bitmap images when they contain more data than the output device can use. (For a table showing different output resolutions, see
Compression job options .) If your images are sampled at a higher resolution
than the device, the extra resolution only increases the time it takes the device to process the image. Note that Distiller never resamples images to a higher resolution, only to a lower one.
To resample an image, Distiller combines pixels in a sample area to make one larger pixel. You provide the resolution of your output device in dots per inch
(dpi), and Distiller combines pixels as needed to reduce the image’s resolution to the specified dpi setting:
■ Average downsampling averages the pixels in a sample area and replaces the entire area with the average pixel color at the specified resolution.
■ Bicubic downsampling uses a weighted average to determine pixel color and usually yields better results than the simple averaging method of downsam-
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■ Subsampling chooses a pixel in the center of the sample area and replaces the entire area with that pixel at the specified resolution. Subsampling significantly reduces the conversion time compared with downsampling but results in images that are less smooth and continuous.
Setting the Compression job options
The Compression job options specify compression for text and line art, and compression and resampling for bitmap images. Compression and resampling can significantly reduce the size of a PDF file but can also degrade the quality of images. However, it does not affect the quality of text and line art. You may want to experiment with these options to find an appropriate balance between file size and image quality.
To set the Compression job options:
1 Start Distiller.
2 Select an existing set of job options from the Job Options menu in the
Acrobat Distiller dialog box to use as a starting point.
3 Choose Settings > Job Options, and click the Compression tab.
4 To resample color or grayscale bitmap images, select Resampling in the
Color Bitmap Images or Grayscale Bitmap Images area as appropriate, choose
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Average Downsampling At, Subsampling At, or Bicubic Downsampling At, and enter a resolution in dots per inch (dpi). Acrobat resamples all color or grayscale bitmap images in a PDF file.
The resolution setting for color and grayscale should be 1.5 to 2 times the line screen ruling at which the file will be printed. (As long as you don’t go below this recommended resolution setting, images that contain no straight lines or geometric or repeating patterns won’t be affected by a lower resolution.)
You should also consider whether users will need to magnify a page. For example, if you are creating a PDF of a map, consider using a higher image resolution so that users can zoom in on the map.
The following table shows common types of printers and their resolution measured in dpi, their default screen ruling measured in lines per inch (lpi), and a resampling resolution for images measured in pixels per inch (ppi). For example, using the table, if you were printing to a 600 dpi laser printer, you would enter 170 for the resolution at which to resample images.
Printer resolution
300 dpi (laser printer)
600 dpi (laser printer)
1200 dpi (imagesetter)
Default line screen
60 lpi
85 lpi
120 lpi
Image resolution
120 ppi
170 ppi
240 ppi
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Printer resolution
2400 dpi (imagesetter)
Default line screen
150 lpi
Image resolution
300 ppi
5 To apply compression to color or grayscale bitmap images, select
Compression in the Color Bitmap Images or Grayscale Bitmap Images area as appropriate, and choose Automatic, JPEG, or ZIP compression, and a quality setting. Acrobat applies the compression to all color or grayscale bitmap images in a PDF file.
If you select the Automatic option, Acrobat determines the best compression method and quality for your color or grayscale bitmap images. For most PDF files, this provides satisfactory results. JPEG is applied to 8-bit grayscale images and to 8-bit, 16-bit, and 24-bit color images when the images have continuous, smooth tones; ZIP is applied to 2-bit, 4-bit, and 8-bit grayscale images, to 4-bit color images and indexed 8-bit color images, and to 16-bit and 24-bit color images when the images have sharp color changes.
6 To resample monochrome bitmap images, select Resampling in the
Monochrome Bitmap Images area; choose Average Downsampling At,
Subsampling At, or Bicubic Downsampling At; and enter a resolution in dpi.
Acrobat resamples all monochrome bitmap images in a PDF file.
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Use the same resolution as the output device but do not exceed 1500 dpi.
Saving a monochrome image at a resolution higher than 1500 dpi increases the file size but does not improve image quality.
Note: Resampling monochrome images can have unexpected viewing results, such as no image display. If this happens, turn off resampling and convert the file again. This problem is most likely to occur with subsampling and least likely with bicubic downsampling.
7 To apply compression to monochrome images, select Compression in the
Monochrome Bitmap Images area, and choose CCITT Group 4, CCITT Group 3,
ZIP, or Run Length compression. Acrobat applies the compression to all monochrome bitmap images in a PDF file.
Note: Make sure that monochrome images are scanned as monochrome and not as grayscale. Scanned text is sometimes saved as grayscale images by default. Grayscale text compressed with the JPEG compression method is muddy at best and may be unreadable.
8 To apply compression to text and line art, select the setting. Distiller applies the ZIP compression method to all text and line art in a PDF file. This method results in no loss of detail or quality.
Note: If you selected Optimize PDF in the General settings, text and line art are compressed regardless of what you choose here.
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9 Do one of the following:
■ To apply the changes to the current job options, click OK.
■ To save the changes as a different job options file and make that the new job options file, click Save As. Then enter a name and location for the new set, click
Save in the Save Job Options As dialog box, and click OK. By default, these files are saved in the Distillr/Settings folder (Windows) or Distiller/Settings folder
(Mac OS) in the Acrobat folder. You cannot overwrite the three predefined sets of options.
Applying different settings to different images
When Distiller processes a PDF file, it normally applies your compression settings to bitmap images throughout the file. If you want images in a file to be compressed and resampled using different methods, you can do this in several ways:
■ Use the Adobe Photoshop application to resample and compress images before processing with Distiller. In this case, you should deselect the compression and resampling options in Distiller.
■ Create separate PostScript files for each part of the document you want to process differently, and use different compression options to distill each part.
Then use Acrobat to merge the resulting PDF files. You can write Distiller scripts that use the RunFileX procedure to process every page with different resam-
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PostScript files into one PDF file .
■ Create color, grayscale, and monochrome images. Then select different compression and resampling settings for each image type.
■ Insert Distiller parameters before images in a PostScript file. You can use this technique to process every image in a document differently. The technique is the most difficult because it requires that you edit a PostScript file and requires knowledge of PostScript programming. See the related technical note on the
Acrobat CD for more information on using parameters.
Note: The inserted distiller parameters will not be applied unless you select
Allow PostScript File To Override Job Options in Distiller’s Advanced job options dialog box. However, selecting this option overrides the settings you selected through the job options dialog boxes. For more information, see
Giving Distiller access to fonts
When converting a PostScript file to PDF, Distiller needs access to the file’s fonts to be able to insert appropriate information in the PDF file. Distiller can access a file’s fonts in several ways:
■ Type 1 fonts or TrueType fonts may be included in the PostScript file. For information on putting fonts in a PostScript file, see the documentation that
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PostScript file.
■ Type 1 fonts may be available in a font folder that Distiller monitors, and font substitution information is contained in the Adobe Type Manager Font
Database. The fonts are called out by name in the PostScript file, and Distiller looks in the folders to get the actual fonts or in the database to get font shape information for substituting fonts. Acrobat provides a default font folder for
Distiller to monitor; you can also add your own folders. By default, Acrobat monitors the psfonts folder on your main drive in Windows and the System/
Fonts folder on Mac OS. The font database is contained in these folders as well.
■ Acrobat includes width-only versions of many common Chinese, Japanese, and Korean fonts. On Mac OS, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean fonts can be converted to a width-only font and stored in a Resource folder that Distiller monitors. You can use the MakeCID utility on Mac OS to extract the width information and store the width-only font in the folder.
Note: Distiller does not support Type 32 fonts.
If Distiller cannot get access to a font in one of these ways, it uses Courier or attempts font substitution for the font in the PDF file. Depending on your preferences, Distiller may also display an error message and stop processing the file.
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Acrobat comes with a folder containing fonts that Distiller may need for converting documents to PDF. If a PostScript file that Distiller is converting refers to a font but does not contain the font itself, Distiller looks in this folder for the font information to embed the font. You can set up additional font folders for Distiller.
By default, fonts are placed in the following folders:
■ (Windows): Resource/Font in the Acrobat folder (and in /psfonts if ATM is installed).
■ (Mac OS): Resource/Font in the Acrobat folder (and in System Folder/Fonts if
ATM is installed).
To add a font folder:
1 Start Distiller.
2 Choose Settings > Font Locations. The dialog box displays a list of the folders that Distiller searches for fonts. These folders can be on your hard drive or on a network.
Note: Distiller indicates that a font folder is available by displaying a folder icon to the left of the folder name. If no icon appears, or if an icon with an “x” through it appears with a folder name, the connection to the folder has probably been lost. You’ll need to reestablish the connection.
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3 Click Add, use the browser to select the folder to add, and click OK
(Windows) or Select “folder” (Mac OS).
4 Click OK.
Note: To provide Distiller with access to a font folder that has been moved, use this dialog box to remove the folder listed in its old location and add it in its new location.
To remove a font folder:
1 Start Distiller.
2 Choose Settings > Font Locations.
3 Select the folder, and click Remove.
4 Click OK.
Note: There must be at least one font folder available to Distiller. If the default font folders are removed and you do not add others in their place, the defaults are automatically added back to the list.
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Embedding fonts in PDF files with Distiller
When Distiller has access to a font used in a PostScript file, it can embed that font in the resulting PDF file. Embedding ensures that all readers will see the text in its original font, but it increases file size.
About font embedding and substitution
Distiller can embed roman Type 1 and TrueType fonts in a PDF file to prevent font substitution when someone who doesn’t have that font on their system views or prints the file. For each font embedded, Distiller can embed the subset of characters used in the file. Type 1 and TrueType fonts can be embedded if they are included in the PostScript file or are available in one of the font locations Distiller monitors. For more information, see
.
Note: In some cases, TrueType fonts that have gone through a PostScript driver and Distiller can no longer be searched, copied, cut, or pasted. To minimize this problem, use Distiller on the same system on which the PostScript file was created, and make sure that the TrueType fonts used in the file are available on the system.
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If a font is not embedded in a PDF file and the user who opens or prints the file does not have access to the original font, Acrobat temporarily substitutes the font with a Multiple Master serif or sansserif typeface. If the metrics of the original font are included in the PDF file, the Multiple Master typeface can stretch or condense to fit, to ensure that line and page breaks are maintained from the original document. The substitution cannot always match the shape of the original characters, however, especially if the characters are unconventional ones, such as script typefaces.
Substituted fonts Font metrics
Original font: Adobe Garamond Italic
The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog on its way to the frog jumping competition in the countryside.
Original
A
Substituted
A
Substituted font: Adobe Serif MM
The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog on its way to the frog jumping competition in the countryside.
A A
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You can have Distiller embed only the particular characters used in the file. This saves file space, but if you need to edit text in the file later with the touchup text tool, the characters you need may not be stored in the file. For more information, see
Editing text with the touchup text tool .
Important: To edit files you must have a licensed copy of the font used in that file on your local system.
Setting the Fonts job options
The Fonts job options specify fonts to embed in a PDF file. You can have
Distiller embed the subset of characters used in the PDF file.
Note: When you combine PDF files in Acrobat with the same font subset, the subsets are not combined. As a result, combining files that contain subsets may result in a large file.
To set the Fonts job options:
1 Start Distiller.
2 Select an existing set of job options from the Job Options menu in the
Acrobat Distiller dialog box to use as a starting point.
3 Choose Settings > Job Options, and click the Fonts tab.
4 Do one of the following:
■ To embed all fonts used in the file, select Embed All Fonts.
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■ To embed only certain fonts, make sure Embed All Fonts is not selected, and move the fonts you want embedded to the Always Embed list.
You can move a font to the Always Embed list by selecting the font in the list on the left and clicking the arrow button next to Always Embed. If necessary, choose a different font folder from the pop-up menu to display the font in the font list. Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) to select multiple fonts to move, or Shift-click to select a contiguous range of fonts.
If the font you want is not in a font folder, click Add Name, enter the name of
Note: A TrueType font can contain a setting added by the font’s designer that prevents the font from being embedded in PDF files. Even though you can move such a font to an embed list, Distiller does not embed it in the PDF file, but displays an error message and lists the font in the log file. You can check whether the font was embedded by opening the resulting PDF file and viewing the Font Info dialog box as described in
Finding PostScript font names .
5 To embed only a subset of the fonts, select Subset All Embedded Fonts
Below and specify a threshold percentage. If the threshold is 35, for example, and less than 35% of the characters are used, Distiller embeds only those characters.
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6 Choose how Distiller should respond if it cannot find a font to embed when processing a file. You can have Distiller ignore the request and substitute the font, warn you and substitute the font, or cancel processing of the current job.
7 Do one of the following:
■ To apply the changes to the current job options, click OK.
■ To save the changes as a different job options file and make that the new job options file, click Save As. Then enter a name and location for the new set, click
Save in the Save Job Options As dialog box, and click OK. By default, these files are saved in the Distillr/Settings folder (Windows) or Distiller/Settings folder
(Mac OS) in the Acrobat folder. You cannot overwrite the three predefined sets of options.
To prevent fonts from being embedded:
Do one of the following in the Fonts panel of the Job Options dialog box:
■ If the font is in an available font folder, select the font in the list on the left, and click the right arrow button next to the Never Embed list. If necessary, choose a different font folder from the pop-up menu to display the font in the list. You can Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) to select multiple fonts, or Shift-click to select a contiguous range of fonts.
■ If the font is not in a font folder, click Add Name, enter the name of the font, select Never Embed List, and click Add. See
Finding PostScript font names for
information on getting an exact font name.
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To remove a font from the Always Embed or Never Embed list:
Select the font from the list and click Remove. This does not remove the font from your system, it just removes the reference to it in the Always Embed or
Never Embed list.
Finding PostScript font names
If you need to enter a font name manually in the Fonts panel of Job Options, you can use a PDF file to find the exact spelling of the name.
To find a PostScript font name:
1 Use any application to create a one-page document with the PostScript font.
2 Create a PDF file from the document.
3 Open the PDF file with Acrobat, and choose File > Document Info > Fonts. If the file contains more than a single page and the font you’re interested in is not on the first page, click List All Fonts.
4 Write down the name of the font, using the exact spelling, capitalization, and hyphenation of the name as it appears in the Font Info dialog box.
5 Click OK to close the dialog box.
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About color management
By their very natures, a monitor and printer reproduce color in completely different ways.
A color management system (CMS) is a collection of software tools designed to reconcile the different color capabilities of scanners, monitors, and printers to ensure consistent color throughout the creation, display, and print process.
Ideally, this means that the colors displayed on your monitor accurately represent the colors of the final output. It also means that different applications, monitors, and operating systems will display colors consistently.
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The RGB color model
A monitor uses red, green, and blue (RGB) light to create colors. Combining full intensities of all three colors makes white. RGB colors are used for lighting, video, and monitors. Your computer monitor, for example, creates color by emitting light through red, green, and blue phosphors.
RGB color model
The CMYK color model
A color printer uses a CMYK color model, in which three colors of transparent ink—cyan (C), magenta(M), and yellow (Y)—are combined along with black
(noted as K instead of B to avoid confusion with blue) in varying amounts to create colors. CMYK inks filter the white light that reflects back from the paper and subtract some of the red, green, and blue light from the spectrum. The color we see is what’s left.
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In theory, pure cyan, magenta, and yellow pigments should combine to absorb all color and produce black. But because all printing inks contain some impurities, these three inks actually produce a muddy brown and must be combined with black ink to produce a true black. Combining these inks to reproduce color is called four-color process printing.
CMYK color model
The Grayscale color model
Black-and-white and grayscale printers and scanners typically use a Grayscale color model to produce images. The Grayscale color model uses shades of gray.
Every pixel of a grayscale image has a brightness value ranging from 0% (white) to 100% (black).
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Gamuts and color spaces
Most problems associated with accurately reproducing colors from a software program stem from reconciling the differences between the total set of colors, or gamut, produced by the red, green, and blue phosphors of a computer monitor and the gamut produced by the cyan, magenta, yellow, and black inks of a printer. In addition, colors can vary dramatically between different monitors, printers, and software. The color space for a device is defined by the gamut it can represent.
For example, an RGB image (that is, an image whose colors are represented with the RGB color model) may contain colors that cannot be reproduced by a particular monitor. That is because the image has colors that are outside the gamut, or color space, of that monitor.
A
B
C
A. Lab color gamut B. RGB color gamut C. CMYK color gamut
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Device-dependent color
Color varies depending on the device that produces it. An image (a vector drawing or bitmap image) with a device-dependent color space displays colors that depend on the hardware with which the image is created and output.
Device-dependent color works best when each part of the imaging process is controlled. For example, in a print service bureau, the scanner is calibrated to digitize color in a photo accurately, the electronic image is then displayed on a particular calibrated monitor, and the resulting file is printed on a particular calibrated printer. All of these devices are calibrated to display color accurately from one device to the other.
However, the devices on which an image is reproduced may not all be under a single person’s or group’s control. Take, for instance, an image of a rainbow. If the monitor on which it was created accentuates blues, the person creating the rainbow might have lessened the blue in the rainbow to compensate.
But suppose that image is then displayed on a monitor that displays blues normally, but accentuates reds. The blue portion of the rainbow will seem washed out and the reds overly strong. Even if the monitors are the same model, one monitor may have its contrast and brightness adjusted differently than another, affecting colors when viewed on each monitor.
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Device-independent color
In a sense, each device speaks its own color language, and it can’t communicate that color very well to another device. What’s needed is an interpreter, such as a color management system.
A color management system uses a device-independent color model as the color language by which all color information is referenced. The color model
Acrobat uses is called CIELAB, developed in 1976 by the Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage (International Committee on Illumination, or CIE). The
CIE’s standard for measuring color is based on how the human eye perceives it, not on the device that created it.
Images can be edited in a device-independent color space which is larger than the color space of the output device, such as a computer monitor, a TV screen, film, or a four-color press. Images can then be saved with profiles that contain information describing the characteristics of the source and output color devices.
This makes a color-managed workflow advantageous. The images become portable since they can be displayed on widely differing devices simply by tagging the images with different output profiles.
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Managing ICC profiles in files
One of the methods Acrobat uses to manage color is to apply ICC profiles to grayscale, RGB, and CMYK images. The ICC profile format was defined by the
International Color Consortium (ICC). An ICC profile is a color space description
(for example, a description of the type of monitor on which the image was created). ICC profiles help you reproduce colors accurately across different platforms, devices, and ICC-compliant applications (such as Adobe Illustrator and Adobe PageMaker).
To manage color effectively across systems and applications, it is important to attach (or tag) ICC profiles to images in files. The ICC profile for an image then indicates the correct color space for that image. When another ICC-aware application opens a properly tagged image, that application knows what, if any, color conversions are required.
Take the instance of an ICC profile for an RGB image that indicates the image was created on a monitor whose color space accentuates blues. When an ICCaware application opens the image on a monitor that displays blues normally but accentuates reds, the application temporarily converts the color for display on that monitor, so that blues and reds display correctly. The file itself is not changed. The application that displays the image simply uses the profile to compensate for the difference between the color space in which the file was created and the color space in which it is being displayed.
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Setting color options
The Color dialog box lets you specify how Distiller uses ICC profiles (“tags”) and whether it converts colors when distilling files. The settings control which color spaces are assumed when the resulting PDF files are exchanged between different applications and output devices.
It’s worth noting the following when attaching profiles:
■ PostScript files can contain calibrated color information. However, they do not contain ICC profiles. Instead, images using device-independent colors
(such as those tagged with ICC profiles) are saved in a device-independent CIE color space in PostScript. Images using device-dependent colors remain as they were. No color information is lost in the resulting PostScript file. You can use the Color dialog box to attach new, and even different, ICC profiles to the distilled PDF file. This action doesn’t alter the colors, it just calibrates them to different profiles.
■ When tagging for color management, Distiller attaches a separate profile for each color space in a file. For example, a document might contain five images: one in Grayscale, and two each in the RGB and CMYK color spaces. In this case,
Distiller would attach a separate ICC profile to calibrate the color for each color space, for a total of three profiles.
Note: To ensure that the final printed output is the color you want, it is a good idea to consult your printer or service bureau and specify color options based on their recommendations.
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To set color options:
1 Start Distiller.
2 Select an existing set of job options from the Job Options menu in the
Acrobat Distiller dialog box to use as a starting point.
3 Choose Settings > Job Options.
4 Click the Color tab.
5 Choose a Conversion option:
■ Leave Color Unchanged. This option leaves device-dependent colors unchanged. With this option you cannot choose assumed profile options. The
Leave Color Unchanged option can be useful for print shops that have calibrated all their devices, used that information to specify color in the file, and are only outputting to those devices.
■ Tag Everything For Color Mgmt (No Conversion)/Convert Everything For
Color Management. With Acrobat 4.0 compatibility selected in the General job options, the Tag Everything For Color Mgmt (No Conversion) option appears and lets you embed an ICC profile when distilling files and calibrates color in the images, making colors in the resulting PDF files device-independent.
With Acrobat 3.0 compatibility selected, the option appears as Convert Everything For Color Management, and no ICC profiles are embedded in the files.
However, device-dependent color spaces in files (RGB, Grayscale, and CMYK) are converted to device-independent color spaces (CalRGB, CalGray, and LAB).
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■ Tag Only Images For Color Management (No Conversion)/Convert Only
Images For Color Management. With Acrobat 4.0 compatibility selected in the
General dialog box, the Tag Only Images For Color Management (No
Conversion) only embeds ICC profiles in bitmap images, not text or graphics, when distilling files. This prevents black text from undergoing any color shift.
With Acrobat 3.0 compatibility selected, the option appears as Convert Only
Images For Color Management, and no ICC profiles are embedded in the files.
However, device-dependent color spaces in bitmap images (RGB, Grayscale, and CMYK) are converted to device-independent color spaces (CalRGB,
CalGray, and LAB). Text and graphics are not converted.
■ Convert All Colors To sRGB/CalRGB. As with the Tag For Color Management
(No Conversion)/Convert For Color Management option, this option calibrates color in the file, making the color device-independent. With Acrobat 4.0 compatibility selected in the General dialog box, CMYK and RGB images are converted to sRGB. With Acrobat 3.0 compatibility selected, CMYK and RGB images are converted to calibrated RGB (CalRGB).
Regardless of the compatibility option you select, grayscale images are left unchanged. This option usually reduces the size and increases the display speed of PDF files because less information is needed to describe RGB than
CMYK images. Because RGB is the native color space used on monitors, no color conversion is necessary during display, which contributes to fast online viewing. This option is recommended if the PDF file will be used online or with low-end printers.
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6 If you chose Tag/Convert Everything For Color Management, Tag/Convert
Only Images For Color Management, or Convert All Colors to sRGB/CalRGB, choose an Assumed Profiles option for each color space. These options let you choose which ICC profiles to use for defining and calibrating the Grayscale,
RGB, and CMYK color spaces in distilled PDF files:
■ For Gray, choose a profile to define the color space of all grayscale images in files. This option is only available if you chose Tag Everything For Color Mgmt
(no conversion) or Tag Only Images For Color Management (no conversions).
The default ICC profile for gray images is Adobe Gray - 20% Dot Gain. You can also choose None to prevent grayscale images from being converted.
■ For RGB, choose a profile to define the color space of all RGB images in files.
The default, sRGB IEC61966-2.1, is generally a good choice because it is becoming an industry standard and is recognized by many output devices. You can also choose None to prevent RGB images from being converted.
■ For CMYK, choose a profile to define the color space of all CMYK images in files. The default is Adobe CMYK. You can also choose None to prevent CMYK images from being converted.
Note: Choosing None for all three color spaces has the same effect as selecting the option Leave Color Unchanged.
You can add ICC profiles (such as ones provided by your print service bureau) by placing them in the ICCProfiles folder in the Acrobat folder, the
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Windows/System/Color folder (Windows), or the System Folder/ColorSync folder (Mac OS).
7 Choose any of the following options (these settings are typically used with documents from high-end documentation and graphics applications such as
Adobe Illustrator and Adobe PageMaker. For more information, see the documentation that came with the application):
■ Preserve Overprint Settings retains any overprint settings in files being converted to PDF. Overprint colors are two or more transparent inks printed on top of each other. For example, when a cyan ink prints over a yellow ink, the resulting overprint is a green color. Without overprinting, the underlying yellow would not be printed, resulting in a cyan color.
■ Preserve Under Color Removal And Black Generation Settings retains these settings if they exist in the PostScript file.
Black generation calculates the amount of black to be used when trying to reproduce a particular color. Undercolor removal (UCR) reduces the amount of cyan, magenta, and yellow components to compensate for the amount of black that was added by the black generation. Because it uses less ink, UCR is generally used for newsprint and uncoated stock.
■ Preserve Transfer Functions retains the transfer functions traditionally used to compensate for dot gain or dot loss that may occur when an image is transferred to film. Dot gain occurs when the ink dots that make up a printed image
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Transfer functions are specific to an output device. For example, a file that is intended for output on a particular imagesetter may contain transfer functions that compensate for the dot gain inherent with that printer.
■ Preserve Halftone Information retains any halftone information in files.
Halftone information consists of dots that control how much ink is deposited by halftone devices at a specific location on the paper. Varying the dot size and density creates the illusion of variations of gray or continuous color. For a CMYK image, four halftone screens are used: one for each ink used in the printing process.
In traditional print production, a halftone is produced by placing a halftone screen between a piece of film and the image and then exposing the film.
Electronic equivalents, such as in Adobe Photoshop, let users specify the halftone screen attributes before producing the film or paper output.
As with transfer functions, halftone information is intended for use with a particular output device.
8 Do one of the following:
■ To apply the changes to the current job options, click OK.
■ To save the changes as a different job options file and make that the new job options file, click Save As. Then enter a name and location for the new set, click
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Save in the Save Job Options As dialog box, and click OK. By default, these files are saved in the Distillr/Settings folder (Windows) or Distiller/Settings folder
(Mac OS) folder in the Acrobat folder. You cannot overwrite the three predefined sets of options.
Setting the Advanced job options
The Advanced job options specify DSC comments to keep in a PDF file, define a default page size, and set other options that affect the conversion from
PostScript.
In a PostScript file, DSC comments contain information about the file (such as the originating application, the creation date, and the page orientation) and provide structure for page descriptions in the file (such as beginning and ending statements for a prologue section). DSC comments can be useful when your document is going to print or press.
The default page size is used if a PostScript file does not specify a page size.
Typically, PostScript files include this information, except for EPS files, which give a bounding box size but not a page size.
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When working with the Advanced job options, it is helpful to have an understanding of the PostScript language and how it is translated to PDF. See the
PostScript Language Reference Manual (Addison-Wesley), the Portable
Document Format Reference Manual, and Updates to the Portable Document
Format Reference Manual. (The latter two documents are available on the
Adobe Web site at www.adobe.com.)
To change the Advanced job options:
1 Start Distiller.
2 Select an existing set of job options from the Job Options menu in the
Acrobat Distiller dialog box to use as a starting point.
3 Choose Settings > Job Options, and click the Advanced tab.
4 Select the file conversion options you want:
■ Use Prologue.ps And Epilogue.ps sends a prologue and epilogue file with each job. These files have many purposes. For example, prologue files can be edited to specify cover pages; epilogue files can be edited to resolve a series of procedures in a PostScript file. A sample Prologue.ps and Epilogue.ps file is located in the Distillr/Data folder (Windows) and Distiller/Data folder (Mac OS).
Note: Distiller processes prologue and epilogue files only if they are located properly. The files need to be in the same folder as the Distiller application if the
Open command or a watched folder is used to process a PostScript file. If the prologue and epilogue files are at the same level as the In and Out folders of a
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■ Allow PostScript File To Override Job Options uses settings stored in a
PostScript file, rather than your current job options. Before processing a
PostScript file, you can place Distiller parameters in the file to control compression of text and graphics, downsampling and encoding of sampled images, and embedding of Type 1 fonts and instances of Type 1 Multiple
Master fonts. See the related technical note on the Acrobat CD for more information on using parameters.
■ Preserve Level 2 Copypage Semantics uses the copypage operator defined in
LanguageLevel 2 PostScript rather than in LanguageLevel 3 PostScript. This means that if you have a LanguageLevel 3 PostScript file and select this option,
Distiller will make the copypage a showpage operation.
■ Save Portable Job Ticket Inside PDF File preserves a PostScript job ticket in a
PDF file. The job ticket contains information about the PostScript file itself, such as page size, resolution, and trapping information, rather than about content.
This information can be used later in a workflow or for printing the PDF.
5 To maintain document structuring information from a PostScript file, select
Process DSC Comments (Windows) or Process DSC (Mac OS) and related options:
■ Log DSC Warnings displays warning messages about problematic DSC comments during processing and adds them to a log file for these messages.
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■ Resize Page And Center Artwork For EPS Files centers an EPS image and resizes the page to fit closely around the image. This option applies only to jobs that consist of a single EPS file.
■ Preserve EPS Information From DSC (Windows) and Preserve EPS Info From
DSC (Mac OS) retains information, such as the originating application and creation date for an EPS file. With this option deselected, the page is sized and centered based on the top left corner of the top left object and bottom right corner of the bottom right object on the page.
■ Preserve OPI Comments retains information needed to replace a For
Placement Only (FPO) image or comment with the high-resolution image located on servers that support OPI versions 1.3 and 2.0.
■ Preserve Document Information From DSC (Windows) and Preserve
Document Info (Mac OS) retains information such as the title, creation date, and time. When you open a PDF file in Acrobat, this information appears in the
General Info dialog box (through File > Document Info > General).
6 To specify a default page size, enter a width and height, and choose a unit of measure. The maximum size is 200-by-200 inches. Distiller uses this page size only if a PostScript file does not specify a paper size.
7 Do one of the following:
■ To apply the changes to the current job options, click OK.
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■ To save the changes as a different job options file and make that the new job options file, click Save As. Then enter a name and location for the new set, click
Save in the Save Job Options As dialog box, and click OK. By default, these files are saved in the Distillr/Settings folder (Windows) or Distiller/Settings folder
(Mac OS) in the Acrobat folder. You cannot overwrite the three predefined sets of options.
Adding security to PDF files
You can limit access to all PDF files created by Distiller by giving the files passwords and restricting certain features such as printing and editing. You can limit the access when you first create a PDF file or any time you save the file in
Acrobat. When files have restricted features, any tools and menu items related to those features are dimmed.
A PDF file can have an open document password and a change security settings password. If the file has both passwords, it can be opened with either one. When a file is opened with an open document password, the security restrictions are temporarily disabled. If you set any security restrictions in your file, you should also specify a change security setting password; otherwise anyone who opens the file could remove the restrictions.
Acrobat uses the RC4 method of security from RSA Corporation to secure
PDF files.
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To add security to PDF files:
1 Start Distiller.
2 Choose Settings > Security.
3 Enter a password in one or both of the password text boxes:
■ For Open Document, enter the password users must enter before they can open the file.
■ For Change Security, enter the password users must enter before they can set or change any security options.
Note: It is a good idea to use different passwords for the two text boxes.
Otherwise, a user who has the password to open the document can also change the document’s security options.
4 Select options to prevent users from printing, changing the document, selecting text and graphics, or adding or changing notes and form fields:
■ Printing prohibits users from printing the file.
■ Changing The Document prohibits users from filling in form fields, as well as making any other changes.
■ Selecting Text and Graphics prohibits users from selecting these elements.
■ Adding Or Changing Notes And Form Fields prohibits users from adding or changing these areas, but does allow users to fill in the fields.
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5 Do one of the following:
■ To apply the changes to the current job options, click OK.
■ To save the changes as a different job options file and make that the new job options file, click Save As. Then enter a name and location for the new set, click
Save in the Save Job Options As dialog box, and click OK. By default, these files are saved in the Distillr/Settings folder (Windows) or Distiller/Settings folder
(Mac OS) in the Acrobat folder. You cannot overwrite the three predefined sets of options.
Preparing to convert Asian text to PDF (Windows)
On Windows systems, Distiller can create PDF files from documents with Asian text, as long as it has access to information about the fonts needed to process the text. This information can come from Asian TrueType fonts included in the
PostScript file or from PostScript fonts on the system.
To be able to create PDF files with Asian text, you need to install Asian-
language resource files for Distiller when you install Acrobat. See Installing
for details. For additional information, see the Asian fonts
PDF document in the Help folder on your Acrobat CD-ROM.
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Embedding Asian TrueType fonts in a PDF file
If you’re creating a PDF file from a document that has Asian TrueType fonts, you may want to embed those fonts in the PDF file so that the file will look exactly like the original document on every system. To be able to do this, you need to include information about the fonts in the interim PostScript file in a form that
Distiller can interpret. Distiller will recognize the fonts and embed them in the resulting PDF file.
Note: Because the ability to embed Asian fonts is an Acrobat 4.0 feature,
Distiller’s job options must be set to 4.0 compatibility. For more information, see
Setting the General job options .
To embed Asian TrueType fonts in a PDF file:
1 Choose Settings > Printers from the Windows Start menu. Then right-click on the Acrobat Distiller printer, and choose Properties. See your Windows documentation for details on the Properties dialog box.
2 In the Fonts panel, select the Send TrueType Fonts to Printer option, and click Edit the Table.
3 Set the download option to Type 42 for each TrueType font used in the document. Type 42 is a format that “wraps” TrueType character outlines in a
PostScript format that Distiller can recognize.
4 Click OK in the Font Substitution Table dialog box and in the Properties dialog box.
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Substituting Asian TrueType fonts with printer font references
Another option for handling Asian TrueType fonts is to substitute them with
PostScript printer fonts in the PDF file. Distiller puts references to the appropriate printer fonts in the file rather than embedding the original fonts, so this usually results in a smaller PDF file. The disadvantage is that the PDF file will not maintain the original look of the TrueType fonts.
If you use your own printer to create the PostScript file rather than the Distiller printer, use the AdobePS 4.2.4 driver installed with Acrobat and the Acrobat
Distiller PPD (Adist4*.ppd in your Windows/System folder).
To substitute Asian TrueType fonts with printer font references:
1 Choose Settings > Printers from the Windows Start menu. Then right-click on the Acrobat Distiller printer or other printer you are using, and choose
Properties. See your Windows documentation for details on the Properties dialog box.
2 In the Fonts panel, select the Always Use PostScript Fonts option. Then click OK.
Working with Japanese ATM Type 1 fonts
If your document has Japanese ATM Type 1 PostScript fonts, and you have these fonts installed on your Windows system, Distiller can directly access the fonts to display and print Asian text.
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The fonts must be in the default ATM folder for Distiller to access them. In addition, the fonts must be in the CID-keyed (character ID-keyed) format; the earlier OCF (original composite format) is not supported. You can use the
Distiller job options to specify whether to embed the fonts in the resulting PDF file or to put references to the fonts in the file.
Preparing to convert Asian text to PDF (Mac OS)
Distiller can create PDF files from documents with Asian text on a Mac OS system, as long as it has access to information about the fonts needed to process the text. This information comes from fonts that are included in the file or on the system.
To be able to create PDF files with Asian text, you need to install Asian-
language resource files for Distiller when you install Acrobat. See Installing
Acrobat (Mac OS) for details. For additional information, see the Asian fonts
PDF document located in the Help folder on your Acrobat CD-ROM.
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Working with TrueType fonts
In Mac OS, the PostScript printer driver cannot embed TrueType fonts in the
PostScript file that Distiller processes. As a result, TrueType fonts cannot be embedded. If your document has Asian TrueType fonts, you can run the
MakeCID (character ID) utility to convert the fonts to a form Distiller can process to create references to Asian fonts in the PDF file. See
Using MakeCID to create width-only fonts
for details on this utility.
Working with Asian ATM Type 1 fonts
If your document has Asian ATM Type 1 PostScript fonts, and if you have these fonts installed on your Mac OS, Distiller can directly access the fonts to display and print Asian text. The fonts must be in the System Folder/Fonts folder for
Distiller to access them. In addition, the fonts must be in the CID-keyed
(character ID-keyed) format; the earlier OCF (original composite format) is not supported. You can use the Distiller job options to specify whether to embed the fonts in the resulting PDF file or to put references to the fonts in the file.
If you have Type 1 fonts in OCF, you can run MakeCID to create CID fonts with the same properties as the OCF fonts. The fonts will be referenced in the PDF file; they cannot be embedded in the file. See
Using MakeCID to create widthonly fonts for details on this utility.
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Working with Adobe Type Composer Japanese fonts
The Adobe Type Composer (ATC) utility enables you to create a composite
Japanese font that may use different fonts for different types of characters, one font for Kanji and another font for Kana or Gaiji. When you create an ATC font and place it in your Mac OS system font folder, MakeCID runs automatically, creates a width-only CID font, and updates the PPD.
By creating an ATC font with Gaiji rows, you can write documents that contain
Gaiji characters as if they were part of the original font. When Distiller creates a
PDF file, the Gaiji are automatically embedded in the file so that the Gaiji will display and print correctly on any system.
Preventing ATM from rasterizing Asian fonts
If you have Adobe Type Manager (ATM) on your system, you need to make sure that ATM will not rasterize the Asian characters. (Rasterizing means converting character outlines to bitmap images. ATM rasterizes text if a printer does not have the appropriate font installed.)
To prevent ATM from rasterizing Asian fonts:
1 In Acrobat, choose File > Print.
2 Choose Save As File in the pop-up menu for printing options.
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3 Do one of the following:
■ Choose None from the Font Inclusion pop-up menu to download no bitmapped fonts to the printer.
■ Choose All But Fonts In PPD File from the pop-up menu, and make sure the fonts you want in the PDF file are in the Distiller PPD file. When MakeCID converts an OCF or TrueType font to CID, it updates the PPD file to include the new CID font.
4 Click Print.
Using MakeCID to create width-only fonts
If your document has Asian TrueType or Type 1 OCF fonts, Distiller needs character-width information from roman characters found in the fonts to be able to create a PDF file. You can run a utility called MakeCID to extract the width information and store special width-only CID fonts in a Resource folder for Distiller to use. The width-only fonts do not have character outlines and are used only by Distiller.
The first time you start Distiller on a Macintosh, you are asked to run MakeCID.
If you click OK, Distiller creates the width-only fonts from Asian fonts on your system. If you add or remove Asian fonts, the next time you start Distiller you are prompted to run MakeCID again. You can also run MakeCID manually by double-clicking its icon. The fonts are stored in the Distiller/Data/PSdisk/
Resource/CIDFont folder.
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MakeCID runs only on a Macintosh and extracts information from only
Macintosh Asian fonts. If you want Distiller to use the width-only CID fonts in
Windows, you can copy the fonts to your Windows system. The Windows version of Distiller will then process PostScript files created on a Mac OS system that have references to the Macintosh Asian fonts.
Acrobat comes with width-only CID fonts and compatible fonts for all Chinese,
Japanese, and Korean fonts in the Adobe Type Library, and all Macintosh and
Windows Chinese, Japanese, and Korean system fonts. Distiller can process these fonts without having to run MakeCID.
Note: The widths of roman characters in Adobe Japanese fonts are predefined for Distiller, so you do not need to run MakeCID on Adobe Japanese fonts.
To run MakeCID manually:
1 Open the Acrobat Xtras folder, and double-click the MakeCID icon.
2 Choose File > Open Font Folder.
3 Use the browser to select a font folder or a single font.
4 Select the Acrobat/Data/PSdisk/Resource folder, and click Select, or doubleclick the folder. MakeCID processes the font or fonts and places width-only fonts in appropriate subfolders of the Resource folder.
Note: If you select a folder other than Resource, CIDFonts and CompatibleFonts subfolders are automatically created in the folder you select.
5 Choose File > Quit.
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To copy the width-only fonts to a Windows system:
1 Copy the contents of the Acrobat 4.0/Distiller/Data/PSdisk/Resource/
CIDFonts folder on the Mac OS system to the Acrobat/Distillr/Data/PSdisk/
Resource/CIDFonts folder on the Windows system.
2 Copy the contents of the Acrobat/Distiller/Data/PSdisk/Resource/CompatibleFonts folder on the Mac OS system to the Acrobat/Distillr/Data/PSdisk/
Resource/CompatibleFonts folder on the Windows system.
3 Restart Acrobat in Windows.
Setting Distiller preferences
The Distiller preferences control various aspects of the conversion process.
To set Distiller preferences:
1 Start Distiller, and choose File > Preferences.
2 Select the preferences you want:
■ Restart Distiller After PostScript Fatal Error (Mac OS only) automatically restarts Distiller after a PostScript error that would otherwise force you to quit
Distiller. (In Windows, a prompt appears asking whether you want to quit or restart Distiller.)
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■ Notify When Watched Folders Are Unavailable notifies you if a folder on the list of available watched folders becomes unavailable or if Distiller cannot find it.
■ Notify When Startup Volume Is Nearly Full warns you if less than 1 MB of space is available on the hard disk where Distiller is installed. Although the size of the PDF file in relation to the PostScript file can vary, and is typically smaller than the PostScript file, the hard disk space you need to convert to PDF is often double the size of the PostScript file being processed.
■ Ask For PDF File Destination (Windows only) displays a dialog box that lets you name and specify a location for files when you use drag-and-drop or the
Print command with Distiller.
■ Ask To Replace Existing PDF File (Windows only) displays a dialog box that warns you when you are about to overwrite an existing PDF file with a file of the same name.
■ View PDF When Using Distiller Printer (Windows only) automatically displays a converted PDF file when you use the Print command with Distiller.
■ View PDF When Using Distiller (Windows only) automatically displays a converted PDF file when you convert a document with Distiller.
3 Click OK.
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Converting Scanned Documents to PDF
You can use Acrobat with a scanner to create a PDF file from a paper document.
The resulting file is a PDF Image Only file—that is, a bitmap picture of the pages that can be viewed in Acrobat but not searched.
If you want to be able to search, correct, and copy the text in an Image Only file, you can “capture” the pages in the file to convert the file to PDF Normal. When you capture pages, Acrobat applies optical character recognition (OCR) and font and page recognition to the text images and converts them to searchable, scalable text. You can also convert a file to PDF Original Image With Hidden Text when you capture pages. This type of file has a picture of the pages in the foreground, with the captured text behind it.
PDF Normal files are generally the smallest files, making them ideal for online distribution. PDF Original Image With Hidden Text files are recommended when you need to have regular text but must keep the original scanned image of a page for legal or archival purposes.
Scanning pages from paper documents
You can use the Acrobat Scan command to run your scanner from Acrobat.
Before you begin scanning, make sure that your scanner is installed correctly and that it works independently of Acrobat. Follow the scanner instructions and test procedures to ensure proper setup.
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Acrobat supports TWAIN scanner drivers, which are industry-standard drivers compatible with almost all desktop scanners, and Photoshop Acquire plug-ins.
To install an Acquire plug-in, add the plug-in to the Plug-ins folder in your
Acrobat Scan folder.
You can also use the Scan command to import images stored in a digital camera, as long as the camera has a TWAIN driver installed. See
.
To scan pages from a paper document:
1 Start your scanner, and place the first page in it.
2 In Acrobat, choose File > Import > Scan.
3 Choose the scanner and a page format from the pop-up menus. The Device pop-up menu lists all TWAIN drivers and Photoshop Acquire plug-ins installed on your system.
Note: Even if you install a TWAIN driver after installing Acrobat, the new driver should be listed in the menu. If it is not, check to be sure your driver is TWAIN software and is installed properly.
4 Select whether to add the scanned pages to the end of the current PDF file or to put them in a new file.
5 Click Scan.
6 Set the scanning options in the scanner’s interface. Some scanners open a dialog box with options, and others display a menu bar that gives you access to
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Page 189 commands for setting options. In most cases, you also need to click a Scan button or send the page to the scanner in some other way. See the documentation that came with your scanner for details.
For tips on setting options for particular situations, see
7 For each additional page you want to scan, place the page in the scanner, and click Next in the Acrobat dialog box that appears.
8 Click Done. The scanned pages open in Acrobat.
Tips on scanning pages
The following guidelines cover scanning text you plan to capture, scanning pages with line art and photographs, and working with a scanner to produce the cleanest scanned pages possible.
Scanning text you plan to capture
■ For normal text, set up the scanner to create black-and-white (or 1-bit) images.
■ Black-and-white images and text must be scanned at 200 to 600 dpi. Color images and text must be scanned at 200 to 400 dpi.
Note: Pages (8.5-by-11 inches) scanned in 24-bit color and 300 dpi are very large files (24 MB); your system must have at least twice that amount of virtual memory available to be able to scan. If you’re scanning in color, check that you
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Page 190 have at least 50 MB of space available on your hard drive before beginning the scanning process.
■ For color or grayscale pages with large type, consider scanning at 200 dpi for faster processing.
■ For the Capture Pages command to be able to recognize text, the text must be upright and not rotated. (The text can be skewed as much as 7 degrees, however.) If you scan black-and-white text that has been rotated 90 degrees
(landscape), Acrobat will rotate it 90 degrees back (portrait) when you capture;
Acrobat will not automatically rotate color or grayscale pages or pages that are upside down. You can use the Document > Rotate Pages command to rotate color, grayscale, or upside-down pages manually before capturing them.
■ For most pages, scanning at 300 dpi produces the best captures. However, if a page has many unrecognized words or very small text (9 points or below), try scanning at a higher resolution (up to 600 dpi). Scan in black and white whenever possible.
■ Do not use dithering or halftone scanner settings. These settings can improve the appearance of photographic images, but they make it difficult to recognize text.
■ For text printed on colored paper, try increasing the brightness and contrast by about 10%. If your scanner has color-filtering capability, consider using a filter or lamp that drops out the background color.
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■ If your scanner has a manual brightness control, adjust it so that characters are clean and well formed. If characters are touching because they are too thick, use a higher (brighter) setting. If characters are separated because they are too thin, use a lower (darker) setting.
Characters that are too thin, well-formed characters, and characters that are too thick
Note: The Capture Pages command is designed primarily for black-and-white text, but it can be adjusted to work with color text if there is a high contrast and a minimum of background color or graphics. For complex color OCR work, see the Adobe Web site (www.adobe.com) for information on the full Acrobat
Capture product.
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Scanning line art and photographs
■ For line art, set up the scanner to create a black-and-white (line art or
1-bit) image.
■ For black-and-white photographs, set up the scanner to create a grayscale image. Remember that a grayscale scan will create a much larger file than a black-and-white scan will.
■ For color photographs, set up the scanner to create a color image.
Working with scanners
■ Clean the scan bed glass frequently.
■ When scanning from a bound book or magazine, place something heavy, such as a large dictionary, on the lid of the scanner to flatten the pages.
■ When scanning from a magazine or newspaper, cut out the articles or parts of the page you want to scan. Use a paper cutter or a straightedge to keep cut edges vertical and horizontal.
■ Make sure the edges of the page are aligned correctly in the scan bed.
Although the Capture Pages command can convert pages skewed as much as 7 degrees, processing can be less accurate with incorrectly aligned pages.
■ When scanning a document printed on glossy paper, try lowering the brightness setting with your scanner control software. Or photocopy the glossy page, and scan the photocopy.
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Capturing pages to convert to searchable text
You can capture pages in a PDF Image Only file to convert text images to text that can be searched, corrected, and copied. When you capture pages, Acrobat performs optical character recognition (OCR) and font and page recognition on the pages and assigns a confidence rating to each word it finds.
Note: The Capture Pages command is designed to convert small collections of paper documents and electronic images to the PDF Normal file type (10 to 15 pages at a time). If you need to convert more pages or want additional features, consider upgrading to the full Acrobat Capture product, which offers automated high-volume processing and enhanced reviewing capabilities. See the Adobe Web site (www.adobe.com) for more information.
Using the Capture Pages command
You can use Capture Pages on pages that were scanned or imported with the following resolutions:
■ Black-and-white images and text at 200 to 600 dpi (300 dpi is optimal in most cases).
■ Grayscale or color images and text at 200 to 400 dpi.
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Ideally, text on the pages should be dark against a light background. Text on a dark or shaded background, or on a page with complex color gradients, may not be recognized. For additional advice on preparing pages to be captured, see
Scanning text you plan to capture . Capturing pages does not change any
device-independent color properties associated with the pages. (Acrobat does not support CMYK TIFF images.)
Note: Capture Pages uses the PDFWriter settings for font embedding and subsetting. Before you begin the Capture process, make sure that font subsetting is not selected in PDFWriter, or you will not be able to touch up the
captured pages. See Embedding fonts in PDF files to change this setting.
To use the Capture Pages command:
1 Open the PDF Image Only file.
2 Choose Tools > Paper Capture > Capture Pages.
3 Select whether to capture all pages in the file, the current page only, or a range of pages.
4 To change the Capture preferences, click Preferences, and set options in the dialog box that appears. See
Customizing the Capture process for details.
5 Click OK.
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Correcting words on captured pages
During the capture process, Acrobat “reads” bitmaps of text and tries to substitute words and characters for the bitmaps. When it isn’t certain that one of its substitutes is correct, it marks the word as suspect and gives you a chance to accept it as it is or change it. Acrobat keeps the bitmap in the meantime so that no data is lost in the process.
If you converted pages to the PDF Normal file type when you captured them, you can correct any text on those pages. Acrobat can identify suspect words to help you find words that may need to be corrected. If you converted pages to
PDF Original Image With Hidden Text, you cannot correct text on the pages because the captured text is behind a bitmap picture of the original pages
(though you can change the font and color of text in this format).
To review and correct suspect words on captured pages:
1 Choose Tools > Paper Capture > Show Capture Suspects. The boxes show the suspect words on the pages.
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2 Choose Tools > Paper Capture > Find First Suspect. The first suspect word is highlighted on the page, and its original bitmap image appears in the Suspect
Image window.
3 Compare the suspect word on the page with the image of the word in the
Suspect Image window. If necessary, select the zoom tool , and drag it across the word on the page to zoom in on it.
4 Do one of the following:
■ To accept the word as correct, click Accept. You move to the next suspect word.
■ To correct the word, select the text touchup tool , and edit the word directly on the page. See
Editing text with the touchup text tool for details.
Then click Next to move to the next suspect word.
5 Review and correct remaining suspect words on the pages.
6 Close the Suspect Image window.
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Customizing the Capture process
You can set several Capture preferences, such as a language for the OCR process and an output file type. You can also provide a custom dictionary for
Acrobat to use along with its standard language dictionary. Put terms in the custom dictionary that would not appear in a standard dictionary, such as company names and other proper nouns and specialized terms for your type of business.
To set Capture preferences:
1 Choose File > Preferences > Paper Capture.
2 Choose a language. Acrobat uses a standard dictionary for that language to recognize words during the capture process.
3 Choose an output file type for the captured files:
■ PDF Normal files contain electronic text that is scalable and can be corrected, indexed, searched, and copied. Page formatting and graphical images are preserved.
■ PDF Original Image With Hidden Text files contain a bitmap picture of the original text with scalable text in the background. This kind of file is identical in
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Page 198 appearance to the original, but it can also be indexed and searched because the captured text is underneath the image.
PDF Original Image With Hidden Text files are useful when you must keep the original scanned image of a page for legal or archival purposes. These files are sometimes much larger than Normal files, however, and you cannot edit text in them. See
Tips on controlling PDF file sizes for a comparison of file sizes.
4 In Windows, select whether to apply downsampling to images in the captured pages. This setting overrides the Downsample Images setting in
PDFWriter. In Mac OS, images are always downsampled. (Downsampling is selected by default in PDFWriter.)
Downsampling reduces file size by combining the information in several pixels into one larger pixel. Black-and-white images over 300 dpi are downsampled to
200 dpi. Grayscale and color images over 225 dpi are downsampled to 150 dpi.
(If you downsample images in a PDF Original Image With Hidden Text file, grayscale and color images are sampled below 200 dpi. You will not be able to
reprocess the resulting file with Capture Pages.) See About resampling for
more information on downsampling.
If you scan page images at 300 dpi, which is ideal for OCR, you will probably want to apply downsampling to any photographs so that they can be viewed quickly online and so that the PDF file is as small as possible.
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5 Specify a temporary location for storing files during the OCR process
(Windows).
6 To save the current settings as the defaults, click Default.
7 Click OK.
To edit the custom dictionary:
Edit the Custdict.spl file in the Acrobat Capture folder using a text editor or a word processor. Add, change, or delete words in the dictionary. If you’re using a word processor, open and save the file as a text file.
Note: Each word must be on a separate line, and the words must be in alphabetical order.
Tips on controlling PDF file sizes
When you capture pages in Acrobat, the content of the original pages, the file type you’re using, and the downsampling setting affect the size of the resulting
PDF file. The larger a file is, the longer it takes to capture, to send over networks, and to display on-screen. You should be aware of the factors that affect file size so you can create files that are only as large as they need to be for your purposes.
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The table shows the sizes of PDF files resulting from the scan and capture of the following page containing text, line art, and a photograph. The file was captured in Acrobat for Windows.
.
R U
STICO
I T A
L I A N . F O O
D .
W e l c o m e t o r u s t i c o
A n a b u n d a n t m e n u o f c l a s s i c I t a l i a n f a v o r i t e s h i g h l i g h t s t h i s i n t i m a t e r e s t a u r a n t o n t h e g r o u n d f l o o r o f t h e H o t e l M e t r o p o l e . S t a r t y o u r ev e n i n g w i t h
R o m a n - s t y l e b r a i s e d a r t i c h o k e s , m o v i n g o n t o f a v o r i t e s l i k e r i s o t t o w i t h p o r c i n i m u s h r o o m s a n d s p a g h e t t i w i t h s p i c y s c a l l o p s a u c e , a n d t o p p i n g e v e r y t h i n g o ff w i t h f r e s h - b a k e d c a l a b r e s i c o o k i e s a n d c o ff e e . Wi t h i t s t o p n o t c h w i n e c e l l a r a n d w a r m s e r v i c e , t h i s e s t a b l i s h m e n t l iv e s u p t o t h e u n p r e t e n t i o u s , f u n - l o v i n g s p i r i t o f i t s l e g e n d a r y a c t r e s s n a m e s a k e .
H o u r s
We d n e s d a y – M o n d a y
1 1 a m – 1 0 p m
4 4 S a i n t J a m e s P a l a c e
5 5 5 - 1 2 3 - 5 7 3 6
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In some cases, a file in the PDF Original Image With Hidden Text type is smaller than the PDF Image Only file because Capture Pages uses additional compression methods for creating files of this type. A captured file is generally much smaller when downsampling is used. (In Windows, downsampling is set in Capture preferences. On Mac OS, images are always downsampled.)
Image type
(Scanned at
300 dpi)
Original TIFF image file (uncompressed and compressed)
PDF Image
Only
Downsampling
On Off
95K 95K Black and white 783K
LZW 112K
8-bit grayscale 12414K
LZW 4677K
8-bit indexed color
12416K
LZW 1756K
24-bit RGB color 24823K
LZW 12301K
3769K
1018K
3769K
1018K
10538K 10538K
PDF Normal
Downsampling
On
48K
102K
480K
1050K
Off
48K
352K
480K
4216K
PDF Original
Image With
Hidden Text
Downsampling
On
69K
Off
69K
187K 654K
1017K 1017K
2589K 10483K
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Converting Web Pages to PDF
You can download Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) pages from the World
Wide Web or an intranet in Acrobat and convert them to PDF. You provide the address, or Uniform Resource Locator (URL), of the Web pages, and Acrobat converts and opens the pages in one step.
All of the text, images, and links from multiple HTML pages and image files are contained in a single new PDF document. You can navigate in the new document and edit it as you can any other PDF document. In this way, you can gather information from the Web into one document that you can read off-line, save for future reference, annotate, e-mail, and print reliably.
About PDF documents created from Web pages
In most respects, a PDF document created from HTML Web pages is like any other PDF document. You can navigate through the document and add annotations and other enhancements to it. Any Weblinks on the pages are still active in PDF—just click a link to download the link’s pages, and add them to the end of the document.
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Depending on the options you select when downloading Web pages, a PDF document created from Web pages can display special structured bookmarks that retain Web information, such as the URLs for all links on the pages. You can use these structured bookmarks to navigate, to reorganize or delete pages, and to download more pages, and you can add more structured bookmarks to represent paragraphs, images, table cells, and other items on the pages.
Note that one “Web page” may correspond to more than one PDF page. This is because Acrobat divides long HTML pages into standard-size pages
(depending on the PDF page layout settings).
Configuring your Internet or proxy settings
Before you use Web Capture, you must configure your Internet or proxy settings for access to the Word Wide Web.
To configure your Internet or proxy settings:
1 Choose File > Preferences > Internet Settings.
2 Do one of the following:
■ In Windows, click the Connection tab in the Internet Properties dialog box, and provide the necessary information for your setup. Your system administrator or ISP will give you the information you need.
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■ In Mac OS, select Use an HTTP Proxy Server, and then enter your proxy URL and port number in the text boxes.
In Windows, if you do not configure your Internet settings using the
Internet Settings preferences, Internet Explorer must be installed and the
Internet Properties dialog box configured to allow access to the World Wide
Web. In particular, the Proxy Server box on the Connection tab must have a valid proxy address if you are accessing the Web through a firewall in an enterprise environment. Once Internet Explorer has been installed and configured, you may use any browser as your default browser. If your version of Internet
Explorer does not have an Internet Properties dialog box, you must upgrade to a current version of Internet Explorer (available from the Microsoft Web site).
Downloading Web pages in Acrobat
You can download Web pages by specifying a URL in Acrobat, by opening the pages for a Weblink in a PDF document you already have open, and by dragging and dropping a Weblink or HTML file to an Acrobat window or
Acrobat icon. The Web pages are converted to PDF and open in the Acrobat work area.
Note the following when downloading Web pages in Acrobat:
■ Acrobat can download HTML pages, JPEG and GIF graphics (including the last frame of animated GIFs), text files, image maps, and password-secured areas from a Web site.
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■ HTML pages can include tables, links, frames, background colors, text colors, and forms. Certain advanced features, such as cascading stylesheets, are not supported at this time. HTML links are turned into Weblinks, and HTML forms are turned into PDF forms. See
Creating PDF forms for information on working
with forms.
■ JavaScript and Java applets in HTML pages are not supported at this time.
■ To convert Japanese Web pages to PDF on a Roman (Western) system in
Windows, you must have selected the Acrobat Asian language files for
Japanese at initial installation. You must select a Japanese encoding from the
HTML conversion settings. The conversion of Web pages to PDF is not supported for other Asian languages. See
About support for Asian languages
for information on the language files.
■ The instructions for downloading Web pages in this chapter assume that
Consolidate Menu Items In Top-Level Menu is not selected in your Web Capture preferences. See
Specifying conversion options for capturing Web pages
for details.
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About pages on Web sites
Keep in mind that a Web site can have more than one level of pages. The opening page is the top level of the site, and any links on that page go to other pages at a second level. Links on second-level pages go to pages at a third level, and so on. In addition, links may go to external sites (for example, a link at a Web site on tourism may connect to a Web site for a travel agency). Most Web sites can be represented as a tree diagram that becomes broader as you move down the levels.
A
B
C
A. First level B. Second level C. Third level
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Important: You need to be aware of the number and complexity of pages you may encounter when downloading more than one level of a Web site at a time.
It is possible to select a complex site that will take a very long time to download. Use the Get Entire Site command with great caution. In addition, downloading pages over a modem connection will usually take much longer than downloading them over a high-speed connection.
Converting Web pages by specifying a URL
You can open Web pages in a new PDF document or append them to an existing document. You provide the URL by using a command in Acrobat, and
Acrobat downloads the page from the top level of that URL, breaking it into units of multiple PDF pages if necessary. Acrobat can also download pages from the entire site or from a specified number of levels below the top level.
If you later append another level in a site that is already converted to PDF, only the additional levels are added. For example, if you have downloaded two levels of a site, and if you later append four levels from the same site, only the pages from the additional third and fourth levels are added to the PDF document.
To convert Web pages by specifying a URL:
1 Do one of the following:
■ To open the pages in a new PDF document, click the Open Web Page button
, choose File > Open Web Page, or choose Tools > Web Capture > Open Web
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Page. The Open Web Page button appears in the command bar if you have
Show Toolbar Buttons selected in your Web Capture preferences. See
Web Capture preferences for details.
■ To add the pages to the end of the current document, choose Tools > Web
Capture > Append Web Page.
2 Enter the URL for the Web pages to open or append.
3 Enter the number of levels you want to include, or select Get Entire Site to include all levels from the Web site.
Some Web sites may have hundreds or even thousands of pages and can take a long time to download. You may want to begin by downloading only one level of pages and then go through the pages in Acrobat to find particular links to download. Some sites are extremely large and can use up your system’s hard disk space and available memory, causing a system crash.
4 If you entered a number of levels, you can specify the following options:
■ Only Get Pages Under Same Path downloads only Web pages that are subordinate to the URL you provide.
■ Stay On Same Server downloads only Web pages that are stored on the same server as the pages for the URL you provide.
5 To set other options that apply to all Web pages you convert, click
Conversion Settings, and follow the instructions in
Specifying conversion options for capturing Web pages . You can define a page layout for PDF
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6 Click Download. A status dialog box shows the progress of the conversion to
PDF. Click Stop to cancel the processing of pages not yet converted.
If you’re downloading more than one level of pages in Windows, the Download
Status dialog box moves to the background after the first level is downloaded.
The globe in the Open Web Page button in the command bar continues spinning to show that pages are being downloaded. Choose Tools > Web
Capture > Bring Status Dialogs To Foreground to see the dialog box again. (In
Mac OS, the Download Status dialog box stays in the foreground in window shade mode.)
Note: You can view pages in Acrobat while they are downloading, however you cannot modify a page until it has completed the download process. Once they are downloaded, you can view and modify pages as desired. Acrobat may seem unresponsive if it is in the process of downloading a lot of pages.
If Acrobat encounters an error while downloading, a message lists the type of error and the URL with which the error is connected.
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Converting a link’s Web pages
You can convert the Web pages for a link (Weblink) on a page already in PDF.
The new pages can be appended to the current PDF document or opened in a new document. The link is changed from a Weblink to an internal link, and clicking the link takes you to that (converted) PDF page, rather than to the
(original) HTML page on the Web.
If, while you are viewing a PDF document inside a browser, you spawn a new page, from there go to another Web page, and then return to the original PDF, the spawned page will no longer be there.
To append a link’s Web pages to the current PDF document:
Do one of the following:
■ Move the pointer over the Weblink. If your Web Capture preferences are set to open Weblinks in Acrobat, a plus sign appears with the hand tool when you point on a Weblink; if your preferences are set to open Weblinks in a Web browser, a W appears with the hand tool. You can press Shift to change this to the other setting temporarily. Click or Shift-click the Weblink to append the link’s Web pages.
■ Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the Weblink, and choose
Append to Document from the context menu.
■ Choose Tools > Web Capture > View Web Links. Or right-click (Windows) or
Control-click (Mac OS) a structured bookmark, and choose View Web Links
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Page 211 from the context menu. The dialog box lists all the links on the current page or on the structured bookmark’s pages. Select the links to download, and click
Download. You can Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) to select multiple links, or Shift-click to select a contiguous range of links.
For information on the options available through the View Web Links dialog box, see
Converting Web pages by specifying a URL .
To append Web pages for all links on a page:
Do one of the following:
■ To add pages for all Weblinks on the current page, choose Tools > Web
Capture > Append All Links On Page. Or choose Tools > Web Capture > View
Web Links, click Select All, and click Download.
■ To add pages for the next level on a structured bookmark’s pages, right-click
(Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the structured bookmark, and choose
Append Next Level from the context menu.
To open a link’s Web pages in a new PDF document:
Do one of the following:
■ Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the Weblink, and choose
Open Weblink As New Document from the context menu.
■ Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) the Weblink.
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To copy the location of a link:
Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the Weblink, and choose Copy
Link Location. You can then paste the URL of that Weblink into a text document, for example.
Converting Web pages by dragging and dropping
You can convert Web pages to PDF by dragging a link into the Acrobat window or by dragging an HTML file on your system onto the Acrobat icon.
To convert Web pages by dragging and dropping:
Do one of the following:
■ In Windows, drag a link or a Web site icon from the Web browser into an open
Acrobat window. Acrobat downloads the page from the top level of that URL, breaking it into multiple PDF pages if necessary. If you have a PDF document open, the Web page is appended to that document; if you do not have a document open, the Web page opens in a new document. This option preserves links and graphics.
■ In Windows or Mac OS, drag an HTML file’s icon onto the Acrobat icon on the desktop, the Acrobat application icon, or into an open Acrobat window. Unless the images and other files referred to in the HTML file are on your local disk, they will not appear in the PDF file. For this reason, it’s generally better to use the Open Web Page command to create PDF files of Web sites that are not on your system.
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Specifying conversion options for capturing Web pages
You can specify two groups of options for converting Web pages to PDF—
General options and Page Layout options. The General options define features such as structured bookmarks and headers for the PDF documents and set options for displaying content from HTML and text files. They also preserve any refresh commands from the Web site. The Page Layout options define the page size, margins, orientation, and scaling properties for the PDF documents.
These options apply to Web pages you will convert to PDF, not to pages already converted. You can use the preferences to restore the original options. For information on customizing or streamlining the downloading process, see
Opening converted pages in a Web browser .
To set global options in the Conversion Settings dialog box:
1 Do one of the following:
■ Click the Open Web Page button , and click Conversion Settings.
■ Choose File > Open Web Page, and click Conversion Settings.
■ Choose Tools > Web Capture > Open Web Page or Append Web page, and click Conversion Settings.
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2 Do any of the following:
■ To control structured bookmarks, headers and footers, and a PDF structure for Web pages, or to configure the preservation of the refresh commands from the Web site, set the General options. See
Setting General conversion options .
■ To determine the font properties and other display characteristics of HTML pages you convert to PDF, set the HTML options. See
.
■ To determine the font properties and other display characteristics of text
pages you convert to PDF, set the Text options. See Setting display options for text files .
■ To determine the page size, margins, orientation, and scaling of Web pages in your PDF documents, set the Page Layout options. See
3 Click OK to return to the Open Web Page, Append Web Page, View Web
Links, or Refresh Commands List dialog box.
To set options specific to an individual Weblink:
1 Do one of the following:
■ Choose Tools > Web Capture > View Web Links, select a link, and click
Properties.
■ Choose Tools > Web Capture > Refresh Pages, click Edit Refresh Commands
List, select a link, and click Properties.
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2 Then click the General tab, and select the desired options.
3 Click OK.
Setting General conversion options
The General conversion options control structured bookmarks, headers and footers, and a PDF structure for Web pages. They also configure the preservation of the refresh commands from the Web site.
To set General conversion options:
1 In the General Conversions Settings dialog box, select from the following options:
■ Create Bookmarks To New Content creates a structured bookmark for each downloaded Web page, using the page’s title (from the HTML Title tag) as the structured bookmark name. If the page has no title, Acrobat uses the URL as the structured bookmark name.
■ Add PDF Structure stores a structure in the PDF file that corresponds to the
HTML structure of the original Web pages. If this option is selected, you can create structured bookmarks for paragraphs, list elements, table cells, and other items that use HTML tags.
■ Put Headers And Footers On New Pages places a header and footer on every page. The header shows the Web page’s title, and the footer shows the page’s
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URL, the page number in the downloaded set, and the date and time of the download.
■ Save Refresh Commands saves a list of all URLs and remembers how they were downloaded in the PDF file for the purpose of refreshing (updating) pages. This option must be selected for Acrobat to update a PDF-converted
Web site. For more information, see Refreshing converted Web pages .
2 To set conversion options for a specific content type, select a file description from the list, click Settings, and follow the instructions in
Setting display options for HTML files and
Setting display options for text files . If the Settings
button is not grayed out, there are file type specific settings you can make.
Currently, only HTML and Plain Text file types have additional settings available.
3 Click OK to return to the Open Web Page, Append Web Page, View Web
Links, or Refresh Commands List dialog box.
Setting display options for HTML files
You can determine the font properties and other display characteristics of
HTML pages you convert to PDF.
To set display options for HTML pages:
1 In the General Conversion Settings dialog box, double-click HTML, or select
HTML, and click Settings.
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2 In the HTML Conversion Settings dialog box, click the Layout tab if necessary.
3 Select the display options:
■ Text, Background, Links, And Alt Text sets the default colors for text, page backgrounds, Weblinks, and text that replaces an image in a file when the image is unavailable. For each color, click a button to open a palette, and select the color.
■ Force These Settings For All Pages uses your selected colors on all HTML pages, including those that have their own colors defined. If you do not select this option, your colors are used only on pages that do not have colors defined.
■ Background Options specify whether to display colors and tiled images in page backgrounds and colors in table cells. If you do not select these options, the Web pages may look different than they do in a Web browser, but they may be easier to read if printed.
■ Wrap Lines Inside PREs wraps preformatted (HTML) lines of text if they are longer than a specified length. Acrobat scales a Web page so the longest line on the page will fit on the screen. Select this setting if an HTML file you’re downloading has unreasonably long lines of text.
■ Convert Images includes images in the conversion to PDF. If you do not select this option, an image is indicated by a red border (and possibly text, if specified by the page’s design).
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■ Underline Links underlines textual Weblinks on the pages if they aren’t already underlined.
4 For roman fonts, click the Fonts tab to specify fonts for body text, headings, or preformatted text:
■ For each font, click Choose Font (Windows) or select the font from the popup menu (Mac OS), select the font and text size, and click OK.
■ Click Embed Platform Fonts if you want the fonts used on the pages to be stored in the PDF file so that the text always appears in the original fonts in Acrobat. Note that embedding fonts increases the size of the file. For information on whether to embed fonts, see
About font embedding and substitution .
5 For Japanese fonts, click the Japanese tab, and do the following:
■ Choose an encoding option. Auto instructs Acrobat to automatically set the encoding. ShiftJIS, JIS, or EUC sets a specific Japanese character set.
■ For body text, headings, and preformatting, choose Gothic or Mincho,
■ For roman characters, you may choose whether roman characters on a
Japanese page are laid out using proportional spacing or fixed spacing.
6 Click OK in the HTML Conversion Settings and General Conversion Settings dialog boxes to return to the Open Web Page, Append Web Page, View Web
Links, or Refresh Commands List dialog box.
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Setting display options for text files
You can determine the font properties and other display characteristics of text pages you convert to PDF.
To set display options for text files:
1 In the General Conversion Settings dialog box, double-click Plain Text, or select Plain Text and click Settings.
2 In the Text Conversion Settings dialog box, select the display options:
■ Text and Background set the colors for text and page backgrounds. For each color, click a button to open a palette, and select the color.
■ Font specifies a font. Click Choose Font (Windows) or select the font from the pop-up menu (Mac OS), select the font and text size, and click OK.
■ Embed Platform Fonts stores the font used on the pages in the PDF file so that the text always appears in the original fonts in Acrobat. Note that embedding fonts increases the size of the file. For information on whether to embed fonts, see
About font embedding and substitution .
■ Wrap Lines At Margin wraps lines that reach the margin of the text files. It is generally a good idea to select this option because Web pages have no preset page width. Otherwise lines will be defined only by carriage return or newline characters, and the page will be scaled so the longest line will fit on the screen.
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■ Reflow Text puts as much text on a line as possible. If the original text was entered in many short lines, the text is displayed continuously, wrapping to other lines as it reaches the margin. Blank lines and white space at the beginning of sentences are preserved from the original text. Other formatting is ignored when the text reflowed. This option is available only if Wrap Lines At
Margin is selected.
■ Limit Lines Per Page limits the number of lines that can appear on a PDF page to the specified number.
3 Click OK in the Text Conversion Settings and General Conversion Settings boxes to return to the Open Web Page, Append Web Page, View Web Links, or
Refresh Commands List dialog box.
Defining page layouts
The page layout options determine the page size, margins, orientation, and scaling of Web pages in your PDF documents.
To define a page layout:
1 In the Conversion Settings dialog box, click the Page Layout tab. In Windows, a sample page with the current settings applied appears in the dialog box.
2 Choose a page size from the menu, or enter a custom page width and height in the text boxes below the menu.
3 Select portrait or landscape orientation.
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4 Enter margins for the top, bottom, left, and right borders of the page.
5 Specify the scaling options:
■ Scale Wide Contents To Fit Page rescales a page’s contents, if necessary, to fit the width of the page. If this option is not selected, Acrobat ignores the preferred paper size and resizes the width and height to fit pages up to 200 inches.
Note: A large PDF page may not be compatible with Acrobat Exchange 3.0, which has a page-size limit of 45-by-45 inches.
■ Auto-Switch To Landscape If Scaling Smaller Than changes the orientation of the page from portrait to landscape if the contents of a page are rescaled beyond a specified percentage. If the new version will be less than say 70% (the default setting) of the original size, the display switches to landscape. This option is available only if you selected portrait orientation.
6 Click OK in the Page Layout dialog box to return to the Open Web Page,
Append Web Page, View Web Links, or Refresh Commands List dialog box.
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Working with Web pages converted to PDF
You can navigate through a PDF document created from Web pages, print pages from the document, zoom in and out, and work with it in the ways described in
Adjusting the view of PDF documents . Depending on how you’ve
configured Acrobat, if you click a link on a Web page you’re viewing, Acrobat adds the pages for that link to the end of the PDF document, if the pages aren’t already there. For other ways to append Web pages, see
Note: Remember that one Web page can become multiple PDF pages. The Web page is a single topic (or URL) from a Web site. It is usually one continuous
HTML page that is divided into multiple standard-size PDF pages to make it easier to view and print as a document.
Depending on the options selected when the Web pages were converted to
PDF, structured bookmarks may be available as well. For information on struc-
tured bookmarks, see About PDF documents created from Web pages and
Setting General conversion options .
The context menu for Web bookmarks includes commands for downloading more Web pages, but in other respects these structured bookmarks are just like other structured bookmarks in Acrobat. For information on structured bookmarks not described in this section, see
A
B
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Using structured bookmarks to organize converted Web pages
When you first create a PDF document from Web pages, Acrobat generates structured bookmarks for the document if Create Bookmarks For New Content is selected when you download. A standard (unstructured) bookmark representing the Web server appears at the top of the Bookmarks palette. Under the server bookmark is a structured bookmark for each Web page downloaded; the name of the structured bookmark comes from the page’s HTML title or the URL, if no title is present.
C
D
A. Standard bookmark representing the Web server B. Structured bookmark representing downloaded Web pages C. Parent bookmark D. Child bookmark
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Structured Web bookmarks are initially all at the same level (subordinate to the server bookmark), but you can rearrange the structured bookmarks and nest them in family groups to help you keep track of the hierarchy of material on the
Web pages. You can also use the structured bookmarks to rearrange their corresponding pages in the PDF document.
Acrobat maintains the family relationships you set up among structured bookmarks. If you move or delete a parent structured bookmark, its children structured bookmarks are moved or deleted along with it. It helps to work with the navigation pane open, so you can see the Web pages and their structured bookmarks side by side.
To move or delete a Web bookmark:
1 Select the structured bookmark. You can Ctrl-click (Windows) or Commandclick (Mac OS) to select multiple structured bookmarks, or Shift-click to select a contiguous range of structured bookmarks.
2 To move or delete the structured bookmark, do one of the following:
■ To move the structured bookmark, drag it to where you want it in the hierarchy. Release the mouse button when the black line is in the correct position. If the line is below another structured bookmark’s icon, the relocated structured bookmark will be a sibling, immediately after that structured bookmark. If the line is below another structured bookmark’s name, the relocated structured bookmark will be a child of that structured bookmark.
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■ To delete the structured bookmark, press the Delete key, choose Edit >
Delete, or right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the structured bookmark, and choose Delete (Windows) or Clear (Mac OS) from the context menu.
To move or delete a Web page along with its structured bookmark:
Do one of the following:
■ To move the Web page along with its structured bookmark, press Ctrl
(Windows) or Option (Mac OS) while dragging the structured bookmark.
■ To delete the Web page along with its structured bookmark, right-click
(Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the structured bookmark, and choose
Delete Page(s) from the context menu.
Adding more structured bookmarks
If Add PDF Structure is selected when you download Web pages, Acrobat stores structure information in the PDF document that corresponds to the
HTML structure of the original pages. You can use this information to add structured bookmarks to the file for paragraphs and other items that have
HTML tags.
To add structured bookmarks to a PDF document:
1 Choose New Bookmarks From Structure from the Bookmarks palette menu.
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2 Select the items you want specified as structured bookmarks. An article is a complete Web page, represented by the HTML Title tag. The other items in the list are HTML tags used in the Web pages.
3 Click OK.
Getting information on converted Web pages
Acrobat can display a dialog box with the current page’s URL, the page’s title
(from the HTML <TITLE> tag or URL of the page), the date and time downloaded, the content type (such as HTML text or JPEG graphic), and the preferred zoom setting (based on the scaling and image size).
To get information on the current Web page:
Choose Tools > Web Capture > Page Info.
If the PDF document has headers and footers, you can also find most of this
information there. For information on adding headers and footers, see Setting
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Refreshing converted Web pages
You can refresh Web pages in a PDF document to retrieve the most up to date from the Web site. When you refresh, you download the entire Web site or link again and build a new PDF file. In the resulting new PDF file, Acrobat lists any pages where components have changed, including text, Weblinks, embedded filenames, and formatting. It also downloads new pages if they have been added to the site. The changed pages are listed as bookmarks in the
Bookmarks pane under a bookmark labeled New and Changed Pages.
Acrobat can refresh Web pages only if Save Refresh Commands was selected when the pages were first downloaded. For more information, see
Downloading Web pages in Acrobat .
When you refresh Web pages, Acrobat retains both the original PDF and the refreshed version. To keep an archive of changes made to a Web site, save both versions.
To create bookmarks that show changes to previously converted Web pages:
1 Choose Tools > Web Capture > Refresh Pages.
2 To view new and changed pages, select Create Bookmarks For New And
Changed Pages. Then specify the scope of the updated structured bookmarks:
■ Compare Only Page Text To Detect Changed Pages compares only the text on the pages.
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■ Compare All Page Components To Detect Changed Pages compares all page components, including text, images, Weblinks, embedded filenames, and formatting.
3 To refrain from resubmitting any previously submitted form data, unselect
Resubmit Form Data. Be very careful if you have Resubmit Form Data selected.
It could result in duplicate purchases or other submissions. This option is available only if a form and query results are on the pages.
4 To change which pages are updated by the refresh, select Edit Refresh
Commands List, select the URLs you want, and click OK.
5 Click Refresh.
Opening converted pages in a Web browser
You can start a Web browser and display a Web page you’ve already downloaded in Acrobat. This can be useful if you want to compare any differences between the downloaded PDF version and the current Web page at the site. The browser opens in a new application window to the page you specify.
In the PDF document, you can open a Web page or a Weblink in a Web browser.
Opening a Weblink is useful for deciding if you want to download and convert a Web page linked to the PDF document.
Acrobat uses the Web browser selected in your Weblink preferences.
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To open a converted page in a Web browser:
Do one of the following:
■ Choose Tools > Web Capture > Open Page In Web Browser to open the current page in a Web browser.
■ Shift-click a link if your Web Capture preferences are set to open Weblinks in
Acrobat. Click a link if your preferences are set to open Weblinks in a browser.
For more information, see
Setting Web Capture preferences .
■ Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) a Web bookmark, and choose Open Page In Web Browser from the context menu to open the bookmark’s page.
■ Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) a link, and choose Open
Weblink In Browser from the context menu to open the link’s page.
Setting Web Capture preferences
You can set several preferences to customize the process of converting Web pages to PDF.
To set Web Capture preferences:
1 Choose File > Preferences > Web Capture.
2 Choose how often to check if images have changed on the current Web site before downloading.
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3 Choose whether to open pages for Weblinks in Acrobat or in a Web browser.
Clicking a Web link opens the link based on this preference setting; Shiftclicking opens the link in the other way. If you use a Web browser, you need to select a browser in your Weblink preferences (see
Setting Weblink preferences ).
4 Select any of the following options:
■ Consolidate Menu Items In Top-Level Menu creates a top-level menu named
Web that combines all the commands for downloading Web pages, getting information on the pages, and refreshing pages.
■ Show Bookmarks When New File Opened automatically opens the navigation pane and displays structured bookmarks when you open a new document. If this option is not selected, the navigation pane is closed when you open Web pages, but the structured bookmarks are still created. You can choose Window > Show Bookmarks to see the structured bookmarks in the pane.
■ Show Toolbar Buttons shows the Open Web Page button in the command bar. You can click the button to open the Open Web Page dialog box.
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5 Select Reset Warning Dialogs To Default to turn on any disabled Web
Capture warning dialogs.
6 Select Always or After to skip secured pages when downloading multiple levels of a Web site. If you select After, Acrobat displays a password dialog box which times out and skips the secured pages after the specified number of seconds.
7 Select Reset Conversion Settings To Default to change the conversion options back to their original settings. See
Specifying conversion options for capturing Web pages .
8 Click OK.
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Customizing PDF Navigation
When creating documents for electronic publication, it is important to provide the reader with a way to move efficiently through a document, as well as across documents. Acrobat provides a variety of methods you can use for navigation, including thumbnails, bookmarks, articles, and links. Each navigation method has its own special features. You can choose when and where to apply each one to create a document structure and flow that is best for your audience.
For the most efficient workflow, it is best if you implement navigation paths for your document after your PDF document is complete in content and organization. Using the navigation methods described in this chapter as the last stage in the workflow ensures that you will no longer need to insert or delete pages, or perform major editorial tasks that might cause you to have to redo navigation procedures.
Working with thumbnails
Thumbnails, located in the navigation pane, are miniature previews of the pages in a document. You can use thumbnails to jump quickly to a selected page and to adjust the view of the current page. Thumbnails allow you to direct the reader’s attention and to move, insert, copy, replace, and delete pages. You can use the small thumbnails option to display more pages in the
Thumbnails palette.
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Double clicking on a thumbnail takes you directly to the corresponding page.
Moving, copying, or deleting a thumbnail actually moves, copies, or deletes the corresponding page. Because thumbnails take up extra file space, approximately 3K per thumbnail, they are not automatically created with a document unless you set the Acrobat Distiller option to do so. Instead, blank thumbnail placeholders are generated when a PDF document is created. The blank thumbnails perform all the functions of a preview thumbnail, but do not offer the visual page representation.
To show the Thumbnails palette:
Do one of the following:
■ Click the Show/Hide Navigation Pane button , and then click the Thumbnails tab.
■ Choose Window > Show Thumbnails.
Creating and deleting thumbnails
When you create a PDF document, the thumbnails appear as blank placeholders rather than as representations of actual pages. You can use the blank placeholders for navigation, but you will not see the contents of the corresponding pages. You can generate thumbnails at any time. Thumbnails are especially useful during the development phase of a document, and they can easily be removed later if file size becomes an issue.
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To create thumbnails:
1 Click the Thumbnails tab in the navigation pane to bring the Thumbnails palette to the front.
2 Choose Create All Thumbnails from the Thumbnails palette menu to create thumbnails for all document pages. One thumbnail is generated per page.
3 Choose Small Thumbnails from the Thumbnails palette menu to view thumbnails at approximately one-half the default size (38 x 48 pixels). To toggle the view back to the default size (76 x 98 pixels), choose Large Thumbnails from the palette menu.
To create thumbnails for an entire collection of PDF documents, choose
File > Batch Process. Select the folder with the documents you want to process, and select the Thumbnails check box. Create is automatically selected for this
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Blank placeholdersComparison of large and small thumbnails
To delete all thumbnails from a document:
1 Click the Thumbnails tab in the navigation pane to bring the Thumbnails palette to the front.
2 Choose Delete All Thumbnails from the Thumbnails palette menu.
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3 Click OK. All thumbnails are automatically removed; the corresponding pages are not deleted from the document.
Important: If you use the Delete All Thumbnails command to remove all thumbnails from the document, the corresponding pages are not deleted.
However, if you delete an individual thumbnail using the Delete command, the corresponding page is deleted.
Creating and deleting thumbnails in a document collection
(Windows)
Acrobat allows you to create or delete thumbnails for an entire collection of documents in one automatic process. Any number of documents can comprise a documentation set, but all the documents must be contained in the same folder. Performing a process on a number of files at once is known as batch
processing.
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To create or delete thumbnails in a document collection (Windows):
1 Choose File > Batch Process, navigate to the folder whose content you want to process, and select the folder.
2 Select from the following options:
■ Process All Subfolders to process all the folders contained in the selected folder.
■ Optimize to generate the thumbnails in the most efficient manner.
■ Passwords to give the passwords originally used to open a specified document and change the security options for the file.
■ Security to specify a password for a document and change its security options. You can also specify actions that are not allowed, such as printing, changing the document, selecting text and graphics, and adding and changing annotations or form fields. Click OK to accept your selections.
■ Open Info to set options for the initial view, window options, and user interface options. Click OK to accept your selections.
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3 Select Thumbnails, and then select one of the following:
■ Create to create thumbnails for a document collection.
■ Delete to remove thumbnails from a document collection.
4 With the folder containing the documents still selected, click OK. Click Stop if you need to halt the process.
5 Click Close when the process is complete.
Working with bookmarks
A bookmark is a type of link with representative text in the navigation pane.
Each bookmark in the navigation pane goes to a different view or page in the document. You can use electronic bookmarks as you would paper bookmarks, to mark a place in a document where you want to return. You can also use bookmarks to modify the view of its link, thus directing your reader’s attention where you want it. Bookmarks allow you to jump within a PDF document, to another document (PDF or non-PDF), or to a Web page. They can also perform actions, such as playing a movie or sound, executing a menu item, or submitting a form.
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Acrobat generates bookmarks automatically from the table of contents of documents created by most desktop publishing programs. The creator (or sometimes the user) of a PDF document can set up additional bookmarks in an existing PDF document to link to another PDF document or to a Web page. In addition to the bookmarks Acrobat generates automatically from a table of contents and index, Acrobat can create structured bookmarks from Web pages
(HTML) and Microsoft Word documents converted to PDF using PDFMaker. For
information on creating structured bookmarks, see Downloading Web pages in
Acrobat and Using Adobe PDFMaker 4.0 for Microsoft Word 97, Word 2000, Power-
Point 97, and PowerPoint 2000 (which is available as online help when you use the Create PDF command from within a Microsoft application).
To show the Bookmarks palette:
Do one of the following:
■ Click the Show/Hide Navigation Pane button , and then click the
Bookmarks tab.
■ Choose Window > Show Bookmarks.
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Creating bookmarks
Bookmarks generated from a table of contents are usually adequate to navigate through a document. There may be times, however, when you will want to add bookmarks that point to specific sections to draw the reader’s attention to them.
Creating a new bookmark
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To create a new bookmark in the current document:
1 Click the Bookmarks tab in the navigation pane to bring the Bookmarks palette to the front.
2 Click the bookmark under which you want to place the new bookmark. If you don’t select a bookmark, the new bookmark is automatically added at the end of the list.
3 Use the Next Page and Previous Page arrows on the command bar to navigate to the destination in the PDF document to which you want the bookmark to link.
4 Modify the view so it directs the reader’s attention to the correct infor-
mation. For more information, see Setting magnification options . Any magnifi-
cation option you set will apply to any new bookmarks you create, as well as to the current bookmark, until you change the option.
5 Choose New Bookmark from the Bookmarks palette menu, or select the new bookmark icon at the bottom of the Bookmarks palette.
6 Type in the text for the bookmark label, and press Enter (Windows) or Return
(Mac OS). Bookmark labels can be up to 128 characters long.
7 To make sure the correct location and magnification are set, go to another page in the document, and then test the bookmark.
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To create a bookmark linked to another PDF file, an application file, or to specify an action:
1 Click the Bookmarks tab in the navigation pane to bring the Bookmarks palette to the front.
2 Choose New Bookmark from the Bookmarks palette menu.
3 Type in the text for the bookmark label, and then click outside the text box.
You can type in up to 125 characters for a bookmark label.
4 Select the bookmark, and then choose Edit > Properties.
5 Select an action type. Follow the on-screen directions, or see
Using actions for special effects for more information.
Note: If you want to link your PDF document with another PDF document, use the Go To View action. Open the file in Acrobat, and then navigate to the location where you want it to open.
6 Click Set Action.
Editing and deleting bookmarks
Bookmark destinations default to the view you are looking at when you create a bookmark. Although you can set bookmark destinations as you create each bookmark, it is sometimes easier to create a group of bookmarks, and then set the destinations later. Once you’ve created a bookmark, you can change bookmark text, destination, or action type at any time.
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To edit a bookmark:
1 To edit a bookmark name, select the bookmark, click inside the text box, and type in the new text.
2 To edit a bookmark destination, select the bookmark, and then (in the document pane) move to the location you want to specify as the new destination.
3 Adjust the magnification. For more information, see
Setting magnification options .
4 Choose Set Bookmark Destination from the Bookmarks palette menu, and click Yes in the warning dialog box. The bookmark is now set to the new location.
To delete a bookmark:
1 Select the bookmark you want to delete, or Shift-click to select a range of bookmarks. Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) to toggle the selection of individual bookmarks.
2 Choose Edit > Delete (Windows) or Clear (Mac OS), and then click OK.
Important: Deleting a bookmark deletes any bookmarks that are subordinate to it (children); deleting a bookmark does not delete any document text.
To delete all bookmarks:
1 Select the bookmarks.
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2 Choose Delete Bookmarks from the palette menu.
3 Click OK.
Creating a bookmark hierarchy
You can modify a list of bookmarks to show a relationship between topics using nesting. Nesting creates a parent/child relationship, and you can expand and collapse this hierarchical list, as desired.
To expand and collapse the bookmark hierarchy:
1 Click the plus sign (+) (Windows) or the horizontal triangle (Mac OS) next to the bookmark icon to show any children related to the bookmark.
2 Click the minus sign (-) (Windows) or the inverted triangle (Mac OS) to collapse the list again.
To nest a bookmark under another bookmark:
1 Click the bookmark icon you want to nest, or Shift-click to select range bookmarks. Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) to toggle the selection of individual bookmarks.
2 Drag the icon(s) underneath the first letter in the parent bookmark; a black bar shows the position of the icon(s).
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3 Click OK. The bookmark is nested; however, the actual pages remain in their original location in the document.
Nesting a bookmark
To move a bookmark out of a nested position:
1 Select the bookmark icon you want to move, or Shift-click to select a range of bookmarks. Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) to toggle the selection of individual bookmarks.
2 Drag the icon(s) to the left, positioning the black bar directly under the parent bookmark.
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3 Click OK.
Moving a bookmark out of its nested position
Creating structured bookmarks
Structured bookmarks give you greater control over page content than do regular bookmarks. Because structured bookmarks use the underlying structural information (metadata) of the document elements (for example, heading levels, paragraphs, table titles, and the like) to create bookmarks, they can be used for editing the document. Structured bookmarks, which are easily identified by their icon, allow you to move, copy, extract, and delete pages.
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Currently, Microsoft Word is the only word-processing application that provides the necessary internal information to support structured bookmarks.
To create a PDF document with structured bookmarks, you must use PDFMaker and set the necessary options for structured bookmarks. For more information, see
About PDFWriter and Distiller , or Using Adobe PDFMaker 4.0 for Microsoft
Word 97, Word 2000, PowerPoint 97, and PowerPoint 2000 (which is available as online help when you use the Create PDF command from within a Microsoft application). Acrobat 4.0 provides a second type of structured bookmark— structured bookmarks for Web pages. For more information, see
Using structured bookmarks to organize converted Web pages .
Working with articles
Many traditional print documents, such as magazines and newspapers, arrange text in multiple columns. Stories flow from column to column and sometimes across several pages. While the format is effective for printed material, this type of structure can be difficult to follow on-screen because of the scrolling and zooming required.
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Acrobat’s article feature allows you to guide readers through material presented in multiple columns and across a series of pages. You use the article tool to create a series of linked rectangles or boxes that connect the various sections of the piece and follow the flow of text. You can choose to automatically generate article threads from a page layout file as you convert it to PDF.
Most, but not all, desktop publishing programs allow you to automatically generate article threads for files. If the file you’re viewing has articles, you can show the names of the articles in a palette and navigate easily through them.
For information on using article threads when reading a PDF document, see
To open the Articles palette:
Choose Window > Show Articles.
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Defining articles
You specify an article by defining a series of boxes around the content in the order in which you want the content read. The navigational path you define for an article is known as the article thread. You use the article tool to create a thread connecting the various boxes that hold the content of the article, unifying them into a continuous text flow.
A C
A B
A
1
The flow of an article thread
2 3
To define an article:
1 Select the article tool . When you first use the article tool, it appears as a cross-hair pointer in the document window.
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2 Drag a marquee to define the first article box, and release the mouse button when the marquee is complete. An article box appears around the enclosed text, and the pointer changes to the article pointer.
Each article box you create has a label.The label consists of the article number in the PDF document and its sequence within the article. For example, the first box for the first article you define in a document would be labeled “1-1,” the second box “1-2,” and so on. The boxes for the second article in the same document would be labeled “2-1,” “2-2,” “2-3,” and so on.
3 Go to the next part of the document you want to include in the article, and draw a marquee around this text. Repeat this step until you have defined the entire article. The articles are numbered according to the order in which they are created.
To resize or move an article box, you must first end the article.
4 To end the article, press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS).
5 In the Article Properties dialog box, type the article title, subject, author, and any keywords to describe the article, and click OK.
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Editing and deleting articles
You can edit an existing article thread at any time using the article tool. For example, you can delete an article box, insert an article box, move or resize an article box, combine article boxes, and edit article properties.
To delete an article or article box:
1 Select the article tool to display the articles in the document.
2 Choose Window > Show Articles, and do one of the following:
■ To delete the entire article, select the article in the Articles palette, press the
Delete key, and click OK in the prompt dialog.
■ To delete only one box from an article, select the box in the document. From the context menu, choose Delete. In the Adobe Acrobat dialog box, select Box.
If you select Article, the entire article is deleted.
The remaining articles or article boxes are automatically renumbered.
To insert an article box into an article thread:
1 Select the article tool , and then select the article box you want to insert the new article box after.
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2 Click the plus tab at the bottom of the selected box, and click OK when prompted to drag and create a new article box.
1-1
Selected article and article tool cursor
3 Draw a new article box. The new box is inserted into the article flow, and all subsequent boxes are renumbered.
To move or resize an article box:
1 Select the article tool , select the article box you want to move or resize, and do one of the following:
■ To move the box, drag it to the new location.
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■ To resize the box, drag one of the corner points until the box is the correct size.
1-1
Resizing an article box
To edit article properties:
1 Select the article tool , and select the article box that you want to edit.
2 Choose Edit > Properties.
3 Change the information in the Articles Properties dialog box text fields as necessary, and click OK.
To combine two articles:
1 Select the article tool , and select any article box in the article you want to be read first.
2 Select the plus tab at the bottom of the article box.
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3 Hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Option (Mac OS), and click the article box you want to be read next. The second article is appended to the end of the first article. All article boxes in the piece are renumbered automatically.
Working with destinations
A destination is a link represented by text in the Destinations palette. Destinations provide a means for setting navigation pathways across a collection of
PDF documents. Linking to a destination (rather than a specific page) is recommended when linking across documents because, unlike a link to a page, a link to a destination is not affected by the addition or deletion of pages within the target document.
To display and sort the destinations list:
1 Choose Window > Show Destinations, and do one of the following:
■ Choose Scan Document from the Destinations palette menu.
■ Select the scan document icon at the bottom of the palette.
2 To sort the destinations, do one of the following:
■ Click the Name bar at the top of the Destinations palette to sort the destination names alphabetically.
■ Click the Page bar at the top of the Destinations palette to sort the destinations by page number.
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To go to, delete, reset, or rename a destination:
1 Choose Window > Show Destinations, and do one of the following:
■ Choose Scan Document from the Destinations palette menu.
■ Select the scan document icon at the bottom of the palette.
2 Press the right mouse button (Windows) or Ctrl-click (Mac OS) to select the destination. Choose one of the following from the context menu:
■ Go To Destination to move to the target location.
■ Delete to delete the destination.
■ Set Destination to reset the target of the destination.
■ Rename to give the destination a different name.
To create and name a destination and to create a link to another PDF document:
1 Choose Window > Show Destinations.
2 Choose Scan Document from the Destinations palette menu.
Note: You must scan a document for any existing destinations before you can create a new destination. This step is required, even when you are creating the first destination for the document.
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3 In the target document, navigate to the location where you want to create a destination, and set the desired view. For more information on setting the view, see
.
4 Set the destination by doing one of the following:
■ Choose New Destination from the Destinations palette menu.
■ Click the create new destination icon at the bottom of the palette.
5 Enter the text for the name of the destination, and press Enter (Windows) or
Return (Mac OS). A destination name should be unique for it to work.
6 Open the source document (the document you want to create the link from), and select the link tool .
7 Drag a rectangle to specify a source for the link.
8 Choose Go To View as the action type. This is the action you apply to execute a link to a destination. For information on the other action types, see
Using actions for special effects .
9 Choose a magnification option. For more information, see
.
10 Open the target document (leaving the source document open as well), and display the Destinations palette. Scan the document to show the list of destinations.
11 Select the destination you want to link to. When the destination (page or view) is displayed, click Set Link. The filename of the target document and the
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To delete a destination:
1 Choose Window > Show Destinations.
2 Choose Scan Document from the Destinations palette menu, and scan the document for destinations.
3 Select the destination from the list.
4 Choose Edit > Delete, and click OK to confirm your action.
Working with links
Links provide the ability to jump to other locations in the same document, to other electronic documents, or to Web sites. You can use links when you want to ensure that your reader has immediate access to related information. You can also use links to initiate actions, such as playing a sound or movie file, or to enter articles, to show annotations, or to submit forms. See Chapter 10,
Creating links
You create links in a document using the link tool. You can specify your links as visible or invisible.
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To create a link:
1 Navigate to the section of the document where you want to create a link.
2 Select the link tool . The pointer becomes a cross hair (+), and any existing links in the document—including invisible links—are temporarily visible.
3 Create the link rectangle in one of the following ways:
■ Drag the mouse to create a marquee.
■ Press Ctrl (Windows) or Option (Mac OS), and select the target text with the Ibeam. This allows you to fit a link rectangle exactly around the selected text.
4 In the Create Link dialog box, choose a rectangle type:
■ Visible Rectangle indicates that the link rectangle is visible. Set the appearance of the link rectangle by choosing a width, color, and style.
■ Invisible Rectangle indicates that the link rectangle should be invisible under normal circumstances.
5 Select a highlight option for when the link is selected.
6 Choose an action type. This specifies the action that occurs when the link is selected. For more information, see
Using actions for special effects .
Note: If you want to link your PDF document with another PDF document, use the Go To View action. Open the file in Acrobat and then navigate to the location where you want it to open.
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7 Choose a magnification option. This allows you to control the view that
appears when the link is selected. For more information, see Setting magnification options
.
8 Click Set Link.
Editing links
You can edit a link at any time—changing its appearance, hotspot area, or link action, deleting or resizing the link rectangle, or changing the destination of the link. Changing the properties of a link only affects the currently selected link.
To move or resize a link rectangle:
1 Select the link tool , and then move the pointer over one of the corners of the link rectangle. The cross hair changes to a double-headed arrow. If the cursor is not directly over a corner of the link rectangle, the cursor is a standard pointer.
2 To move the link rectangle, position the arrow anywhere in the rectangle, and drag it to the new location.
3 To resize the link rectangle, drag any corner point until the rectangle is the correct size.
To change the properties of a link:
1 Select the link tool , and double-click inside the link rectangle.
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2 Change the properties of the link, as described in
click OK.
To delete a link:
1 Select the link tool , and select the link rectangle you want to delete.
Note: You cannot undo this action.
2 Do one of the following:
■ Choose Edit > Delete (Windows) or Clear (Mac OS).
■ Press the Delete key.
■ Choose Delete from the context menu.
3 Click OK.
Creating and editing Weblinks
Acrobat allows you to connect to sites on the World Wide Web as easily as you connect to another PDF document. If you click a link to the Web, the linked Web page opens in a Web browser. If your PDF document was created by downloading Web pages, however, clicking a link in it may add the linked page to the PDF document. See
Converting a link’s Web pages .
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To create a link to the World Wide Web:
1 Select the link tool , and create a link rectangle.
2 Select Visible Rectangle or Invisible Rectangle as the type. If you select
Visible, set the appearance for the link rectangle.
3 Choose an option for highlighting the link when it is selected.
4 Choose World Wide Web Link as the action type, and click Edit URL. For more information on action types, see
Using actions for special effects .
5 Type in the URL, or select one from the list of previously used URLs. You can edit a URL once you select it from the list.
6 Click OK to accept the URL, and then click Set Link.
7 Check the link by clicking the link with the hand tool . You can choose to view the link inside Acrobat or another Web browser. Your computer must be connected to the Internet.
To edit a link to the World Wide Web:
1 Select the link tool , and double-click the link you want to modify.
2 Click Edit URL, and make the desired changes in the text box. You can also select a URL from the menu list of previously used URLs and edit it once selected.
3 Click OK on the Weblink Edit URL dialog box, and click OK on the Link
Properties dialog box.
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Setting Weblink preferences
You can specify which browser to use for viewing Web pages and set several other preferences.
If your PDF document was created from Web pages in Windows, you can open
its linked pages in Acrobat rather than in a Web browser. See Converting a link’s
To set Weblink preferences:
1 Choose File > Preferences > Weblink.
2 From the menu, choose whether to display link information below the pointer when the pointer is over a Weblink. You can display a URL for a Weblink always, never, or only when you press Ctrl (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) while pointing on the link.
3 Set the following options for displaying Web information:
■ Show Toolbar Button shows the Web Browser button in the command bar. You can click this button to open the Web browser from Acrobat.
■ Show Progress Dialog displays status information such as how much data is being downloaded when you click a Weblink.
4 Click Browse (Windows) or Select (Mac OS), locate the Web browser you want to use, and click Open.
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5 Choose the connection type that matches your browser. If your browser is not listed, choose the Standard connection type.
6 Click OK.
Setting magnification options
You can specify a particular view of a page for the destination of the link, bookmark, or thumbnail by setting the magnification for the page. You can choose from any of the following options:
■ Fixed displays the magnification level and page position that were in effect when you created the link or bookmark as the destination. Use the zoom tool, the view buttons in the tool bar, the status bar, or the scroll bar to adjust the view before accepting this setting.
■ Fit View displays the visible portion of the current page as the destination.
The magnification level and window size vary with monitor resolution.
■ Fit Page displays the current page in the destination window.
■ Fit Width displays the width of the current page in the destination window.
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■ Fit Height displays the height of the current page in the destination window.
■ Fit Visible displays the width of the visible contents of the current page in the destination window. This usually means the margins are not displayed.
■ Inherit Zoom displays the destination window at the magnification level the reader is using when he or she clicks the link or bookmark.
Note: When you specify a magnification setting for a link or bookmark, it is inherited by all subsequent links and bookmarks you create until you change it.
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Working with PDF Documents
Acrobat allows you to edit PDF documents in a variety of ways. You can edit text and graphics within a file, and a new feature allows you to edit images and line art using Adobe Photoshop 5.0 and Adobe Illustrator 7.0 or 8.0 (Windows) from within a PDF document. You can also crop and rotate pages in a PDF document. You can rearrange the order of pages in a document, add new pages, or extract pages from a PDF document and create a new document with them. You can combine two or more PDF files to create a new PDF document file. You can delete pages, and you can renumber pages.
Important: PDF links exist in a separate layer on top of pages in a document.
Links are not inherently tied to graphic or text elements in a document. When you replace or insert pages from a document, the links remain unaffected and maintain their relative positions and sizes in the link layer.
Cropping and rotating pages
The crop tool provides an easy method for modifying a page layout. You can adjust the margins of one or all the pages in a document, or you can specify margins on a per-page basis. The crop tool allows you to adjust page margins by setting specific parameters or by visually setting page boundaries.You cannot undo a crop operation. Cropping does not reduce file size.
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Acrobat also provides the option of rotating all pages in a document or only selected pages. You can rotate a page from a portrait (vertical) display to a landscape (horizontal) display. Rotation is based on 90-degree increments.
To use the crop tool:
1 Choose View > Single Page to display the document in single page layout. It is recommended that you crop pages in Single Page layout.
2 Do one of the following:
■ Choose Document > Crop Pages.
■ Select the crop tool , and drag a cropping rectangle. Double-click inside the rectangle to bring up the Crop Pages dialog box.
3 Specify the area to crop in one of the following ways:
■ If you used the crop tool to specify the page boundaries, select a handle at a corner of the cropping rectangle, and drag to the correct size.
■ Select Bounding Box from the Margins menu. This sets the margins at one pixel outside the text on the page.
■ Select Custom (Windows) or Custom Margins (Mac OS) from the Margins menu, and enter values for the left, right, top, and bottom margins.
■ Select Custom (Windows) or Custom Margins (Mac OS) from the Margins menu, and use the (left, right, top, bottom) increment arrows to adjust the
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If you have inches specified as your unit of measure, the increment arrows adjust the margins to one hundredth of an inch (default). If you have points specified as your unit of measure, the default is adjusted to one tenth of a point. Press Ctrl + arrow (Windows) or Option + arrow (Mac OS) to adjust to one hundredth of a point.
Use the following table as a guide for adjusting margins when the unit of measure is set to inches:
Inch increments (Windows)
Ctrl+arrow = .001” (one thousandth)
Alt+arrow = .010” (one hundredth)
Inch increments (Mac OS)
Option+arrow = .001” (one thousandth)
Ctrl+arrow = .010” (one hundredth); also
Command+ arrow
Shift+arrow = .100” (one tenth) Shift+arrow = .100” (one tenth)
4 Select All to apply the margins to the entire document, or select Pages From, and enter the range of pages to which the new margins should apply.
5 Select All Pages In Range (Windows) or Even And Odd Pages (Mac OS), Odd
Pages Only, or Even Pages Only from the Crop menu.
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6 If you are cropping multiple pages, click OK to accept the new margins.
The warning dialog does not appear if you are only cropping a single page.
7 Click OK to apply the new margins.
To rotate a page, a range of pages, or all pages:
1 To rotate a page, a range of pages, or all pages, do one of the following:
■ Choose Document > Rotate Pages.
■ Click the Thumbnails tab in the navigation pane. From the palette menu, choose Rotate Pages.
2 Select Clockwise or Counterclockwise as the direction to rotate the pages.
(Pages are rotated in 90-degree increments.)
3 Specify a range of pages to rotate, or select All to rotate all the pages in the document.
4 Click OK, and then click OK in the prompt dialog box for final acceptance.
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Moving and copying PDF pages and files
Acrobat allows you to move a PDF page or range of pages, or copy a PDF page or range of pages within a document or from one document to another. When you copy a PDF page or pages, the information is left in the original location, as well as being put in the new destination. When you move a PDF page or pages, the original information is extracted (taken away) from the original location and relocated to the new destination.
Acrobat also allows you to easily combine PDF files with one another. You can append a file to the beginning or end of another file, or specify the page where you want it located.
Combining PDF files
Acrobat allows you to combine one PDF file with another with the Insert Pages command and specify where the new file is placed in the target document. If you insert more than one document using drag and drop (Windows), all the documents are inserted in the order specified by Windows Explorer. For example, if files are sorted by name, the files will be inserted alphabetically. If the files are sorted by size, they are inserted in ascending or descending order, according to the sort in Windows Explorer. Acrobat only supports combining
PDF documents with other PDF documents. At present, you cannot insert non-
PDF files (such as Photoshop or Illustrator) into a PDF file without first converting them to PDF.
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To combine two PDF files:
1 With the target document open, choose Document > Insert Pages.
2 In the Select File To Insert dialog box, select the source document you want to insert into the target document, and select Open (Windows) or Select
(Mac OS).
3 In the Insert dialog box, specify whether you want to insert the document
Before or After the specified page.
4 Specify whether the document is to be inserted before or after the first page, last page, or enter a page number.
5 Click OK.
To combine PDF files by dragging and dropping (Windows):
1 Set up your Windows environment so Acrobat and Windows Explorer windows are tiled side by side.
2 Select and drag files from Windows Explorer to the document area of an open PDF file. If you selected multiple files, press Ctrl while dragging to insert the files. If you press Ctrl, the files are added automatically without the Insert dialog box appearing.
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3 In the Insert dialog box that appears, specify the location (Before or After) for the dropped file, and then the respective page in the target document: First
Page, Last Page, or enter a Page Number in the text box.
4 Click OK.
Moving and copying using thumbnails
Thumbnails provide an easy means for moving and copying pages within a document. You can copy and move one thumbnail at a time or multiple thumbnails simultaneously.
To move or copy a PDF page within a document using a thumbnail:
1 Select one or more thumbnails to move.
2 Do one of the following:
■ To move a thumbnail page, select and drag the page number box, or the thumbnail itself, to the new location. A page icon containing an arrow appears at the lower right of the cursor, and a bar appears to show the new position of the thumbnail. Release the mouse button when the bar is in the correct location. The thumbnail page is inserted at that point in the document, and the pages are renumbered.
■ To copy a thumbnail page, hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) as you drag. When copying a thumbnail page, the page icon at the lower right of the cursor changes to contain a plus sign (+) instead of an arrow.
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To move or copy a PDF page between documents using a thumbnail:
1 Open both PDF documents, and display them side by side with their navigation panes showing the Thumbnails palette.
2 Select one or more thumbnails.
3 Do one of the following:
■ To copy a thumbnail page, drag it into the thumbnail area of the target document. A page icon containing a plus sign (+) appears at the lower right of the cursor, and a bar appears at the bottom or top when the thumbnails are in a single column, or to the left or right if more than one column of thumbnails is displayed. Release the mouse button when the black bar is in the correct location. The thumbnail page is copied into the document, and the pages are renumbered.
■ To move a thumbnail page, hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) as you drag. The thumbnail page is inserted into the target document and deleted from the source document. The pages are renumbered.
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Moving and copying using structured bookmarks (Windows)
Structured bookmarks are another method you can use for moving and copying pages within a document. Structured bookmarks use the internal information, or metadata, of the document to create a bookmark hierarchy. You define the levels of structure (head1, head2, head3, paragraph, table, and so on) when the document is converted to PDF using PDFMaker. Structured bookmarks are easily identified by their icon. For more information on how to specify structure levels for a document, see Using Adobe PDFMaker 4.0 for
Microsoft Word 97, Word 2000, PowerPoint 97, and PowerPoint 2000 (which is available as online help when you use the Create PDF command from within a
Microsoft application).
You can rearrange the organization of the structured bookmark hierarchy and rearrange the content in the document at the same time. Currently, Microsoft
Word is the only word-processing application that provides the necessary internal information, or metadata, in its documents to support structured bookmarks. Acrobat Web Capture has the ability to generate a different type of structured bookmark from HTML documents it downloads from the Web. For more information, see Chapter 5,
Converting Web Pages to PDF and
Configuring Web browsers for viewing PDF .
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To move material associated with a structured bookmark:
1 Click the Show/Hide Navigation Pane button on the command bar to display the navigation pane. Select the Bookmarks tab to bring the palette to the front.
2 Select the structured bookmark for the material you want to move. Shiftclick to add more bookmarks to the selection. You can select bookmarks from different levels in the hierarchy; the hierarchy is maintained when the bookmarks are moved.
If you select a parent bookmark, its children are selected automatically. To move a child without the parent, you must select it individually (that is, without selecting the parent).
3 Hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) as you drag. A black bar appears above or to the left of the new location. Release the mouse button when the black cursor bar is in the correct location. The hierarchy in the
Bookmarks palette changes, as does the organization of the document content.
If you don’t hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) as you drag, the bookmarks are rearranged in the Bookmarks palette, but the actual pages of the document remain unaffected.
Important: This procedure only works with structured bookmarks, which are represented with a special icon in the navigation pane.
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Extracting pages
You can extract pages from a PDF document and save them to a separate file.
Be aware that when you extract a page from a PDF document, all annotations, form fields, and links associated with the page content are also extracted.
Bookmarks and articles associated with the pages, however, are not extracted.
To extract a page:
1 Choose Document > Extract Pages.
2 Specify the range of pages to extract.
3 To delete the pages from the document during the extraction process, select Delete Pages After Extraction. If you do not select this option, the extracted pages are copied to create a new file, but they still remain in the original document.
4 Click OK. If you choose Delete Pages After Extraction, you need to click OK again to confirm the deletion. A new document is opened with the name Pages
from <document_name.pdf>.
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Deleting and replacing pages
You can delete pages from a PDF document with the Delete Pages command or by deleting the page’s thumbnail or structured bookmarks. You can minimize the size of the document file by using the Save As command after deleting pages. If you want to keep a copy of the original document intact, use the Save As command, and save the restructured document under a new name.
Important: You cannot undo the Delete Pages command.
There may be times when you want to replace an entire PDF page with another
PDF page. When you replace a page, only the text and graphics on the original page are replaced. Any interactive elements associated with the original page, such as links and bookmarks, are not affected. Likewise, bookmarks and links that may have been previously associated with the replacement page do not carry over. Annotations, on the other hand, are carried along with the replacement page and are combined with any existing annotations in the document.
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Dining in New Triton
As an aid to the discerning diner, we’ve compiled a list of our favorite establishments in New Triton.
Click on a restaurant name to read more about it.
Bon Appetit!
Dining in New Triton
As an aid to the discerning diner, we’ve compiled a list of our favorite establishments in New Triton.
Click on a restaurant name to read more about it.
Bon Appetit!
1 Chez Maison
2 Dinh’s Garden
3 Fragrant Harbor
4 Giuletta’s
5 Java Junction
6 Ranch House Grill
East 1 st
2
Jo n s e 1
95
Harbo r B ridge
Financial district
Opera Center
South Wharf
East 1 st
Jo n e s
2
1
95
Ha rb or
Br id ge
Central
Park
5
East 17 th
East 14 th
4
3
N
M rk
East 10 th
6
205
1 Chez Maison
2 Dinh’s Garden
3 Fragrant Harbor
4 Giuletta’s
5 Java Junction
6 Ranch House Grill
Central
Park
5
East 17 th
East 14 th
4
3
N
M a rk e
East 10 th
6
205
Financial district
Opera Center
South Wharf
Before and after a page is replaced. Bookmarks and links remain in the same location.
To delete a page using the Delete Pages command:
1 Choose Document > Delete Pages.
2 Enter the page range to be deleted, and click OK. Click OK on the prompt dialog box for final acceptance.
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You cannot delete all pages; at least one page must remain in the document.
Note: If you select Use Logical Page Numbers in the General Preferences dialog box (File > Preferences > General), you can enter a page number in parentheses to delete its logical equivalent. For example, if the first page in the document is numbered i, you can enter (1) in the Delete Pages dialog box, and page i will be deleted.
To delete a page using a thumbnail:
1 Select the page number box of the thumbnail or the thumbnail itself:
■ Select one thumbnail.
■ Shift-click to select a range of thumbnails. Ctrl-click (Windows) or Commandclick (Mac OS) to toggle the selection of individual thumbnails. When you select multiple thumbnails for deletion, all the pages between the first and last selections are deleted, including thumbnails (in between) that were not selected.
■ Drag a rectangle around a grouping of thumbnails.
2 Choose Edit > Delete (Windows) or Edit > Clear (Mac OS).
3 Click OK on the prompt dialog box to accept the deletion.
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To delete material associated with a structured bookmark:
1 Click the Show/Hide Navigation Pane button on the command bar to display the navigation pane. Click the Bookmarks tab to bring the Bookmarks palette to the front.
2 Click the structured bookmark for the material you want to delete. Shift-click to select multiple bookmarks.
3 Hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Option (Mac OS), and drag the bookmark to the trash at the bottom of the palette. The structured bookmark and its associated page are deleted from the document.
For more information on how to use structured bookmarks for editing, see
Moving and copying PDF pages and files .
To replace the contents of a page using the Replace command:
1 Open the PDF document that contains pages you want to replace.
2 Choose Document >Replace Pages.
3 Select the document containing the replacement pages, and click Select.
4 Under Original, enter the pages to be replaced in the original document.
5 Under Replacement, enter the first page of the replacement page range. The last page is calculated based on the number of pages to be replaced in the original document. You can only replace the same number of pages.
6 Click OK.
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To replace a page using a thumbnail:
1 Open two PDF documents, and click the Show/Hide Navigation Pane button
to display the navigation pane. Click the Thumbnail tab to bring the
Thumbnails palette to the front.
2 Select the page number box of the thumbnail or thumbnails you want to use as replacement pages:
■ Select one thumbnail.
■ Shift-click to select multiple thumbnails. Ctrl-click (Windows) or Commandclick (Mac OS) to toggle the selection of individual thumbnails.
■ Drag a rectangle around a grouping of thumbnails.
3 Drag the selected thumbnails onto the Thumbnails palette of the target document. Position the cursor directly over the page number box of the thumbnail you want to replace.
4 Release the mouse to replace the pages. The pages you selected in the first document replace the same number of pages in the second document, starting at the page number you selected to drop the new pages on.
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Renumbering pages
You may notice that the page numbers on the document pages do not always match the page numbers that appear below the thumbnails and in the status bar. Acrobat always numbers pages with integers, starting with page 1 for the first page of the document, and so on. Because some PDF documents may have originally been hard-copy documents that contain front matter, such as the copyright page and table of contents, their body pages may not follow the numbering shown in the status bar.
X XX i ii 1 2 3
X XX
2 3 4 5
Printed page numbering compared to online page numbering
6
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Acrobat allows you to number or renumber the pages in your documents in a variety of ways. You can specify a different numbering style for groups of pages, for instance, 1, 2, 3, or i, ii, iii, or a, b, c. You can also customize the numbering system by adding a prefix. For example, the numbering for chapter
1 could be 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, and so on, and for chapter 2, it could be 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, and so on.
To renumber one or more pages:
1 Click the Show/Hide Navigation Pane button , and click the Thumbnails tab to bring the palette to the front.
2 Choose Number Pages from the Thumbnails palette menu.
3 Specify a page range in one of the following ways:
■ Choose Select All to specify the entire document.
■ Choose Select From, and type in a range of pages.
4 Select one of the following:
■ Begin New Section starts a new numbering sequence. Choose a style from the pop-up menu, and enter a starting page number for the section. Specify a prefix, if desired.
■ Merge With Previous Section removes the numbering currently assigned to the selected pages. The numbering used for the previous set of pages will be extended to cover the selected pages.
5 Click OK.
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Editing text
You can perform last-minute corrections to PDF documents using the touchup text tool. You can choose from a variety of properties to apply to selected text, including font size, embedding, color scale, baseline shift, tracking, word spacing, and line alignment.
Editing with the touchup text tool
Note: The touchup feature cannot be used with forms.
For information on how to touch up graphics using the touchup object tool, see
Editing graphic objects within PDF documents
.
About the new touchup text features
Acrobat 4.0 offers the following new features for touching up text:
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■ Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) creates a new empty line of text at the location where you clicked in the document. This feature is for horizontal text only.
■ A single level of Undo is now available with touchup text.
■ The Embed check box allows you to quickly remove embedding from any embedded font by selecting it.
■ Touchup edits text on rotated lines in the same way as it edits text on horizontal lines.
■ Touchup edits text using vertical fonts in the same way as it edits text using horizontal fonts. The baseline shift for vertical fonts is left and right, instead of up and down for horizontal fonts.
Editing text with the touchup text tool
While you can use the touchup text tool to edit text, you can only do so one line at a time. As a result, editing large sections of text can be a slow and laborious task. In general, you should reserve use of the touchup text tool for minor text edits in a PDF document. For extensive revisions, however, you should edit the document in the original document creation program and then regenerate the PDF file. You may choose to regenerate only the corrected pages and insert these corrected PDF pages into the document that needs to be corrected.
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Embedded fonts require special attention when editing a PDF document. Be aware that embedding or unembedding a font affects all the characters in the file using this font. This applies whether you embed or unembed a font from the Text Attributes dialog box or from the warning dialog box that tells you the only way to enter characters is to remove the embedding.
If an embedded or subsetted font is not installed on your system, you are only allowed to make limited editing changes to the text using this font.
Without the font installed on your system, you can only make changes to color, tracking, word spacing, baseline, margins, or justification. To be able to edit the content of the text by adding more characters, you must first install the font.
Follow these guidelines when using the touchup text tool:
■ You can always change text attributes, with the exceptions of Font and
Embedding. You can always delete characters.
■ You can add characters using a font, or you can change existing characters in a font, if that font is installed on your system or if the font is a non-embedded single-byte font in the system’s encoding. If you attempt to add characters to a single-byte embedded font that is not installed, you will be asked if you want to remove the embedding. You cannot add characters unless you choose to remove the embedding.
■ If you attempt to add characters to a single-byte embedded font that is not installed, you receive a message that asks if you want to remove the
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■ You can embed added characters only if the font is installed and any instance of the font is embedded. Otherwise added characters are not embedded.
■ You cannot add characters to selected text using a multi-byte font unless the font is installed on your system.
■ You can always unembed an embedded font.
■ Single-byte fonts are fully embedded when you choose Embed. Multi-byte fonts are subset embedded when you choose Embed.
To use the touchup text tool:
1 Select the touchup text tool .
2 Select the text you want to change. Shift-select to extend your text selection, up to one line.
Note: Cut, Copy, and Paste commands work on touchup text selections. The
Select All command selects all characters in the currently active line.
3 Choose Tools > TouchUp > Text Attributes, and set the properties of the selected text. If you change the text attributes when more than one line of text is selected, only the first line of text is changed.
4 Click the Font tab, and set the appearance of the text:
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■ Select a font from the font menu. You can select any font installed on your system or any font that has been fully embedded in the PDF document.
■ Enter a point size in the box represented by the icon .
■ Select the fill box to bring up the custom color dialog box from which you can choose a color, or choose a standard color from the pop-up menu.
■ Select the outline box to bring up the custom color dialog box from which you can choose a color, or choose a standard color from the pop-up menu.
5 Click the Character tab, and set the scale, baseline shift, tracking, and spacing options:
■ Enter a value to change the horizontal scale in the box by the icon . The
horizontal scale specifies the proportion between the height and the width of the type.
■ Enter a value to offset the text from the baseline in the box by the icon .
The baseline is the line on which the type rests.
■ Enter a value to set tracking in the box by the icon . Tracking inserts uniform spacing between more than two characters in selected text.
■ Enter a value to set word spacing in the box by the icon . Word spacing inserts uniform spacing between two or more words in selected text.
6 Click the Line tab, and set the text alignment options:
■ Select the alignment icon for left justified, right justified, center justified, or uniformly justified.
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■ Enter a point value in the appropriate box to move the line a specified amount to the left or right.
7 Type your corrections.
Note: For legal reasons, you must have purchased a font and have it installed on your system to be able to revise text using that font. For more information on embedded fonts, see
Creating PDF files with Distiller .
Fitting text within a selected text line
You can automatically fit new text into a specified space within a text line by using the Fit Text To Selection command.
To fit type into a text selection area:
1 Select the touchup text tool , and select a line of text.
2 Choose Fit Text To Selection from the context menu.
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3 Type in the new text. The new text will stretch or condense to fit the area of the originally selected text without disturbing the spacing of the other text on the line.
Fitting new text into a selected area
To adjust the margins of a line:
1 Select the text select tool or touchup text tool , and select the line of text you want to modify.
2 Choose Tools > TouchUp > Show Line Markers (default selection). Selecting this command again toggles it off or on, depending on the current state.
3 Drag the markers to the left or right.
You can also adjust alignment using the Line tab of the Text Attributes dialog box. Margin values in the Attributes dialog box are relative to the page boundaries. The line markers that appear depend on the selected alignment mode.
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Editing graphic objects within PDF documents
Acrobat allows you to edit any number of individual PDF graphic objects, such as line art, images, or text blocks, using Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and other applications that can read and write PDF files directly. If you choose to edit a text box, the entire text box is selected, even if it spans several pages.
Be aware that the touchup object tool cannot select individual characters that are part of larger text blocks. You need to use the touchup text tool to edit individual characters and words. The touchup object tool enables you to make last-minute corrections to graphic objects in a PDF document. For major revisions, it is recommended that you revert to your original authoring application, make the necessary changes, and then regenerate the PDF document.
Using the touchup object tool , you can select a graphic object in a PDF document and move it to a new location, edit it using the touchup object tool task features, or take it into Photoshop, Illustrator, or other application directly from the PDF document, and edit it. Once you complete the edit, you can place the object directly back in the PDF document if you are using an external application, and view the newly edited object in its original context. To take full advantage of this tool, you should have prior experience using the external editing applications accessed by the touchup object tool.
Note: Acrobat annotations are not considered page elements and therefore cannot be selected or manipulated by touchup. Since some annotations have graphical appearances, this can be deceiving at first.
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The touchup object tool context menu enables you to perform some editing tasks without launching an external editing application:
■ Cut removes the selected graphic object from the PDF document and places it on the clipboard.
■ Copy copies a selected graphic object onto the clipboard.
■ Paste places a graphic object from the clipboard into a select object, or onto the document page.
■ Paste In Front places a graphic object from the clipboard in front of the topmost selected object, or on top of everything on the document page if nothing is selected.
■ Paste In Back places a graphic object from the clipboard in back of the bottommost selected object, or behind everything on the document page if nothing is selected.
■ Delete removes any selected graphic objects from the document.
■ Select All selects all graphic objects on the document page.
■ Select None deselects any selected graphic objects in the PDF document.
■ Delete Clip deletes the objects that are clipping the selected objects. For example, if you scale text and if the resulting characters are clipped, selecting this option shows you the entire characters.
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■ Edit Image, Object, Objects, Page changes according to what is currently selected (image, object, objects, page). Page is shown if nothing is selected on the page.
Important: To be able to save an edited graphic object directly back into the
PDF document, you must have Adobe Photoshop (version 5.0 or later) or Illustrator (version 7.0 or later) installed on your system. You must also have the appropriate Photoshop plug-in installed in the correct folder on your hard drive, Otherwise, a graphic object edited using Photoshop will be saved to disk instead of back into the PDF document. See
Managing plug-ins for more infor-
mation. Illustrator does not require a special plug-in to work with Acrobat.
To move a graphic object in a PDF document:
1 Open the PDF document to the page where the graphic object or text block is located.
2 Select the touchup object tool .
3 Select the object, and drag it to the desired location. Release the mouse button to place the image.
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If you mistakenly place the object and want to move it back to its original position, there is only one level of Undo. Otherwise you have to manually reposition the image, which only provides an approximation of the original placement. For this reason, it is recommended that you save a backup of the
PDF document before you begin editing.
Note: When Photoshop 5.0 is launched using the touchup object tool, editing an image is limited to a single layer. In this situation, Photoshop 5.0 also does not convert the ICC profile when you change viewing modes. To ensure the display of the correct colors for the image after changing the viewing mode, choose Image > Mode > Profile, and then change the mode (that is, Lab Color to RGB.1).
To edit a graphic object inside a PDF document:
1 Open the PDF document to the page where the image is located.
2 Select the touchup object tool .
3 Select the object, and then choose an option from the context menu. Or hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) and double-click the image. The external editing application is launched.
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If your graphic object cannot be opened in Adobe Photoshop, verify that
Photoshop is configured correctly. See
Managing plug-ins for information. If
you receive a message asking whether to convert to ICC profiles, choose “Don’t
Convert.” If the image window displays a checkerboard pattern when it opens, the image data could not be read.
Editing in Photoshop and Illustrator from within Acrobat is a modal feature. If you change the object selection, the editing session is terminated. Any subsequent changes in the external editor (after the session is terminated), even if saved, are not placed into the PDF file by Acrobat. For this reason, if a session is terminated, you should start a new session before continuing to make changes to the object. Or you can use this as a means to extract graphic objects from
PDF files for use in creating new PDF files.
4 Make the desired changes, and then flatten the image (if you are working in Photoshop). You must flatten the image to be able to save it in PDF
Photoshop format.
If you change the dimensions of the image in Photoshop, the image returns to its place in the PDF document, but the alignment may be different than before it was edited. Also, transparency information is only preserved for masks specified as index values in an indexed color space. Image masks are not supported. Last, if you change image modes while editing the image, you may lose valuable information that can only be applied in the original mode.
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5 Choose File > Save, and the graphic object is automatically updated and displayed in the PDF document. If you choose Save As, choose Photoshop PDF as the file type. The object is saved as a new file, and Acrobat won’t automatically incorporate the changed object into the PDF file.
Copying PDF text and graphics to other applications
Acrobat allows you to copy text and graphics from a PDF document and paste them into a file in another application. You can also paste text from a PDF document into an annotation or bookmark name. Acrobat does not support copying non-PDF file types (such as Photoshop or Illustrator) directly into PDF files. You must first convert the non-PDF document to PDF.
While in a PDF document, you select the text or graphic and copy it onto the clipboard. Once the text or graphic is on the clipboard, you can launch the other application and paste the text or graphic into a file. If the other application supports Object Linking and Embedding (OLE), you can use OLE commands to paste text into an OLE compound document. For more information, see
Incorporating PDF documents in documents with OLE support .
Note: If a font copied from a PDF document is not available on the system displaying the copied text, a default font is substituted.
To select text and copy it to the clipboard:
1 Select the text select tool , and do one of the following:
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■ To select a line of text, select the first letter of the sentence or phrase and drag to the last letter.
■ To select multiple columns of text (horizontally), hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) as you drag across the width of the document.
■ To select a column of text (vertically), hold down Ctrl+Alt (Windows) or
Option+Command (Mac OS) as you drag the length of the document.
■ To select all the text on the page, choose Edit > Select All. In Single Page mode, all the text on the current page is selected. In Continuous or Continuous
- Facing mode, most of the text in the document is selected. When you release the mouse button, the selected text is highlighted. To deselect the text and start over, click anywhere outside the selected text.
The Select All command will not select all the text in the document. A workaround for this (Windows) is to use the Edit > Copy File To Clipboard command.
2 Choose Edit > Copy to copy the selected text to the Clipboard.
3 To view the text, choose Window > Show Clipboard.
In Windows 95, the Clipboard Viewer is not installed by default, and you cannot use the Show Clipboard command until it is installed. To install the Clipboard
Viewer, choose Start > Settings > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs, and then click the Windows Setup tab. Double-click Accessories, check Clipboard
Viewer, and click OK.
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To copy text to a new bookmark:
1 Select the text select tool , and select a line of text.
2 Choose New Bookmark from the context menu. A new bookmark is created, and the selected text automatically displays as its title.
To copy graphics to the Clipboard:
1 Select the graphics select tool by holding down the mouse button on the text select tool and dragging to the graphics select tool. Or hold down Shift-V to cycle through the group of tools. The cursor changes to the cross-hair icon.
2 Drag a rectangle around the graphic you want to copy. To deselect the graphic and start over, click anywhere outside the selected graphic.
3 Choose Edit > Copy to copy the graphic to the Clipboard.
4 To view the graphic, choose Window > Show Clipboard. The graphic is copied using the WMF (Windows) or PICT (Mac OS) format.
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Selecting tables and formatted text (Windows)
The table/formatted text select tool allows you to select tables and text in a
PDF document and retain the original formatting when the material is copied
(or imported) into other applications. You can specify vertical or horizontal format, the type of text flow, and whether you want ANSI (simple text) or Rich
Text Format (RTF).
You can copy and export selected tables and text in the following ways:
■ Drag and drop the selected table or text to a Windows application. Drag and drop is always performed in Rich Text Format.
■ Copy to a clipboard for use with Windows applications.
■ Save to a file that can then be loaded or imported to Windows applications.
The default for the Save As command is ANSI text format.
Using the table/formatted text select tool
The table/formatted text select tool is a hidden tool under the text select tool on the tool bar. The default settings automatically read the nature and format of the selected data as table or text, horizontal or vertical. Currently, vertical format is used only with Japanese fonts.
Note: When working with multiple columns of text, such as a newspaper or magazine article format, you must manually choose the Table option from the context menu for the tool to correctly read the selected text.
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To change the default settings, choose from the options in the context menu or the Preferences menu. For more information, see
Setting preferences for the table/formatted text select tool .
Important: You cannot select both horizontal and vertical text in a single zone.
Also, if you select vertical (Japanese) text to be copied into Word, you must change the text direction settings to vertical to be able to view the outcome.
To copy a table or formatted text:
1 Select the table/formatted text select tool . The cursor changes to a crosshair.
2 Drag a rectangle to enclose the table or formatted text you want to copy.
3 Press the right mouse button, and choose the necessary options from context menu:
■ Text - Flow disregards the PDF line breaks and flows the text into column format. Paragraph breaks are applied as they were in the PDF document.
■ Text - Preserve Line Breaks keeps the line breaks that were in the PDF document, as well as keeping the original paragraph breaks. If RTF output is specified, horizontal positioning is maintained using tabs. For more information, see
Setting preferences for the table/formatted text select tool .
■ Table maintains the original format of the table, preserving the data as rows and columns of cells. If you specify RTF for output, spanning cells are preserved.
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If ASCII is specified, cells are delimited with tabs (the standard format for importing text into most spreadsheets).
■ Horizontal specifies a horizontal format for tables or (Roman) fonts.
■ Vertical specifies a vertical format for tables or (Japanese) fonts.
4 From the context menu, choose a method to preserve the information:
■ Copy copies to the clipboard. You can then paste the material into a Windows application.
■ Save As saves the information at a specified location and with a given filename. You can then import this file into a Windows application.
■ Clear negates the selection and closes the bounding box. You are free to make another selection, or use another tool.
Setting preferences for the table/formatted text select tool
You can set the preferences for selected tables and text to specify the selection type, text layout, document language, color selection. You can also set paragraph and character formatting.
To set table/formatted text select tool preferences:
1 Choose File > Preferences > Table/Formatted Text.
2 Choose from the following options from the General tab:
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■ Default Selection Type menu allows you to choose between Auto-Detect,
Text, or Table. Auto-Detect determines the data type of the selection automatically, Text always specifies the selection as text, and Table always specifies the selection as a table.
■ Default Text Layout menu allows you to choose between Horizontal for
Roman fonts and tables in a linear format, or Vertical for Japanese fonts.
■ Preserve Line Breaks keeps the original line breaks intact, when selected. It ignores the original line breaks if not selected.
■ PDF Document Language allows you to specify the correct language for the
PDF document: English, French, German, or Japanese.
■ Table Border Color allows you to choose a color for the table selection border. Select the color swatch, and then choose a new color from the pop-up menu. Click OK to accept the new color.
■ Text Border Color allows you to choose a color for the text selection border.
Select the color swatch, and then choose a new color from the pop-up menu.
Click OK to accept the new color.
3 Click the RTF Export tab, and choose from the following Character
Formatting options:
■ Font Name preserves the font typeface, but does not embed the font. If the font name matches a font installed on your system, that font is used. If the font is not installed, a substitute font is chosen that best matches the font metrics of
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■ Font Style preserves bold and italic styles.
■ Font Size preserves the PDF font size.
■ Text Color preserves text foreground and background colors. Disabling this option outputs RTF text using black on white.
■ Superscripts detects and preserves superscripts automatically. These are preserved using superscript RTF formatting tags.
4 Choose from the following Paragraph Formatting options:
■ Alignment preserves paragraph alignment (left, center, right, justified) as it appears in the original PDF document.
■ Line Spacing preserves the space between lines of text (single, double, and so on) as it appears in the original PDF document.
■ Space Before/After preserves space before and after paragraphs as they appear in the original PDF document.
■ Indentation preserves the left, right, and first line indent settings so the RTF text appears like that in the original PDF document.
5 Choose one of the following actions:
■ Defaults to revert to the original system settings.
■ OK to accept and apply your selections.
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■ Cancel to quit the Table/Formatted Text Preferences dialog box and revert to the previous settings.
■ Apply to use these choices on the current selection.
Incorporating PDF documents in documents with OLE support
You can incorporate PDF documents into any container document with Object
Linking and Embedding (OLE) support and later edit the PDF documents in Acrobat.
Note: If you are using Acrobat Reader, you are able to read the PDF documents but not edit them. You must have Acrobat 4.0 installed on your system to be able to edit PDF documents.
To incorporate PDF documents into an application with OLE support:
Do one of the following:
■ Choose the Insert Object command to insert the document directly into the container application.
■ Choose Edit > Copy File to Clipboard to copy the document to the clipboard, and then choose the Paste Special command in the container application.
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Comparing pages, words, or words and fonts in two PDF documents
The Compare Pages command compares every page in two documents. It looks at PDF information that describes the pages precisely, and it can find even the most subtle differences between pages. You can use Compare Pages to identify both content changes between documents and changes that may not be visible.
This command is especially useful for comparing PDF documents that are nearly identical, such as document versions that have been digitally signed.
The Compare Words and Compare Words and Fonts commands behave similarly, comparing every word and every word and font, respectively, in two documents.
The Compare Pages, Compare Words, and Compare Words and Fonts commands look at the two most recently active PDF documents. They then produce a third document, a comparison file that shows every page that differs between the documents and highlights the differences on the pages.
To compare pages, words, or words and fonts in two PDF documents:
1 Open the two documents. Make active the document you want on the right in the comparison file, and then make active the document you want on the left.
2 Do one of the following:
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■ Choose Tools > Compare > Pages, or choose Compare Pages from the Signatures palette menu to compare pages in a document.
■ Choose Tools > Compare > Words to compare two documents word-for-word.
■ Choose Tools > Compare > Words and Fonts to compare two documents word-for-word and to compare the fonts used.
The two documents appear side by side in a comparison file.
Each document in the comparison file begins with a summary page that gives the document’s filename and describes how many pages or words were altered, added, moved, or deleted.
The file shows the pages that differ between the documents. In the document on the left, the pages are listed in ascending order and are paired with pages from the document on the right.
Note: The pages on the right may not be in ascending order if any content or pages have been rearranged in the documents.
The differences are highlighted in magenta on the pages. Acrobat identifies differences in these ways:
■ If any pixels differ on the two pages, the specific differences are highlighted on both pages. For example, a word may have been edited or deleted, or an annotation may have been added. The change may also be one that is barely
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■ If no pixels differ but the PDF information on the pages differs, both pages are entirely highlighted. For example, some PDF marking behind an opaque object may have changed, or the crop box may have changed without any additional cropping being obvious.
■ If a page has been added, it is paired with a new blank page. If a page has been deleted, it is represented by a blank page and paired with its corresponding page in the other document.
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The highlighted differences are stored as pencil annotations in the comparison file. You can use the Annotations palette to see a list of all the differences, and you can double-click a difference in the palette to go to that place on a page. If the annotations do not appear in the palette, choose Rescan Document from the Annotations palette menu, or click the Scan Annotations button on the palette’s status bar.
If you need to annotate a heavily marked-up page, select the pencil tool, and add a pencil annotation and accompanying note, as described in
Marking up documents with graphic markup tools . Alternatively, you can resize the
compared pages and add annotations in the Acrobat window outside the compared pages area.
Each page in a comparison file is labeled with A (for pages on the left) or B (for pages on the right), plus the page’s number in the actual PDF document. You can find this information on both lower corners of a page, surrounded by equal signs (for example, =A4=). The page number is helpful for matching these pages with those in the PDF document, especially when pages on the right side are not in ascending order.
Note: The side-by-side display of pages in comparison files is designed for twoup printing. If you are printing only one page, select Fit to Page in the Print dialog box to be sure you include all highlights and the page numbering in the printed copy.
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Annotating PDF Documents
The Acrobat annotation tools provide a variety of methods for marking up text and attaching notes and commentaries to PDF documents. These annotations can be in text, graphic, or audio format; you can even attach external files if you like. Annotations and markups can be imported and exported from a PDF document.
About annotations
There are three types of annotation and markup tools available on the tool bar—annotation, graphic markup, and text markup. Each has a hidden tool menu.
■ The annotation tools—notes tool, text annotation tool, audio annotation tool, stamp tool, and file annotation tool—allow you to attach comments to a
PDF document in a variety of formats. Each tool provides a unique method for conveying annotation information. For information on how to use these tools, see
■ The graphic markup tools—pencil tool, rectangle tool, ellipse tool, and line tool—allow you to visually mark an area of a PDF document with a graphic symbol and associate a note with the markup for additional comments. For information on how to use these tools, see
Marking up documents with graphic markup tools .
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■ Text markup tools—highlight text tool, strikethrough text tool, and underline text tool—allow you to visually mark up text on a PDF document page and associate a text note with the markup for further comments. For information on how to use these tools, see
You can change the properties of the current annotation with the annotation’s
Properties dialog box; however, you must use the Preferences dialog box to change the properties globally for all subsequent annotations.
Using the Annotations palette
The Annotations palette lists the annotations in a document and sorts them by type, author, page number, or creation date. The annotation list initially groups annotations by author. The text displayed next to each annotation depends on the annotation type and how it was created. The following rules apply:
■ You must scan the document to display a list of annotations.
■ Note and text annotations display their first line automatically.
■ Stamp, graphic markup, and text markup annotations have pop-up note windows in which you can enter text. The first line of text (up to 128 characters) appears in the Annotations palette next to the annotation. If there is no comment for graphic markup and text markup annotations, then the underlying text (text beneath the annotation) is displayed.
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■ Sound annotations display the text entered in the Description text box of the
Sound Properties dialog box. If the Description text box is empty, Sound appears instead.
■ File annotations display the filename of the attached file or the text entered in the Description text box of the File Annotations Properties dialog box.
To show the Annotations palette:
1 Click the Show/Hide Navigation Pane button to display the navigation pane, and then click the Annotations tab to bring the palette to the front.
2 Select the Scan Annotations button on the status bar, or choose Rescan
Document from the palette menu to display a list of annotations in the document.
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To view and update the annotations outline:
1 Select the Scan Annotations button on the status bar, or choose Rescan
Document from the palette menu.
2 Do one of the following to update the outline:
■ To expand or collapse the annotations outline, click the plus sign (+) or the minus sign (-) next to an annotation (Windows), or click the down arrow or horizontal arrow (Mac OS).
■ To update the annotation list, choose Rescan Document from the Annotations palette menu, or click the Scan Annotations button on the status bar.
The list of annotations associated with the open document is updated.
■ To sort the list of annotations, choose Type, Author, Page Number, or Date from the palette menu.
Note: If a document has a lot of annotations, it can take a few seconds to update the annotations list.
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To navigate using annotations:
Double-click an annotation from the annotation list. The page on which the selected annotation is located is displayed in the document pane, and the highlighted annotation is scrolled into view. To go to the page where another annotation is located, simply double-click the annotation from the list. The annotation is highlighted on the document page.
Annotations are grouped initially by type.
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To search for an annotation:
1 Choose Find Annotation from the Annotations palette menu.
2 Type in a key word in the Search For field, and then click OK. If the word is found, it is highlighted in the Annotations palette.
3 To find another annotation, choose one of the following from the Annotations palette menu:
■ Find Next goes to the annotation after the current annotation.
■ Find Previous goes to the annotation before the current annotation.
Using the annotation tools
You can place annotations anywhere on a page in a PDF document, and you can tailor the style and format of the annotation to suit the document and type of comment. Lengthy remarks can be put into a note, recorded as an audio file, or embedded as a file that can be opened. Brief comments can be expressed by applying a stamp annotation, marking up the text, or using one of the graphic markup tools.
To open and close an annotation:
1 Double-click the annotation in the PDF document, or choose Open from the context menu. Opening a note annotation brings up a note window, opening a sound annotation plays the audio file, and opening a file annotation launches
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2 Click the close box in the upper left corner of the window to close a note, or choose Close Note from the context menu. A sound annotation plays through to the end and stops automatically. For a file attachment, the method for closing the file depends on the file format and program used to create the file.
Using the notes tool
You can create notes on any page in a PDF document, and you can position them anywhere on the page. If you enter more text than will fit in the window, the text scrolls. You can resize the window, if desired.
You can set the Annotations preferences so that note windows open automatically. For more information, see
Setting annotation preferences .
To add a note annotation:
1 Select the notes tool .
2 Click the location where you want to place the note, or drag to create a custom-sized window. The maximum size for the note window is 288 pixels high and 432 pixels wide.
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3 With the annotation still active, choose Edit > Properties, or choose
Properties from the context menu to display the Properties dialog box. Set the desired options:
■ Select an icon to represent your type of note. You can choose from Text Note,
Insert, Comment, New Paragraph, Paragraph, Key, and Help.
■ Specify an author name if you wish to replace the default author name.
■ Select a color for the note. To specify a custom color, see
Setting the custom color option
.
4 Click OK.
5 Click inside the window, and type the text for the note. You can use the standard editing commands for your system. You can also use the text select tool to copy text from the document into the note.
6 Click the close box in the upper left corner of the window to close a note.
Using the text annotation tool
You can create a text annotation on any page in a PDF document, and position it anywhere on the page. A text annotation remains visible on top of the document page; it does not close like a note annotation.
You can annotate Japanese text with the text annotation tool, but you must have the Asian-language resource files installed. Vertical text is not supported.
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To add a text annotation:
1 Select the text annotation tool .
2 Click the location where you want to place the text annotation, or drag a rectangle to define the boundaries of the text field.
3 Enter the text and click outside the bounding box to complete the entry.
4 Select the text annotation to make it active again, and choose Edit >
Properties, or choose Properties from the context menu. You have to complete the text before you can edit the properties.
5 Set the desired options:
■ Choose a font style from the pop-up menu.
■ Choose a font size from the pick list in the pop-up menu, or enter a number.
■ Select a font color. To specify a custom color, see
Setting the custom color option .
■ Select a border thickness around the annotation or no border at all. The default border setting is None.
■ Select a background. Transparent is the default background setting. If you deselect Transparent, you can select a background color. To specify a custom
color, see Setting the custom color option .
■ Specify an author name if you wish to replace the default author name.
6 Click OK.
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7 Click inside the text field, and edit the text for the annotation.
8 Click anywhere outside the text field to finish the task.
Using the audio annotation tool
The audio annotation tool allows you to record and place an audio annotation in a document. You must have a microphone plugged into the audio-in port of your computer or sound system to record an audio annotation. You must also have a sound card installed to be able to play back the sound file.
To record an audio annotation:
1 Select the audio annotation tool .
2 Click the location where you want to place the audio annotation.
3 In Windows, click Start on the Audio Annotation dialog box, and speak into the microphone. Click Stop when you’re finished. In Mac OS, click Record, and speak into the microphone. Click Stop to complete the recording, and then click Save. An audio icon marks the location of the annotation.
4 Choose Edit > Properties. In the Properties dialog box, choose the desired options:
■ Select a color for the audio annotation icon. To specify a custom color, see
Setting the custom color option .
■ Specify an author name if you want to replace the default name.
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■ Type in a description for the annotation. This text appears in the Annotations palette.
■ Click OK.
Using the stamp tool
The stamp annotation tool allows you to apply a stamp to a document in much the same way you would use a rubber stamp on a paper document. You can also create and add your own stamps to the selection list.
Before you can add your own stamp to the selection list, it must be in PDF format, categorized, and placed in the correct folder or directory. For information on how to categorize a stamp, see
Adding custom stamps to the stamp library .
To stamp a document:
1 Select the stamp tool .
2 Click the document page where you want to place the stamp at its default size, or drag a rectangle to define the size and placement of the stamp. You can move a stamp by dragging it to a new location, or you can resize it by dragging a corner of the bounding box.
3 In the Properties dialog box, set the desired options:
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■ Select a category of stamps. Your list may contain custom stamp categories you have added. For more information, see
Adding custom stamps to the stamp library .
■ Select a stamp from the list in the left-hand pane, and preview the associated graphic in the right-hand pane.
■ Specify an author name if you want to replace the default name.
■ Select a color for the pop-up note for the stamp. To specify a custom color, see
Setting the custom color option .
■ Click OK.
4 To associate a note with the stamp, double-click the stamp. Type the text in the note window that appears, and click the close box in the upper left corner of the window to close the note.
To change an existing stamp:
1 Select the stamp you want to change, and choose Edit > Properties to display the Stamp Properties dialog box.
2 Select a stamp category (if there are multiple stamp files) from the Category menu. Then select a stamp from the list in the left pane of the Stamp Properties dialog box. The stamp is previewed in the right pane.
3 Set the desired options for the associated annotation:
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■ Select a color or custom color. For more information, see
Setting the custom color option
.
■ Type in a different author name, if desired.
4 Click OK to accept the stamp. The newly selected stamp is used for this and all subsequent stamp annotations, until you change the stamp selection again.
5 To move the stamp, select it, and drag it to a new location. To resize the stamp, select it, and drag a corner of the bounding box to the desired size.
For instructions on how to add your own stamps to the stamp selection list, see
Adding custom stamps to the stamp library
.
Adding custom stamps to the stamp library
You can add your custom stamps to the Acrobat stamp library and use them as annotations. All stamp files must be PDF files and must be located in the Plugins folder in the Stamps subfolder. Otherwise Acrobat won’t be able to find them. Each file in a subfolder is a stamp Category. Either the filename or the title of the document is used as the category name. Each page of a PDF document can be used as an individual stamp. There is a preferred naming convention for stamps to ensure they are easily recognizable. Name each stamp page using the following format:
<CategoryName><StampName>=<Stamp Label>
Example: MyStampsHello=Guten Tag
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The CategoryName (MyStamps in this example) is the name of the stamp category or filename, and StampName (Hello in this example) is the name of the stamp page. Both of these names should be in English. The Stamp Label
(Guten Tag in this example) should be in your native language. This naming convention ensures proper cross-language distribution and easy identification of stamps.
To specify a category name for a file containing one or more stamps:
1 Open the PDF document you want to use as a stamp.
2 Choose File > Document Info > General.
3 Type the category name in the Title text box.
4 Click OK.
To specify a page name for a stamp:
1 Open your PDF document in Acrobat, and go the page you want to name.
2 Choose Tools > Forms > Page Templates, and enter a name for the stamp page. This should be in the format <CategoryName><StampName>=<LocalizedName>.
3 Click Add, and then click Yes. The name is now associated with that page of the document.
4 To name another stamp page, go to the appropriate page in the PDF document, and repeat steps 2 and 3.
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Using the file annotation tool
The file annotation tool allows you to embed a file at a selected location in a
PDF document, so the reader can open it for viewing. Rather than referencing the file, as you would with a link, the file becomes part of the PDF document.
Thus if you move the PDF document to a new location, the embedded file annotation automatically goes with it.
When attached files are launched from a PDF document, temp files are created in a TEMP directory. The location of this directory varies in Windows and Mac
OS. See the user documentation for your system for more information.
To attach a file:
1 Select the file annotation tool .
2 Select the document page location where you want to place the file annotation.
3 Select the file to embed in the Select File To Attach dialog box. You can change the filename, if you want to make it more meaningful for the PDF document into which it is being embedded.
Note: You can attach any file type as a file annotation. However, your user will not be able to open the file unless they have the authoring application installed on their system.
4 Click Open.
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5 In the File Annotations Properties dialog box, set the desired options:
■ Select an icon to represent the type of file that is embedded (Windows) or the name of an icon (Mac OS). You can choose from Attach, Tags, Graph, and Paperclip.
■ Select a color for the annotation icon. To specify a custom color, see
Setting the custom color option
.
■ Add a description of the file.
■ Specify an author name if you wish to replace the default.
■ Click OK.
Marking up documents
There are times when marking up a document with a graphic is the most efficient means to convey your ideas. Other times, directly marking up a document with text is a better choice. Acrobat provides a suite of both graphic and text markup tools that allow you the flexibility to mark up a document and have these markups saved as annotations.
Marking up documents with graphic markup tools
The graphic markup tools provide several methods for visually annotating a document. They also allow you to add a note to the graphic markup, if desired.
When selecting a tool, consider the effect you want:
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■ The pencil tool creates a freeform line.
■ The rectangle tool creates a rectangle boundary you can position over text or graphics.
■ The ellipse tool creates a circular boundary you can position over text or graphics.
■ The line tool creates a straight line from two specified points.
The visual information you convey with this type of annotation can be purely abstract or highly symbolic. For instance, you might draw an ellipse as an abstract representation of the workflow process and attach your comments on the workflow in an associated note. Or you might draw a rectangle that encloses a graphic and write your critique on the image in the associated note.
Examples of graphic markup annotations
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To draw with a pencil:
1 Select the pencil tool .
2 Move the cursor to the location where you want to begin writing. You do not have to use one unbroken stroke. You can release the mouse button, move the cursor to a new location, and continue drawing.
3 Click anywhere on the document page to end the markup annotation, or select any other tool on the tool bar. A bounding box appears around the border to show that the annotation is still active.
4 With the annotation still active, choose Edit > Properties to display the
Properties dialog box. Set the desired options:
■ Select a line thickness.
■ Select a color for the markup. To specify a custom color, see
Setting the custom color option .
■ Specify an author name if you wish to replace the default.
The color and author name are applied automatically to the associated pencil annotation.
5 To adjust the placement, select the hand tool and move the cursor over the bounding box until the cursor changes to an arrow. Drag to the correct location.
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6 To adjust the size, with the hand tool still selected, move the cursor over a handle at one of the corners, until the cursor changes to a double-headed arrow. Drag to the desired size—up, down, left, or right.
7 To associate a note with the pencil annotation, with the hand tool selected, double-click the pencil markup, and type the note text inside the window. Click the close box in the upper left corner of the window to close the note.
To use the line, rectangle, or ellipse tool:
1 Select the line , rectangle , or ellipse tool .
2 Click a start point on the document page, and hold down the mouse button and drag the graphic element to the required size. Release the mouse button to complete the graphic element.
3 To adjust the placement, move the cursor over the bounding box until the cursor changes to an arrow. Drag to the correct location.
4 To adjust the size, move the cursor over a handle at one of the corners, until the cursor changes to a double-headed arrow. Drag to the desired size—up, down, left, or right.
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5 With the annotation still active, choose Edit > Properties to display the
Properties dialog box. Set the desired options:
■ Select a line thickness.
■ Select a color for the markup annotation. To specify a custom color, see
Setting the custom color option .
■ Specify an author name if you wish to replace the default.
The color and author name of the graphic tool are applied automatically to associated notes.
6 To associate a note with a graphic markup annotation, double-click the markup and type the text in the note window. Click the close box in the upper left corner of the window to close the note.
To edit a graphic annotation:
1 Select the hand tool .
2 Select the annotation. A bounding box appears around the graphic element.
3 To adjust the size, select a handle at one of the corners of the bounding box, and drag to the desired size.
4 To adjust the placement, select the annotation, and drag to a new location.
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Marking up documents with text markup tools
The text markup tools provide several methods for visually marking up text in a document. You can use these annotations by themselves or in conjunction with other annotation types. For example, you may want to highlight or strike through a section of text, then double-click to add a note window to explain your reason for the markup.
Examples of the uses for text markup tools
To highlight, strike through, or underline text:
1 Select the highlight text tool , the strikethrough text tool , or the underline text tool .
2 Move the cursor to the beginning of the text you want to mark up and drag:
■ Left/right mouse actions mark up text horizontally.
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■ Up/down mouse actions mark up text vertically.
■ Ctrl-drag mouse actions create a rectangle to mark up a column of text.
Release the mouse button to complete the action. The selected text area changes color when the action is complete.
3 With the annotation still active, choose Edit > Properties to display the
Properties dialog box. Set the desired options:
■ Select a color for the markup. To specify a custom color, see
Setting the custom color option .
■ Specify an author name if you wish to replace the default name.
4 To associate a note with the marked-up text, double-click the annotation, and type the text in the note window. Click the close box in the upper left corner of the window to close the note.
Important: The printed version of a document marked up with highlighted text looks different from the screen version. Text that is highlighted on-screen prints with a box around it. This is because of a printing limitation.
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Setting the custom color option
You can set the color of your annotations. For example, you might want to change the color of your annotations to make them easily identifiable from those of other reviewers in a document, or you might want to specify a different color for each type of annotation.The options you select apply to the current and subsequent annotations of the same type within a document; they are not applied retroactively to prior annotations.
To specify a custom color (Windows):
1 Click inside the Color field in the Properties dialog box.
2 In the Color dialog box, click the Define Custom Colors button, and do one of the following:
■ Drag the marker over a color in the palette, or specify numerical values for hue, saturation, and luminosity in their respective fields.
■ Adjust the pointer on the value scale, or specify numerical values for red, green, and blue.
3 Click Add to Custom Colors. The new color appears in the Custom colors palette and is saved for future use.
4 Select the custom color from the Custom colors palette, and click OK. The annotation changes to the custom color.
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To specify a custom color (Mac OS):
1 Click inside the Color field in the Properties dialog box.
2 Select a color picker, and do one of the following:
■ Choose the desired color from the palette.
■ Specify numerical values.
■ Move the slider to adjust the color values.
3 Click OK to accept the values, and then click OK again to apply the color.
Managing annotations
Acrobat provides functionality for editing all types of annotations. This allows you to make changes and corrections to annotations, as well as replace them.
The Acrobat sort and display capabilities make it easy to manage annotations from a number of sources. You can sort annotations by type, author, date, and page, and selectively display them as groups. The annotation outline is a hierarchical list that is shown in the Annotations palette; it is both a navigation tool and an organization tool.
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Editing annotations
Acrobat allows you to move annotations, edit notes and text annotations, and edit graphic markup and text markup annotations. Acrobat also allows you to edit the pop-up note that is associated with an annotation. Audio and file annotations are the exceptions. Although you can move audio and file annotation icons, you cannot edit these files from within Acrobat and preserve the changes.
To open an annotation:
1 Double-click the annotation. If it is a text markup, graphic markup, stamp, or note annotation, its pop-up note window opens. If it is a sound annotation, the sound clip is played. If it is a file annotation, the file is opened (if you have the authoring application). Text annotations are always visible on the PDF document.
2 Click the close box in the upper left corner of the window to close the annotation.
Sound annotations play through to the end; you do not have to close them.
The method for closing a file annotation depends on the file format of the embedded file and the program in which it was launched.
To edit an annotation:
1 Select the hand tool or the appropriate annotations tool.
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2 Select the annotation in one of the following ways:
■ Double-click an annotation to open the note window.
■ Select the boundary of a text, text markup, or graphics annotation to make it active and available for editing.
3 Edit the text as needed, and click the close box in the upper left corner of the window to close the note. Click outside a text annotation to conclude the edit.
4 Resize the annotation in one of the following ways:
■ For a note annotation, click the resize button in the lower right-hand corner of the window, and drag to the appropriate size.
■ For a text annotation or graphic markup annotation, select a handle at one of the corners, and drag to the appropriate size. You cannot resize a text markup annotation once it is created.
5 Close, or deactivate, the annotation.
To move an annotation:
1 Select the hand tool or the appropriate annotation tool.
2 Select the annotation, and drag it to the new location.
3 To reset the location of an associated pop-up note window, hold down the right mouse button (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS). Choose Reset Pop-up
Note Location from the menu. The note window realigns with the associated annotation.
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To replace a stamp annotation:
1 Select a stamp annotation in the document.
2 Choose Edit > Properties.
3 Select a stamp from the list in the Stamp Properties dialog box. The graphic associated with the stamp is displayed.
4 Click OK to accept the stamp. The previous stamp is replaced.
To delete annotations:
Do one of the following:
■ Select the annotation, and choose Delete Annotation from the context menu.
■ Select the hand tool , and select the annotation you want to delete (in the Annotations palette or in the document). Choose Edit > Delete, or press the
Delete key, and click the Yes or OK button on the warning dialog box.
■ Choose Tools > Annotations > Delete All to delete all annotations in a document.
Important: You can only delete annotations from a document if you have the proper security permissions. Deleting annotations cannot be undone.
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Generating annotation summaries
The annotations summary is a convenient way to generate a synopsis of all the annotations associated with a document. Acrobat generates this summary on a page-by-page basis, listing each annotation, its type, author, and date and time of creation. When you select the option for showing sequence numbers in summarized notes, the sequence number for each annotation also appears in the summary.
To prepare a summary of annotations:
Choose Tools > Annotations > Summarize Annotations.
A new PDF document is created. This new file is neither associated with nor linked to the parent PDF document that the annotations are derived from.
Sorting, showing, and hiding annotations
The annotations filter provides an easy means for sorting and filtering annotations. You can sort by annotation type, as well as by author. You can choose to hide or show annotations based on their type or author, and hide or show all annotations or none. The Annotations Filter dialog box allows you to classify, sort, and display any specific set of annotations easily.
To show or hide all annotations in a document:
1 Choose Tools > Annotations > Filter Manager.
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Click Select All or Deselect All beneath the annotations types list or author list.
Select All and Deselect All are toggle switches.
If you choose Deselect All and then close the document, this choice remains valid for the next document you open. You will have to open the annotations filter and choose Select All to display the annotations in the newly opened document. These options also affect PDF documents open inside the browser.
2 Click OK.
To show only a select group of annotations:
1 Choose Tools > Annotations > Filter Manager.
2 Turn off the annotation types you do not want to display by selecting their check boxes. The boxes toggle on or off when selected.
3 Click OK.
Setting annotation preferences
Setting annotation preferences sets global defaults for subsequent annotations. For example, you can change the author name for a single annotation with the Properties dialog box, but to change the author name for future annotations, you must specify the change in the Preferences dialog box.
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To set preferences for annotations:
1 Choose File > Preferences > Annotations.
2 Type in an author name, if other than the name displayed. The name of the person Acrobat is registered to appears in the Author text box by default.
3 Select a font style from the Font menu.
4 Enter a number for the Font Size, or choose a size from the pop-up menu.
5 Select the options you want for preferences:
■ Auto-Open Notes Windows automatically displays the window when you create a new note annotation. This is an authoring preference.
■ Auto-Open Other Markup Windows automatically displays the window when you create a new graphic or text markup annotation.
■ Show Sequence Numbers In Summarized Notes displays sequential numbers with each annotation to show the order in which they were created. This is useful when used in conjunction with the summarize annotation feature.
6 Click OK.
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Importing and exporting annotations
You can exchange annotations between Form Data Format (FDF) documents using the annotations import and export features. When you import annotations from another document, they are added to your document in the location that corresponds to their original location, page, and positioning.
Importing annotations does not affect the annotations already in your document. This page matching of annotations on import provides for easy correlation between documents.
When you export annotations, you can export all the annotations associated with a document, or you can filter the annotations and export a selected group of annotations. Exported annotations are placed in their original positions in a new empty FDF document. The new FDF document is much smaller than the original because it contains only annotations. The smaller file size makes it more convenient to distribute by e-mail or disk. For information on the Forms
Data Format (FDF), see the PDF Reference Manual, which is available on the
Adobe Web site (www.adobe.com).
Importing and exporting can be especially useful when you need to collate comments from several reviewers into one draft. First export each set of comments into a new FDF document. Then import the comments into the draft
(from the new documents), one at a time. Once imported, you can use the
Annotations Filter Manager to organize the comments. For more information, see
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To import annotations:
1 In the document you want to receive the annotations, choose File > Import
> Annotations, or choose Import from the context menu.
2 Choose Acrobat (*.fdf or *.pdf ) from the Files Of Type menu.
3 Select the name of the document with the annotations, and click Select. The annotation positioning matches that of the file they were imported from.
Annotations on mismatched pages are ignored. Any existing annotations in the receiving file are unaltered.
To export all the annotations for a document:
1 In the document with the annotations you want to export, choose File >
Export > Annotations, or choose Export from the context menu.
2 Go to the directory to which you want the annotations exported, and enter a filename for the export document.
3 Click Save. An FDF file is created. The annotations maintain the same location and position they occupied in the original file.
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To export a selected group of annotations:
1 In the document with the annotations you want to export, choose Tools >
Annotations > Annotations Filter Manager.
2 Choose the annotation types and author names you want to export, and click OK. The check boxes toggle on and off when selected. Check boxes with an x (on) are exported.
3 Choose Export from the Annotations palette menu.
4 Navigate to the destination where you want the annotations exported, and then type a filename in the text box.
5 Click Save to complete the export.
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Creating and Using PDF Forms
Adobe Acrobat makes it easy for you to create, fill in, and submit electronic
PDF forms. You can design and create an entirely new form, or you can quickly convert your existing paper and electronic forms to PDF and then add PDF form fields. Creating a PDF form from an existing form lets you maintain your organization’s corporate identity and branding, while saving you the effort of recreating the form. You can create forms with text boxes, buttons, check boxes, combo boxes, list boxes, radio buttons, and signature fields. And if all the proper software and hardware components are in place, form data can be submitted over the Web and collected in a database, just as if you were using
HTML forms.
Adobe Acrobat’s ability to import and export form data also makes it possible for a user to populate different forms with the same set of data. A user can enter commonly requested information, such as name, address, phone number, and so on, just once, and then use the data again and again to fill out different forms.
Creating PDF forms
The process of creating a PDF form that can collect data includes several tasks:
■ Creating a new form or scanning an existing form, and then converting it to
PDF. For more information, see
Designing, building, and editing forms .
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■ Generating form fields for a PDF form and specifying type, appearance,
action, and other options. For more information, see Creating form fields .
■ Creating or working with an existing Common Gateway Interface (CGI) script
to collect and route form data over the Web. For more information, see Making forms Web ready .
Creating form fields
The form tool allows you to create form fields that an Acrobat user can interact with. You create a form field by defining the area of the field on the PDF document page, providing a name for the field, and specifying the type of the field. For each field type (button, text box, check box, and so on), you can set a variety of options through the Field Properties dialog box that allow you to customize the field for your form. For more information, see
To create a form field:
1 Select the form tool .
2 Create a form field by dragging the cross-hair pointer to make a box of the required size.
3 In the Field Properties dialog box, enter a name in the Name text box, and select a format from the Type menu:
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■ Text boxes allow you to create a field into which you can enter text using the keyboard. See
■ Buttons allow you to activate a series of actions. Buttons can have alternate appearances, according to the mouse behavior over the button. For more information, see
Creating interactive buttons .
■ Combo boxes allow you to specify a list of items that appear in a pop-up
menu. For more information, see Creating combo boxes and list boxes .
■ Digital signature fields allow you to create a form field that your user can then fill in with a signature and a printable representation. This field can be set to lock other fields after it is signed. For more information, see
.
■ Check boxes allow your user to make multiple selections from a group of items. For more information, see
■ Radio buttons allow your user to select one item from the displayed options.
For more information, see
■ List boxes allow the user to create a list of items in a form field that displays all the time. For more information, see
Creating combo boxes and list boxes .
4 Select the options for your field type, and click OK.
5 Select the hand tool to display the finished form field.
Note: You cannot create a form field on top of an annotation. For information on moving an annotation, see
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Creating buttons
The button’s surface area can appear as a line of text, an icon (or other graphic image), or a combination of text and icon. You can specify up to three icons for the same button—one for the button in the up position, another for the button when it is pushed (down position), and one for a rollover effect (when the mouse passes over the button area).
You can use buttons in your forms to specify an action, such as opening a file, playing a sound, or submitting data to a Web server. For information on buttons, see
Creating interactive buttons .
Creating check boxes
You can use check boxes for lists of items in which more than one item can be selected. For a list of items in which only one item can be selected, you should use related radio buttons, combo boxes, or list boxes.
Note: The size of the check (inside the check box) is determined by the size of the font you specify for the check. A check is a character in a font.
Catalog Friend Other How did you hear about us?
Newspaper
A selected check box
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To create a check box:
1 Create a form field, as described in
Creating form fields , and select Check
Box from the Type menu of the Field Properties dialog box.
2 Click the Options tab.
3 Select a check style to display when a user selects the check box. The default value is Check.
4 Enter an export value (optional) that will represent the chosen item if it is exported to a CGI application. For more information, see
5 Select whether you want the check box to appear checked by default.
6 Click the Appearance tab, and select border and text attributes for the form field. For more information, see
7 To specify an action for your form field, click the Actions tab, and select a mouse behavior. Then select Add, specify an action, and select Set Action. For more information, see
.
You can select any combination of mouse behaviors for a field. Mouse Up is the most common button behavior, and Mouse Up is the default appearance. You can also select any combination of mouse behaviors for a field and specify any combination of actions for a mouse behavior, although no more than 10 are recommended.
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Creating combo boxes and list boxes
You can use combo boxes and list boxes to present a list of items on your form.
Users can select only one item in either a combo box or list box. The shape of the display area for these boxes is determined by their content.
■ Use a combo box to present a list of items in a pop-up menu (uses less space on a form).
■ Use the list box to display the entire list and allow the user to scroll through it.
You can assign a custom action that is activated when a user switches between items in a list box. For example, you can play a sound or display an image as the user changes selections. You define the list box actions using custom
JavaScripts. For information, see
Using custom JavaScripts in forms , or choose
Help -> Forms JavaScript Guide to display the Acrobat Forms JavaScript Object
Specification.
Category
Retro Toys
Games
Craft Kits
Total
A combo box
01-12
12-24
50-100
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To create a combo box:
1 Create a form field, as described in
Creating form fields , and select Combo
Box from the Type menu of the Field Properties dialog box.
2 Click the Options tab.
3 Enter a name in the Item field. Items should be no longer than 100 characters.
4 Enter an export value (optional) to represent the chosen item if it is exported
to a CGI application. See Defining CGI export values for information. If no
export value is entered, the item name is used as the exported value.
5 Select Add, and continue to enter items and export values until the list is complete. Lists should be no longer than 50 items.
6 You may also select from the following options:
■ To sort the items numerically and alphabetically, select the Sort Items option.
A numeric sort (if applicable) is performed before an alphabetical sort.
■ To allow user editing of the list, select the Editable option.
■ To move an item one position up or down in the list, select the item, and click the Up or Down button. This option is not available if the Sort Items option is selected.
7 Click the Appearance tab, and select border and text attributes for the form field. For more information, see
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8 To specify an action for your form field, click the Actions tab, and select a mouse behavior. Then click Add, specify an action, and click Set Action. For more information, see
Using actions for special effects .
You can select any combination of mouse behaviors for a field, Mouse Up is the most common button behavior, and Mouse Up is the default appearance. You can also select any combination of mouse behaviors for a field and specify any combination of actions for a mouse behavior, although no more than 10 are recommended.
9 Click the Format tab, and choose a category type from the list. This specifies the type of data (numeric, date, time, and so on) the user can enter. The edit option must be set for this to be effective. For more information, see
.
10 Click the Validate tab to specify a method for validating data. You can use custom JavaScripts to define types of validation, such as allowing only numeric entries in a field. For more information, see
11 Click the Calculate tab if you want to perform mathematical operations on two or more form field entries. For more information, see
To create a list box:
1 Create a form field, as described in
Creating form fields , and select List Box
from the Type menu of the Field Properties dialog box.
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2 Click the Options tab, and enter a name in the Item field. Items should be no longer than 100 characters.
3 Enter an export value (optional) to represent the chosen item if it is exported
to a CGI application. See Defining CGI export values for information. If no
export value is entered, the item name is used as the exported value.
4 Select Add, and continue to enter items and export values until the list is complete. Lists should be no longer than 50 items.
5 Click the Selection Change tab, and do one of the following:
■ Select “Nothing happens when a listbox changes.”
■ Select “This script executes when the listbox selection changes.” Then click
Edit, and copy and paste a predefined script into the provided editing area. Or you can enter the script directly. Click OK. For information on creating JavaScripts, see
Working with JavaScript actions . You must click Edit to enter or
modify the script; you cannot edit the script that appears in the preview area.
6 Click the Appearance tab, and select border and text attributes for the form field. For more information, see
7 If you need to specify an action for your form field, click the Actions tab, and select a mouse behavior. Then click Add, specify an action, and click Set Action.
For more information, see
Using actions for special effects .
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You can select any combination of mouse behaviors for a field. Mouse Up is the most common button behavior, and Mouse Up is the default appearance. You can also select any combination of mouse behaviors for a field and specify any combination of actions for a mouse behavior, although no more than 10 are recommended.
Creating radio buttons
You can use related radio button fields to ensure that a user selects only one item from a list of choices. When you create related radio button fields, field names must be the same, and export values must be different. The export value is the information used by a CGI application on a Web server to identify the selected field.
Visa MasterCard
AmericanExpress Discover
Radio buttons
To create a radio button:
1 Create a form field, as described in
Creating form fields , and select Radio
Button from the Type menu of the Field Properties dialog box.
2 Click the Options tab.
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3 Select a style for the radio button. Circle is the default.
4 Enter an export value (optional) to represent the chosen item if it is exported to a CGI application. The export value for each radio button must be unique.
See
Defining CGI export values for information.
5 Select whether you want the radio button to appear selected by default.
6 Click the Appearance tab, and select border and text attributes for the form field. For more information, see
7 If you need to specify an action for your form field, click the Actions tab, and select a mouse behavior. Then click Add, specify an action, and click Set Action.
For more information, see
Using actions for special effects .
You can select any combination of mouse behaviors for a field. Mouse Up is the most common button behavior, and also the default appearance. You can also select any combination of mouse behaviors for a field and specify any combination of actions for a mouse behavior, although no more than 10 are recommended.
Note: Related radio buttons must have the same name; however, the export values must be different.
Creating signature fields
Acrobat provides for the secure digital signing of PDF documents in the following ways:
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■ Field signing allows you to create a blank signature field in a form. This method is useful when the signature field must be filled in as part of filling out a form. The blank signature field is filled in, and a printable copy is placed in the field.
Note: You use the form tool to create a blank signature field inside a form. The other types of digital signatures are created using the digital signature tool on the tool bar. For more information, see Chapter 14,
■ Blind signing allows the document to be signed with no visible appearance on the page. This method is useful for signing documents where a printable signature is not important.
■ Manual signing allows you to drag a rectangle to create the signature field and sign on the page. This signing method is useful for document approval when the document was not originally designed with a signature field. In this case, a generated appearance of the signature is placed on the PDF page that is printable.
Credit Card #
Signature
Digital signature field
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To create a blank signature field:
1 Create a form field, as described in
Creating form fields , and select Signature
from the Type menu of the Field Properties dialog box.
2 Click the Signed tab, and select an action for when the signature field is signed:
■ Nothing Happens When The Signature Field Is Signed. This is the default action.
■ Lock and a selected value: All Fields, Just These Fields, or All Fields Except
These. If you choose Just These Fields or All Fields Except These, click Pick. In the Select a Field dialog box, select a field, and then click Add. Select Done to complete the step.
■ This executes a script when the signature is signed. Click Edit to edit an existing JavaScript or create a new JavaScript in the dialog box.
Note: The appearance of a signature is stored as the field’s annotation.
You can duplicate a signature field (using the Duplicate command in the context menu) and copy it to the same location on more than one page. This is convenient for instances when the user signs the document once, but the signature appears on all pages. Duplicating the field on each page in this manner automatically adds the signature on each page when the first page is signed. It is common for a document to be designed with a signature field on every page.
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3 Click the Appearance tab, and specify border display, text attributes, and a visibility state for the form field. For more information, see
4 If you need to specify an action for your form field, click the Actions tab, and select a mouse behavior. Then click Add, specify an action, and click Set Action.
For more information, see
Using actions for special effects .
You can select any combination of mouse behaviors for a field, although the
Mouse Up behavior is most common. You can also specify any combination of actions for a mouse behavior, although no more than 10 are recommended.
Creating text boxes
You can use a text box to allow a user to fill in text such as name, address, and phone number.
Name
Address
Home Phone
Work Phone
Text fields
To create a text box:
1 Create a form field, as described in
Creating form fields , and select Text from
the Type menu of the Field Properties dialog box.
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2 Click the Options tab, and select from the following options:
■ Default specifies text to display as the suggested default value. You can leave the text box empty. You can also use the Appearance tab to make the text box
Read Only. See
■ Alignment sets the alignment of text within the text box; it does not align the text box itself.
■ Multi-line allows you to create a text box with more than one line.
■ Limit Of Characters limits the number of characters that can be entered in the field from 1K to 32K. You can enter from 1 to 32,000 characters.
■ Password specifies that text will be displayed as a series of asterisks, so the text entry cannot be read when typed.
3 Click the Appearance tab, and select border and text attributes for the form field. For more information, see
4 To specify an action for your form field, click the Actions tab, and select a mouse behavior. Then click Add, specify an action, and click Set Action. For more information, see
Using actions for special effects .
You can select any combination of mouse behaviors for a field. Mouse Up is the most common button behavior, and Mouse Up is the default appearance. You can also select any combination of mouse behaviors for a field and specify any combination of actions for a mouse behavior, although no more than 10 are recommended.
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5 Click the Format tab to format and limit the type of data (numeric, date, time, and so on) the user can enter in the text box. For more information, see
6 Click the Validate tab to restrict entries to a certain range, for example. You can also use custom JavaScripts to define other types of validation, such as allowing only numeric entries in a field. For more information, see
7 Click the Calculate tab if you want to perform mathematical operations on two or more form field entries. For more information, see
Setting form field options
Depending on the field type, you can set a variety of options. These options allow you to specify the appearance of the form field, the associated actions, the format and type of data that it allows, as well as the types of calculations that can be performed within the field.
The interactive capabilities of these options can be enhanced with the use of
JavaScript Object Specification.
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Setting appearance options
You can set appearance properties for each field type by clicking the
Appearance tab in the Field Properties dialog box:
■ The Border panel sets the border color, background color, width, and style.
Click a color box to select a color from the Color dialog box. To specify a custom
color, see Setting the custom color option .
■ The Text panel sets the text color, font, and size for text typed into the form field. The Auto option under Size specifies a font’s vertical size on a text line, button, radio button, check box, or combo box. List boxes automatically adjust the text to fit the form field. If there are multiple lines of text in a field, resize the text (using anywhere from 12- to 4-point text), so all text in the string is visible.
■ Read Only specifies whether or not the text field can be modified by the user.
■ Required specifies that the user must fill in this field before data can be submitted.
■ Form Field Is specifies whether the field is visible, hidden, visible but doesn’t print, or hidden but printable. The hidden but printable option can be used to create a watermark on a document that prints (when the document is printed), but otherwise is not visible.
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Setting action options
You can specify different actions to occur for a form field, depending on the behavior of the mouse over the field. Acrobat also lets you assign a custom action that is activated when a user changes selections in a list box. For example, you can play a sound or display an image as the user switches between items.
To specify action options:
1 Click the Actions tab in the Field properties dialog box.
2 Select a mouse behavior that will trigger an action:
■ Mouse Up specifies releasing the mouse button. This is the most common button action, because it gives the user one last chance to drag the cursor off the button and not register the selection.
■ Mouse Down specifies pressing the mouse button.
■ Mouse Enter specifies moving the mouse into the field boundaries.
■ Mouse Exit specifies moving the mouse out of the field boundaries.
3 Click Add, and select an action Type in the Add an Action dialog box. For a
description of the actions, see Using actions for special effects .
4 Click Set Action. Actions are executed in the order they appear in the Do the
Following window.
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5 If you defined more than one action for a behavior, and if you want to reorder the actions, select the action, and then select the Up or Down button.
6 To edit a field action, select the action item, click Edit, and make the necessary changes.
7 To delete a field action, select the action item, and click Delete.
Setting format options
You can specify a format for data entered in text and combo box fields, such as the number of decimal places for numbers. You can also create new data formats and keystroke validation scripts with your own custom JavaScripts, such as defining a new currency format or limiting the form field entry to specific keystroke characters. For more information, see
Using custom JavaScripts in forms .
Formatting is optional and available only for the text and combo box form fields. The default format is None.
To specify format options:
1 Click the Format tab in the Field properties dialog box.
2 For Category, select a data type and desired formatting options.
3 If you select Custom, do one or both of the following:
■ Click Edit, next to Custom Format Script. Copy and paste a predefined custom format script, or type the script in the text box provided. Then click OK.
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■ Click Edit, next to Custom Keystroke Script. Copy and paste a predefined custom keystroke script, or type the script in the text box provided. Then click OK.
For more information, see Using custom JavaScripts in forms , or choose
Help -> Forms JavaScript Guide to display the Acrobat Forms JavaScript
Object Specification.
Setting validation options
You use validation options to restrict entries to specified ranges, values, or characters. By setting validation properties, you can ensure that users enter the appropriate data for a specified form field. You can also use custom JavaScripts to define other types of validation, such as allowing only numeric entries in a form field. Validation is available only for text and combo box fields.
To specify validation options:
1 Select either Text or Combo Box in the Field properties dialog box, and click the Validate tab.
2 Do one of the following:
■ To validate that the form field entry is within a numeric range, select Value
Must Be, and enter the lower and upper bounds of the desired range (the bounds themselves are included in the range of valid entries).
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Range validation is available only for form fields that use number or percentage formats. See
■ To use a custom validation script, select Custom Validate Script, and click Edit.
Copy and paste a predefined script into the editing area, or enter the script directly; then click OK.
You must click Edit in the Field Properties dialog box to enter or modify the script; you cannot edit the script that appears in the preview area. For more information, see
Using custom JavaScripts in forms .
Setting calculation options
The calculation options let you perform mathematical operations on two or more existing form field entries and display the result. You can use the common operations predefined in the Field Properties dialog box, or you can define more complex operations using a custom JavaScript. For more information, see
Using custom JavaScripts in forms , or choose Help -> Forms
JavaScript Guide to display the Acrobat Forms JavaScript Object Specification.
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When you define two or more calculations in a form, the order in which these calculations are carried out is the same as the form fields’ tab order. In some cases, you may need to change this default calculation order to obtain the correct results. For example, if you wanted to use the result obtained from calculating two form fields to calculate the value of a third form field, the first two form fields must be calculated first to obtain the correct final results.
Acrobat automatically performs all assigned field calculations when you are creating and testing your form fields. For convenience, you can turn off this automatic calculation while you work.
To specify form field calculation options:
1 Select either Text or Combo Box in the Field properties dialog box, and click the Calculate tab.
2 Do one of the following:
■ To define the form field without calculation properties, select Value Is Not
Calculated (default).
■ To define the form field as a simple calculation result, select Value Is the
<operation> of the Following Fields, and select an operation from the menu.
Click Pick to bring up the Select a Field dialog box, and select the form fields you want to calculate. Click Done when you have finished selecting form fields.
You can also enter the case-sensitive form field names directly in the text box
(beneath the Value Is The radio button), separating the names with commas.
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Simple calculations are available only for form fields that use number or percentage formats. See
■ To use a custom calculation script, select Custom Calculation Script, and click
Edit. Copy and paste a predefined script into the editing area, or enter the script directly; then click OK.
You must click Edit in the Field Properties dialog box to enter or modify the script; you cannot edit the script that appears in the preview area. For more information, see
Using custom JavaScripts in forms .
To set the calculation order:
1 Choose Tools > Forms > Set Field Calculation Order.
2 Select the desired form field name or form field names, and select Up or
Down to move their position in the list. Then click OK.
To turn calculations off and on:
Choose Tools > Forms > Auto Calculate Field Values to toggle the feature off and on. A check mark appears next to the command when Auto Calculate is turned on.
Note: The Auto Calculate command does not affect calculations when you are using the form tool. Form fields defined with calculation properties are always calculated in Acrobat.
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Designing, building, and editing forms
Acrobat offers several features that simplify the process of putting together an entire form. Acrobat allows you to select multiple form fields and edit, duplicate, or move them simultaneously. This saves time and effort in creating and redesigning forms and ensures the exact reproduction of form fields across pages and documents.With the Set Tab Order command, you can set the order in which users tab from one form field to the next. And with grids, you can precisely place and align form fields on a page.
Selecting form fields
You can select multiple form fields and then modify the appearance, size, and location of all of them within the selection.
To select a form field:
1 Select the form tool , and do one of the following:
■ Click inside an existing form field.
■ Shift-click to select multiple form fields.
■ Hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Shift (Mac OS), and drag a selection rectangle, or marquee, around the desired form field.
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When you use Shift-click to select multiple form fields, the first form field you select is highlighted in red, and all other form fields are highlighted in blue.
When you drag a marquee, the form field located in the top left position of the selection is designated as the first form field. Any size or alignment changes you make to the selected form fields are made relative to the first form field.
You can select a different form field as the first form field, if desired.
2 To specify a form field as the first form field, do one of the following:
■ Shift-click inside the form field.
■ Press Tab to designate the next form field in the tab order as the first form field. If the next form field in the tab order is not included in the current selection, the selection is deselected.
To change a selection:
1 To add to a selection, select the form tool , and do one of the following:
■ Shift-click inside another form field to add it to the selection.
■ Press Shift-Ctrl (Windows) or Shift (Mac OS), and drag a selection marquee around an additional form field or fields (Windows).
When you add to a selection, the first form field does not change.
2 To remove a form field from a selection, Shift-click inside the form field you want to remove from the selection. To deselect an entire selection, click outside a form field. If you remove the first form field from a selection, the form field
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Editing form fields
You can move, resize, copy, cut, and paste multiple form fields on the same page, across pages, or across PDF documents. For more information on moving, resizing, and duplicating individual form fields, see
Setting form field options and
Note: You cannot cut and paste button form fields.
To edit a form field:
1 Use the form tool to select the form field you want to edit.
2 To move a form field, do one of the following:
■ Approximately position the form field by moving the pointer inside one of the selected form fields, and drag the field to the new location. To constrain movement to a horizontal or vertical direction, begin dragging, and then hold down Shift while continuing to drag the selection.
■ Precisely position the form field by using the arrow keys to nudge the selected form fields into position.
■ Exactly relocate the form field to the center of the current view by choosing
Edit > Cut, navigate to the desired location, and then choose Edit > Paste. The form field is pasted in the center of the current view.
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3 To copy form fields on the same page (not across pages in a document), do one of the following:
■ Approximately position the copied form field by holding down Ctrl
(Windows) or Option (Mac OS), and drag the selected form field to the new location. To constrain the movement to a horizontal or vertical direction, hold down Ctrl or Option, begin dragging, and then hold down Shift while continuing to drag the selection. The form field or fields are copied to the new location.
■ Exactly relocate the form field to the center of the current view by choosing
Edit > Copy, navigate to the desired location, and then choose Edit > Paste. The form field is pasted to the center of the current view.
4 To resize a form field, position the pointer over a corner anchor point of the selected form field. When the pointer changes to the double-headed arrow, hold the mouse button down, and drag to resize the form field. To resize multiple form fields, do one of the following:
■ Hold down Shift, and press an arrow key to resize the form fields in small increments. To reduce or enlarge the form field widths, use the Left or Right arrow key, respectively; to reduce or enlarge the heights, use the Up or Down arrow key, respectively.
■ Choose Tools > Forms > Fields > Size > Height to make all form fields in the selection the same height as the first form field.
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■ Choose Tools > Forms > Fields > Size > Width to make all form fields in the selection the same width as the first form field.
■ Choose Tools > Forms > Fields > Size > Both to make all form fields in the selection the same height and width as the first form field.
Note: Holding down the Control key when resizing a form field maintains the original aspect ratio of the form field.
5 To align form fields with the first form field, choose one the following commands from the Tools > Forms > Fields > Align menu:
■ Left, Right, Top, or Bottom aligns all form fields with the respective border of the first form field.
■ Vertically aligns all form fields along the vertical axis of the first form field.
■ Horizontally aligns all form fields along the horizontal axis of the first form field.
You must select a minimum of two form fields.
6 To center form fields, choose one of the following commands from the Tools
> Forms > Fields > Center menu:
■ Vertically centers the group of form fields with respect to the page’s vertical dimension.
■ Horizontally centers the group of form fields with respect to the page’s horizontal dimension.
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■ Both centers the group of form fields in the page.
7 To distribute form fields, choose one of the following commands from the
Tools > Forms > Fields > Distribute menu:
■ Vertically distributes the intermediate form fields evenly between the topmost and bottommost form fields in the selection. This action disregards
Snap to Grid.
■ Horizontally distributes the intermediate form fields evenly between the leftmost and rightmost form fields in the selection. This action disregards
Snap to Grid.
You must select a minimum of three form fields.
8 To delete form fields, do one of the following:
■ Press Delete, and select Yes in the confirmation dialog box.
■ Choose Edit > Delete, and select Yes in the confirmation dialog box.
If you are deleting a form field that has a duplicate, another dialog box asks if you want to remove all occurrences of the form field.
Important: You cannot undo this procedure.
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Duplicating form fields
You can duplicate form fields on the same page or across pages. When you duplicate a form field, users can fill in one form field and have that information appear in all the form fields with the same name, no matter what page they are on. The copied form fields can be given different appearances, but they must have the same name and actions. Changing an action in a form field will change the action for all form fields with the same name.
To duplicate a form field on the same page:
1 Select the form tool , and select a form field.
2 Do one of the following:
■ Approximately position the form field by pressing Ctrl (Windows) or Option
(Mac OS), and drag the form field to the new location. To constrain the movement horizontally or vertically, hold down Ctrl or Option, begin dragging, and then hold down Shift while continuing to drag the form field.
■ Exactly duplicate the form field to the center of the current view by choosing
Edit > Copy, and then choose Edit > Paste. The duplicate form field appears in the center of the current view.
To duplicate a form field across pages:
1 Select the form tool , and select the form field.
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2 Do one of the following:
■ Choose Tools > Forms > Fields > Duplicate, select All or type in a page range, and click OK. The form field is duplicated across the specified page range and placed in the location (x and y coordinates) of the selected form field across the entire page range.
■ Choose Edit > Copy, and then choose Edit > Paste. Position the duplicate form field in the new location. Go to each page (on which you want the form field to appear), and repeat these actions.
Changing the appearance of form fields
You can change the appearance of multiple form fields simultaneously by setting the options in the Field Properties dialog box. For information on how
Forms JavaScript Object Specification document.
To change a form field’s appearance:
1 Select the form tool , and select the form fields you want to change.
2 Choose Edit > Properties to open the Field Properties dialog box.
Note: The Field Properties dialog box displays only the Appearance tab when multiple form fields are selected.
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3 Select the options that you want to change. For information about the
available options, see Setting appearance options
and
If a particular property differs among the selected form fields, the property setting will either be blank or contain a dimmed check or question mark. You can change the marked option and apply the new property to all form fields in the selection, or you can keep the existing properties.
4 Click OK.
Positioning form fields with the grid
You can use grids to help position form fields at precise points on a page.
Although the lines of a grid appear on-screen, they do not print with the page.
Acrobat lets you define the grid spacing, color, and position of a grid. You can also choose whether to have the boundaries of a form field snap to grid lines when you are editing the form field.
To show or hide the grid:
Choose View > Show Grid to toggle between showing and hiding the grid. A check mark appears next to the command when the grid is visible.
To set grid preferences:
1 Choose File > Preferences > Forms Grid to open the Grid Settings dialog box.
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2 Do one or more of the following:
■ To set the spacing between major grid lines, enter values for Width and Height.
■ To display subdividing lines between the major grid lines, select the desired number of subdivisions from the menu. Subdividing lines display as dotted lines between the solid major lines.
■ To offset the origin of the grid from the top left corner of the page, enter values for Horizontal and Vertical.
■ To set the color of grid lines, select the color box. Select the desired color from the Color dialog box, and click OK.
3 Click OK to accept the grid settings.
To set snap-to-grid behavior:
Choose View > Snap to Forms Grid to toggle between having form fields snap or not snap to grid lines. A check mark appears next to the command when the snap-to-grid behavior is on.
Setting tabbing order
You can determine the order that a user tabs through form fields on a single page. The default tab order is the order in which the form fields were created.
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To set tabbing order:
1 Select the form tool .
2 Choose Tools > Forms > Fields > Set Tab Order.
3 The form fields display the tab order currently set. Select from the following:
■ To reorder the tabs, click the form fields in the order that they should be numbered.
■ To start at a number other than 1, press Ctrl (Windows) or Option (Mac OS), and click the form field numbered one less than you want to start with. Then click the form field you want to renumber.
4 Click outside a form field, or switch tools to exit Set Tab Order.
Making forms Web ready
PDF forms can be useful for submitting and collecting information over the
Web. This is done in Acrobat forms by providing several button actions that perform functions similar to some HTML scripting macros. For this process to work, you must have a CGI application on the Web server to collect and route the data to a database. Any existing CGI application that collects data from forms (in HTML or FDF format) can be used to collect data from PDF forms.
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Before you complete these tasks, make sure that your form field names match those set in the CGI application. For information on the Form Data Format
(FDF), see the PDF Reference Manual, which is available on the Adobe Web site
(www.adobe.com).
Important: CGI scripts must be built outside of Acrobat, and their creation is not covered by the Adobe Acrobat product. See
Creating submit form and reset form buttons
You can send form data to a Web server by specifying a Uniform Resource
Locator (URL) with the Submit Form action. You can use the Reset Form action to clear any form data already entered.
To create a submit form button and reset form button:
1 Select the form tool .
2 Create a form field, and choose Button from the Type menu.
3 Click the Actions tab. Select Mouse Up as the behavior (that triggers the action), and click Add.
4 In the Add an Action dialog box, do one of the following:
■ To create a button that enables the user to submit a form, select Submit
Form, click the Select URL button, and enter the (destination) URL. Select Forms
Data Format (FDF) or HTML Form (URL encoded) as the export format. If you choose Include Empty Fields, the selected form fields are exported, even if they
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Note: If the server returns data to the user in Forms Data Format, the server’s
URL must end with the #FDF suffix, for example, http://myserver/cgi-bin/ myscript#FDF.
■ To create a button that enables the user to clear data entered in the form, select Reset Form. If you choose All Except Or Only These, click Select Fields, and indicate the form fields to exclude (All Except) or include (Only These), and then click OK.
5 Click OK to accept the selections.
6 Click Set Action.
7 Click another tab in the Field Properties dialog box to continue defining properties of the form field, or click OK.
Creating import data buttons
You can use the Import Form Data action to enable users to automatically fill out common form fields, such as name and e-mail address, with data imported from another form. Before you set an Import Form Data action, you must have set up a form with common information form fields from which data will be imported. For more information, see
Exporting and importing form data .
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Personal Field Names (PFN) can be used with Acrobat forms to create a personal profile that automates filling out Acrobat forms. With any form that uses the same form fields as those in your personal profile, you can apply your personal profile and automatically fill in the form. Forms that conform to this standard should display the PFN icon (included in the folder) and should also be equipped with a button that automatically imports personal profile data when selected. For sample forms and the tools to create a personal profile form, go to the Pfn_kit folder inside the Forms folder located on the Acrobat 4.0 product CD.
Note: The Import Form Data action searches for the data file from which to import data in different locations in Windows than on Mac OS. In Windows, the
Import Form Data action searches Acrobat or Acrobat Reader, the current folder, the System folder, the Windows folder, and the folders that are in the
PATH statement. On Mac OS, the Import Form Data action searches the Acrobat or Acrobat Reader folder and the System Preferences folder.
To create an import data button:
1 Select the form tool .
2 Create a form field, and choose Button from the Type menu.
3 Click the Actions tab. Select Mouse Up as the behavior that triggers the action, and select Add. In the Add an Action dialog box, select Import
Form Data.
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4 Click Select File, select a file, and click Select (Windows) or Open (Mac OS).
In most cases, there is a standardized filename (on a per-site basis) for a specific application, such as a personal profile. If you enter an invalid filename, a dialog box appears that allows you to browse and select another file. You can choose another file type at this point, if desired.
5 Click Set Action.
6 Click another tab in the Field Properties dialog box to continue defining properties of the form field, or click OK.
Users can use this Import Data button to populate the common form fields with their personal profile information. Only form fields that match are updated. Those that do not match are ignored.
Submitting images with a PDF form
You can create buttons that allow users to submit image data to a database.
For example, users can select scanned images, such as identification photos,
X-rays, or insurance photos, and attach them to the form. The selected images are encoded as button icons and are submitted along with the rest of the form data.
You can also use a JavaScript action to update the button display with the selected image as the user fills in the form. For more information, see
Using custom JavaScripts in forms , or choose Help -> Forms JavaScript Guide to
display the Acrobat Forms JavaScript Object Specification.
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To create an image submission button:
1 Select the form tool .
2 Create a new form field or double-click inside an existing button form field to open the Field Properties dialog box. If this is a new form field, choose
Button from the Type menu.
3 Click the Actions tab, and select a mouse behavior that will trigger the action.
4 If the Submit Form action is already listed, select it, and click Edit. Otherwise, click Add, and select Submit Form.
5 Enter the appropriate URL for the target database.
6 For Export Format, select Forms Data Format (FDF). Button icons will not be exported if you select HTML Form (URL encoded). For more information on buttons, see
Creating interactive buttons .
7 For Field Selection, select All Except Or Only These. Button icons will not be exported if you select All Fields. For more information on buttons, see
Creating interactive buttons .
8 Click Select Fields, indicate the form fields to exclude (All Except) or include
(Only These), and click OK.
9 Click OK to accept the Submit Form selections.
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10 Click Set Action.
11 Click another tab in the Field Properties dialog box to continue defining properties of the form field, or click OK.
Defining CGI export values
An export value is the information sent to a CGI application to identify a userselected form field. You need to define an export value only if both the following are true:
■ The data will be collected electronically in a database over a company intranet or the Web.
■ The data is different from the item designated by the form field, or the form field is a radio button.
You can also define export values for check boxes, combo boxes, list boxes, and radio buttons:
■ Use the default export value Yes to indicate that a check box, or radio button, has been selected.
■ Enter an export value for combo boxes or list boxes only if you want the value to be different from the item listed—for example, to match the name of the form field in a database. The item selected in the combo box or list box is used as the export value unless a different export value is explicitly entered in the Field Properties dialog box.
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■ Related radio buttons must have exactly the same form field name but different export values. This ensures that the radio buttons toggle and that the correct values will be collected in the database.
You should work with your webmaster to define export values appropriately.
Support for the Adobe Acrobat SDK is provided to members of the Acrobat
Developers Program by the Adobe Developers Association (ADA). For information on joining the ADA, requesting developer technical support, or obtaining updates to this SDK, refer to the Developer Support section of the
Adobe Web site (www.adobe.com).
Using custom JavaScripts in forms
The JavaScript scripting language was developed by Netscape Communications so you could more easily create interactive Web pages. Adobe has enhanced JavaScript so you can easily integrate this level of interactivity into your PDF forms. The most common uses for JavaScript in Acrobat forms are formatting data, calculating data, validating data, and assigning an action.
While there are plug-in, document, and field levels of JavaScripts, we are only concerned with document and field level scripts here. For information on plug-
in level scripts, see Working with JavaScript actions , or choose Help -> Forms
JavaScript Guide to display the Acrobat Forms JavaScript Object Specification.
■ Document level scripts are executed with the document open and apply only to this document.
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■ Field level scripts are associated with a specific form field or fields. This type of script is executed when an event occurs, such as a mouse up action.
Creating simple JavaScripts
There are a number of simple JavaScripts you can integrate into your forms to enhance their interactive capabilities. The scripts described here are commonly used with Acrobat forms. Trying out these scripts in the forms you create will give you a glimpse of what JavaScript offers.
Careful selection of field names when creating forms is an important factor in data collection. If two fields share the same name, they also share the same value. You can use this capability to create fields that have different appearances (that is, appear on different pages and have different background colors) but have the same value. This means you can modify one field and the other field is updated automatically.
Note: For more information on JavaScript naming conventions for Acrobat forms, choose Help -> Forms JavaScript Guide to display the Acrobat Forms
JavaScript Object Specification.
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Creating an automatic date field
Many forms require a date for tracking purposes, whether it’s a creation date or last modification date. The following procedure shows you how to create a text field that automatically displays the current date when the document is opened and how to include another field that displays the date the document was last modified.
The script you create to display the current date when the document is opened is a document level script. The script you create to display the last modification date is a field level script.
To create an automatic date field:
1 Select the form tool
, and create a text field. For information, see Creating form fields . Name the field Today.
2 Click the Format tab, choose Date, and choose the short month, day, and long year format option (for example, Feb 2, 1999). Make sure the field is readonly because it will be a calculated field, and click OK.
3 To create a document level script that is executed each time the document is opened, choose Tools -> Forms -> Document JavaScripts. Name the field Today, and click Add.
4 Delete the automatically generated text that is displayed in the script window, type in the following text in the exact format, and click OK.
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This script binds the Today field to the variable f, and then calculates the value.
The new Date() expression creates a new date object initialized to the current date and time. The utility object is used to format the date into the month/day/ year format.
5 Click OK in the JavaScript dialog box, and then click Close in the Field
Properties dialog box.
To create an automatic modification date field:
1 Select the form tool, and create a text field. Name this field LastModified. For information, see
.
2 Click the Format tab, choose Date, and choose the short month, day, and long year format option (for example, Feb 2, 1999).
3 Click the Appearance tab and select Read Only as a Common Property. A calculated field should always be set as read-only.
4 Click the Calculate tab, select Custom Calculation Script, and then click Edit.
5 In the script window, type in the following text in the exact format, and click OK.
event.value = util.printd(“mm/dd/yyyy”, this.modDate);
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This script sets the calculation for the modification date, which is the value of
LastModified. The object is formatted into the month/day/year format and assigned the value of the LastModified field.
6 Click OK in the JavaScript dialog box, and then click OK in the Field
Properties dialog box.
Subtracting and dividing two values
Being able to automatically calculate the difference between the values in two fields and display the results is another useful application for JavaScript. In the following example, you create three form fields in which the value in one field is subtracted from the value in another. The results are calculated, and the value is automatically displayed in the third field.
You can use this same JavaScript to divide two values by simply substituting a division sign (/) for the minus sign (-) in the last line of the script.
To create a field that automatically calculates the difference between two values and displays the results:
1 Select the form tool , and create a text field. For more information, see
. Name this field ValueA with no spaces.
2 Click the Format tab, choose Number, and choose the number of decimal places, a currency symbol if needed, and a separator style.
3 Click the Options tab, specify a default value (for example, 1), and click OK.
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4 Create a second text field, and name this field ValueB with no spaces.
5 Click the Format tab, and make the format of this field the same as for the previous field.
6 Click the Options tab, specify a default value (for example, 1), and click OK.
7 Create a third text field, and name this field ResultsC with no spaces.
8 Click the Format tab, and make the format of this field the same as for the previous field.
9 Click the Calculate tab, choose Custom Calculation Script, and then click Edit.
10 In the script window, type in the following text exactly as shown, and click OK: var f = this.getField(“ValueA”); var g = this.getField(“ValueB”); event.value = f.value - g.value;
This script created in step 10 defines a variable f, which corresponds to the value of the ValueA field, and another variable g, which corresponds to the value of the ValueB field. The script then defines an event that calculates the difference between the values of the two variables. This calculation is automatically displayed in the ResultsC field.
To divide the value for variable f by variable g, replace the script text in step 10 with the following text:
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Page 387 var f = this.getField(“ValueA”); var g = this.getField(“ValueB”); event.value = f.value / g.value;
To multiply the value for variable f by variable g, type in the following script (in its exact format instead): var f = this.getField(“ValueA”); var g = this.getField(“ValueB”); event.value = f.value x g.value;
11 Click OK in the Field Properties window.
Assigning a ‘go to page’ action
If you create a multiple page form, it is useful to add a button that automatically takes you to the next page. This type of action is most commonly associated with the mouse up action.
The JavaScript you use to take you to the next page at the click of a button can be easily modified to automatically take you to the previous page of the form, the first page of the form, or to the last page of the form. All these variations are presented in the following procedure.
To specify a ‘go to page’ action for a button:
1 Select the form tool , and create a form field. For information, see
. Name this field GoNext.
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If you want to create several ‘go to page’ buttons on the same form, name each field accordingly: GoNext, GoPrev, GoFirst, and GoLast.
2 Choose Button from the type menu, and specify the border, background, text, and field appearances. Click the Options tab, and specify selections as
needed. For more information, see Creating interactive buttons .
3 Click the Actions tab, choose Mouse Up, and then click Add.
4 Choose JavaScript from the Type menu, and then click Edit.
5 To specify go to the next page when the button is selected, in the script window, type in the following text in the exact format, and click OK: this.pageNum++;
For other go to page buttons, use the following scripts with the appropriate button fields:
Go to the previous page: this.pageNum--;
Go to the first page: this.pageNum = 0;
Go to the last page: this.pageNum = this.numPages - 1;
6 Click Set Action. Click OK in the Field Properties dialog box.
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Sending a document or form via e-mail
You can create a button on your form that automatically mails the PDF document to a specified e-mail address when selected. You can also specify that only the form data is mailed as an FDF file.
In the following example, the [email protected] variable represents the email address the form is to be sent to. Most e-mails have a message subject that gives a brief description of the content of the message. The Message Subject
Description variable in the example represents the description that would accompany an e-mail message. The double sets of quotes are where you can enter a cc: e-mail address and (blind) bcc: e-mail address, if desired.
To assign an action that e-mails a document or form:
1 Select the form tool , and create a form field. For more information, see
. Name this field MailPDF.
If you want to create a second button that mails only the forms data (an FDF file), do so, and name the field MailFDF. An FDF file is smaller in size because it only contains the data entered into the form, and not the form itself.
2 Choose Button from the type menu, and specify the border, background, text, and field appearances. Click the Options tab, and specify selections as
needed. For more information, see Creating interactive buttons .
3 Click the Actions tab, choose Mouse Up, and then click Add.
4 Choose JavaScript from the Type menu, and then click Edit.
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5 To mail the PDF document to the specified e-mail address when the button is selected, in the script window, enter the following text in the exact format, and click OK: this.mailDoc(true, “[email protected]”, ““, ““, “Message
Subject Description”);
To mail the forms data (only) as an FDF file, use the following script instead: this.mailForm(true, “[email protected]”, ““, ““, “Message Subject Description”);
6 Click Set Action. Click OK in the Field Properties dialog.
Hiding a field until a condition is met
In more complex forms, you might want to have one field that is hidden, or inactive, until a specific condition is met. For example, a field could be hidden, grayed out, or read only until a dollar amount greater than a specified number is entered into another field.
In our example, a dollar amount greater than 100 must be entered in the
ActiveValue field to activate the GreaterThan field. The active field is called
ActiveValue, and the inactive field is called GreaterThan.
To activate a field when a condition is met in another field:
1 Select the form tool
, and create a text field. For information, see Creating form fields . Name the field ActiveValue.
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2 Click the Format tab, and choose Number from the Category list. Choose two decimal places, Dollar as the Currency Symbol, and the common Separator
Style (the default). Click OK.
3 Create a second text field, and name it GreaterThan.
4 Click the Format tab, and choose Number from the Category list. Choose two decimal places, Dollar as the Currency Symbol, and the common Separator
Style (the default). Click OK.
5 Double click the ActiveValue field. Click the Validate tab, select Custom
Validation Script, and click Edit.
6 To keep the GreaterThan field hidden until an amount greater than 100 is entered in the ActiveValue field, in the script window, type in the following in the exact format, and click OK: var f = this.getField(“GreaterThan”); f.hidden = (event.value < 100);
To keep the GreaterThan field read only until an amount greater than 100 is entered in the ActiveValue field, in the script window, type in the following in the exact format, and click OK: var f = this.getField(“GreaterThan”); f.readonly = (event.value < 100);
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To keep the GreaterThan field grayed out and read only until an amount greater than 100 is entered in the ActiveValue field, in the script window, type in the following in the exact format, and click OK: var f = this.getField(“GreaterThan”); f.readonly = (event.value < 100) ; f.fgcolor = (event.value < 100) ? color gray : color black;
7 Click OK in the JavaScript dialog box, and then click OK in the Field
Properties dialog box.
Using templates to generate forms on the fly
Acrobat lets you define a page in your document as a template, which can then be used to dynamically generate a new form, or duplicate PDF pages on the fly.
In essence, you can build a form that dynamically creates another form.
Templates are useful in several ways:
■ They allow the user to fill out as many form pages as needed. Additional pages (complete with new form fields) are spawned on the fly. For information on defining an action that dynamically creates new pages, choose Help ->
Forms JavaScript Guide to display the Acrobat Forms JavaScript Object
Specification.
If you are generating a form by importing data from a database, you can spawn as many pages as needed to contain different quantities of data.
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■ They can be used as button icons in another form by invoking the template names from an FDF file. See the FDF Toolkit or the PDF Reference Manual
(available on the Adobe Web site at www.adobe.com) for more information.
Important: Template functionality is not supported in Acrobat Reader.
Therefore, if you create an Acrobat application that uses template functionality, a user who only has access to Acrobat Reader will not be able to use your application.
To define a template:
1 Navigate to the page you want to use as a template, and choose Tools >
Forms > Page Templates.
2 Enter a name for the template, and click Add. Click Yes in the confirmation dialog box.
3 Click Close to define the template and close the Document Templates dialog box.
To edit a template:
1 Choose Tools > Forms > Page Templates.
2 Select the desired template in the list, and do one of the following:
■ To hide the selected template page, click the eye icon to the left of the template name. To show the template, click the icon again. When you show a hidden template page, it appears appended to the end of the document. You
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■ To change the template contents to the current displayed page, click Change.
■ To remove the selected template from the list, click Delete.
■ To display the selected template page, click Goto. You cannot use Goto to display a template that is hidden.
3 Click Close to accept the template changes and close the Document
Templates dialog box.
Exporting and importing form data
You can export form data from a PDF file and create a new file containing only the form data. The newly created file will be in Forms Data Format (FDF) and will be considerably smaller than the container PDF file. The smaller FDF file is useful for archiving or electronically sharing data. You can also import data from this file into another form, if that form has fields with the same names.
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If you are using Acrobat Reader (without having Acrobat 4.0 installed), you are not able to export form information. If you are creating forms that will be used by people who only have Acrobat Reader, this is something you should be aware of when you are creating your forms.
Note: The folder entitled Pfn_kit contains sample forms and the tools to create a personal profile form. If you use these tools to develop a personal profile for use in filling out Acrobat forms, any form that uses these same form fields can be filled in automatically. Forms that conform to this standard should display the PFN icon (included in the folder) and should also be equipped with a button that automatically imports personal profile data when selected.
To export form data to a file:
1 Choose File > Export > Form Data.
2 Enter a filename, and click Save.
To import form data from a file:
1 Choose File > Import > Form Data.
2 Select a file, and click Select (Windows) or Open (Mac OS).
Note: If you import form data from a form that does not match the form you are importing into, only the form fields that match are updated, and those that do not match are ignored.
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Filling out forms
You can fill out forms in Acrobat and submit them across the Web if you are filling them out from inside a Web browser or using Acrobat Web Capture. For information, see Chapter 5,
Converting Web Pages to PDF and
Configuring Web browsers for viewing PDF .
With Acrobat, you can also print the form or export the form data to a separate file. Exporting form data allows you to save the existing data, or to transport it with an alternative method such as e-mail.
To fill out a form:
1 Select the hand tool .
2 Position the pointer inside a form field, and click. The I-beam pointer allows you to type text. The arrow pointer allows you to select a button, a check box, a radio button, or an item from a list.
3 After entering text or selecting an item, check box, or radio button, do one of the following:
■ Press Tab to accept the form field change and go to the next form field.
■ Press Shift+Tab to accept the form field change and go to the previous form field.
■ Press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS) to accept the form field change and deselect the current form field.
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In a multiline text form field, Enter or Return goes to the next line in the same form field. You can use Enter on the keypad to accept a change and deselect the current form field.
■ Press Escape to reject the form field change and deselect the current form field.
If you are in Full Screen mode, pressing Escape a second time causes you to exit
Full Screen mode.
4 Once you have filled in the appropriate form fields, do one of the following:
■ Click the Submit Form button, if one exists. The button may be named differently. Clicking this button sends the form data to a database across the Web or over your company intranet. This button only works if you are viewing the PDF document from inside a Web browser.
■ Choose File > Export > Form Data to save the form data in a separate FDF file.
The form itself is not saved. Type a filename, and click Save. Opening the Forms
Data Format (FDF) file in an Acrobat viewer automatically opens the associated
PDF document containing the form if the files maintain their relative locations.
Important: You cannot save the data in a form using the Save or Save As commands. These commands save the form itself, but not the data entered into the form fields. To preserve data entered into form fields, you must export the data. For more information, see
Exporting and importing form data .
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To clear a form in a browser window:
Do one of the following:
■ Select a Reset Form button, if one exists.
■ Exit the Acrobat viewer without saving the file, and start again.
Clicking the Reload button or the Go Back button, or following a link in a World
Wide Web browser window, does not clear a form.
Important: There is no undo for this action.
To clear a form in Acrobat:
Choose File > Revert.
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Adding Interactive Features
Acrobat provides a variety of interactive features you can add to a PDF document to enhance its visual appeal and provide supplemental information.
For example, adding movie and sound clips can transform a PDF document into a multimedia experience. Movies and sounds can be played when they are selected, or they can be assigned as actions so they play when a link, bookmark, or button is activated. You can also assign sounds and movies as page actions that occur when a page is opened or closed.
Integrating media clips into PDFs
Movie files are not physically embedded in the PDF document. Instead, you define a rectangle within the document, and then associate a pointer with the movie file. Sound files, unlike movie files, are physically embedded in a PDF document. You can specify how media files play by setting options for the file.
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The following table shows the movie and sound files that can be used with
Acrobat PDF documents for Windows and Mac OS.
Media Type File Types for Windows File Types for Mac OS
Video QuickTime, AVI QuickTime
Sound AIF, WAV System 7 sound files, AIFF, Sound
Mover (FSSD)
Note: System 7 sound files and Sound Mover (FSSD) files are automatically converted to QuickTime movies before they are played (Mac OS). This conversion may cause a slight delay in the playback response time. With
Windows, no conversion is necessary before playing AIF or WAV files so this is not an issue.
Adding movie clips
When you add QuickTime movie clips to a PDF document, you create a pointer to them. Therefore, if you distribute the PDF document, you must remember to distribute the movie files as well. Be sure to use the correct filenames and relative path locations for the movie clips when you distribute them.
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The movie image format is made up of a set number of pixels and is, therefore, a set size. For this reason, it is recommended that you keep the magnification of the document page at 100% to prevent the added movie file from being scaled inadvertently. Also, when you click to place a movie, the pixel size of the movie frame determines the activation area for the clip in the document.
However, if you define the play area for the movie by dragging and creating a rectangular boundary, the movie frame is stretched or compressed to fit the specified area. This resizing of the movie frame to fit the custom area can result in a distorted image quality. For this reason, clicking to place a movie is recommended over creating custom frame sizes.
Note: Movie files can also be played from links, bookmarks, form fields, and page actions. For more information, see
Using actions for special effects .
To add a movie clip and specify movie properties:
1 Select the movie tool .
2 Click a location on the page to place the movie. Where you click specifies the center of the movie frame. The play area is the exact size of the movie frame.
3 In the Open dialog box, select a movie file, and click Open.
If it is a QuickTime movie file that has not yet been converted to cross-platform format, click Yes to convert it (Mac OS). No conversion is required for AIF or WAV files (Windows).
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4 In the Movie Properties dialog box, enter a name for the file in the Title text box. By default, the name of the movie file appears as the title.
5 Select Show Controller if you want to display a controller bar at the bottom of the play area.
6 Select a Mode option from the pop-up menu to determine the play action of the movie clip. You can have the movie play once then stop, play once and stay open, play repeatedly, or play forward and then backward repeatedly.
When you choose Play Once Then Stop, selecting the clip or the controller bar stops the movie when it is playing. Double-clicking inside the movie frame starts the clip playing again. When you choose Play Once And Stay Open and set the default to floating window, the movie plays until you press the Escape key.
7 To create a floating clip, Select Use Floating Window. This specifies that the movie plays in a separate window. Then specify the dimensions, including scale factors, of the floating window from the pop-up menu.
8 Select Movie Poster to show the first frame in the clip as a still image when the movie is not playing. You can choose to display the poster in the document or retrieve it directly from the movie file. If you are displaying the poster, choose the number of colors from the pop-up menu. Choose 256 colors to display 24-bit color images; choose Millions Of Colors to display 32-bit color images.
9 Specify the appearance of the border for the play area:
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■ For a visible border, choose a Width value of Thin, Medium, or Thick, and the desired style and color options.
■ For no border around the unselected play area, choose Invisible for the
Width value.
■ For information on how to specify a custom color, see
Setting the custom color option
.
10 To save this movie file’s options as defaults, click Save Preferences. Any further movie files that are added default to these properties.
11 Click OK.
To edit a movie clip:
1 Select the movie tool .
2 Select a movie icon to make it active, and choose Edit > Properties. Set the options in the Movie Properties dialog box for the selected movie and all subsequent movie clips, and click Save Preferences.
3 Move or resize the movie clip in the following ways:
■ Move the clip by dragging its icon to a new location on the page.
■ Resize the clip by dragging one of the corners of the movie frame until it is the desired size. This is not recommended, as it results in a distortion of the image.
4 Click OK.
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Adding sound clips
You add sound clips using the movie tool, and you can also play sound clips from links, bookmarks, form fields, and page actions. For more information, see
Using actions for special effects .
To add a sound clip:
1 Select the movie tool , and drag to create a rectangle that defines the play area. The rectangle boundaries define the activation area for the sound clip.
2 In the Open dialog box, change the file type to All files (.mov is the default), select a sound file, and click Open. If the file is not in a format that can be read by QuickTime, you may be asked to convert it. Follow the instructions displayed on-screen.
A compressed sound file cannot be added. Use a sound utility to uncompress the file, and try again.
3 In the Audio Properties dialog box, type a name for the clip in the Title text box. By default, the name of the sound file appears as the title. This title must be a unique name.
4 Choose a play action mode for the sound clip. You can have the clip play once then stop, play once and stay open, play repeatedly, or play forward and then backward repeatedly.
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5 Specify the appearance of the border for the play area:
■ For a visible border around the play area, choose a Width value of Thin,
Medium, or Thick, and the desired style and color options.
■ For no border around the play area, choose Invisible for the Width value.
■ For color, choose a standard color from the menu (black, white, red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, yellow), or custom. For information on specifying a custom color, see
Setting the custom color option .
Note: When the movie tool is selected, the borders around all play areas are highlighted, even those with invisible borders. The highlight disappears when the movie tool is no longer active.
6 Click OK.
To edit sound properties:
1 Select the movie tool , select a sound clip, and choose Edit > Properties.
2 In the Sound Properties dialog box, select the necessary options for play action and appearance of the border of the play area:
■ For a visible border around the play area, choose a Width value of Thin,
Medium, or Thick, and the desired style and color options.
■ For no border around the play area, choose Invisible for the Width value.
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■ For color, choose a standard color from the menu (black, white, red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, yellow), or custom. For information on specifying a custom color, see
Setting the custom color option .
3 Click OK.
Tips for adding movie and sound clips
When adding movie and sound clips to PDF documents, consider the following suggestions:
■ Use a graphic image for the activation area of the link to a movie. You can do this by inserting an image that you capture from the movie. (Capture the image using a movie authoring application.) Once the image is incorporated into the
PDF document, draw a rectangle around it to specify the play area for the movie. Then deselect the Put Poster In Document option from the Movie
Properties dialog box, and select Use Floating Window.
■ Use a miniature version of the movie poster to create an icon for the movie.
The movie can play in a separate window. You can create the icon by adjusting the movie boundaries to less than full size, and then selecting Display Poster.
The Use Floating Window option sets the movie to play in a separate window.
■ Use a play action other than Play Once Then Stop when a controller bar is used with a clip. Selecting the controller bar stops the clip. Double-clicking inside the movie frame starts it playing again.
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■ Use movie and sound files that are located on your hard disk or on a CD with your PDF files. This ensures optimum performance. If you link your PDF documents to movie or sound files residing across a network or on the World
Wide Web, performance decreases.
Playing movies and sound clips
Before you can play movies or sounds, your computer must have the appropriate sound and video boards installed. See
Integrating media clips into PDFs
for information on the movie and sound file formats for Windows and Mac OS.
See your system’s documentation for more information. You must also have the necessary software installed on your system:
■ Apple QuickTime 2.0 or later, or Microsoft Video (Windows).
■ Apple QuickTime 2.0 or later (Mac OS)
To play a movie or sound clip:
1 Select the hand tool .
2 Move the cursor over a movie or sound clip, the cursor changes to a filmstrip.
3 Click to begin playing the clip.
4 Click again to stop playing, or press Escape.
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Using actions for special effects
Acrobat allows you to add special effects to PDF documents. You can specify that a particular action will occur when a bookmark, link, or form field is selected, or when a page or form is viewed. For example, you can use links and bookmarks to jump to different locations in a document, but you can also use them to play movies, and sound clips, execute commands from a menu, or other actions. Page actions are another way of activating special effects in a
PDF document. For example, you can specify a movie or sound clip to play when a page is opened or closed.
About action types
You can specify actions for links, bookmarks, page actions, buttons, and other form fields. To assign an action to a link, you choose an action type from the
Actions menu in the Create Link dialog box. To assign an action to a bookmark, you choose an action type from the Type menu in the Bookmark Properties dialog box. To assign an action to a button or other form field, you choose an action type from the Type menu in the Add Action dialog box. You bring up the
Add Action dialog box from the form tool Field Properties dialog box.
Execute Menu Item Executes a specified menu command as the action. Click
Edit Menu Item, select a menu item, and then click OK.
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Go To View Jumps to a destination within the current document or in another
PDF document. Go to the destination where you want the reader to end up, and set the position and magnification for the view. You can either navigate to the location in the current document or choose File > Open, select a PDF file, then go to the destination.
Import Form Data Brings in form data from another file, and places it in the
active form. See Exporting and importing form data for more information.
JavaScript Runs a specified Java script. The Edit button allows you to create or edit a Java script action that is activated when the bookmark, link, etcetera is selected. For more information, see
Using custom JavaScripts in forms .
Movie Plays a specified QuickTime or AVI movie. Click Select Movie, and select the movie you want to play when the action is activated. The movie must already be added to the PDF document for you to be able to select it.
Open File Launches and opens a non-PDF file. Click Select File, locate the file, and click Select. (If you are distributing a PDF file with a link to a non-PDF file, the reader needs the native application of the non-PDF file to open it successfully.)
Read Article Follows an article thread in the active document or in another
PDF document. To choose an article from the active document, Click Select
Article, select an article from the list, and click OK. To choose an article in another PDF document, make the destination file the active document, click
Select Article, select an article from the list, and click OK.
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Reset Form Clears previously entered data in a form. You can control the fields that are reset with the Select Fields dialog box.
Show/Hide Field Toggles between showing and hiding a field in a PDF document. Choose Edit to select a field and specify whether to show or hide it.
Sound Plays a specified sound file. The sound will be embedded into the PDF document in a cross-platform format that will play in Windows and Mac OS. In
Mac OS, you can add QuickTime, System 7 sound files, AIFF, Sound Mover
(FSSD), and WAV files. In Windows, you can add AIF and WAV files.
Submit Form Sends the form data to a specified URL. See
Setting action options for more information.
World Wide Web Link Jumps to a destination on the World Wide Web. You can use http:, ftp, and mailto protocols to define your link. See Chapter 5,
and Configuring Web browsers for viewing PDF
for more Weblink information.
None Specifies no action. This is often used for a bookmark representing a section heading that does not have a specific destination.
Using page actions
To enhance the interactive quality of a document, you can specify actions, such as playing sounds or movies, to occur when a page is opened or closed.
If you choose Go To Next Page as a page action and later want to change the action, you must first switch to Continuous - Facing Pages layout to edit the
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To set a page action or edit an existing page action:
1 Go to the page in the document that will activate the action.
2 Choose Document > Set Page Action.
3 Select one of the following:
■ Page Open sets an action when the page opens.
■ Page Close sets an action when the page closes.
4 Click Add and choose an action. For a list of action types and descriptions on how to use them, see
.
■ To create a series of actions, click Add again. Choose an action from the menu, and use the Up and Down buttons to arrange the actions in the order you want them to occur.
■ To edit a page action, select the page action, and select an item from the Do
The Following Things list. Select Edit, and make the desired changes to the
Type or Destination. Click OK to accept these changes.
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■ To delete a page action, select an item from the Do The Following Things list, and then click Delete.
Note: If you set a Page Action/Execute Menu Item to Full Screen on Page Open or Page Close, the next time the same page opens or closes, Full Screen is toggled off.
5 Click OK to accept the page actions.
Using buttons
Buttons are most commonly thought of in relation to the standard functionality associated with the form tool. They offer great potential, however, for enhancing the visual and interactive quality of a document, as well as providing another method for instigating an action. Buttons can open a file, play a sound, play a movie, submit data to a Web server, and much more.
When deciding on how to initiate an action, remember that buttons offer the following capabilities that links and bookmarks do not:
■ A button can activate a series of actions, not just a single action.
■ A button can have alternate appearances, relating to mouse behavior over the button.
■ A button can be easily copied across many pages.
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■ Mouse actions can activate different button actions: Mouse Up, Mouse
Down, Mouse Enter, or Mouse Exit.
Order Form
Name
Address
Home Phone
Work Phone
Spring 1999
City, State, Zip
How did you hear about us?
Category
Retro Toys
Games
Craft Kits
Total
Credit Card #
Newspaper
Signature
Catalog Friend Other
Quantity P ri c e
Visa MasterCard
AmericanExpress Discover
J U G G L E R
Calculate
Submit
Reset
Buttons on a sample PDF page
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Creating interactive buttons
The functionality for creating buttons is closely associated with the form tool.
There is a much broader application for buttons, however. While buttons are a needed element in many forms, they can generate visual interest and interactive usability options when used in many types of online documents. For
more information about using the form tool, see Creating form fields .
Mouse Down is the most common button behavior, and Mouse Up is the default mouse appearance. You can select any combination of mouse behaviors for a field and specify any combination of actions for a mouse behavior, although no more than 10 are recommended.
To add an interactive button:
1 Select the form tool , and drag the cross-hair pointer to create a box.
2 Enter a name in the Name text box of the Field Properties dialog box, and select Button from the Type menu.
3 With the Field Properties dialog box still active, set the desired options:
■ Specify a border color, background color, and border width and style.
■ Specify a font, font size, and text color.
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■ Select Read Only or Required, and specify whether the form field is to be hidden, visible, visible but doesn’t print, or hidden but printable.
■ Specify the appearance and actions associated with the button. See
.
4 Select the Options tab.
5 Specify the display of the button when clicked, choosing one of the following options:
■ Invert inverts the colors in the button.
■ None results in no change to the appearance of the button.
■ Outline highlights the field border.
■ Push uses the elements specified in the Button Face attributes section.
6 Choose a button layout from the menu. You can choose a text only display, an icon only display, or various combinations of icon and text. You select the text and icon for the button layout in the Button Face Attributes section of the dialog box.
Home
Home Home Home
Home
A B C D E F
A. Icon only B. Icon over text C. Text left, icon right D. Text over icon E. Text in icon
F. Icon left, text right
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7 If you want the button to change in appearance when the mouse interacts with it, select a button state from the Button Face When list, and then enter text or select an icon from the Button Face Attributes. Choose from the following options:
■ Up indicates the button display when the mouse is not interacting with the button.
■ Down indicates the button display when the mouse is pressed over the button.
■ Rollover indicates the change in the button display when the cursor moves across the button (before it is actively selected).
It is recommended that you assign a navigational action, such as Next
Page, as a Mouse Up action so the action happens when the user releases the mouse button.
8 Enter text or select an icon from the Button Face Attributes box. See
9 Click OK.
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Customizing button displays
Acrobat allows you to specify up to three different displays for the same button, depending on its relation with the mouse. The Advanced Layout option on the Options panel of the Field Properties dialog allows you to specify how a button icon fits into a field border.
Note: The Acrobat forms crop box overrides the bounding box (if there is one) for an image or PDF page you may choose for a button display. This can result in white space or margins being ignored and the dimensions being recalculated, resulting in a change in height/width ratio.
To specify button display properties:
1 Select the form tool , and drag the cross-hair pointer to create a box.
2 Choose Button from the Type menu.
3 Click the Options tab in the Field Properties dialog box, and do one of the following:
■ If you chose a text option from the Layout menu, type the text in the
Text box.
■ If you chose an icon option from the Layout menu, click Select Icon, and then click Browse. Choose a PDF file to use as the icon, click Open, and then click OK.
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If you want to use only a portion of the page as an icon—for example, only the bitmap on the page—you need to crop the page before carrying out this procedure. The smallest allowable PDF page size is 1-by-1 inch. If you want the icon to appear smaller than 1-by-1 inch, shrink it to fit the size of the box drawn with the form tool.
4 To set another display for the button, select another button state from the
Button Face When list, select an option from the Layout menu, and choose the appropriate option from step 3.
5 Click OK to accept these display properties.
Note: Clicking the Clear button does not clear the text entered in the text box.
To scale button icons:
1 Select the form tool , and drag the cross-hair pointer to create a box.
2 Choose Button from the Type menu.
3 From the Options tab, choose a button state from the Button Face When list, and choose an icon option from the Layout menu.
4 Click Select Icon, choose a PDF file for your icon image, and click OK to accept.
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5 Select Advanced Layout, and choose one of the following for the Scale
When option:
■ Always scales the icon regardless of its size in relation to the field size.
■ Never preserves the icon’s original size; it clips the icon if it doesn’t fit.
■ Too Big scales the icon only if it is larger than the field.
■ Too Small scales the icon only if it is smaller than the field.
Note: If you select Never, the Scale How options are not available.
6 Choose whether or not to scale the icon proportionally.
7 To define where the icon is placed inside the field, drag the slider arrows.
Icon placement is defined according to the percentage of space preserved between the icon and the left field boundary, and between the icon and the bottom field boundary. The default setting (50, 50) places the icon in the middle of a field. You can click Reset at any time to revert to the default placement setting.
8 Click OK.
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Showing and hiding graphic form fields
Form fields can include both graphics and text. You can use buttons, links, bookmarks, and page actions to show or hide a form field. By alternately showing and hiding a graphic form field, you can create interesting visual effects within a document. For example, when you move a cursor over a city on a map, a detail map of the city could be displayed. When the cursor moves away from the city, the detail map could disappear.
To create the effect of showing and hiding a graphic form field, you first specify a graphic element for the button that will be shown and hidden. Next, you create a second button to activate the Show-Hide Field action. You do not assign an icon for the appearance of the second button. Instead, you assign actions to occur when the mouse enters and exits the field border. For more information, see
Setting appearance options and
To define an image field that is shown and hidden:
1 Select the form tool , and drag a box to represent the area of the image field.
2 Type a name in the Name text box, and choose Button from the Type menu.
3 From the Options tab, choose Push from the Highlight menu.
4 From the Button Face When list, choose Up.
5 For Layout, choose Icon Only.
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6 Click Select Icon, and then click Browse. Navigate to the location of the PDF
(image) file, select the file, and click Open. Click OK to accept the previewed image as the button.
7 Click the Appearance tab. If needed, deselect Border Color and Background
Color. Choose Solid for Style, and then click OK.
To assign actions to occur when the mouse enters and exits a field:
1 Select the form tool , and drag a box to represent the activation area.
This will be a hotspot that causes the graphic that you defined to appear and disappear.
2 Enter a name in the Name text box, and choose Button from the Type menu.
You do not assign a graphic to this button. Instead you assign actions to occur when the cursor enters and exits the field border.
3 Click the Actions tab. Select Mouse Enter, and click Add.
4 Choose Show-Hide Field as the Type, and click Edit.
5 Navigate to the location of the PDF (graphic) file you specified, click Show, click OK, and then click Set Action.
6 Select Mouse Exit, and click Add.
7 Choose Show-Hide Field as the Type, and click Edit.
8 Select the same image you specified in step 5, click Hide, click OK, and then click Set Action.
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9 Click OK to close the Field Properties dialog.
10 Select the hand tool , and move the cursor across the hotspot area. The image field you defined appears as the cursor enters the hotspot area and disappears when it exits.
Working with JavaScript actions
A JavaScript action allows you to invoke a JavaScript from a form field, a link, a bookmark, or a page action. Familiarity with JavaScript is required. Storing a
JavaScript for a commonly used function as a field level script allows you to invoke the function from other JavaScripts. Storing a function as a document level JavaScript makes the function available to all JavaScripts in the current document. Storing a function as a plug-in level script makes the function available to all JavaScripts in the application. Plug-in level scripts are contained in files with a .js extension. These scripts should be located in the Plug-ins folder in the JavaScripts subfolder.
For more information on creating simple JavaScripts, see
Using custom JavaScripts in forms , or choose Help -> Forms JavaScript Guide to display the Acrobat
Forms JavaScript Object Specification. This document provides information about the classes and objects that have been defined to accommodate
Acrobat forms.
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To choose the JavaScript action:
1 Create or select a form field, link, bookmark, or page action.
2 Press the right mouse button (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS), and choose Properties.
3 Click Add, and select JavaScript as the action. For information about selecting an action for a form field, link, bookmark, or page action, see
.
4 Click Edit.
5 Copy and paste a predefined custom script, or type the script in the text box provided, and then click OK.
6 Click Set Action or Set Link, as appropriate.
To create a document level JavaScript:
1 Choose Tools > Forms > JavaScript Document.
2 Type the name of the script in the text box.
3 Click Add.
4 Copy and paste a predefined custom script, or type the script in the text box provided, and then click OK. The name of the script appears in the lower text box.
5 Click Close.
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6 Choose Tools > Forms > JavaScript Console to bring up the console window.
When a JavaScript is launched, any performance issues appear in the console window. Click Clear to clear the results, or Close to close the window.
To edit or delete an existing document level JavaScript:
1 Choose Tools > Forms > Document JavaScripts.
2 To edit a document level JavaScript, select the JavaScript from the list, and click Change. Edit the existing text, or copy and paste a predefined custom script into the text box provided. Click OK to accept and conclude the edits.
3 To delete a document JavaScript, select the JavaScript from the lower text box, and click Delete.
4 Click Close.
To create a JavaScript plug-in level script:
1 Create a text file containing the function JavaScript. Name and save the file with a .js extension.
2 Copy the text file into the Plug-ins directory inside the Acrobat directory
(Windows) or folder (Mac OS).
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Indexing Document Collections
You can use Acrobat Catalog to create a full-text index of your PDF documents or document collections. After building an index, you can use the Search command to search the entire library quickly. A full-text index is a searchable database of all the text in a document or set of documents.
You can create a full-text index for PDF Normal and PDF Original Image With
Hidden Text files only. For information on converting PDF Image Only files to searchable PDF files, see Chapter 4,
Converting Scanned Documents to PDF .
Note: Acrobat Catalog is useful for indexing collections of PDF documents for use on a local hard drive or CD-ROM drive. If you want to search and retrieve documents over the Web, use standard Web search engines that index PDF,
HTML, and many other document formats.
Preparing PDF document collections for indexing
Before you index a document collection, you need to organize the documents on the disk drive or network server volume, make sure the filenames comply with cross-platform conventions, break large documents up into smaller files to enhance search performance, and complete Document Info fields in each document, if appropriate.
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You can set options for your index, such as Case Sensitive, Sounds Like, and
Word Stemming, that support the options used with the Search command.
Using these options can enhance the searchability of an index.
Note: Your documents should be complete in content and electronic features, such as links, bookmarks, and form fields, before you use Catalog to index them.
A B
Large file should be broken up into smaller files on disk. For example, original file “sample A” is broken up into multiple smaller files “sample B.”
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Structuring PDF collections for indexing
When you define and build an index, you must create a folder to contain the index definition file and a support folder. The index definition file has the same name as the index folder but has a .pdx extension. The folder has the same name as the PDX file and contains related folders that are automatically generated by Catalog.
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Catalog creates the PDX file (leglindx.pdx in this example) and the support folder (leglindx in this example) in the folder that contains the indexed document collection. The following guidelines apply:
■ The entire index—both the PDX file and the support folder—must be located inside a single folder. See
Moving document collections and their indexes
for more information.
■ The indexed documents must reside on a single disk drive or network server volume, and the index must be on the same drive or volume as the indexed documents (Windows).
Consider creating a separate PDF file for each chapter or section of a document. When you separate a document into parts and then search it, search performance is optimized.
Naming PDF files for cross-platform compatibility
When you name PDF documents and build indexes for cross-platform document collections, the safest approach is to observe MS-DOS filenaming conventions. While Acrobat has a sophisticated mapping filter for identifying formats of indexed documents, ambiguities caused when names created for one platform are mapped to usable names on another platform can slow down the searches. There may even be cases where this prevents documents from being located.
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Consider the following guidelines when naming PDF files and documents:
■ If you are using the Mac OS version of Catalog to build a cross-platform indexed document collection, and if you don’t want to change long PDF filenames to MS-DOS filenames, select Make Include/Exclude Folders DOS
Compatible in the Index group of preferences before you build your index. If you check this preference, you must use MS-DOS filenaming conventions for the folder names (8 digits with 3 digit extension); however, you do not have to use these conventions for the names of the files inside the folders.
■ If you are using Mac OS with an OS/2 LAN Server and if you want to be sure that the indexed files are searchable on all PC platforms, either configure LAN
Server Macintosh (LSM) to enforce MS-DOS filenaming conventions, or index only FAT volumes. (HPFS volumes may contain unretrievable long filenames.)
■ If you are indexing PDF documents with long filenames that will be truncated for Windows use, be consistent in your use of either the Windows or
Mac OS version of Catalog to build or update the index.
■ If you are creating documents that will be searched only by Macintosh users, do not use deeply nested folders or pathnames longer than 256 characters.
■ If you are planning to deliver the document collection and index on an ISO
9660-formatted disc, you should use ISO 9660 filenames. With the Macintosh version of Catalog, check Log Compatibility Warnings in the Logging prefer-
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Important: Avoid using extended characters, such as accented characters and some non-English characters, in the names of files and folders used for the index or the indexed files. The font used by Catalog does not support character codes 133 through 159.
Filling out Document Info fields
If the Document Info fields have been filled out, index searches can be limited to those documents that contain specific Document Info field values. See
Searching with Document Info and Date Info
for more information. For best results, entries in the Document Info fields should be standardized across a set of documents or even within an organization.
Consider the following guidelines when filling out Document Info fields:
■ Use a descriptive title in the Title field. Even though the filename of the document appears in the Search Results dialog box if the title field is empty, filenames are often not very descriptive.
■ Always use the same field for category information. For example, don’t use the Subject field for some documents and the Keywords field for others.
■ Use the same word for the same category. For example, don’t use biology for some documents and life sciences for others.
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■ Use the Author field to identify the group responsible for the document. For example, the author of a hiring policy document might be the Human
Resources department.
■ Add the document part numbers as keywords. For example, add something like doc#=m234 to the Keywords field.
■ Use the Subject or Keywords field or both to categorize documents by type.
For example, you might use status report as a Subject value and monthly or
weekly as a Keywords field value for a single document.
■ Make a table that shows the values assigned to each document if you are publishing a large number of documents. While you are developing the index, use the table to maintain consistency. When you publish the index, include the table as part of your documentation.
You can also define custom data fields, such as Document Type, Document
Number, and Document Identifier, to improve searchability. Be advised, however, that you need a strong understanding of the PDF format to be able to create these customizations. For more information see,
.
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Providing information about indexes
The primary index-description document is the index-definition (PDX) file itself.
When you define an index, you can put up to 250 characters in the Index
Description text box. When index users list available indexes, they can read these descriptions.
Even if you can fit all the necessary index information into the Index
Description text box, consider providing a separate index description in a
Readme file. Such a document could provide the following information:
■ The kind of documents indexed.
■ The search options supported.
■ The person to contact or a phone number to call with questions.
■ A list of numbers or words that are excluded from the index.
■ A list of the folders containing documents included in a LAN-based index, or a list of the documents included in a disc-based index. You might also include a brief description of the contents of each folder or document.
■ A list of the values for each document, if Document Info field values are assigned to indexed documents.
You can place index-description Readme files in the same folders as the indexes they describe. Alternatively, you can place them in a central location.
That way users can easily find descriptions of all the indexes without having to know where the indexes themselves are located.
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Defining and building indexes
The first step in building an index is to provide a definition for the index. The index definition should list the folders containing the documents to be indexed and the settings for index options. An index title and a description of the index are optional.
Important: Before you can build an index, you need to ensure you have enough free disk space (10–30% more than the size of the files being indexed) to accommodate the index and the temporary files created during the build.
To define and build an index:
1 Double-click the Catalog application on your desktop to start Catalog.
2 Choose Index > New (Windows) or File > New (Mac OS).
Note: In the New Index Definition dialog box, you may enter a title and provide a description of the index (up to 250 characters). See
Providing information about indexes for more information.
3 To add folders to the index, click Add under Include Directories, navigate to the folder you want to include in the index, and do one of the following:
■ Double-click the folder name, and click OK (Windows).
■ Select the folder name, and select folder name (Mac OS).
Note: On Mac OS, if you do not plan on moving the index and document collection, you can add folders from multiple servers or disk drives.
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4 To exclude folders from the index, click Add under Exclude Directories, navigate to the folders, and select them. You cannot exclude individual files inside a folder; you have to exclude the entire folder.
5 To change index options, select Options, make the necessary selections, and click OK. You can exclude specific words (stopwords) from the index, exclude numbers, and disable some of the user’s search options (Case Sensitive,
Sounds Like, Word Stemming). See
Selecting word search options for more
information.
6 Enter an index title and description, and then click Build. Retain the .pdx extension provided for the filename. Use the following guidelines when selecting a location for index folder and file:
■ The folder must be on the disk or network server volume where the documents to be indexed are stored (Windows).
■ The folder may be put on a different disk or network server volume from that of the indexed documents, if you don’t plan to move the index and documents.
In this case, choose Allow Indexing On a Separate Drive from the Edit > Preferences > Index menu (Mac OS only).
■ The pathname of the folder should not contain high ANSI characters (such as some foreign characters) or the slash (/) character (Windows and Mac OS).
7 Click OK (Windows) or Save (Mac OS).
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As Catalog builds the index, it displays messages that report the progress of the build. You can stop the build at any time. For more information, see
Stopping and restarting builds .
Whenever Catalog builds or updates an index, it creates a log file of errors and messages. In Windows, the log file (.log) is in the same folder as the index files.
On Mac OS, the log file is in the Catalog application folder by default. You can set the preferences to save the log file in the same folder as the index, or any other folder.
To rebuild an index:
1 Choose Index > Build.
2 Locate and select the PDX file for the index you want to rebuild.
3 Click Open. Acrobat Catalog rebuilds the index and places it in the selected folder.
On Mac OS, you can also rebuild an already defined index by dragging and dropping. For information on building already defined indexes in batches, see
Automatically updating indexes .
Using drag-and-drop to build indexes (Mac OS)
When you use the drag-and-drop index-build feature, define the index using the Drop Folders preferences, or use the Acrobat Catalog default value.
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To build an index using drag-and-drop (Mac OS):
Drag a folder, multiple folders, or an entire disk containing PDF documents to the Catalog application icon. Catalog begins building or rebuilding the index:
■ If a folder does not contain a PDX file, Catalog places a new default index
(named index.pdx) in the folder and uses it to index the documents in the folder.
■ If a folder contains a PDX file, Catalog uses that definition to rebuild the document index in the folder and in any other folders listed in the definition.
Deleting indexes
You can delete the entire contents of an index at any time. This differs from purging, which flushes out all unnecessary files and information. For more information on purging an index, see
Purging and rebuilding indexes .
To delete an index:
If you need to delete an index rather than just purging it, delete the indexdefinition (PDX) file, the log file for the index, the index folder, and all its nested folders. Use the normal file-deletion procedures for your operating system.
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Stopping and restarting builds
You can stop a build any time from the Acrobat Catalog window. The message
“Build stopped by user” appears in the dialog box. It takes a few seconds for all the active processes to halt.
Catalog maintains the partial results of the build for use when you next update the index. This partial index can be searched.
To restart a stopped build:
1 Choose Index > Schedule.
2 Select the stopped index from the list, and click Start. It takes a few seconds for all the processes involved in the build to restart.
Changing index definitions
There may be cases when the documents in a collection change. In this situation, you should change the index definition and rebuild the index.
To change an index definition:
1 Choose Index > Open (Windows) or File > Open (Mac OS).
2 Locate and select the PDX file, and click Open.
3 Make the necessary changes, and click Save.
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Setting index options
You can optimize your index by reducing its size, thereby improving the search time. You can do this by changing some of the Acrobat Catalog defaults in the
Options dialog box. You can exclude specified terms (stopwords) and numbers, and you can disable support for the match case, sounds like, and word stemming search features.
When you are setting index options, follow these guidelines:
■ You can change options for a particular definition, but not for all new indexes. The Index defaults are fixed (Windows).
■ You can change the defaults for most of the options in the Index Defaults group of preferences (Mac OS).
To set index options:
1 Choose Index > Open (Windows) or File > Open (Mac OS).
2 Locate and select the PDX file, and click Open.
3 Make additions or changes in the Options dialog box:
■ Exclude stopwords and numbers from the index. For more information, see
Excluding words (stopwords) and numbers from indexes .
■ Choose not to support any of the word search options: case sensitive, sounds like, and word stemming. For more information, see
Selecting word search options .
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4 Click OK, and then click Save. These changes are applied the next time you build or update the index.
Selecting word search options
Several word search options can be used in conjunction with the Acrobat
Search command to enhance search performance:
■ Case Sensitive enables the Match Case option in Acrobat Search. The Case
Sensitive option limits the search to word matches with specified upper- and lowercase elements.
■ Sounds Like enables the Sounds Like option in Acrobat Search. The Sounds
Like option expands searches for proper names.
■ Word Stemming enables the Word Assistant preview in Acrobat Search.
The Word Stemming option finds words that share a word stem with the search term.
The Case Sensitive, Sounds Like, and Word Stemming options increase the size of the index when used. If disc space is a critical issue, you may want to disable support for these options. For more information on these options, see
To disable support for a word search option:
In the Options dialog box, deselect the desired word options, and then click OK.
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Excluding words (stopwords) and numbers from indexes
You can exclude, or stop, up to 500 words from an index. For instance, you might want to exclude words such as the, a, but, or, for, and by. When you exclude stopwords from an index, it makes the index 10–15% smaller. The drawback is that users will be unable to search using phrases that contain these stopwords. For this reason, it is helpful to provide a list of the stopwords with the index.
In the Options dialog box, select the options for your index:
■ To add a stopword, type the word in the Word text box, and select Add.
Stopwords can be up to 26 characters long and are case sensitive.
■ To remove a word from the list of stopwords, select a word in the Word to Not
Include in Index text box, and select Remove.
■ To exclude numbers, specify the exclusion in the index definition. For
Windows, this is necessary because the default is to include numbers. For Mac
OS, change the default in the Index Defaults group of preferences, as well as specify exclusion for a particular index.
Excluding numbers can significantly reduce the size of an index. However, the disadvantage of excluding numbers is that users will not be able to find phrases that contain numbers. You should always inform users when numbers are excluded from an index.
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Optimizing indexes for CD-ROMs
The Optimize For CD-ROM option in the Options dialog box arranges index files for the fastest possible access on a CD. This option also makes it easier for you to modify Document Info fields or security settings after you have indexed a document. Normally when a user searches a document that has been modified after it was indexed, a message indicates that the document was changed, and the user must choose whether to use the index. When you select the Optimize
For CD-ROM option, the message and choice are bypassed.
Adding document identifiers to 1.0 PDF files for cross-platform compatibility
You may need to add unique document identifiers to PDF documents created with version 1.x of Acrobat Distiller or PDFWriter and used in cross-platform environments. Version 2 and later of these programs add the identifiers automatically.
Document identifiers are needed when Mac OS filenames are shortened when translated to DOS filenames. Filenaming ambiguities often result from this cross-platform renaming process. Acrobat Search uses the unique identifiers to resolve such ambiguities. Add these document identifiers in the Options dialog box.
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Setting Catalog preferences (Mac OS)
There are a number of preferences available to skilled users of Adobe Catalog.
The default settings are designed to work for most users, and it is recommended that you do not customize these preferences unless you are familiar with the underlying programming concepts.
To set Catalog preferences:
1 Choose Edit > Preferences.
2 Edit the settings you want to change:
■ Time Before Purge (seconds): 30–905. Specifies the delay from the time the purge command is invoked. It is strongly recommended that you leave this as the default of 905 seconds.
■ Document Section Size (words): Small=200000, Medium=400000, and
Large=800000. Specify Small if you have low memory configuration.
■ Group Size For CD-ROM: Should not be set above 4000.
■ Index Available After (Number of ) Documents: Options 16–4000
(Default=1024). Specifies the number of PDF files Catalog processes before making a partial index available or before updating the current index with entries for new and changed documents.
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■ Index Disk Cache Size (kilobytes): (Default=128). Specifies that the build stops if the percentage of memory available at the start of a build drops below this figure.
■ Allow Indexing On A Separate Drive: Permits you to index on a separate drive when this check box is selected.
■ Make Include/Exclude Folders DOS Compatible: Makes these folders DOS compatible when this check box is selected.
3 Click OK.
Defining custom data fields
Custom data fields can be changed in the Catalog Preferences dialog box.
Choose Edit > Preferences.
For information on customizing Acrobat, see the Acrobat Software Development Kit. Support for the Adobe Acrobat SDK is provided to members of the
Acrobat Developers Program by the Adobe Developers Association (ADA). For information on joining the ADA, requesting developer technical support, or obtaining updates to this SDK, refer to the Developer Support section of the
Adobe Web site (www.adobe.com).
Tips on reducing index size
■ For small indexes and fast searches, specify the largest possible build-group size (1024 files) with Index Available in the Index preferences.
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■ To make partial indexes available quickly during large updates, specify a small build-group size (100 or fewer) with Index Available in the preferences.
However, note that decreasing this setting slows the update and the execution of search queries.
■ For fast updates, use the largest setting for the Document Section Size preference in the Index preferences.
Note: The Document Section Size setting determines the maximum size of a document before Acrobat Catalog creates two or more indexes for the document.
■ For fast updates, increase the Index Disk Cache Size in the Index preferences as much as possible.
Automatically updating indexes
You can schedule one-time updates (Once), schedule updates at regular intervals (Every), or arrange for updating to go on continuously (Continuously).
Catalog updates are incremental to minimize updating time and permit searching to go on uninterrupted during updates. This technique causes the index to grow with each update, however, and you need to purge and rebuild the index periodically to reclaim disk space and speed up searches.
To build several indexes in a single batch process, use the Once method.
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To schedule an automatic build:
1 Choose Index > Schedule.
2 Navigate to the PDX file for the index, select it, and then click Open.
3 Select a build time: Every, Once, or Continuously.
■ If you select Once or Continuously, the index begins building or updating immediately. If you select Continuously, it updates the indexes in the order they are listed in the Indices to Build list.
■ If you select Every, enter a numeric time interval, and then choose Minutes,
Hours, or Days from the menu. If you want to delay processing the selected indexes until a specified time, select Starting At, and use the up and down arrows to select the time.
4 Click Start. If you selected the Starting At option, the index begins building or updating at the time you specified.
5 Click Stop to halt the update process.
To add a new index to the existing schedule:
1 Choose Index > New (Windows) or File > New (Mac OS), and create a new index definition.
2 Click Save As.
3 Select Add Index to Schedule, and then click Save.
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Purging and rebuilding indexes
When you update an index by rebuilding it, entries for deleted documents and for the original versions of changed documents remain in the index but are marked as invalid. This incremental updating increases the time required for searches that use the index slightly. It also can greatly increase the disk space required by the index. For example, if every document indexed has changed since an initial build, the space required for the index is doubled.
Because these increases accumulate over time, you should occasionally purge the index before rebuilding it. You should also purge and rebuild if you change the optional search features supported by an index or change the stopwords list used to build an index. Otherwise search performance may be slowed or search results distorted.
To purge and rebuild an index:
1 Choose Index > Purge.
2 Locate and select the index-definition (PDX) file for the index.
3 Click Open. The index is purged. If the index is currently in use, users are given time to complete queries in progress before the purge begins.
The default “time before purge” is 905 seconds, which is equal to 15 minutes.
Users receive an “Index unavailable for searching” message if they attempt to enter a new query. If a message appears indicating that the purge has failed to complete, look up the message in Troubleshooting for help.
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4 After the purge completes, choose Index > Build.
5 Select the PDX file (for the index), click Open, and then click Yes (Windows) or OK (Mac OS). Catalog rebuilds the index.
Tips for updating indexes
You must update an index if documents are added to or removed from the collection, or if the hierarchy of the indexed folders has changed.
You should also consider updating an index when documents in the indexed document collection have changed, or data values for the new field have been added because a new Document Info field has been defined.
You can reduce the index update time by following these guidelines:
■ Don’t support the Sounds Like, Case Sensitive, or Word Stemming search options.
■ Use stopwords, and exclude numbers.
■ Install Acrobat Catalog on the system where the indexed documents are stored. If the program and documents are on different systems and it is feasible to move the documents temporarily, move them to the Catalog system for updating, and then move them back.
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Moving document collections and their indexes
You can develop and test an indexed document collection on a local hard drive and then move the finished document collection to a network server or disk.
An index definition contains relative paths between the index-definition (PDX) file and the folders containing the indexed documents. If these relative paths are unchanged, you don’t have to rebuild the index after moving the indexed document collection. If the PDX file and the folders containing the indexed documents are in the same folder, you can maintain the relative path simply by moving that folder.
If the relative path changes, you must create a new index after you move the indexed document collection. However, you can still use the original PDX file.
To use the original PDX file, first move the indexed documents. Then copy the
PDX file to the folder where you want to create the new index, and update the
Include and Exclude lists as necessary.
If the index resides on a drive or server volume separate from any part of the collection it applies to, moving either the collection or the index will break the index (Mac OS). If you intend to move a document collection either to another network location or onto a CD, create and build the index in the same location as the collection.
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Searching Catalog Indexes
The Acrobat Search command allows you to perform full-text searches of PDF document collections that have been indexed using Acrobat Catalog, whereas the Acrobat Find command allows you to search only a single document. The
Find command is further limited by having to look at every word on every page. For these reasons, searches of full-text indexes created using Catalog are faster and more convenient than using the Find command. The Search command also provides powerful tools for limiting and expanding a search.
About searching Acrobat Catalog indexes
The focus of your search will depend a lot on how the index was constructed.
Consider the following questions before setting search options and defining search queries:
■ Was document and date information provided for the PDF documents, and can it be used for searching? See
Filling out Document Info fields for more
information.
■ Were common words and numbers excluded when the index was built? See
Setting index options for more information.
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A well built index will often include a file that provides information that can help you plan your search strategies. See
Providing information about indexes
for more information.
Searching indexes
To search an index created using Adobe Catalog, you first select the indexes to search, define a search query, select the documents to review from those returned by the search, and then view the occurrences of the search term within the documents you selected to review. A search query is an expression made up of text and other items to define the information you want to find.
Opening a PDF document associated with an index automatically makes the index searchable.
Selecting indexes
You can search any or all indexes displayed in the Index Selection dialog box.
Dimmed indexes are not available for searching.
To customize index selection:
1 Launch Adobe Acrobat 4.0.
2 Choose Edit > Search > Select Indexes to list the currently available indexes and to add or delete indexes, and then do one of the following in the Index
Selection dialog box:
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■ To add an index to the available indexes list, click Add, navigate to the index, and double-click on the index file.
■ To remove an index, select the index name, click Remove, and then click OK.
■ To select or deselect an index, select the box for the index, and then click OK.
Indexes that are grayed out are currently unavailable for searching.
■ To view information about an available index, highlight the index name, click
Info, and then click OK. The information displayed includes the build date, creation date, number of documents in the index, location of the index, and information provided by the builder of the index. For more information, see
Providing information about indexes .
Using the Search command
The Search command allows you to perform a search on PDF documents. You can search for a simple word or phrase, or you can expand your search query by using wild-card characters and operators. You can use the search options to further refine your search. And if document and date information were provided for the documents you are searching, you can use that information to narrow your search.
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To perform a full-text search:
1 Launch Acrobat 4.0, and choose Edit > Search > Query.
2 Type the text you want to search for in the Find Results Containing Text box:
The text that you type in can be a single word, a number, a term, or a phrase. It can be a word, with or without wild-card characters (*, ?), or any combination of letters, numbers, and symbols. Because you can use Boolean operators in the text box, you must enclose any search term that includes and, or, or not in quotes. You can also use the operators =, ~, and != with text, but only to perform exact matches, contains, and does not contain searches, respectively.
You can use comparison operators (<, <=, >, >=) with values of the same type.
For more information, see
Tips on defining search queries .
To clear the search dialog box and redefine the search, click Clear.
3 To refine your search query, select one or more of the search options: Word
Stemming, Sounds Like, Thesaurus, Match Case, or Proximity. If the search options are not displayed in the Acrobat Search dialog box, restore them by choosing File > Preferences > Search, and selecting Show Options. For infor-
mation on how these options affect your search query, see Setting the search options .
Note: Before you perform a search with one of these options, you can preview the type of results you’ll receive using the Word Assistant. For more information, see
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4 To refine your search query using document and date information, enter document information values in the Title, Subject, Author, and Keywords text boxes, and enter date information in the creation and modification date text boxes. If these text boxes are not displayed in the Acrobat Search dialog box, restore them by choosing File > Preferences > Search, and selecting
Show Fields.
5 Select Search. The Search dialog box is hidden, and documents that match your search query are listed in the Search Results window in order of relevancy.
6 Double-click a document that seems likely to contain the relevant information, probably the first document in the list. The document opens on the first match for the text you typed.
7 Click the Search Next button or Search Previous button to go to other matches in the document. Or choose another document to view.
Alternatively, you can redefine the query by typing new text in the Acrobat
Search dialog box or by using other techniques to expand the search to include more documents or to limit the search to fewer documents. For more information, see
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Viewing documents returned from searches
A search returns a list of indexed documents containing items that match your search query. The results are displayed in the Search Results window. When you open a document in the list, you view only pages containing matches. All the matches on a page are highlighted.
Documents more likely to contain relevant information are listed first on the list. The relevancy ranking of each document is indicated by an icon. The degree of fill in the circle in the icon indicates the probability that the document contains the search information. A solid fill indicates a high probability that the document contains your search term; an empty circle indicates a low probability that the document contains your search term.
Relevancy ranking for search results
The relevancy ranking also depends on how you defined your search query:
■ When you use ordinary search text, the relevancy ranking indicates how frequently the search word appears in the document. This means both in absolute terms and relative to the number of other words in the document.
■ When you use a Boolean OR operator between two words or phrases in a search, documents that contain both items have a higher relevancy ranking than documents that contain just one item.
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■ When you use the Proximity option, the closer the matches are within a document, the higher the relevancy ranking of that document.
To view a document returned from a search:
1 Double-click the document name to open the document.
2 Use the Search buttons on the tool bar to view all the matches for your query.
3 Review the search results that automatically appear in the text box:
■ To highlight the next occurrence of a match in the document, click
Search Next.
■ To highlight the previous occurrence of a match in a document, click
Search Previous.
■ To highlight the first occurrence of a match in the next document listed or previous document listed, Shift-click Search Next or Search Previous.
■ To view any other document listed, select Search Results to redisplay the list, then double-click the document name.
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Refining your searches
If your search returns too many documents or provides too many matches in individual documents, you can pair down the search results by confining the search to documents returned by a previous search, or you can more narrowly define your search term, use the document and date information, and use the general search options and the Word Assistant. Alternatively, if your search did not provide the information you were looking for, you can broaden your search query using the search options, for example.
Note: If the search options and document and date information text boxes are not displayed in the Acrobat Search dialog box, restore them by choosing File >
Preferences > Search, and selecting Show Options.
Refining searches in progress
If you want to narrow a search further, you can refine or confine your search to documents listed in a prior search. For example, you can first search for (and find) all documents by an author, and then define a search query for that subset of documents. The result would be a subset of documents that are authored by the specified author and that contain the search string.
To refine a search:
1 Choose Edit > Search > Query to display the Search Results window. Select and show the results of a previous search.
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2 In the Search dialog box, refine or replace the query that produced the list of documents.
If you used a simple text string for the search query, you might consider refining the search query by using the search options, by including document and date information in the search, or by using Word Assistant. For more information, see
3 Press Ctrl (Windows) or Option (Mac OS). The button label changes from
Search to Refine.
4 Click Refine. This produces a Search Results list of documents that are a subset of the previous list and that match the new query.
Using Word Assistant
Word Assistant enables you to build a list of terms that will appear when you specify a search using the Sounds Like, Word Stemming, or Thesaurus options.
The resulting list shows you if the option you are using is likely to return helpful results. If the list is too long or full of irrelevant words, you can quickly construct a list of words to find by copying words from the Word Assistant dialog box and pasting them into the search dialog box.
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To use the Word Assistant with search options:
1 Choose Edit > Search > Word Assistant.
2 To check the available indexes or change the selection of indexes, click Indexes.
3 In the Index Selection dialog, select the indexes you want to use.
4 Select a search option (Sounds Like, Word Stemming, or Thesaurus) from the Assist menu.
5 Enter the search word in the Word text box, and click Look Up.
To copy words from the Word Assistant dialog box:
1 Choose Edit > Search > Query to open the Search dialog box.
2 Use the Word Assistant to generate a list of related words.
3 Double-click a word to search.
4 Double-click and copy the word in the Word text box to the clipboard.
5 In the Search dialog box, select the Find text box, and paste in the selected word.
6 Repeat steps 3 through 5 for each word you want to use; separate each pair of words in the Find text box with AND or OR.
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Setting the search options
You can expand your search term by using the search options Sounds Like,
Word Stemming, or Thesaurus. To determine if your choices will be useful in limiting your search, you can use the Word Assistant to build a list of terms that will appear when you specify these options. For more information, see
.
You can limit your search term by using the search options Match Case and Proximity.
To set the search options:
In the Search dialog box, select one or more of the options:
■ Word Stemming finds words that contain part of (a word stem) the specified search word. It applies to single words, not phrases; does not apply to words that contain wild-card characters (*, ?); finds words that end in ing, ed, s, ion, and so on, but not er; and cannot be used with the Match Case option. Word
Stemming works only for indexes built with this option.
■ Sounds Like finds different spellings for proper names. It applies to single words, not phrases; does not apply to words that contain wild-card characters; and cannot be used with the Match Case option. Sounds Like works only for indexes built with this option.
■ Thesaurus finds similar words that appear in the documents you are searching, not necessarily all the similar words you might find in a complete
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■ Match Case limits the results of the search by finding only those documents that contain words with the same capitalization. It can be used with a Boolean expression and with terms that use wild-card characters. Characters matched by wild-card characters can be either uppercase or lowercase.
■ Proximity limits the results of simple AND searches to one pair of matches per document—the pair closest together. The two matches must be within three pages or fewer of each other. This option is useful for locating a document that concentrates on some topic of interest.
Proximity affects relevancy ranking in searches. The closer the matches are within a document, the higher the ranking. Proximity does work with complex
AND searches—such as, Hawaii AND (cruise OR fly).
If you want to keep the search dialog box small, you can hide (or keep hidden) the options and type in their names in the Find Results Containing Text box. Along with the text box names, you need to use operators such as =
(equals) and > (greater than). For the options, type in /st (stemming), /so
(sounds like), /th (thesaurus), /ca (match case), or /pr (proximity).
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Searching with Document Info and Date Info
If document and date information was provided for the documents you are searching, you can use this information in the Search dialog box to limit your search. For example, you can limit your search to documents authored by one person and created or modified within a given period or on a given date. You can view the document and date information (if any) provided by choosing File
> Doc Info > General from within the PDF document.
If you want to keep the search dialog box small, you can hide the document and date text boxes and type the text box names in the Find Results Containing box. You will need to use operators such as = (equals) and > (greater than).
To search using Document Info:
In the Search dialog box, enter your search query information in the appropriate title, subject, author, and keywords text boxes. You can use Boolean operators and wild-card characters in these text boxes, with the search text.
All documents that contain the value are returned. If the With Document
Info text boxes are not displayed in your Search dialog box, choose
File > Preferences > Search, and select Show Fields. You may see additional custom text boxes in your display, depending on the information supplied for the PDF document.
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To search using Date Info:
In the Search dialog box, do one of the following:
■ Enter a date (month, day, year), or use the Up and Down Arrow keys to select a value.
■ To limit a search to documents created or modified after a specific date, specify the after date, and leave the before date blank.
■ To limit a search to documents that were created or modified before a specific date, specify the before date, and leave the after date blank.
■ To create a Boolean AND condition, enter the creation and modification dates in the Search dialog box. An AND condition returns only documents created or modified during the specified period.
If the With Date Info text boxes are not displayed in your Search dialog box, choose File > Preferences > Search, and select Show Date.
Tips on defining search queries
You can improve your search by narrowly defining the term or phrase you search for, being aware that some words (stopwords) and numbers may have been excluded when the index was built, and by using wild-card characters and Boolean operators.
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Searching for terms or phrases
■ If your search phrase includes the words and, or, or not used in their ordinary sense (not as a Boolean operator), put the phrase in quotes. The search phrase
“once or twice” finds all occurrences of the phrase once or twice, not all occurrences of once and all occurrences of twice as it would without the quotes.
■ If your search phrase includes punctuation (other than an apostrophe) or special characters (such as @ and *), they are ignored. For example, either of the terms son-in-law, son in law finds all occurrences of both son-in-law and son in law.
Excluding stopwords, numbers, and separator characters
■ If you are unsuccessful in searching for a phrase that includes a common word, it is probably because it is a specified stopword.
■ If you are unsuccessful in searching for a term that includes numbers, it is probably because numbers have been excluded from the index. Acrobat
Catalog defines a number to be a sequence of one or more digits (0 through 9), optionally preceded by a minus sign (-), optionally separated by one or more commas (,) or periods (.), and optionally containing a decimal point, which can be a period (.) or a comma (,).
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■ If you use a separator character in a search term, it is automatically discarded.
Separator characters include all symbols, the space character, and punctuation characters except the apostrophe. When indexing a PDF document, Acrobat
Catalog uses separator characters to recognize where one term ends and the next term begins.
■ If alphanumeric terms are made up of numbers and separator characters, they can also be excluded.
Expanding searches
■ Use wild-card characters in the search text to increase the number of matches for the text.
■ Use an asterisk (*) to match zero, one, or more characters; use a question mark (?) to match any one character.
■ Use wild-card characters in a term that is part of a Boolean expression.
■ Use wild-card characters to specify Document Info text box values. However, you cannot use wild-cards to represent separator characters such as the hyphen (-) and the slash (/).
■ Use Boolean expressions in Document Info text box values.
■ Use a Boolean OR operator between two words to return documents containing either word.
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■ Use the Sounds Like, Word Stemming, and Thesaurus options to increase the number of matches for the text.
■ Use a comma (,) or vertical bar (|) to separate items in an OR search.
Limiting searches
■ Use a Boolean NOT operator before a word or search term to exclude documents containing the word or search term.
■ Use an exclamation point (!) as another way to specify a NOT search.
However, be sure to place a space between the exclamation point and the search item.
■ Use a Boolean AND operator between two words to return only documents containing both words.
■ Use the Proximity option to limit AND searches. This specifies that words must be in close proximity to each other—within three pages or fewer.
■ Use the Match Case option to match exact capitalization.
Using Boolean operators
To avoid building inaccurate search queries, follow these guidelines:
■ When NOT is used with either or both of the AND and OR operators, it is evaluated before either the AND or OR. For example, evolution AND NOT Darwin finds all documents that contain the word evolution but not the word Darwin.
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■ When you combine AND and OR in the same expression, AND is evaluated before OR. For example, Darwin OR origin AND species finds all documents that contain Darwin or that contain both origin and species.
■ When you use parentheses, you change the default order of evaluation for
Boolean operators. For example, (Darwin OR origin) AND species finds all documents that contain either Darwin and species or that contain origin and
species. Parentheses can be nested.
■ When you use a literal phrase that contains an operator name, a symbol for an operator name (such as & for AND), or parentheses, the phrase must be enclosed in quotation marks. For example: “cats and dogs” finds all documents that contain the phrase cats and dogs, not all documents that contain either the word cats or the word dogs. The phrase cats & dogs also needs quotes to be interpreted literally.
In addition to and, or, not, and parentheses, the symbols that require quotation marks are
&
| and ,
!
AND
OR
NOT
However, quoted search phrases that contain parentheses or vertical bars can produce unexpected results.
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Using operators
You can use operators in text and Document Info text boxes.
■ You can use =, ~, and != with text only to perform exact matches, contains, and does not contain searches, respectively.
■ You can use comparison operators (<, <=, >, >=) with values of the same type.
Setting search preferences
You can change the default settings in the Search Preferences dialog box to add more choices to your search dialog box, if necessary. For example, if you check Show Fields, a With a Document Info section is added to the search dialog box.
To change search preferences:
1 Choose File > Preferences > Search.
2 Set the preferences in the dialog box as necessary:
■ Show Fields displays Document Info fields. For more information, see
Searching with Document Info and Date Info .
■ Show Options displays search word options. For more information, see
.
■ Show Date displays the date of the items returned by a search query.
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■ Hide on Search hides the dialog box during a search.
■ Sort by allows you to specify a sort by Modified, Producer, Score, Subject, or Title.
■ Show Top displays a specified number of documents that are the first returned from the search.
■ Hide on View hides the dialog box when viewing results.
■ Highlight Display allows you to specify highlighting By Page, By Word, or
No Highlight.
3 Click OK.
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Distributing Documents in PDF
With its small file sizes, platform independence, and online navigation, PDF is an ideal format for distributing documents electronically. You can e-mail PDF documents to other users directly from Acrobat, or you can distribute the documents on the World Wide Web, an intranet, or a CD.
E-mailing documents from Acrobat
You can send an e-mail message from Acrobat with a PDF document as an attachment. Acrobat uses the Messaging Application Program Interface (MAPI) to communicate with your e-mail application. Most e-mail applications come with a MAPI server to handle this interface.
Before you begin, make sure that your e-mail application is working outside
Acrobat, and set it up to use its MAPI server. When you choose the Send Mail command in Acrobat, the MAPI server opens a new outgoing message with the current PDF document attached.
For information on running the MAPI server and on setting options that affect the attached PDF document, see the documentation that came with your email application.
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In Mac OS, before you open your e-mail application, you must select your mailer of choice in the Acrobat Preferences dialog box. If your mailer is not listed, you must configure your mailer in the mailer’s preferences dialog box.
For information on configuring your mailer, see your mailer documentation.
To e-mail a PDF document from Acrobat:
1 Open the document you want to attach to an e-mail.
2 Choose File > Send Mail.
3 If you have not saved the document, enter a filename and location in the
Save As dialog box, and click Save.
4 If you have not logged into the e-mail application, enter your password in the Log In dialog box, and click OK.
5 Address and write the e-mail message in the new message window. Then click Send.
Preparing documents for electronic distribution
Before putting PDF documents on a Web site or a CD, check to see that the text, artwork, and layout in the documents are complete and correct, and that all links, bookmarks, and other enhancements are in place. The documents should be at the point where you would print them if you were distributing on paper.
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You should also think about filenames and file sizes for your documents, and consider including searchable information, defining opening views, and setting up passwords and other security options.
Instead of distributing one large document, it’s usually better to distribute a collection of small documents with links between them. Small documents open faster than large ones, and with links between them, users can go straight to the relevant information instead of trying to locate the information on their own.
Naming PDF documents
When naming a PDF document that is going to be distributed electronically, it’s a good idea to follow standard naming conventions:
■ Use the MS-DOS filenaming convention, because many network and e-mail programs truncate long filenames. This convention requires a filename of up to eight characters, followed by an extension of up to three characters. Using the
MS-DOS convention ensures that your documents retain their .pdf extensions when they are transferred among computers. If you’re putting the document on a CD, see
Distributing PDF documents on a CD for additional naming
considerations.
■ Use the .pdf extension with a PDF filename. In Windows, documents without the .pdf extension may not display in the Open dialog box if you search for documents by typing in *.pdf. Most Web browsers, Web servers, and versions of
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Microsoft Windows have been configured to associate .pdf documents with
Acrobat or the Web browser plug-in and to launch the appropriate application when they encounter a filename ending in .pdf.
Optimizing image quality and file sizes
To make bitmap images small enough for network distribution or for mass storage on CDs, you generally need to compress PDF documents to save the images in a way that uses less space. For continuous-tone images, such as photographs, JPEG Medium compression saves a lot of space with little loss of quality.
You may want to try applying different compression settings to your PDF documents and comparing the resulting image quality and file size. Use
Distiller to convert two or three versions of a document to PDF, each with a different compression setting, and save each version of the document. Then open the versions in Acrobat and compare them, zooming in at 400% for a close look at the images. Compare their file sizes also. If it is difficult to detect any degradation in images in a document with default compression, other compression settings may not be worth the increase in file size. For more information, see
Applying compression and resampling to PDF files .
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Adding searchable information and setting the binding
You can provide a title, a subject, an author, and one or more keywords for a
PDF document. This provides users with basic data about the document and gives them a useful way to search for information, especially if the document is part of a collection that is going to be indexed. For information on creating an index, see
Defining and building indexes .
You can also select a type of binding to be used when the document is viewed on-screen with its pages side by side.
To add searchable information and set the binding:
1 Choose File > Document Info > General.
2 Enter a title, subject, and author, and one or more keywords. Separate keywords with a comma and no space.
Note: Many Web search engines use the title to describe the document in their search results list. If you do not provide a title, the filename will appear in the results list instead.
3 Choose left-edge or right-edge binding for the document. This affects how the pages are arranged side by side when the pages are viewed in the
Continuous - Facing page layout. Set the binding to match the reading direction of text in the document: left-edge for text read from left to right, and right-edge for text read from right to left. Right-edge binding is useful for viewing Arabic, Hebrew, or vertical Japanese text.
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4 Click OK.
Defining opening views
You can define how the Acrobat work area will appear when a user first opens a PDF document.
To define an opening view for a document:
1 Choose File > Document Info > Open.
2 Choose an initial page view:
■ Page Only opens only the document pane.
■ Bookmarks And Page or Thumbnails And Page opens the navigation pane with bookmarks or thumbnails in front. The document pane is also opened.
3 Enter an opening page number.
4 Choose a magnification level:
■ The numbers in the pop-up menu represent a percentage of the actual page size.
■ Fit In Window sizes the page to fit entirely in the window.
■ Fit Width sizes the page to fit the width of the window
■ Fit Visible sizes the page so that its text and graphics fit the width of the window.
■ Default uses the default magnification set in the user’s General preferences.
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5 Choose a page layout for scrolling. If you choose Default, Acrobat uses the default layout set in the user’s General preferences.
6 Select the window options:
■ Resize Window To Initial Page sizes the application window to fit snugly around the first document page.
■ Center Window On Screen opens the application window in the middle of the screen.
■ Open In Full Screen Mode opens the document without the menu bar, command bar, tool bar, or window controls. See
Screen view for information on working with the full screen.
Note: A user can exit Full Screen view by pressing Escape if his or her preferences are set this way, or by pressing Ctrl-L (Windows) or Command-L
(Mac OS).
7 To hide part of the work area, even when a user is not in Full Screen view, select appropriate user interface options
Note: If you hide the menu bar, command bar, and tool bar, users will not be able to apply commands and select tools unless they know the keyboard shortcuts. You may want to set up page actions or buttons in the document to provide this functionality for them. See
Using actions for special effects and
for information.
8 Click OK.
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To define an opening view for a collection of documents:
1 Choose File > Batch Process.
2 In the Select Folder To Process dialog box, select the folder of documents to process in the browser list. (On Mac OS, select the folder but do not click the
Select button until you’re finished setting the options.)
3 Select Process All Subfolders if you also want the opening view to apply to documents in subfolders of the folder.
4 Select Open Info, and click the Open Info button.
5 In the Open Info dialog box, set options for the opening view as described in the preceding procedure, and click OK. All documents in the folder will have the same opening view.
6 Click OK (Windows) or Select (Mac OS) in the Select Folder To Process dialog box.
To stop the batch optimization process:
Click Stop in the Batch Processor Progress dialog box. The process stops after the current document finishes processing (which may take some time).
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Setting security for documents
You can limit access to a PDF document by setting up passwords and by restricting certain features, such as printing and editing. When a document has restricted features, any tools and menu items related to those features are dimmed.
A document can have an open password and an owner password. If the document has both types of passwords, it can be opened with either one, but you can set or change the restricted features only with the owner password.
Note: If you forget a password, there is no way to recover it from the document.
It’s a good idea to store passwords in another secure location in case you forget them.
Acrobat uses the RC4 method of security from RSA Corporation to secure
PDF documents.
To set security for a document:
1 Choose File > Save As.
2 Choose the Standard security method.
3 In the Security dialog box, enter a password in one or both of the password fields:
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■ Users can enter the first password, the open password, to open the document. Any restricted features in the document are disabled, and the user cannot set or change the security options.
■ Users can enter the second password, the owner password, to open the document with the ability to set or change security options.
Important: Do not use the same password for both fields. The owner password should be only for you or for other users who are allowed to modify the security options.
4 Select options to prevent users from printing, changing the document, selecting text and graphics, or adding or changing annotations and form fields:
■ Changing The Document prohibits users from filling in form fields, as well as making any other changes.
■ Adding Or Changing Annotations And Form Fields prohibits users from changing form fields but allows them to fill in the fields.
5 Click OK.
6 If you entered passwords, retype the passwords in the Confirmation dialog box, and click OK.
7 Click Save.
To set security for a collection of documents:
1 Choose File > Batch Process.
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2 In the Select Folder To Process dialog box, select the folder of documents to process in the browser list. (On Mac OS, select the folder but do not click the
Select button until you’re finished setting the options.)
3 Select Process All Subfolders if you also want the settings to apply to documents in subfolders of the folder.
4 If you’re changing security settings for documents that already have passwords, select Passwords, and click the Passwords button. In the Passwords dialog box, enter one or both of the existing passwords, and click OK.
You must enter the old open password to be able to change the open password for documents. You must enter the owner password to be able to change the owner password or the Do Not Allow settings.
5 Select Security, and click the Security button.
6 In the Security dialog box, set options for the current document, as described in the preceding procedure, and click OK. All documents in the folder will have the same security settings.
7 Click OK (Windows) or Select (Mac OS) in the Select Folder To Process dialog box.
To stop the batch optimization process:
Click Stop in the Batch Processor Progress dialog box. The process stops after the document currently being processed has been completed (which may take some time).
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Organizing PDF document collections
In many cases, you may want to distribute material in a collection of PDF documents rather than in a single document. It often helps your users if you include a Welcome page in your collection and if you give your users access to Acrobat Reader in case they do not have Acrobat on their system.
If your document collection will be distributed on a CD, Adobe recommends indexing the collection using Acrobat Catalog so that users can search the documents quickly. See
Defining and building indexes for information on
building an index. An index created by Catalog is not searchable over the Web or a company intranet, but your documents can be indexed by a Web search engine that supports indexing PDF documents. See the Adobe Web site
(www.adobe.com) for a list of search engines that support PDF indexing.
Adding a Welcome page
When a user first visits a Web site or opens a CD, it can be difficult to know where to begin or to determine what’s in the document collection. To point your users in the right direction, consider including a Welcome page. Such a page typically gives an overview of the documents and provides links to specific places in them.
If you’re setting up a Web site, you may want to use an HTML page as the
Welcome page and put links to the PDF documents in the HTML code. See
Linking to PDF documents from HTML for details.
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Including Acrobat Reader
You should provide access to Acrobat Reader for users who do not have
Acrobat on their system.
■ If you’re distributing documents on the Web, you’ll probably want to point users to the Adobe Web site (www.adobe.com) for the downloadable
Reader software.
■ If you’re distributing documents on a CD, include the Acrobat Reader installer on the CD, and put a Readme file at the top level that describes how to install Reader and provides any last-minute information. You can find the
Acrobat Reader installer for your platform on the Acrobat CD in your Acrobat package, and Acrobat Reader for all platforms on the Adobe Web site
(www.adobe.com).
You may make and distribute unlimited copies of Acrobat Reader, including copies for commercial distribution, as long as each copy you make and distribute includes all of the following:
■ The Acrobat Reader installer, exactly as provided by Adobe.
■ The Acrobat Reader Electronic End User License Agreement.
■ Copyright and other proprietary notices included in Acrobat Reader.
■ The following attribution statement on any media and packaging that includes Reader:
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“Acrobat
®
Reader Copyright © 1987–1999 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat, and the Acrobat logo are trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated.”
The Acrobat Reader Electronic End User License Agreement and proprietary notices are contained in the Reader installer program. You are expressly prohibited from modifying or creating your own installer for the Acrobat
Reader software. Details on the terms of use for the Acrobat Reader products are found in the Acrobat Reader Electronic End User License Agreement presented during installation of each product.
A special “Includes Adobe Acrobat” logo is available from Adobe for use when distributing Acrobat Reader. See the Adobe Web site (www.adobe.com) for details.
Staging and testing document collections
When you have collected all the PDF documents and the Acrobat Reader installer, set up a staging area for the collection on a network file server. Then test the document links, bookmarks, actions, forms, and indexes on the server to make sure everything works the way you planned.
It’s a good idea to keep a copy of the original documents in another location.
Backup copies can save you from having to recreate documents if they are accidentally deleted or corrupted.
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Distributing PDF documents on the Web
You can distribute PDF documents on the World Wide Web or on an intranet for other users to view with a Web browser. Before putting documents on the Web, you should optimize them to minimize file size and to facilitate page-at-a-time downloading. You may also want to link to the documents from an HTML page or embed the documents in HTML.
When you view PDF documents on the Web, several aspects of their display depend on which browser is used and whether the Web server can deliver PDF documents one page at a time. See Chapter 5,
and Configuring Web browsers for viewing PDF
for more information.
For general information on distributing PDF documents, see also
Preparing documents for electronic distribution and
Organizing PDF document collections .
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Optimizing PDF documents for the Web
In most cases, optimizing PDF documents reduces their file size significantly.
When you optimize a document, Acrobat removes any repeated images in it and replaces them with pointers to the first occurrences of those images.
Nonoptimized files repeat the same source art. Optimized files use pointers to repeated elements.
Optimizing also restructures a PDF document to prepare for page-at-a-time downloading (byte-serving) from Web servers. With page-at-a-time downloading, the Web server sends only the requested page of information to the user, rather than the entire PDF document. This is especially important with large documents, which can take a long time to download from a server.
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To find out if a PDF document has been optimized:
Choose File > Document Info > General, and look at the Optimized option.
To optimize a document:
Choose File > Save As, select Optimize, and click Save.
To optimize a collection of documents:
1 Choose File > Batch Process.
2 Select the folder of documents to process in the browser list. (On Mac OS, select the folder but do not click the Select button until you’re finished setting the options.)
3 Select Process All Subfolders if you also want to optimize documents in subfolders of the folder.
4 Select Optimize.
5 Click OK (Windows) or Select (Mac OS).
Note: PDF documents that are already optimized, that are read-only, that require an open password, or that are stored in a location for which you do not have write access are not optimized (unless you are creating or deleting thumbnails in optimized files). The Optimize.log file, located in the folder that contains the optimized documents, lists any documents that were not optimized in the process.
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To stop the batch optimization process:
Click Stop in the Batch Processor Progress dialog box. The process stops after the document currently being optimized has been completed (which may take some time). Any documents processed before you click Stop are already optimized.
Linking to PDF documents from HTML
You can link to a PDF document from an HTML document with the HTML
<HREF> tag. When a Web user clicks the link on the HTML page, the PDF document opens. The document can fill an entire browser window or launch an Acrobat viewer as a helper application (it depends on how users have configured their Web browsers).
The following example uses <HREF> to link to a PDF document:
<a href=http://www.adobe.com/prodlist.pdf>
You can also specify actions to be performed on the PDF document once it is opened. For example, you might want to open the document to a particular page or destination or set it to open with bookmarks displayed. To include one of these action commands with your <HREF> link, type a number sign (#) and then the command immediately after the PDF filename.
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The following table shows the possible action commands. Replace variables (in italics) with the specific instructions for your PDF document. The variables in square brackets ([ ]) are optional.
Description
Go to a page
Command page=page_number
Comments
The page number must be an integer. A PDF file’s first page has a page number of 1.
Go to a destination
Zoom or scroll a page nameddest=destination_string zoom=scale[, left, top] All values must be integers or in floating-point notation. A scale of
100 gives 100% zoom. Scroll values for left and top are user coordinates
(0,0 is the top left of a visible page, regardless of page rotation).
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Description
Set the view of a page
Set the location and size of the view rectangle
Command view=Fit view=FitH[, top] view=FitV[, left] view=FitB view=FitBH[, top] view=FitBV[, left] viewrect=left, top, width, height
Comments
Fit, FitH, and so on are keywords defined in the Portable Document
Format Reference Manual
(www.adobe.com). Scroll values for left and top must be integers or in floating-point notation. These values are user coordinates (0,0 is the top left of a visible page, regardless of page rotation).
All values must be integers or in floating-point notation. Scroll values for left and top are user coordinates (0,0 is the top left of a visible page, regardless of page rotation).
Display bookmarks or thumbnails
Display the scrollbars pagemode=mode The possible values are book-
marks, thumbs, and none.
scrollbar=boolean_value The possible values are true and
false.
Display the tool bar toolbar=boolean_value The possible values are true and
false.
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Note: The action commands are not case-sensitive (except for the value of a destination). There can be no spaces in the URL command line, and each command cannot be more than 32 characters in length. If you supply a floating-point value, only one digit following a decimal is used.
These are examples of valid action commands for PDF documents linked from HTML:
<a href=http://www.adobe.com/prodlist.pdf#page=3>
<a href=http://www.adobe.com/prodlist.pdf#namedest=Digital-
Imaging>
<a href=http://www.adobe.com/prodlist.pdf#zoom=200,250,100
You can put multiple action commands in a single URL command line if you separate the commands with an ampersand (&). Each command can be up to
32 characters in length. Be careful not to introduce any spaces in the line. For example,
<a href=http://www.adobe.com/ prodlist.pdf#page=72&view=FitH,100>
<a href=http://www.adobe.com/ prodlist.pdf#pagemode=bookmarks&page=3>
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The actions are executed from left to right as they appear in the command line.
It is possible that later actions will override the effects of previous actions, so be sure to order the actions appropriately. For example, page actions should appear before zoom actions.
See an HTML guide for more information on the <HREF> tag.
Embedding PDF documents in HTML using the <EMBED> tag
You can embed a PDF document in an HTML document with the HTML
<EMBED> tag. Embedding displays an image of a page from the PDF document in the HTML document. The <EMBED> tag is understood by browsers compatible with Netscape Navigator 3.0 or later and Internet Explorer
3.0 or later.
Netscape Navigator Readers who use a browser compatible with Netscape
Navigator 3.0 or later will be able to see only the first page of an embedded
PDF document and will not be able to navigate to other pages. If the <EMBED> tag is combined with an <HREF> tag, the embedded PDF may be used as a link, as in the following example:
<embed src=http://www.adobe.com/cgi-bin/byteserver/ ordrform.pdf
width=25% height=200 href=http://www.adobe.com/index.html>
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In this case, the embedded PDF is actually a link to a nonembedded PDF document. Once the PDF document is opened in a separate window, the links within the document are accessible.The <HREF> tag can be followed by any
URL, including the URL of another PDF document. The <HREF> URL is the URL that the browser opens when the user clicks the embedded PDF. The <HREF>
URL needs to be a fully qualified <HREF>. If you specify a relative URL, the link may not activate.
Internet Explorer Readers who use a browser compatible with Internet
Explorer 3.0 or later can interact with the embedded PDF document. For example, they can follow links in the document.
Note: If an embedded PDF document is displayed in an Internet Explorercompatible browser window, the Acrobat tool bar, command bar, and window controls display by default; you can hide these items by changing settings in the Open Info dialog box for the PDF document (File > Document Info > Open).
If an embedded PDF document is displayed in a Netscape Navigatorcompatible browser window, the Acrobat tool bar, command bar, and window controls do not display.
See an HTML guide for more information on the <EMBED> tag.
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Embedding PDF documents in HTML using the <OBJECT> tag
If your audience uses an Internet Explorer-compatible browser that supports
ActiveX controls, you can embed PDF documents using <OBJECT> tags instead of <EMBED> tags. The <OBJECT> tag is understood only by browsers compatible with Internet Explorer 3.0 or later.
The <OBJECT> tag has the same effect as the <EMBED> tag, but it also does the following:
■ The <OBJECT> tag allows you to use VB Script or JavaScript to access the
Print and AboutBox methods in the ActiveX control, so you can create a Print button that will print the PDF document from the HTML document. If you use the standard Print command in your browser, the HTML document prints with the image of the first page of the PDF document. (If the Acrobat tool bar is visible, users can use the Print button to print the PDF document.)
■ You can use the <OBJECT> tag to specify automatic downloading and installing of Acrobat Reader if a user does not already have it installed.
The following example uses <OBJECT> to embed a PDF document in an HTML document:
<OBJECT CLASSID="clsid:CA8A9780-280D-11CF-A24D-444553540000"
WIDTH=423 HEIGHT=333
ID=Pdf1>
<PARAM NAME="SRC"
VALUE="PDFS/map.pdf">
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</OBJECT>
If your audience might not use a browser that supports the <OBJECT> tag, you should include the <EMBED> tag and appropriate information (or the
<NOEMBED> tag to display a GIF image) within the <OBJECT> tag. For example:
<OBJECT CLASSID="clsid:CA8A9780-280D-11CF-A24D-444553540000"
WIDTH=423 HEIGHT=333
ID=Pdf1>
<PARAM NAME="SRC" VALUE="skagit.pdf">
<EMBED SRC="skagit.pdf" HEIGHT=423 WIDTH=333>
<NOEMBED>
<img src="images/tour083.gif" alt="Skagit River" width=179 height=134>
</NOEMBED>
</OBJECT>
See an HTML guide or an ActiveX control guide for more information on the
<OBJECT> tag. See also the Adobe Web site (www.adobe.com) for more examples and the latest ActiveX information.
Scaling embedded PDF documents
You may need to scale an embedded PDF document to make it fit the design of your Web page.
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Netscape Navigator If your Web pages will be viewed primarily by users of browsers compatible with Netscape Navigator 3.0 or later, you can scale a PDF document embedded in an HTML document. An embedded PDF document displays at actual size unless you scale it. The following example scales a document 50% in a Netscape Navigator-compatible browser:
<EMBED SRC=http://www.adobe.com/prodlist.pdf
WIDTH=50% HEIGHT=50%>
You can specify the width and height of the document as a percentage, as in the example, or in points. To determine the actual width and height in points, open the PDF document in Acrobat. The width and height are displayed in the page-size box in the status bar. (If necessary, choose File > Preferences >
General and select points as the unit of measure for pages.) Enter that information, or a percentage of those values, as the width and height values.
Internet Explorer Browsers compatible with Internet Explorer 3.0 or later use the information included in a PDF document’s Document Info settings to determine the view of an embedded document. They ignore any scaling information in an <EMBED> tag.
Note: If you need an embedded PDF document to display similarly in browsers compatible with either Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer, do not scale the document with the <HEIGHT> and <WIDTH> tags or with the Document
Info settings. Instead, crop the PDF document to fit without scaling.
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Distributing PDF documents on a CD
If you’re distributing PDF documents on a CD, you’ll probably want to follow some naming and format conventions to ensure platform compatibility and create an index for the documents to enable quick searching in them. You should also test the documents on a sample CD.
Note: If any contributors to your files have copyrights for their material, you must obtain permission to place their files on a CD.
For general information on distributing PDF documents, see
Preparing documents for electronic distribution and
Organizing PDF document collections .
Preparing for cross-platform distribution
When producing a CD for more than one platform, you need to decide whether to put each version on a different disc or to put all versions on the same disc.
Putting all versions on one disc reduces the costs of disc-mastering, replication, and other production tasks.
If you’re putting all versions on one CD, follow these guidelines to ensure platform compatibility:
■ Use the hybrid CD format. The hybrid format is accessible to DOS, Windows,
Mac OS, and UNIX users, so it makes an ideal medium for cross-platform document collections.
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■ Use ISO 9660 filenames. An ISO 9660 filename can contain one to eight characters (with no spaces), optionally followed by an extension (a period and from one to three characters). Only uppercase roman letters, the underscore
(_), and digits (0–9) can be used in ISO 9660 folder names and filenames. Folder names must be no more than eight characters, have no extension, and can be no more than eight levels deep. If you’re using a Macintosh as the host system, make sure that your filenames and folder names don’t have a leading space.
Indexing document collections
Adobe recommends using Acrobat Catalog to index document collections distributed on a CD. Indexing builds a searchable database of all text in the documents in alphabetical order. Users who have Acrobat on their system can use the Search command to quickly find specific text in the index.
See
Defining and building indexes for details on building an index.
Testing CDs
Once you have organized the PDF documents and the Acrobat Reader installer in a staging area, create and test a sample CD. Follow these guidelines:
■ Defragment the disc drive that contains the staging area before building the master CD.
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■ If you’re preparing a hybrid CD for Mac OS and either Windows or UNIX or both, build the CD on a Macintosh. If you create the disc on another system, a
Mac OS file system may not recognize the Macintosh installer on it.
■ For Mac OS partitions or hybrid disks, make sure the boot block is removed from the HFS disk image.
■ Check for viruses before creating the CD, or have the service bureau check for viruses.
■ For Mac OS users, make sure the folders open in the upper left corner of the screen to accommodate the many monitor sizes available.
■ For Mac OS partitions or hybrid disks, empty the trash. If you leave documents in the trash file for your CD image, the trash may appear full when a user mounts the CD on the desktop. The latest versions of CD mastering software handle the trash properly. Check with your service bureau or the mastering software’s user guide for details.
■ Make sure the icon for your disk matches what you want the users to see when they mount the CD.
■ Perform your tests on the CD, not on the disk image, to ensure that you’re seeing exactly what the users will see.
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Working with Digital Signatures
You can add a digital signature to a document in Acrobat to attest to something about the document in its current state. For example, you might sign a document to show that you have read it or approved it, or to certify that it is ready for others to review. You can also see all the signatures that have been added to a document, check the validity of signatures, and go back to an earlier signed version of a document.
To work with digital signatures in a document, you use a signature handler plug-in with Acrobat. You add, validate, and manage your signatures using commands and tools in the Acrobat interface, but the signature handler determines the nature of the signatures—their appearance on the page, the exact information stored in them, and the attributes and method used for their validation. You can use a variety of signature handlers with Acrobat, providing both mathematical and biometric validation schemes. The flexibility of this structure allows you to use whichever signing method your company or regulations require, with Acrobat providing a consistent and convenient front end.
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Acrobat comes with the signature handlers Acrobat Self Sign for basic signing purposes and Acrobat Entrust Security for use with the public-key infrastructure from Entrust Technologies Limited. Self Sign is included in the default
Acrobat installation, and Acrobat Entrust Security is in the Entrust folder on the
Acrobat CD-ROM for custom installation (Windows). You can also obtain compatible handlers from third-party vendors. See the Security folder on the
Acrobat CD-ROM or the Adobe Web site (www.adobe.com) for current information on signature handlers.
About digital signatures
A digital signature, like any other signature, identifies a person or entity signing a document. Digital signatures in Acrobat offer significant advantages over traditional signatures on paper. Each digital signature stores information behind the scenes about the person signing and about the exact state of the document when it was signed. When you view a signed document in Acrobat, you can validate its signature to confirm the identity of the signer and to verify that the document has not been altered since it was signed.
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In Acrobat, a signature can appear on a page in many different forms—a handwritten name, a logo or other graphic, or some text explaining the purpose of the signing. (Note that the appearance of a signature is just its representation on the page and is not the actual signature information.) The particular appearance of the signature is determined by the signature handler.
Some handlers also allow a signature to be invisible.
A
B
C
A. Text signature B. Graphic signature
C. Handwritten name signature
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A document in Acrobat can be signed more than once and by more than one person. Each signature is associated with a version of the document that represents the state of the document when that person signed it. The first time a document is signed, it is saved in an append-only form of PDF that can be appended but not altered. Every time the document is signed after that, the new signature and any changes made since the preceding version are appended to the file. When you view a document with more than one signature, you’re viewing the most recent version, but you can open an earlier version in a separate file and compare two versions to see changes between them.
Tracking signatures in the palette
The Signatures palette lists all the signatures in the current document, in the order they were added. You can collapse a signature to see only a name, date, and time, or expand it to see more information.
To show the Signatures palette:
Choose Window > Show Signatures, or choose Show Signatures from the security key pop-up menu in the status bar. The security key menu is available only when a document has signatures or other security properties.
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To expand or collapse a signature in the palette:
Click the plus sign (Windows) or triangle (Mac OS) to the left of the signature to expand it. Click the minus sign (Windows) or the rotated triangle (Mac OS) to the left of the signature to collapse it.
Expanded signature
Each signature in the palette has an icon identifying its current validation status. For an explanation of these icons, see
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If you edit a signed document, a line with an alert triangle appears in the palette indicating that the document has been altered. If you sign the document later, the triangle is incorporated into your signature’s validation icon to show that you signed an altered version. To see an explanation of the edit, expand the signature in the palette.
You can move the Signatures palette to a floating window, keep it in a group of palettes, and work with it in the same ways that you use other Acrobat palettes.
See
for general information on palettes.
Signing documents
Acrobat provides several ways to sign a document, both visibly and invisibly.
You start the process in Acrobat, and then your signature handler takes over and prompts for information on the signature.
Before you begin, you must have a signature handler installed as an Acrobat plug-in. The Acrobat Self Sign handler is included in the default Acrobat installation. You can also install the Entrust Security handler from the Acrobat CD for use with the Entrust public-key infrastructure, or you can install a third-party signature handler.
Note: The first time a document is signed, Acrobat saves it as append-only in a new PDF file. Each time the document is signed after that, the new version is saved and appended to the file. You can name the PDF file and set its security
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About signature fields
When you sign a document, your signature and the related information are stored in a signature field embedded on a page. A signature field is a type of
Acrobat form field.
You can add a signature field to a page as you sign, or you can use the form tool
to create an empty signature field that can be signed later. When you create a field with the form tool, you can have Acrobat execute a script or lock all fields in the document when it is signed. You can also customize the field in several other ways. For information on creating empty signature fields with the form
tool, see Creating signature fields .
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Adding signatures
Your document may have a signature field already set up, perhaps as part of a larger form; in this case, you enter your signature in the field to sign the document. If the document does not already have a signature field, you can add a field wherever you want it and sign at the same time.
A B
A. Sign a field in a form. B. Put a signature where you want it.
Note: If you’re signing an existing field, be aware that the document author may have put duplicates of the field on other document pages. For example, sometimes a field is copied to the same place on every page. You need to sign the field only once, and your signature will appear in all occurrences of the field. This is sometimes done to allow quick initialing of every page in a document.
You can also sign a document invisibly, if your signature handler allows it. The signature will not appear on a page but will appear in the Signatures palette along with other signatures in the document.
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To add a signature:
1 Do one of the following:
■ To fill in an existing signature field in Windows, click the unsigned field in the document pane. Or select the unsigned field in the Signatures palette, and choose Sign Signature Field from the palette menu. Or right-click the field in the palette or document, and choose Sign Signature Field from the context menu. In Mac OS, Control-click the field in the palette, and choose Sign
Signature field from the context menu.
■ To add a new signature field and sign at the same time, select the signature tool , and drag to draw the field.
■ To sign the document invisibly, choose File > Sign and Save.
2 Follow the instructions for your signature handler. You may be prompted to log in to the handler. The handler might also ask for information about the signature, such as a signature appearance and a reason for signing.
If you’re using Acrobat Self Sign as the handler, see
for details. If you’re using Acrobat Entrust Security, choose
Help > Entrust Security to open a document with instructions.
3 If this is the first signature added to the document, the Save As dialog box appears. Enter a filename, specify a location for the file, and click Save.
Note: Except in Windows Explorer, you will not have another opportunity to use Save As on the document (because Save As invalidates existing signatures),
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The new signature appears as the last item in the Signatures palette, with an icon signifying that it is valid.
Changing or removing signatures
You can change or remove a signature, but like other edits you make to a signed document, this adds another version to the document without altering earlier versions. Another user can roll back to an earlier version to see the original signature.
To change a signature:
1 Double-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the signature in the document pane , select the signature in the Signatures palette, and choose
Sign Signature Field from the palette menu. Or right-click (Windows) or
Control-click (Mac OS) the signature in the palette or document, and choose
Sign Signature Field from the context menu.
2 Click Yes or OK to confirm that you want to re-sign.
3 Follow the instructions for your signature handler.
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The new signature appears at the last position in the Signatures palette, with an icon signifying that it is valid and that it incorporates a change to the document.
Note: The old signature is removed from the palette, so you will not be able to roll back to its version of the document.
To remove a signature:
Select the signature in the Signatures palette, and choose Delete Signature
Field from the palette menu. Or right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the signature in the palette or document pane, and choose Delete Signature
Field from the context menu.
The signature is removed, and the Signatures palette notes that the document was altered after the last signing.
Clearing a signature field
You can clear a signature field, but like other edits you make to a signed document, this adds another version to the document without altering earlier versions. Another user can roll back to an earlier version to see the original signature.
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To clear a signature field:
Select the signature in the Signatures palette, and choose Clear Signature Field from the palette menu. Or right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the signature in the palette or document pane, and choose Clear Signature Field from the context menu.
The signature is removed, and the Signatures palette notes that the document was altered after the last signing. An icon in the signatures palette indicates the presence of the empty signature field.
Validating signatures
You can validate a digital signature to verify that the document version the person signed has not been altered and to confirm the identity of the signer.
Your signature handler uses the following methods to ensure the integrity of signatures.
Document content When you add a signature to a document, the signature handler calculates a checksum that is based on the content of the document at that time and embeds the checksum in the signature. When you validate, the handler recalculates the checksum for that signed version of the document and compares it with the value in the signature. If the signed version has changed in any way, the signature handler detects the change and marks the signature as invalid.
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Because a signed document version is saved as append-only within a PDF file, you normally cannot edit the content of the version. A version’s checksum changes, however, if you apply the Save As command to the file, if you edit the file in a text editor and resave it, or if you try to move the signature to another document. (Save As changes the checksum because it causes a completely new save, which reorders and renumbers objects in the file.)
Identity of the signer When you add a signature to a document, the signature handler typically embeds information that uniquely identifies you as the signer.
This may be a mathematical representation, such as a “public key” value, or biometric data, such as a fingerprint or handwritten signature. When you validate a signature, your signature handler compares the signature in the document with this background information.
Some signature handlers also confirm the identity of a signer by comparing the signature with information stored outside the PDF file. For example, with the
Acrobat Self Sign handler you can build a mini-database called an address book that stores information on signers you have chosen to trust. When you validate signatures with Self Sign, the signatures are checked against credentials in the address book. Other handlers may use an online mechanism to authenticate a signature with a third-party authority.
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To validate one signature:
Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the signature in the Signatures palette or document pane, and choose Validate Signature from the context menu.
To validate all signatures in a document:
Choose Validate All Signatures from the Signatures palette menu.
If the signature handler determines that a signature’s document version is unaltered and that the signature is consistent with internal information about the signer, the signature is partially valid. If the signature is also consistent with external information about the signer, the signature is fully valid.
Note: You might think of this as analogous to how a credit card is checked in a store. If your signature on a bill matches the signature on the back of the card, the signature is partially valid. If the card is also checked online to be sure it has not been revoked, the signature is fully valid.
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You can view a signature’s validation status on the document page and in the
Signatures palette. The following table shows how the Acrobat Self Sign and
Entrust Security handlers display this information. Other signature handlers may display it differently.
Validation status Icon on document page Icon in palette
Unsigned Signature tool Signature tool
Question mark Signed but not validated Question mark
Partially valid Signature handler logo Check mark
Fully valid Signature handler logo Check mark and shield
Invalid X over signature
To get detailed validation information on a signature:
Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the signature in the Signatures palette or document pane, and choose Properties from the context menu.
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Viewing earlier versions of a signed document
If a document is signed more than once, Acrobat maintains all of the signed versions in a single PDF file. Each time the document is signed, that version is saved as append-only to ensure that it will not be altered, and it is then appended to the existing file. When you view a signed document, you’re normally viewing the most recent version of it, but the other versions are still available for review.
Total
Traveler’s Signature
Digitally signed by John Smith
Digitally signed by Jane Fischer cn=John Smith, o=Adobe Systems, c=US
Date: 1999.01.25 15:49:17 -08’00’ cn=Jane Fischer, o=Adobe Systems, c=US
Date: 1999.01.25 16:12:40 -08’00’
Reason: This document is ready for approval
Reason: This document is ready for approval
San Jose, CA
Digitally signed by Doug Pearson cn=Doug Pearson, o=Adobe Systems, c=US
Date: 1999.01.25 16:32:40 -08’00’
Reason: This document is ready for approval
San Jose, CA
Name Today’s Date
Expense Report
Manager’s Name Department
J U G G L E R
Check all that apply:
Conference Expense
Transportation
Date
Name
Relocation Expense Recruiting Expense Yes No
Submit
Expense Report
Reset
Airfare Fares
Department
(Taxi, Bus, Ferry,
Parking, & Tolls)
Personal Auto
(enter Miles only)
Miles Expense
Rental Auto Total
J U G G L E R
Check all that apply:
Conference Expense
Transportation
Date
Name
Relocation Expense
Manager’s Name
Description
Recruiting Expense
Unused tickets attached?
Today’s Date
Yes No
Total Airfare
Parking, & Tolls)
Department
(enter Miles only)
Miles Expense
Accommodations and Meals
Date Description
Check all that apply:
Lodging
Conference Expense
(by yourself)
Relocation Expense Recruiting Expense
Transportation
Date Description Airfare
Total
Accommodations and Meals
Date Description
Total
Lodging
Traveler’s Signature
Digitally signed by John Smith cn=John Smith, o=Adobe Systems, c=US
Date: 1999.01.25 15:49:17 -08’00’
Reason: This document is ready for approval
Date
Digitally signed by Jane Fischer cn=Jane Fischer, o=Adobe Systems, c=US
Date: 1999.01.25 16:12:40 -08’00’
Reason: This document is ready for approval
San Jose, CA
Digitally signed by Doug Pearson cn=Doug Pearson, o=Adobe Systems, c=US
Date: 1999.01.25 16:32:40 -08’00’
Reason: This document is ready for approval
San Jose, CA
Total
Manager’s Signature
Accommodations and Meals
Total Date Description
Meals
(by yourself)
Lodging
Date
Fares
(Taxi, Bus, Ferry,
Parking, & Tolls)
Conference &
Meeting Fees
Expense Report
Rental Auto
Unused tickets attached?
Total
Yes No
Personal Auto
(enter Miles only)
Miles
Telephone
& Fax
Expense
Submit
Total
Rental Auto
Total
J U G G L E R
Submit
Total
Total
Reset
Traveler’s Signature Date cn=John Smith, o=Adobe Systems, c=US
Date: 1999.01.25 15:49:17 -08’00’
Reason: This document is ready for approval cn=Jane Fischer, o=Adobe Systems, c=US
Date: 1999.01.25 16:12:40 -08’00’
Reason: This document is ready for approval
San Jose, CA
Manager’s Signature Date
Total
Traveler’s Signature
Digitally signed by John Smith cn=John Smith, o=Adobe Systems, c=US
Date: 1999.01.25 15:49:17 -08’00’
Reason: This document is ready for approval
San Jose, CA
Date Manager’s Signature Date
A
B
A. You see the most recent version.
B. Two earlier versions are in the file but not visible.
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It’s possible to make any change to a signed document, so the versions of a document stored in a PDF file may differ. If a signature incorporates changes made since the signature immediately before it, the palette icon for the signature reflecting changes has a triangle, showing that its version includes alterations. With some signature handlers, you can also right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the signature, and choose Properties from the context menu to find out what version a signature applies to.
The most accurate way to see exactly what someone signed is to roll back to the version for that signature. Acrobat opens the earlier version in a new temporary PDF file. (You can use Save As to name and save the file.) Any changes you make to this file are appended to it, so even by rolling back you cannot alter a version that has been signed.
Once you have two versions of a document open, you can also have Acrobat identify differences between them using the Compare Pages command. For information on this feature, see
Comparing pages, words, or words and fonts in two PDF documents .
To open an earlier signed version:
Select the signature in the Signatures palette, and choose Rollback To
Signature from the palette menu. Or right-click (Windows) or Control-click
(Mac OS) the signature in the palette or document pane, and choose Rollback to Signature from the context menu.
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The earlier version opens in a new PDF file, with the version number and the name of the signer in the title bar.
Setting preferences for digital signatures
The preferences for digital signatures define a default signature handler.
To set preferences for digital signatures:
1 Choose File > Preferences > Digital Signatures.
2 Choose a default signature handler. The pop-up menu lists all handlers installed in your Acrobat Plug-ins folder. If you do not choose a handler, you can specify one when you add a signature.
3 Click OK.
About Acrobat Self Sign
The default Acrobat installation includes the Acrobat Self Sign signature handler. Acrobat Self Sign provides a quick and easy method of signing documents and uses a private/public key (PPK) system to verify the authenticity of signatures and the integrity of signed document versions.
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To use Acrobat Self Sign, you first set up a profile with a password, your name and other information to store in signatures, any graphic signature appearances you want, and several other options. Whenever you need to sign documents, you log in to your profile and provide the password.
Acrobat Self Sign gives each profile unique security data that can be used to validate signatures made with that profile. Your profile stores a numerical value called a private key that represents you as a signer; you need access to this key to be able to sign a document. The profile also stores a public key that is embedded in all signatures you add to a document; when the document is validated, Self Sign uses the public key to mathematically verify your signatures. (More specifically, a private key encrypts a checksum that is stored with a signature when you sign, and a public key decrypts the checksum when you validate.)
A public key is contained in a certificate that can be distributed to other users, to store in the address book of their profile. This gives other users a more thorough way to check the authenticity of your signatures in documents they receive. You can also store other certificates in your profile so you can verify signatures from those users.
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The system of sharing certificates in Acrobat Self Sign is referred to as direct-
trust, which means that you share directly with other users rather than going through a third-party agent.
Note: Acrobat Self Sign does not include a public-key infrastructure with thirdparty certification, and it is not intended to serve all signing purposes. You can obtain other handlers and use them as plug-ins with Acrobat if you need more advanced features. See the Security folder on the Acrobat CD or the Adobe Web site (www.adobe.com) for information on available signature handlers.
Acrobat Self Sign uses the RSA algorithm for generating key pairs and the X.509 standard for certificates.
Setting up profiles in Acrobat Self Sign
Before you can sign documents with Acrobat Self Sign, you need to set up your profile. The profile is a combination of user information and security data.
Creating profiles
You define a user name and other basic attributes for your profile, and Acrobat
Self Sign generates a password-protected file for PPK information in it. You may want to create more than one profile if you sign documents in different roles.
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The profile file stores the private key (encrypted), the public key wrapped in a certificate, your address book of other users’ certificates, and a time-out value representing when a password is required for signing. The name of the file is the profile name you provide, plus the extension .apf.
Important: Make a backup copy of your profile file, store it in a secure place, and commit your password to memory. If your profile file is lost or corrupted, or if you forget your password, you will never again be able to add or validate signatures with that profile. Acrobat Self Sign does not perform any backups of its own.
To create a profile:
1 Choose Tools > Self Sign Signatures > Log In. Or begin adding a signature using any of the methods described in
Adding signatures . Choose Acrobat Self
Sign if you are asked for a signature handler.
2 Click New Profile.
3 Enter a name and other user attributes. When you add a signature to a document, you’ll see the profile name in the Signatures palette. Any of these attributes may appear in the signature itself, if the signature’s appearance is defined to include them.
Note: You may not use the following characters when you are filling in your profile: ! @ # $ % ^ & *, double quotes, and | \ ; < > _.
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4 Enter a password containing at least six characters. You need to enter the same password in both password text boxes.
5 Click OK.
6 The default location for the profile file is the Acrobat Plug-ins folder
(Windows) or the Adobe Acrobat 4.0 folder (Mac OS).
7 Click Save.
8 If an alert appears confirming that you are logged in, click OK. Your preference settings determine whether this alert appears. You can click User
Settings in the alert to change the profile’s password options, to configure picture appearances, or to add certificates to your address book.
Changing the password options
Your profile is preset to prompt for a password every time you sign a document. You can change it to prompt only after a certain period of time has elapsed or to never prompt for a password. You can also change the profile’s password.
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To change the password options:
1 Choose Tools > Self Sign Signatures > User Settings. Or if you’re not logged in, choose Tools > Self Sign Signatures > Log In to log in, and then click User
Settings in the alert.
2 Click the Password tab.
3 To change when a password should be required, choose from the pop-up menu, enter your password in the text box, and click Apply Change. Then click
OK in the alert that appears. The periods of time in the menu give the amount of time that has passed since you last entered a password while logged in to
Acrobat Self Sign in the current session.
4 To change your password, click Change Password, enter the old password, enter the new password in the New and Confirm text boxes, and click OK. Then click OK in the alert that appears.
5 Click Close (Windows) or Done (Mac OS).
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Configuring pictures for signatures
A signature can appear as a picture on a document page. For example, you might want a company logo to appear on the page or an image of your handwritten signature.
Note: A picture affects only the part of a signature you see on the document page. Even if the picture is a handwritten signature, a fingerprint, or other biometric representation, it has no effect on the verification of the signature.
A signature’s appearance is included in the document’s checksum, so if you change the appearance, the change is considered to be an alteration of the document.
You can create signature pictures in many different applications and save them in a PDF file. To configure the pictures for Acrobat Self Sign, you just select them from the PDF file and give each one a name. The pictures are stored in a
PDF file in the Acrobat Plug-ins folder.
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To configure a picture for signatures:
1 Create or import a picture in an authoring application, place the graphic on a page by itself, and convert the file to PDF. When you use the picture in a signature, Acrobat Self Sign copies only the picture out of the page and not the white space on the rest of the page, and it crops and scales the picture to fit in the signature field.
Acrobat Self Sign takes just the picture from the page.
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2 Choose Tools > Self Sign Signatures > User Settings. Or if you’re not logged in, choose Tools > Self Sign Signatures > Log In to log in, and then click User
Settings in the alert.
3 Click the Configure Picture tab.
4 Click New.
5 In the Signature Picture Configuration dialog box, enter a title for the picture.
Note: When you sign a document later, you’ll select the picture by its title, so use a short title that describes the image accurately.
6 Click Browse (Windows) or Input File from PDF (Mac OS).
7 In the Select Picture dialog box, enter the pathname for the PDF file with the picture, or click Browse, and use the browser to locate the file.
8 Click OK (Windows) or Open (Mac OS).
9 In the Text Configuration panel, select any text items you want to appear with the picture on document pages:
■ Distinguished Name shows the user attributes defined in the profile, which may include common name, organization, and country.
■ Add Labels displays labels such as Signed by, Date, and Reason with any text in the signature appearance.
10 Click OK in Signature Picture Configuration, and click Close in User Settings.
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To edit a configured picture:
Select the picture in the Configure Picture panel of User Settings, and click Edit.
Or double-click the picture in the picture configuration pane. You can change the title, select a different picture, or change the text items, as described in the procedure for configuring a new picture.
To remove a picture from the configuration file:
Select the picture in the Configure Picture panel of User Settings, and click Delete.
Configuring signatures written on a Palm organizer
You can write text on a Palm organizer, store the text as a picture, and then use the picture as a signature appearance in PDF documents. Most often, the text is a handwritten signature, but you can also use this feature to create a short handwritten message or a freehand drawing to appear with digital signatures.
Note: A handwritten signature created on a Palm organizer is only a picture and has no effect on the verification of the digital signature.
Acrobat provides an application to use for writing text on your Palm organizer.
You can install and use this application on a PalmPilot, PalmPilot Pro, Palm III, or
IBM WorkPad PC Companion, or a later version of any of these organizers. The application supports Palm OS software version 2.0 or later.
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To configure a signature written on a Palm organizer:
1 Use the organizer’s installation tool to install the application SelfSign.prc.
Run Instapp.exe in the organizer’s Install folder, use the browser that appears to locate SelfSign.prc in your Acrobat PalmPilot folder, and choose the name of your organizer in the pop-up menu. See the documentation that came with your organizer for more information on installing applications.
2 HotSync the organizer to load the SelfSign application on it.
3 Start the organizer, press the Applications icon, and press the SelfSign icon in the applications panel.
4 Write your text in the two boxes that appear in the display area of the organizer. Using the organizer’s stylus, write directly in the boxes rather than in the Graffiti area that you normally write in.
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You can begin writing in either box and, if necessary, continue in the other box.
Continue writing from one box to the other until you have added all the text you need. In the signature appearance, the segments of text from the boxes will be pieced together left to right to look like continuous text. A line at the top of the display shows how your final text will appear.
A
B
A. How the text will appear in a signature. B. Write in one or both boxes. Leave space to include a word space before text.
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If you want space (such as a word space) in front of a continuing segment of text, leave the space at the left edge of the segment’s box. Begin writing the segment at the beginning of the left edge if you do not want any space in front of it.
Clicking the Clear button deletes the most recently added segment. You can click Clear repeatedly to delete as many segments as you want, one at a time.
5 Click Done.
6 HotSync the organizer to copy the picture file to your hard drive.
7 In Acrobat, choose Tools > Self Sign Signatures > User Settings. Or if you’re not logged in, choose Tools > Self Sign Signatures > Log In to log in, and then click User Settings in the alert.
8 In the User Settings dialog box, click the Configure Picture tab.
9 Click New.
10 In the Signature Picture Configuration dialog box, enter a title for the picture.
Note: When you sign a document later, you’ll select the picture by its title, so use a short title that describes the image accurately.
11 Choose the picture file from the Palm Organizer pop-up menu.
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12 Select any text items you want to appear with the picture on document pages:
■ Distinguished Name shows the user attributes defined in the profile, which may include common name, organization, and country.
■ Add Labels displays labels such as Signed by, Date, and Reason with any text in the signature appearance.
13 Click OK in Signature Picture Configuration, and click Close in User Settings.
Building an address book of certificates
In Acrobat Self Sign, each user has a certificate containing information that can be used to verify his or her digital signature. When a user creates a profile,
Acrobat Self Sign generates this certificate and stores it in the user’s profile. You can keep a copy of other users’ certificates in an address book in your own profile so that when you validate documents, Self Sign can check those users’ signatures against their certificates.
You add another user’s certificate to your address book by importing the certificate from an Acrobat key file or from a PDF document signed by another Self
Sign user. Before you can import from a key file, the user must already have exported their certificate to the file. The format of this key file is specific to
Self Sign; you cannot import from key files that have been exported by other applications.
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Acrobat Self Sign provides a unique validation string for each certificate to help you ensure the certificate’s authenticity when you import it.
To import a certificate from a key file:
1 Choose Tools > Self Sign Signatures > User Settings. Or if you’re not logged in, choose Tools > Self Sign Signatures > Log In to log in, and then click User
Settings in the alert.
2 Click the Personal Address Book tab.
3 Click Import Key File, use the browser to locate the Acrobat key file with the certificate, and click Open. A key file has the extension.akf or .p7c.
4 In the Import Validation String dialog box, note the validation string, and click OK. (You can copy this out of the dialog box.) Then confirm with the certificate’s originator that the string is correct. If the string is incorrect, the certificate should not be trusted.
5 Click Close.
To import a certificate from a signature in a document:
1 Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the signature in the Signatures palette or document pane, and choose Properties from the context menu.
2 If the signature is not valid, click Validate. You can import a certificate only from a validated signature.
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3 Click Import into PAB.
4 In the Import Validation String dialog box, note the validation string, and click OK. (You can copy this out of the dialog box.) Then confirm with the certificate’s originator that the string is correct. If the string is incorrect, the certificate should not be trusted.
5 Click Close.
To view the attributes for a certificate:
Select the certificate in the Personal Address Book panel of User Settings, and click Certificate (Windows) or Properties (Mac OS). You can view the user attributes (such as distinguished name and common name), the validation
string, and the validity period. See Getting information on certificates
for information on these properties.
To remove a certificate from the address book:
Select the certificate in the Personal Address Book panel of User Settings, and click Delete.
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Exporting your certificate for other users
Other users may want to add your certificate to their address books so they can verify the authenticity of your signature in documents. To give users access to your certificate, you export a copy of it to an Acrobat key file. Acrobat Self Sign provides a unique validation string for the certificate to help other users ensure its authenticity.
To export your certificate for other users:
1 Choose Tools > Self Sign Signatures > User Settings. Or if you’re not logged in, choose Tools > Self Sign Signatures > Log In to log in, and then click User
Settings in the alert.
2 Click the Personal Address Book tab.
3 Click Export Key File, use the browser to specify a location for the key file, and click Save.
Note: PKCS#7 is the default certificate type. To export an earlier type of certificate, hold down the Ctrl key when you click Export Key File (Windows).
4 In the Export Validation String dialog box, make a note of the validation string, and click OK. (You can copy this out of the dialog box.) When other users import your certificate, they’ll probably ask you to check this validation string against the one they receive with the certificate.
5 Click Close (Windows) or Done (Mac OS).
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Getting information on certificates
You can open a dialog box to view user attributes, validation parameters, and other information on a particular certificate. The dialog box is not editable, but you can copy text from it.
This is some of the information you can find:
■ The distinguished name (DN) is the name, organization, and country that the user provided when he or she created the profile. In Acrobat Self Sign, the user
DN and the certificate issuer DN are the same, because a certificate is always issued by the user rather than by a third-party authority.
■ The validation string is an identifier that two users compare when importing a certificate to make sure the certificate came from the user it represents. The serial number is a unique number that ensures no two certificates from the same DN can be identical.
■ The validation period specifies a span of time in which the certificate is valid.
It begins with the date and time the certificate was created.
To get information on a certificate:
1 Choose Tools > Self Sign Signatures > User Settings. Or if you’re not logged in, choose Tools > Self Sign Signatures > Log In to log in, and then click User
Settings in the alert.
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2 Do one of the following:
■ To get information on your own certificate, click the General tab, and click
Show Certificate.
■ To get information on a certificate in your address book, click the Personal
Address Book tab, select the certificate in the list, and click Certificate
(Windows) or Properties (Mac OS).
3 Click the General tab to page through the dialog box, and click Close when you have finished. You can copy text from this dialog box to paste into another location.
4 Click Close.
Signing and validating with Acrobat Self Sign
Once you have an Acrobat Self Sign profile, you’re ready to sign and validate documents.
Logging in to a profile
You need to log in to a profile to be able to sign documents. You should also log in if you want Acrobat to check signatures against your address book when you validate signatures. It is possible to validate without being logged in, but without access to an address book Acrobat cannot test for full validity.
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To log in to a profile:
1 Choose Tools > Self Sign Signature > Log In. If you are already logged in to a profile, this command changes to Log In As Different User.
2 Choose a profile. The pop-up menu lists the five most recently opened or created profiles. Or click Find Profile, and use the browser to find a profile.
3 Enter the password, and click OK.
4 If an alert appears confirming that you are logged in, click OK. Your preference settings determine whether this alert appears.
To log out of a profile:
Choose Tools > Self Sign Signature > Log Out.
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Adding signatures to a document
When you add a signature with Acrobat Self Sign, the new signature appears with an Acrobat logo to show that it is valid. In the Signatures palette, the signature has the fully valid icon to show that it is valid and that the identity of the signer has been verified by your certificate. (Your address book always contains at least your own certificate.) Adding a signature does not affect the validation status of existing signatures in the document.
The logo shows that the signature is valid.
For general information on adding signatures in Acrobat, see
.
To add a signature to a document:
1 Do one of the following:
■ To fill in an existing signature field, click the unsigned field in the document pane, or select the unsigned field in the Signatures palette and choose Sign
Signature Field from the palette menu. Or right-click (Windows) or Control-
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Field from the context menu.
■ To add a new signature field and sign at the same time, select the signature tool , and drag to draw the field.
■ To sign the document invisibly, choose File > Sign and Save.
2 If you are not already logged in to a profile, do the following:
■ If the Digital Signature Plug-in dialog box appears, choose Acrobat Self Sign
Signatures as the signature handler, and click OK. Select Save As Default if you do not want to be prompted for a handler the next time you log in. This dialog box appears if you do not have a default signature handler set in your preferences.
■ In the Log In dialog box, choose a profile, or click Find Profile and use the browser to find a profile. Then enter the password, and click OK. If an alert appears confirming that you are logged in, click OK in it.
Note: If you get a Log In dialog box for a different signature handler, the other handler is defined to be the default handler. Change your preferences to use
Acrobat Self Sign as the default handler or to have no default handler. See
Setting preferences for digital signatures for details.
3 In the Sign Document dialog box, enter a reason for signing the document.
You can either type a reason or choose one from the pop-up menu. The menu lists the ten most recently entered reasons.
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4 Enter a location for the signature, such as your city, state, or country, or the hostname of your computer.
5 Choose a signature appearance:
■ Standard Text displays the Acrobat logo with the distinguished name defined in the profile, the date and time of the signing, and the reason for signing.
■ Other options in the menu are picture appearances configured in the profile.
These may be defined to include text.
6 If the dialog box asks for a password, enter the password. Your profile’s user settings determine how often a password is required. In Mac OS, click OK.
7 Click Save Document (Windows) or Save (Mac OS).
For information on the Show Certificate button in the Sign Document dialog box, see
Getting information on certificates .
Validating signatures
When you validate a signature that was added with Acrobat Self Sign, Acrobat can confirm the authenticity of the signature in two ways:
■ Acrobat checks to see that the document and the signature have not been altered since the signing.
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■ If you are logged in to a profile and have the signer’s certificate in the profile’s address book, Acrobat compares information in the signature against the certificate to verify the identity of the signer.
If Acrobat determines that the document and signature are unaltered, the signature is partially valid and appears with a check mark in the Signatures palette. If the signature also matches a certificate in your address book, it is fully
valid and appears with a shield and check mark in the palette.
For general information on how Acrobat validates signatures, see Validating signatures .
To validate one signature:
Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the signature in the palette or document pane, and choose Validate Signature from the context menu.
To validate all signatures in a document:
Choose Validate All Signatures from the Signatures palette menu.
Getting information on signatures
You can open a dialog box to view an explanation of a signature’s validity status, the document version the signature applies to, and information such as date and time of the signing. This dialog box is not editable, but you can copy text from it and click buttons to work with the signature.
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To get information on a signature:
1 Select the signature in the Signatures palette, and choose Properties from the palette menu. Or right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the signature in the palette or document pane, and choose Properties from the context menu.
2 Do any of the following:
■ To validate the signature, click Validate. This also updates information in the dialog box.
■ To view user attributes, validation parameters, and other information on the
validated.
■ To import the signature’s certificate into your address book, click Import into
PAB. See Building an address book of certificates for details. This button is
available only if the signature has been validated and you are logged in to a profile.
3 Click Close.
Setting Acrobat Self Sign preferences
You can set several preferences to customize the process of signing documents.
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To set Acrobat Self Sign preferences:
1 Choose File > Preferences > Self Sign Signatures.
2 Select the options you want:
■ Create Self Sign Menu moves the Acrobat Self Sign menu from the Tools menu to the main menu bar. This gives you quicker access to the Self Sign commands.
■ Show Confirmation Alert opens an alert every time you log in to a profile.
The alerts confirms that you are logged in and gives you access to the profile’s user settings.
■ Display Stamp for Valid Signatures shows the Acrobat logo behind valid signatures on document pages.
■ PKCS#7 Signature encapsulates signatures in the standard PKCS#7 format rather than leaving them as two separate entries in the PDF file. Select this option if interoperability with signature mechanisms other than SelfSign
(that support the PKCS#7 standard) are desired. Selecting this option is recommended.
3 Click OK.
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Troubleshooting
This appendix contains solutions to common problems you may encounter when using Adobe Acrobat.
Additional technical support resources
Adobe Systems provides several forms of automated technical support free of charge.
■ See the Readme file installed with the program for any last-minute information not included in this user guide.
■ Explore the extensive customer support information on the Adobe Web site. Choose File > Adobe online, or enter http://www.adobe.com into a
Web browser.
■ Browse through the technical notes on the application CD for additional technical and troubleshooting information.
Before you call Adobe technical support
The troubleshooting advice in this appendix covers viewing, creating, printing, indexing, and searching PDF documents. Common Web issues and Acrobat error messages are also described.
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Improving performance
Acrobat’s performance can be measured by the amount of time it takes to complete certain operations, such as opening a file, sending a file to a printer, or redrawing the screen. In part, performance is determined by the type of computer and amount of memory you’re using. Other factors that can dramatically affect Acrobat’s performance are the way you set up your software, the amount of RAM you have, the size and complexity of your files, and the applications you have open.
The best ways to improve performance are to increase the RAM installed on your computer, create more swap space in Windows, and increase the amount of RAM allocated to Acrobat on Mac OS. Deselecting Page Cache in Acrobat
General preferences helps to minimize the amount of memory needed to run
Acrobat, but this also decreases the speed of screen redraw. Deselecting
Smooth Text and Monochrome Images in the preferences increases the speed of screen redraw, but has no effect on memory requirements.
To increase the memory available to Acrobat (Windows):
When an Acrobat component is running, exit other applications, and close other windows.
To create more swap space (Windows):
1 Choose Settings > Control Panel from the Windows Start menu.
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2 Double-click the System icon, and click the Performance tab in the dialog box that appears.
3 Click the Change button, and change the paging file size for the drive with
Acrobat. See your Microsoft Windows documentation for details.
To increase the memory allocation for Acrobat (Mac OS):
1 Start all applications, except Acrobat, Distiller, or Catalog, that you will use at the same time as those components.
2 Return to the Finder, and choose About This Macintosh from the
Apple menu.
3 In the About This Computer window, refer to the Largest Unused Block value. This value shows the amount of memory currently available.
4 Subtract 1 MB to 2 MB of that value for system use, and note the result. You will use this result in step 6.
5 Select an Adobe Acrobat icon, and choose Get Info from the File menu.
6 In the Acrobat Info window, set the Preferred Size option to the amount of memory you noted in step 4.
7 Close the About This Computer and Acrobat Info windows.
8 Follow steps 5–7 for each Acrobat component.
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Troubleshooting PDF viewing
This section provides solutions for problems you may encounter when viewing
PDF files. There may be additional troubleshooting information in the
Readme file.
Blank pages appear in a PDF file.
Blank pages can appear in PDF files for several reasons:
■ The original file contained blank pages. See
Deleting and replacing pages ,
for more information about how to remove these pages.
■ You have opened a PDF file (created with a 4.0 compatibility setting or
Distiller job options that are available only in Acrobat 4.0) in an Adobe Acrobat
3.0 or earlier viewer. Either open the file in a 4.0 viewer, or recreate the PDF file with 3.0
compatibility selected.
For more information, see
Setting the General job options .
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The downloading of a long document must be canceled.
If you selected Allow Background Download of Entire File in General preferences, any PDF file linked to on the Web will continue to download to your computer until you interrupt the download. To interrupt the download, go to the last page of the document using the Last Page button . The downloading of the entire file will stop, and only the specific pages requested from that time on will be downloaded. The full download will not resume. For information on
canceling a download using the Status Dialog box, see Converting Web pages by specifying a URL .
Characters are missing or wrong.
Missing characters or wrong characters displayed in a PDF file can be caused by combining PDF files with subsetted fonts of the same name. To address this issue, recreate the files without subsetting fonts. See
Setting the Fonts job options and
Combining multiple PostScript files into one PDF file .
Courier is substituted for another font.
Courier will be substituted for a font if the original file is converted to PDF with
Adobe Acrobat Distiller and Distiller does not have access to the font being referenced either through the PostScript file or one of its monitored font locations. Give Distiller access to the font to avoid having Courier display in its place. For more information, see
Giving Distiller access to fonts in Chapter 3 of
this online Adobe Acrobat User Guide.
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Find tool and select text tool are not working.
There are several reasons why you may not be able to find a word or select text:
■ The file is a PDF Image Only file created with the Scan or the Import command in Acrobat. See
Converting Scanned Documents to PDF for infor-
mation on this file type.
■ The PDF file originated from a PostScript file on the Windows platform that contained TrueType fonts.
■ Select Text and Graphics is not allowed by a security setting. (The Find tool would work in this case). See
Setting security for documents for information on
the security settings.
If the file is a PDF Image Only file, use Capture to convert the PDF Image Only file to a PDF Normal file that allows you to find words and select text.
If the file originated on Windows and contains TrueType fonts, open the original file in the original application and either change the fonts to Type 1 fonts or use PDFWriter to create the PDF file.
If the file is secured against selecting text and graphics, contact the document author to discuss your options.
Fonts are slow to display and print.
Type 3 fonts and TrueType fonts converted to Type 1 fonts may display and print slowly in your Acrobat viewer.
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To avoid this problem, do not use Type 3 fonts.
To solve the problem with TrueType fonts converted to Type 3 bitmap fonts, you need to edit your printer settings in Windows 95, 98, and NT.
To edit your printer settings (Windows 95 and 98):
1 Choose Settings > Printers from the Start menu, right-click the Distiller printer (or other default printer), and select Properties.
2 Click the Fonts tab, and then click the Send Fonts As button.
3 Choose Outlines from the Send TrueType Fonts As menu for conversion to
Type 1. Choose Type 42 for the Adobe PS version of TrueType.
4 Enter 1 in the Threshold to switch between downloading bitmap or outline fonts.
5 Click OK.
Image quality is poor.
If the display of images within an Acrobat viewer is not satisfactory, you will need to recreate the PDF file or the image itself. Do one or more of the following:
■ If the file was created with PDFWriter originally, recreate it with Distiller.
■ Turn downsampling off in PDFWriter or Distiller, and recreate the file.
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■ Turn automatic compression off in Distiller, and choose ZIP or JPEG compression for image compression.
■ Turn all compression off in PDFWriter or Distiller.
■ Check the resolution of the original image in a photo-editing program like
Adobe Photoshop. Rescan or recreate the image if its resolution is less than
72 dpi.
Images are not displaying.
If images appear as gray boxes, the Display Large Images option might be deselected. Choose File > Preferences > General to select this option. You should also check to see if the Smooth Text and Images check box is set in the
General Preferences dialog box.
If images do not appear at all, they could be downsampled monochrome images. Deselect downsampling in Distiller or PDFWriter, and recreate the
PDF file
Pages are cropped incorrectly.
If pages appear cut off or cropped in a viewer, you should check the page size setting in Adobe Acrobat PDFWriter and Distiller, adjust if necessary, and recreate the PDF file. For more information, see
Setting the Advanced job options .
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An incorrectly generated PostScript file can also result in cropped pages. Select another printer driver, recreate the PostScript file, and distill the file again.
If the original file is an EPS file, check the Distiller EPS settings, as described in
Setting the Advanced job options .
Lines and rules disappear in a PDF file.
Sometimes very thin lines and rules do not display at 100% magnification.
Increasing the magnification usually solves this problem. See
Magnifying and reducing the view for details.
The menu bar is missing.
Document authors can choose to hide the menu bar when a file opens. To retrieve the menu bar, press F7. To always show the menu bar, see
The command bar or tool bar is missing.
Document authors can choose to hide the command bar or the tool bar when a file opens. To retrieve the command bar, press F8. To retrieve the tool bar,
press F9. To always show the tool bar, see Defining opening views .
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Pages display in the wrong orientation.
Distiller can create a PDF file that displays the PDF file in the correct orientation if it can find the orientation information in the PostScript file (supplied by the printer driver) or if a majority of the text is oriented in one direction. If the file displays in an incorrect orientation, use the Document > Rotate Pages command to correct it. For more information, see
Proportional Japanese fonts do not display or print correctly.
Two-byte characters that have proportional widths will not be positioned correctly when viewed or printed from Acrobat or Reader on a computer that does not have the fonts installed.
In Windows 95-J, Microsoft introduced proportional width two-byte Japanese
TrueType fonts. MS P Mincho and MS PGothic are examples of proportional two-byte fonts.
Adobe does not recommend using proportional two-byte Japanese TrueType fonts in PDF documents that are intended for cross-platform use. To view and print documents from Windows 95-J correctly, follow the procedure below.
Troubleshooting
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To ensure that PDF documents containing proportional two-byte Japanese fonts display properly on Windows 95-J, create the PDF document with
Distiller. For more information on Distiller, see
Creating PDF files with Distiller .
Note: All two-byte characters in PDF documents created by PDFWriter are converted to full-width characters. The PDF document will display and print well, but the layout may not match the layout of your original document.
To ensure that PDF files containing proportional two-byte fonts print correctly from Windows 95-J, deselect the Use Printer Fonts option in the print dialog box. You should also edit the Font Substitution table to send every font to the printer as an outline.
To edit the Font Substitution table (Windows 95-J):
1 Choose Start > Settings > Printers.
2 Right-click the printer icon, and choose Properties.
3 Click the Fonts tab.
4 Select Send TrueType fonts to printer according to the Substitution Table, and click Edit the Table.
5 Select a proportional Japanese font from the list of fonts, and select Send As
Outline from the Printer font for: fontname menu.
6 Repeat step 5 for each proportional Japanese font.
7 Click OK.
Troubleshooting
Page 552
Some text in the font and character ‘Font name’ could not be displayed or printed correctly. The font could not be reencoded.
A TrueType version of a Base 14 font was given a custom font encoding in the
PostScript file that was converted to PDF. Use a different PostScript printer driver to create the PostScript file and re-distill the file. If that does not solve the problem, install the Type 1 version of the font, recreate the PostScript file, and distill it again.
Pages can’t be changed when specifying a Go To View action to a form field.
You cannot change pages when specifying a Go To View action to a form field, although you can set a Go To View action on the same page as a form field.
To create a form field that goes to a view on another page,:
1 Go to the destination page.
2 Create the form field and specify the Go To View action. See,
3 Choose Tools > Fields > Duplicate.
4 Enter a page range and click OK.
Troubleshooting
Page 553
Go To Page action can’t be edited.
If you choose Go To Next Page as a page action and later wish to change the action, you must first switch to the Continuous - Facing Pages layout to edit the action. If you are in the Single Page layout, the page will always go to the next page, making it impossible to edit that action.
There is no page numbered
number
in this document.
You have entered a wrong page number in the status bar or a dialog box, or the page numbering in the document may be making it difficult to enter page numbers correctly (for example, the page numbers use a Japanese prefix but you are on a roman system). If Use Logical Page Numbers is selected in General preferences, you may want to enter a page position in parentheses instead of entering a page number. For example, if the third page in the document is numbered vii, you can enter (3) to specify its page number. Or turn off Use
Logical Page Numbers to renumber the document using integers beginning at 1.
When printing pages on Mac OS, you cannot specify page positions in the Print dialog box. If you are having problems entering page numbers, you can select thumbnails before choosing Print to select those pages for printing. Or turn off
Use Logical Page Numbers to renumber the document using integers beginning at 1.
Troubleshooting
Page 554
PDF file can’t be opened.
If you are unable to open a PDF file by double-clicking it on Mac OS, see
Opening PDF documents for information.
PDF files created with 3.0 or 4.0 compatibility, compressed fonts, and ZIP compression cannot be opened in an Acrobat 2.1 viewer. Recreate the PDF file with 2.1 compatibility selected (compressed fonts and ZIP compression are not available options then), or open the file in a 4.0 viewer.
If you are unable to open a PDF file for any other reason, you should recreate the PDF file and try again.
PDF files can’t be viewed within a browser window.
For information about the requirements to view PDF within a browser window, see
Opening converted pages in a Web browser .
Magnification is unpredictable at link and bookmark destination.
Links and bookmarks created with a Fit View magnification setting can result in an unexpected destination view when activated. To avoid unpredictable magnification, choose Inherit Zoom as the magnification for a link or bookmark. Inherit Zoom uses the magnification level that is active when the link or bookmark is activated to display the destination. See
Working with links for more information.
Troubleshooting
Page 555
PDF file uses incorrect fonts.
If the computer displaying the PDF file does not have access to the original font either on the system itself or embedded in the PDF file, then a substitute font will be used to display the font. If you need to maintain the exact look of the font, you should embed the font in the PDF file. See
and
About font embedding and substitution
.
You should also check to ensure that View > User Local Fonts is turned on.
Troubleshooting PDF creation
This section provides solutions for problems you may encounter when creating
PDF files. There may be additional troubleshooting information in the Readme file and Release Notes document.
Create Adobe PDF command in PageMaker 6.0J does not produce proper PDF files (Windows).
The File > Create Adobe PDF command in PageMaker 6.0J does not create a usable PDF file from the Japanese version of Distiller. To produce a usable PDF file from PageMaker, use the File > Print command to create a PostScript file from PageMaker, and then process that PostScript file with Distiller.
Troubleshooting
Page 556
1 Do one of the following:
■ If the document does not contain Japanese TrueType fonts, choose File >
Print, select the Adobe PostScript driver, and click Options. Choose “Do
Not Download.”
■ If the document does contain Japanese TrueType fonts, press ALT while choosing File > Print.
2 Convert the resulting PostScript file to PDF with Distiller. See
PostScript files to PDF for more information.
Distiller is not recognizing a PostScript file (Windows).
Some Windows PostScript printer drivers append PostScript files with the extension .prn. The .prn extension is recognized for drag-and-drop operations and in watched folders. In all other instances, however, Distiller looks for .ps and .eps extensions. To make Distiller see a PostScript file with a .prn extension other than in a watched folder or in a drag-and-drop operation, choose File >
Open and select All files (*.*) from the Files of type menu.
File placed in watched folder is not processing.
Files placed in watched folders may not process because Distiller is no longer monitoring the folder, the file is not a valid PostScript file, other files have been given priority, or there is no room on the drive containing the watched folder.
Troubleshooting
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Confirm that you have created the PostScript file correctly. See
PostScript files to convert to PDF .
Verify that the watched folder has been added and configured correctly. Check that the folder is available in the Settings > Watched Folders menu.
Check how often Distiller is checking the watched folder.
Check that there is sufficient disk space available.
If Distiller is watching the folder and you have a valid PostScript file, read the following section about how Distiller prioritizes its work.
Distiller processing priorities need to be set.
Given two or more PostScript language files to distill, Distiller processes the files in the following order:
■ Files opened in Distiller (by using the Open command, dragging files to the
Distiller icon, or specifying files in the command line) are processed before files placed in watched folders. If a PostScript language file is opened while Distiller is working on a file placed in an In folder, Distiller processes the opened file as soon as it completes the current file. You can open two or more files while
Distiller is processing another file.
■ Files placed into In folders are processed in a round-robin fashion: First a file from one watched folder is distilled, then a file from the next watched folder, and so on.
Troubleshooting
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Within a watched folder, the order in which files are processed depends on the operating system. For Windows, files are processed in the order they are listed in a Windows directory, which usually means that files are processed in alphanumeric order (numbers first, followed by uppercase letters and then lowercase letters). For Mac OS, files are processed in alphabetical order.
Image quality is poor.
Photographic images can require a great deal of storage. A 24-bit color image, for example, can require several megabytes of storage. To keep the size of PDF files to a minimum, Distiller can be set up to use various techniques to resample or compress scanned images. These resampling and compression techniques, however, reduce the amount of detail in a scanned image. After being compressed, some images take on a quilted look, and sharp lines are distorted. To improve the quality of scanned images in your PDF files, reduce the amount of compression performed by Distiller or PDFWriter. In Distiller, resampling or compression is set in the Job Options dialog box, which is accessed from the Settings > Job Options menu. For more information, see
Changing the compression options
and
Applying compression and resampling to PDF files .
Troubleshooting
Page 559
Links generated by FrameMaker 5.0 and later go nowhere or to the wrong place.
To create links that go to the correct link destination, you must regenerate the
Acrobat Data from within FrameMaker, create another PostScript file, and convert the PostScript file to PDF with Distiller again. You can also save a file in
PDF using the Save As command in FrameMaker. For details about creating
Acrobat Data, see your FrameMaker documentation.
Distiller status messages are written to Message.log file and error log files.
All messages displayed in the Messages area of the Distiller window are written to the Messages.log file in the same folder as the Distiller application. (This log file can be read by any Windows or Mac OS word processor or text editor.)
The Messages.log file represents a record of all the processing performed by Distiller.
Distiller records the start time and the distill time for each file. You can use the
Messages.log file to determine the throughput of the Distiller application.
Distiller limits the Messages.log file to 32K bytes. When the file reaches 32K,
Distiller deletes the first 10K bytes in the file and then continues adding new messages to the end of the file.
Troubleshooting
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Error messages produced for a PostScript file are also written to an individual log file for the PostScript file. Distiller places the log file in the same folder as the PS or PDF file and gives the log file the same name as the PDF file, but with
.log or .LOG appended, rather than .pdf.
There is not enough memory to run Distiller.
The Windows version of Distiller requires 8 megabytes (MB) of RAM to operate.
The Mac OS version of Distiller requires 10 MB of RAM to operate. When you try to start Distiller with insufficient RAM, it displays a message that tells you it does not have enough memory to run. (32 MB of RAM is recommended in both cases.)
If you see this message while trying to start the Windows version of Distiller, use the System Control Panel to increase the size of virtual memory available.
If you see this message while trying to start the Mac OS version of Distiller, use the Distiller Info dialog box to increase the amount of memory allocated to Distiller.
The PDF file is too large.
If a PDF file is too large, you should optimize the file. You can also try to reduce the size of the file by changing the compression settings in Distiller or
PDFWriter. Not embedding fonts also contributes to a smaller PDF file. See
Optimizing PDF documents for the Web for information. Also, be sure that
thumbnail generation is turned off.
Troubleshooting
Page 561
The PostScript file must be regenerated.
You may have to do one or more of the following to create a good PostScript file:
■ Follow the same procedure you first followed to create the PostScript file and distill it again. The file may have been written to the hard disk incorrectly.
■ Use a different PostScript printer driver, recreate the PostScript file, and then distill the file again.
■ Use Distiller to “print” directly to PDF. Check Print to File to create a PostScript file using the AdobePS driver and the Acrobat Distiller PPD. (On Mac OS, use the PDF printer driver plug-in 8.5.3 for AdobePS 8.5.1. In Windows, use the
Acrobat Distiller printer.)
■ Break the file into pieces. For example, print half of the file to one PostScript file and the other half to a different file and redistill both files. If you still receive an error, break the file down into smaller pieces. You will probably be able to pinpoint the problem area with this technique. You may find a corrupt image or font. Replace or recreate the problem image or font, recreate the PostScript file, and distill it again.
Troubleshooting
Page 562
TWAIN scanner software does not appear in the Select Scanner dialog box.
If you install new TWAIN scanner software after installing Acrobat, the new software should appear in the Select Scanner list. If it does not, check to be sure your scanner driver is TWAIN software and is installed properly.
A PostScript file cannot be converted to PDF with Distiller.
Distiller can encounter problems with a PostScript file that prevent it from creating a PDF file. When Distiller fails to create a PDF file for a PostScript file,
Distiller creates a log file that describes the problem in the folder where the
PDF file would have been created. (The extension .log is appended to the
PostScript filename.) A log file is a text file that you can open with any wordprocessing program.
If Distiller fails to create a PDF file because of a PostScript error, the PostScript file may be corrupted, or the error might have been introduced by the application that created the PostScript file. Make sure that the document prints correctly on a PostScript printer, and try making a new PostScript file.
Distiller will generate a PostScript error if it cannot convert a PostScript file to
PDF. Limitcheck, VMError, Undefined, Typecheck, and Stackunderflow or Stackoverflow are the most common errors.
Troubleshooting
Page 563
PDFWriter can’t be used for printing because the disk is full.
If you receive the message “Can’t print to PDFWriter, temporary file on Drive C: is Full.,” you can change the drive location of the temporary file. Open your
WIN.INI file in a text editor. Locate:
[Acrobat PDFWRITER] tempdrive=<driveletter>
Change the <driveletter> to a drive that you have access to other than C:
The watched folder disk space is full.
If the watched folder runs out of hard disk space, a message to this effect is logged in the Messages.log file, and a warning is placed into the last job’s log file, if possible. Distiller does not watch this folder again until you open and close the Watched Folders dialog box. Processing will not resume until adequate disk space is available.
WordPerfect fonts are not available when PDF Writer is used.
WordPerfect printer drivers offer fonts that are not available when you select a different printer driver such as PDFWriter. To ensure access to the fonts used in your document, select PDFWriter as your printer driver before you begin to create your document in WordPerfect.
Troubleshooting
Page 564
WordPerfect document reflow when converted with PDFWriter.
WordPerfect printer drivers specify different margin sizes than other printer drivers such as PDFWriter. The difference in margin size can cause a document to reflow. To ensure that your document does not reflow, select PDFWriter as your printer driver before you begin to create your document in WordPerfect.
Troubleshooting PDF Web issues
This section provides solutions for problems you may encounter when publishing or viewing PDF files on the Web. There may be additional troubleshooting information in the Readme file.
Internet Explorer installation to support Acrobat Web Capture.
To take advantage of Web Capture, Internet Explorer must be installed and the
Internet Properties dialog box configured to allow access to the World Wide
Web. In particular, the Proxy Server box on the Connection tab must have a valid proxy address if you are accessing the Web through a firewall in an enterprise environment. Once Internet Explorer has been installed and configured, you may use any browser as your default browser. If your version of Internet
Explorer does not have an Internet Properties dialog box, you must upgrade to a current version of Internet Explorer (available from the Microsoft Web site).
Troubleshooting
Page 565
The downloading of a long document must be canceled.
If you selected Allow Background Download of Entire File in General preferences, then any PDF file linked to on the Web will continue to download to your computer until you interrupt the download. To interrupt the download, go to the last page of the document using the Last Page button . The downloading of the entire file will stop and only the specific pages requested from that time on will be downloaded. The full download will not resume. See
Setting Acrobat preferences for information on the General preferences.
Only the first page of a PDF file prints from Internet Explorer 3.0
(Windows).
Only the first page of a PDF file embedded in an HTML file will print from
Internet Explorer 3.0 if you use Internet Explorer’s print command.
If the embedded PDF file displays a tool bar, you can use the print tool in that tool bar to print the entire PDF file. Otherwise, the author of the HTML page must provide a Print button associated with an embedded PDF file (and implemented using a VBScript) to enable you to print the entire file.
An entire PDF file cannot be printed from Internet Explorer 3.0
(Windows).
Internet Explorer’s print icon and Print command will not correctly print a PDF file displayed in the full Internet Explorer window.
Troubleshooting
Page 566
Use the print tool in the Acrobat tool bar to print the entire PDF file.
A PDF file can’t be saved properly from Internet Explorer 3.0
(Windows).
When a PDF file is displayed in the Internet Explorer 3.0 window, Internet
Explorer’s File > Save As menu will not correctly save the PDF file to your disk. If you opened the PDF file by clicking on a link to it in an HTML page, you can save the PDF file using the Save Copy (disk icon) button on the command bar.
A PDF document can’t be viewed in a Web browser.
See Web viewing scenarios for information about the requirements to view
PDF within a browser window.
Weblinks don’t work.
If you click a Web link in a PDF document and nothing happens, verify the following information:
■ You are connected to the Internet, and the host is responding. Web browsers and Acrobat cannot follow a link if your connection is down or if the host doesn’t respond.
■ The URL address is valid. If the target URL was typed incorrectly in the Link dialog box or is invalid, the Web browser and Acrobat cannot follow it.
Troubleshooting
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■ You have correctly configured your browser to use Acrobat or Reader and have configured Acrobat or Reader to use your Web browser.
White space displays instead of a PDF file in Internet Explorer 3.0
(Windows).
Internet Explorer 3.0 may display white space where it should display a PDF file.
This can occur if Internet Explorer has an old or bad copy of the PDF file in its cache. You may be able to correct the problem by clearing its cache as follows:
1 In Internet Explorer, choose View > Options and click the Advanced tab.
2 Click Settings in the Temporary Internet files section.
3 Click Empty Folder.
4 Click Yes and OK until you close all the dialog boxes.
5 Click the Refresh button or choose View > Refresh to redisplay the PDF file.
Troubleshooting PDF printing
This section provides solutions for problems you may encounter when printing
PDF files. There may be additional troubleshooting information in the
Readme file.
Troubleshooting
Page 568
Printing performance is a problem.
To improve printing performance, enter the correct amount of memory for your printer in the printer driver settings. Many times, your printer will have more memory than the settings indicate. You can significantly improve performance by setting this field correctly.
To improve performance when printing to a PostScript printer, use the Adobe printer driver that is installed automatically with Acrobat during the default installation.
Fonts don’t align correctly.
Captured documents align fonts incorrectly when printing to a PCL printer with the default printer settings. Selecting bitmap fonts instead of outline fonts should fix the font alignment problem.
PCL printing is a problem.
If your PDF file prints incorrectly to a PCL printer, try modifying the driver settings. In general, try raster graphics instead of vector graphics and bitmap fonts instead of outline fonts. (Each driver has different settings, so we cannot tell you exactly which settings to use—see your printer manual for details.)
If your file still prints incorrectly, print to a PostScript printer. Using LaserJet
Enhanced drivers instead of standard drivers can also help resolve printing problems.
Troubleshooting
Page 569
A PDF file embedded as an EPS file cannot be separated in another application.
To ensure that the PDF file is separable, select LanguageLevel 1 when using the
Export > PostScript or EPS option to create an EPS file for embedding in another application.
Troubleshooting PDF indexing
This section provides solutions for problems you may encounter when indexing PDF files. There may be additional troubleshooting information in the
Readme file.
Builds on Mac OS System 7.5.2 fail.
If you are running Adobe Acrobat Catalog native on a Power Macintosh and using a version of AppleTalk’s Open Transport before 1.1, Catalog may crash during indexing. To check the version of Open Transport, open the AppleTalk
Control Panel and choose Get Info from the File menu.
Indexes take too long to build (Mac OS).
If an index takes a long time to build and you notice a large amount of disk activity, stop the build, increase the Index Disk Cache Size in the Index group of preferences as much as possible, and build the index again.
Troubleshooting
Page 570
The Stop button is nonresponsive.
During lengthy operations such as removing unnecessary indexes, clicking the
Stop button may seem to have no effect. This is because Catalog needs to finish the operation before it can stop the build.
Unchanged files are being reindexed.
When you update an index, files that are unchanged since the previous build may nevertheless be reindexed. This can happen when a file has been damaged, or when it doesn’t observe MS-DOS filenaming conventions.
A stopped or failed build must be restarted.
If the index-building process was purposely stopped, or an index failed to build for another reason, you can try to rebuild the index by doing one of the following:
■ Restart Catalog and rebuild the index. For more information, see
in Chapter 11.
■ If the search engine says that it could not repair the index, then go to the directory with the same name as your index description file (the .PDX file) and remove the file named COLLECTN.STP.
Troubleshooting
Page 571
Indexes are unavailable.
Indexes will not be available when the index includes PDF files with double quotes (“ ”) in their pathname or if the index has double quotes in its pathname. A pathname is the name of the file plus the name of the folder that contains it and the names of all of its parent folders. If an index is always unavailable check to see if there were transaction errors in the Catalog file generated when building the index. If there were transaction errors, the index can be made available by removing the double quotes from the filenames or folders included in this index and building the index again.
An index may also be unavailable if by accident two copies of Catalog tried to build the index at the same time. One of these copies of Catalog will give an error (Vdb Access Error), but the other will appear to finish successfully. In fact it was not successful and the index should be purged and rebuilt.
Troubleshooting PDF searches
If you have trouble with a search that includes a possible stopword, a number,
punctuation, or a special character, see Selecting word search options and
Excluding words (stopwords) and numbers from indexes in Chapter 11.
This section provides solutions for problems you may encounter when searching PDF files. There may be additional troubleshooting information in the Readme file.
Troubleshooting
Page 572
An expected file doesn’t appear in the Search Results list.
Consider these possibilities:
■ If the Proximity option is on, files containing the words being searched for may not appear in the list if the words are more than one page apart. Try searching without the option.
■ Words in Type 3 fonts will not be found if they contain high ANSI characters such as ligatures.
A file in the Search Results list is slow to open.
Try the following:
■ Rename your files and folders, particularly your top-level folders, using 8.3 conventions; then rebuild the index.
■ Select Add IDs to 1.0 Files in Catalog’s Index Options dialog box.
■ Avoid searching for common words (like “the”) by themselves. The number of hits can be so large that it takes a long time to retrieve them.
Network server is overloaded.
A network file server can reach maximum utilization when many users are running broad searches at the same time. Avoid broad searches such as
“*report” (which will read the entire index).
Troubleshooting
Page 573
Unexpected words are highlighted.
Searches with the Sounds Like, Word Stemming, and Thesaurus options may or may not produce relevant results. Use the Word Assistant to preview the words that will be highlighted before you use one of these options. For more information, see
Setting index options in Chapter 11.
Acrobat error messages
Acrobat generates error messages specific to Acrobat, Reader, Page Capture,
Catalog, and PostScript.
Acrobat viewer error messages
The following error messages may appear when you are using Acrobat or Reader.
A drawing error occurred which is probably due to an out-ofmemory condition. You may want to increase the application’s memory size using Get Info in the Finder. (Mac OS)
See
for information on increasing application memory.
Troubleshooting
Page 574
A drawing error occurred which is probably due to an out-ofmemory condition. (Windows and UNIX)
Exit other applications or close windows to free memory. You may also consider increasing the amount of RAM on your system.
Capture error messages
This page is larger than the maximum page size of 14” by 14”
You tried to process a page image that is either wider or taller than the maximum image size that Capture can process (14-by-14 inches). Either rescan the page as a smaller image or use image-editing software, such as Adobe
Photoshop, to crop or resize the image.
This page is of an unsupported resolution (200-600 dpi for b/w, 200-
400 dpi for gray/color). It cannot be captured.
You tried to process a page image with a resolution that falls outside the following ranges: for black-and-white images, 200–600 dpi; for grayscale and color images, 200–400 dpi.
Either rescan the page using a scanner resolution setting within acceptable limits or use image-editing software, such as Adobe Photoshop, to resample the image at an acceptable resolution.
Troubleshooting
Page 575
Insufficient memory to perform operation
If you are running other programs, quit those programs to free memory. You might have to restart your computer to free all the memory used by other programs. You can also install more memory in your computer.
Not enough space for temporary files. Please change location for temporary files in Acrobat Paper Capture Preferences.
Delete unnecessary files to free disk space. Alternatively, use a disk drive with
more free disk space. See Customizing the Capture process for information on
specifying another drive for temporary files.
The specified starting value is not a legal page number/label.
Enter the range of pages you want to capture in the From and To text boxes. If you enter only a From value, Acrobat captures pages from that page to the end of the document. If you select the page range option and do not enter at least a starting value, Acrobat captures all pages in the document.
The font
font name
could not be found or system resources are too low to access the font
Be sure the font is installed on your system. If it is installed and the problem persists, the font may be corrupt. You should remove it and then reinstall it.
Troubleshooting
Page 576
This page has graphics other than images or text on it. It cannot be captured. Skip page and continue?
If you get this message while capturing a multi-page document, click Yes to skip to the next page and resume the capture process.
This message occurs when:
■ The current page has already been captured.
Check to see if the page has already been captured by choosing Edit > Select
All. If some or all of the text on the page is highlighted, the page may have already been captured.
■ The current page is not a simple bitmap.
Even if a page has not already been captured, it may contain graphics or text that prevents it from being captured. Scan or import the original page again to create a PDF Image Only file and then capture it.
Catalog error messages
Catalog displays error messages in the Messages box. If the error occurred while an index was being built, it also writes the message to the log file. See
.
Troubleshooting
Page 577
Catalog error messages starting with a filename
Access denied.
Problem: Catalog could not open an index-definition (PDX) file, a log file, or a PDF file.
Solution: If the PDX, log, and PDF files are stored on a DOS computer, make sure that none of these files has read-only, hidden, or system file attributes. If the files are stored on a Macintosh or UNIX computer, make sure that Catalog (or the person running the program) has permission to change and delete the files. Also, be sure you have sufficient disk space.
Acrobat Catalog fatal error—Either the message database is inaccessible or there are insufficient permissions/space to write to the PDX file.
Problem: There is either insufficient disk space to build the index or Catalog cannot open or write to the PDX or log file.
Solution: If the PDX, log, and PDF files are stored on a DOS computer, make sure that none of these files has read-only, hidden, or system file attributes. If the files are stored on a Macintosh or UNIX computer, make sure that Catalog (or the person running the program) has permission to change and delete the files.
Troubleshooting
Page 578
Attempting to fix broken collection.
Problem: The last time this index was built or updated, the computer running
Catalog crashed or Stop was clicked. Or you are attempting to purge an index optimized for CD-ROM.
Solution: If the attempt to fix the broken collection or purge the index succeeds, no action is necessary. If the attempt fails, delete and rebuild the index.
Could not create directory
directory name
.
Problem: Catalog did not have permission to create an index folder or subfolder.
Solution: Make sure that Catalog (or the person running the program) has permission to create folders on the server volume where the index is being created.
Could not write ID into
filename
.
Problem: Catalog tried to write a unique Acrobat document identifier to a PDF file created by a version 1.0 PDFWriter or Distiller program, but did not have permission to change the file.
Solution: Make sure that Catalog (or the person running the program) has permission to change PDF files.
Troubleshooting
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Directory Full.
Problem: There is insufficient free disk space to create, update, or rebuild the index.
Solution: Delete files on the disk or server where you are trying to build the index, or build the index on a disk or server with more free space. If you are updating an index that has already been updated, consider purging and rebuilding the index to reduce the disk space required for the index. For more information, see
Purging and rebuilding indexes in Chapter 11.
Disk Full.
Problem: There is insufficient free disk space to create, update, or rebuild the index.
Solution: Delete files on the disk or server where you are trying to build the index, or build the index on a disk or server with more free space. If you are updating an index that has already been updated, consider purging and rebuilding the index to reduce the disk space required for the index. For more information, see
Purging and rebuilding indexes in Chapter 11.
Document
filename
: Parsing error on page number
nn
—Skipping rest of document.
Problem: The indicated page is corrupt.
Troubleshooting
Page 580
Solution: Replace the corrupt page. If you cannot open the file with Acrobat, recreate the file.
Document
filename
: Unable to read page number
nn .
Problem: The indicated page is corrupt.
Solution: Replace the corrupt page. If you cannot open the file with Acrobat, recreate the file.
Error in writing to log file—please check disk space.
Problem: There is insufficient free disk space to create, update, or rebuild the index.
Solution: Delete files on the disk or server where you are trying to build the index, or build the index on a disk or server with more free space. If you are updating an index that has already been updated, consider purging and rebuilding the index to reduce the disk space required for the index.
File locked—perhaps by another application.
Problem: Catalog cannot open the PDX or log file because the file is locked.
Solution: Stop the application that has the file locked.
Troubleshooting
Page 581
File not found—perhaps a server has gone down.
Problem: Catalog tried to index a PDF file that was found at the beginning of the build but is now unavailable.
Solution: If the file server containing the file became unavailable, you can build, update, or rebuild the index after the server is available. If the file was deleted between the time that the build began and the error occurred, ignore the error.
Hardware error writing to file.
Problem: Catalog failed because of equipment failure.
Solution: Repair the equipment.
Included directory
directory name
not found.
Problem: Catalog tried to index a PDF file that was found at the beginning of the build, but the folder containing the file is not available.
Solution: If the file server containing the file became unavailable, you can build, update, or rebuild the index after the server is available. If the folder containing the file was deleted between the time that the build began and the error occurred, remove the folder from the Include list and rebuild the index.
Troubleshooting
Page 582
Index directory
directory name
has less than
nn
bytes of space—Build will be terminated.
Problem: There is insufficient free disk space to create, update, or rebuild the index.
Solution: Delete files on the disk or server where you are trying to build the index, or build the index on a disk or server with more free space. If you are updating an index that has already been updated, consider purging and rebuilding the index to reduce the disk space required for the index. See
Purging and rebuilding indexes for more information.
Index directory
directory name
not found—Perhaps a server has gone down.
Problem: Catalog tried to index a PDF file that was found at the beginning of the build, but the folder containing the file is not available.
Solution: If the file server containing the file became unavailable, you can build, update, or rebuild the index after the server is available. If the folder containing the file was deleted between the time that the build began and the error occurred, remove the folder from the Include list and rebuild the index.
Insufficient memory to perform operation.
Problem: There is insufficient memory available to run Catalog.
Troubleshooting
Page 583
Solution: If other applications are running, stop the applications and run
Catalog by itself. If the index build continues to fail at a specific document, try the following:
■ If the document is large, make sure that the DocumentWordSections setting in the acrocat.ini file (Windows), or the Document Section Size setting in the
Index group of preferences (Mac OS), matches
the amount of memory available. See Defining custom data fields in Chapter 11
for more information.
■ On the Macintosh, increase the Index Disk Cache Size value in the Index group of preferences. When building large indexes, you may also want to increase the memory allocated to Catalog by increasing its Preferred size value in the Get Info dialog box. See
Defining custom data fields in Chapter 11 for
more information.
■ Try removing the failing document from the indexed collection. If this corrects the problem, try recreating the document and indexing again. If this fails, try indexing only the recreated document.
■ Try running Catalog on a computer that has more memory, or adding memory to the computer where the program is running.
■
If none of these solutions work, see The Adobe Web site for more
information.
Troubleshooting
Page 584
Memory exhausted—Please close other applications and try again.
See
Improving performance for information on increasing the amount of
memory available to Acrobat.
Not enough memory to continue.
See
Improving performance for information on increasing the amount of
memory available to Acrobat.
Search Engine Message: E3-0024 (VDK): Failed 1 times to build partition.
Problem: You clicked Stop while Catalog was building an index.
Solution: None required. This message is normal.
Search Engine Message: E0-1203 (Guards): Failed after 1 attempts to lock file. (Windows)
Problem: The DOS Share program is not running.
Solution: Run the DOS Share program before starting Catalog. You might want to put the Share Run command in the autoexec.bat file. See your DOS manual for a description of the Share program.
Troubleshooting
Page 585
Search Engine Message:
various numbers and messages.
Problem: Many problems can cause search engine messages.
Solution: If the build failed, make sure that there is sufficient free disk space.
Then try to build or update the index again. If that doesn’t work, purge and rebuild the index. If the build still fails and there are search engine errors, reinstall Catalog and try to rebuild the index. See
Purging and rebuilding indexes
for more information.
Sharing violation—Perhaps another application has it open.
Problem: Catalog cannot open the PDX or log file, or it cannot open a PDF file to add an Acrobat document identifier because another application is using the file.
Solution: If you can identify the application that has the file open, close the file.
Otherwise, wait until the application closes the file.
Some files were still open during purge—users are still searching the index—their next search will fail.
Problem: A computer running Acrobat Search crashed while using an index you are trying to purge, so the purge operation cannot complete successfully.
Solution: Click OK to close the message box and release Catalog to work on other indexes. To complete the failed purge, find and restart the failing computer, wait for a few minutes, and try the purge operation again.
Troubleshooting
Page 586
Too many open files. (Windows)
Problem: The number of concurrent file opens specified with the FILES command in the config.sys file has been exceeded.
Solution: If other programs are running on the computer where Catalog is running, quit those programs. Otherwise, increase the number of allowable concurrent file opens with the FILES command in the config.sys file. In most cases, setting FILES to 80 is sufficient.
Unable to open log file for exclusive write.
Problem: Catalog cannot open the log file because another application is using the file.
Solution: If you can identify the application that has the file open, close the file.
Otherwise, wait until the application closes the file.
Filename
cannot be opened for indexing.
Problem: Catalog cannot open the indicated file.
Solution: If the file is stored on a DOS computer, make sure that the file does not have the read-only, hidden, or system file attributes. If the file is stored on a
Macintosh or UNIX computer, make sure that Catalog (or the person running the program) has permission to open the file.
Troubleshooting
Page 587
Filename
is in previously included directory
filename
.
Problem: You may have tried to include a folder whose name is a substring of the name of an already included folder. For example, if you have already included the folder “docsbac,” you can’t also include the folder “docs.”
Solution: Change the name of one of the folders.
Filename
needs an open password—Password protected files cannot be indexed.
Problem: Catalog cannot open the indicated file without an Acrobat password.
Solution: Open the file with Acrobat, and use Save As to create a new file that does not require a password in order to be opened.
Filename
: Page:
nn
had a serious error; the rest of the file will be skipped.
Problem: The indicated page is corrupt.
Solution: Replace the corrupt page. If you cannot open the file with Acrobat, recreate the file.
Troubleshooting
Page 588
PostScript error messages
If a PostScript error message appears while you are using Distiller, read the .log file for information on the error. The errors listed in this section are the most likely PostScript error messages you may encounter, not the complete list of all possible errors.
Findfont
When Distiller cannot find a Type 1 or TrueType font used in a PostScript file to create a substitute for the missing font, it issues an error message and substitutes Courier for the missing font.
If Distiller can’t find the font because it is not installed on the same system or in a font folder identified with the Font Locations dialog box, install the font on the system that has Distiller, or place it into a font folder listed in the Font
Locations dialog box.
If Distiller cannot find the Type 1 or TrueType font because the font is in a folder on a network server to which Distiller has lost access, restore Distiller’s access to the server and reprocess the PostScript file.
For more information, see
Giving Distiller access to fonts .
A findfont error will also occur if the Base 14 fonts are not available to Distiller.
Troubleshooting
Page 589
Limitcheck
This error occurs because an implementation limit has been exceeded or
Distiller has run out of memory while processing a file.
Typecheck
These errors occur if a PostScript operand’s type is different from what the operator expects.
Stackoverflow
The operand stack is too large.
Stackunderflow
An attempt has been made to remove an object from an empty stack.
Undefined
Distiller has encountered code that is not correct PostScript or a name used as a dictionary key in some context cannot be found.
Troubleshooting
Page 590
VMError
This error occurs when Distiller runs out of memory. Allocate more RAM to
Distiller (Mac OS) or increase the amount of RAM or virtual memory available to the system (Windows and Mac OS). Sometimes this error occurs for the same reason as limitcheck.
Search error messages
If a Search error message appears while you are using the Search command, click the message for information.
The index is unavailable
Problem: An index is unavailable, probably for one of the following reasons:
■ The connection to the network server containing the index has been lost.
■ The index is being purged and rebuilt.
■ The index has been moved to a new location.
■ The index has been deleted.
■ There is not enough memory for the index to be attached.
■ You are using a Macintosh, and there are double quotes in the pathname of the index or the indexed files.
Troubleshooting
Page 591
■ You are using a Macintosh connected to a UNIX file server, and the software and configuration used for the connection are causing the problem.
Solution: Contact the person responsible for the index if you suspect that the index is being purged and rebuilt, or if you suspect that it has been moved or deleted. If you think there is not enough memory for the index, free more memory by closing other applications and then restart your Acrobat viewer. If you are using a Macintosh with a UNIX file server and think there is a connection problem, try using Mac TCP/IP.
Highlights will not be displayed
Problem: You tried to open a PDF document from the Search Results window that changed since the index was built.
Solution: The changes may not have altered the locations of the words on the page. For example, adding a note to a PDF document or changing its security settings causes the message to be displayed. If you are using a Macintosh and the document is on a Novell network, there may be no changes at all—a change may have been reported incorrectly because of inconsistencies between Novell and Macintosh date reporting.
However, if changes to the file did alter the locations of words, the query-match highlights will be incorrect. If a page was deleted, for example, highlights will indicate the wrong words.
Troubleshooting
Page 592
If you think the changes to the PDF document did not alter the locations of words in the document, or if you think you will be able to tell whether the highlights are correct, click the Highlight Anyway button to close the message box and view the document. Otherwise, arrange to rebuild the index.
If the search query reports that a file on a Novell network has been changed since the index was last built, consider using the index anyway. The report may be in error because of inconsistencies between Novell and Macintosh date reporting.
No documents were found that matched your query
Problem: No documents in the currently selected indexes meet the criteria you specified with a search query.
Solution: Try these steps:
■ Make sure you have selected the indexes that contain the documents with the information you seek.
■ Make sure you are not using Document Info or Date Info field values—or search options—from a previous query by mistake.
■ Make sure you are not searching for a phrase that contains a stopword in an index that has stopwords.
■ Make sure you are not searching for a number in an index from which numbers have been excluded.
Troubleshooting
Page 593
■ If you are using and, or, or not in a literal phrase, not as Boolean operators, make sure the phrase is enclosed in quotation marks (“ ”).
■ On a Macintosh, find out whether the index has been purged and rebuilt since your last search. If it has, you will need to detach from that index and then reattach to find any documents.
Out of file handles
Problem: You are running too many programs or you have too many windows open.
Solution: Close some windows, and try the search query again. If you are running two or more applications, quit all applications except the Acrobat viewer you are searching from and retry the query.
Not enough memory (Mac OS)
Problem: You do not have enough memory to find the documents that match your search query.
Solution: Try increasing the memory available to the Acrobat viewer you are searching from.
Troubleshooting
Page 594
To increase available memory:
1 If the Acrobat viewer is running, quit it.
2 From the Finder, click to select the Acrobat viewer’s program icon.
3 Choose File > Get Info.
4 In the Memory Requirements box, increase the Minimum size value. For example, you might increase the Minimum size value to 2500 or 3000. (The maximum amount of memory available for the application is limited by the amount of memory installed in your Macintosh.)
5 Click the close box in the upper left corner of the Get Info dialog box.
6 Launch the Acrobat viewer. If a message appears telling you that there is not enough memory to run the program, decrease the Minimum size value in the viewer’s Get Info box.
Troubleshooting
Page 595
The Adobe Web site
Visit the Adobe Web site for up-to-the minute information on technology related to Acrobat, links to Acrobat plug-ins, product tips, support updates, and much more.
In Acrobat, click the Adobe Web site button , or choose File > Adobe Online.
Use the dialog box that appears to update pages from the Web site manually, to configure how often to update pages automatically, or to set up your proxy service.
In your Web browser, you can go to the main page of the Adobe Web site by entering the URL www.adobe.com.
On the Adobe Web site home page, you can click a country name in the Adobe
Sites pop-up menu to choose a language for viewing the site. The exact information in the site may vary from one language version to another.
Index
Symbols
A
comparing versions 3.0 and 4.0 133
Acrobat Capture, Catalog, Distiller,
PDFWriter. See Capture, Catalog,
Distiller, PDFWriter
Acrobat Entrust Security
Acrobat Reader
Acrobat viewers. See Acrobat Reader
action options, setting for form fields 358
actions
Add PDF Structure option 215, 225
Adding Or Changing Notes And Form
adding signatures 506–507, 535–537
Adobe Certification program 13
Adobe Photoshop
resampling and compressing images with 147
Adobe Type Composer (ATC) utility 182
AdobePS printer driver, default
Advance On Any Click option 49
Advanced Layout option 417, 419
All Pages In Range command 267
Allow File Open Links option 70
Allow PostScript File To Override Job
Auto-Open Notes Windows option 337
Auto-Open Other Markup Windows option 337
Show Sequence Numbers option 337
See also individual tool names annotations 308
appearance options, form fields 357
Append All Links On Page command 211
Append To Document command 210
article boxes 251, 252 article threads 251
ASCII Format option 94, 126, 136
Asian text
converting to PDF in Windows 177
preventing ATM from rasterizing 182
Asian TrueType fonts 177–179 substituting printer fonts 179
Ask For PDF File Destination option 186
Ask To Replace Existing PDF File option 186
attaching files to PDF documents 322
audio annotation tool 308, 317
Auto-Switch To Landscape If Scaling
B
Batch Process command
creating and deleting thumbnails 237
binding, left or right 60, 473
bookmarks 238–247 actions with 238, 242
expanding and collapsing 244 hierarchies 244
browsers
See also Web browsers troubleshooting 554
building an index
restarting a stopped index build 437 stopping an index build 437
Button Face Attribute options 415
See also individual button names
submitting and resetting forms 375
Buying PDF documents off the Web 38
C
calculating, with JavaScript 384
calculation options, setting for form fields 362
Capture Pages command 191, 193
Case Sensitive option 426, 434, 439
CCITT compression filters 79, 138, 139
CDs
Center Window On Screen option 475
certificates
getting information on 530, 539
importing 528–530, 539 storing 528
Certified Plug-ins Only option 70
Changing The Document option 176, 478
Character Formatting options 301
characters, missing or wrong 545
checksum
Classroom in a Book training 12
CMS. See color management system
color
color images
color management system 158, 163
color separations, exporting 125
color spaces
controlling in file exchange 165–171
converting device-dependent to independent 166
See also individual color space names
Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage (CIE) 163
Compare All Page Components To
Detect Changed Pages option 228
Compare Only Page Text To Detect
Compare Words and Fonts command 304
compatibility settings
Compress Text And Line Art option 94
compressing files
for electronic distribution 472
varying settings by image type 147
Compression job options 143–148
Consolidate Menu Items In Top-Level
Continuous - Facing layout 46, 473
continuous-tone images, compressing 140
conversion options, Web page
Convert All Colors To sRGB/CalRGB option 167
converting electronic files to PDF
converting Microsoft files to PDF 85
converting Web pages to PDF 202–231
Copy File To Clipboard command 303
Copy Link Location command 212
copying
Courier font substitution
Create All Thumbnails command 234
Create Bookmarks To New Content option 215, 223
Create Self Sign Menu option 540
creating
by dragging and dropping 87, 102
cross-platform compatibility 441, 495
Custom Calculation Script option 384
custom data fields
custom dictionary, editing 199
Custom Validation Script option 391
D
Default Selection Type menu 301
Delete All Thumbnails command 235
creating 255 deleting 255, 257
renaming 255 scanning 255 setting 255
device-dependent color 162, 165, 166
device-independent color 163, 165
digital signature
digital signatures
Digital Signatures preferences 515
Display Open Dialog At Startup option 69
Display Splash Screen At Startup option 69
Display Stamp For Valid Signatures option 540
converting files to PDF 100–114
creating PostScript files 108–115
Distinguish Between Full And Half
distributing documents electronically
cross-platform considerations 495
document collections
Boolean operators in 461, 464, 467
filling out 430 in indexes 430
searching with 461 wild-card characters in 461, 464
document information, adding 473
Document JavaScripts command 383
document structuring conventions comments. See DCS comments
Download Asian Fonts option 64
Download Status dialog box 209
downloading
downloading from the Web 204–212
downsampling
dragging and dropping
E
Edit Refresh Commands List command
editing
copying files 269 copying pages 269
cropping and rotating pages 265
graphic markup annotations 327
moving and copying with thumbnails 272
Embed Platform Fonts option 218, 219
embedding fonts 95–100, 152–157
embedding PDF documents in HTML
Entrust Security. See Acrobat Entrust
Security
EPS files
keeping origin information 174
Excel, creating PDF files from 85
exporting
F
field level JavaScript 382, 422
file formats
file size
file-naming conventions 471, 496
Find First Suspect command 196
Fit Text To Selection command 288
font substitution 96, 149, 152
printer fonts for Asian TrueType fonts 179
fonts
giving Distiller access to 148–157
including in PostScript file 126
footers, conversion options 215
Force Language Level 3 option 64
Force These Settings For All Pages option 217
form fields
creating buttons 344 creating check boxes 344
creating combo boxes 346 creating list boxes 346
format options, setting for form fields 359
forms
designing, building, and editing 364
FTP transfer, PostScript files 109
G
general document information 60
General preferences. See preferences
and names of specific preferences
Generate Thumbnails option 136
getting information
on converting PostScript files to
line tool 308, 324 pencil tool 308, 324 rectangle tool 308, 324
strikethrough text tool 309 underline text tool 309
graphics
copying and pasting to other applications 295
Grayscale color space 160, 166
grayscale images
resampling and compressing 143–148
grid
Group Size For CD-ROM option 442
H halftone information
organizers
headers, conversion options 215
helper application, Acrobat as 75
Highlight Next/Previous button 72
HTML pages
downloading from the Web 204–212
I
IBM WorkPad PC Companion organizer. See Palm organizers
image file
See also images
image quality
images
including embedded in PDF conversion 217
importing
Index Definition
Index Disk Cache Size option 443, 444
indexes
defining and building 433 definition of 433
indexing
document collections on CD 496
organizing document collections 427
using Document Info fields 430
using Keywords field 431 using Subject field 431
installing
International Color Consortium (ICC) standards 164
International Coordinating Committee for Telephony and Telegraphy compression. See CCITT
compression
Internet settings, configuring 203
Invisible Rectangle option 258
J
Japanese fonts
in forms 381 plug-in level 381, 422, 424
JavaScript Console command 424
JavaScript Document command 423
JPEG
JPEG Medium compression setting 472
K
L
including in PostScript file 126
Leave Color Unchanged option 166, 168
Limit Lines Per Page option 220
limiting access to PDF files 175
Log Compatibility Warnings option 429
Loop After Last Page option 49
lossless compression 140 lossy compression 140
M
magnification options
Match Case option 58, 439, 460, 465
Match Whole Word Only option 58
adding movies 399, 400 adding sound 399, 404
Quick Time 400 system requirements 400
memory requirements
memory requirements, Distiller 101
Microsoft application files
monochrome images
unexpected viewing results 146
movies
floating window 402 movie poster option 402
Quick Time 400 system requirements 400, 407
MS-DOS file-naming convention 471
substituting for missing fonts 153
N
naming conventions. See file-naming
conventions navigating
navigating PDF documents 50–57
New Bookmark command 241, 242, 297
New Bookmarks From Structure command 225
notes
Notify When Startup Volume Is Nearly
Notify When Watched Folders Are
nppdf32.dll file, installing 76
O
OCF (old composite format) 180
OLE 295, 303 commands 295 compound document 295
Only Get Pages Under Same Path option 208
Open In Full Screen Mode option 475
Open Page In Web Browser command 229
Open Web Page command 207, 212
Open Weblink As New Document command 211
Open Weblink In Browser command 229
opening
application files in Acrobat 103
PDF files automatically 88, 89
PostScript files in Acrobat 115
opening linked documents and views in same window 69
optical character recognition. See OCR
Optimize For CD-ROM option 441
optimizing PDF documents for the
overprinting
P
page cropping, troubleshooting 548
page layouts
page orientation, troubleshooting 550
page setup
page size
pages
paging through documents 50–57
palette menu
Palm organizers
configuring signatures 524–528
Paragraph Formatting options 302
pasting
PCL printing, troubleshooting 568
PDF Document Language option 301
PDF documents
adding structured bookmarks 225
distributing on the Web 483–494
preparing to distribute 470–479
PDF file size
PDF files
converting with Distiller 100–120
converting with PDFWriter 86–124
displaying converted files 186
making colors device-independent 166
using Asian TrueType fonts in 178
version 1.2 135 version 1.3 135
PDF Normal file 193, 195, 197, 425
PDF Original Image With Hidden Text file 195, 197
PDFViewer plug-in
personal address book. See address
books
Photoshop Acquire plug-ins 188
pictures, as signatures 521–524
Play Once Then Stop option 402, 406
Play Once, Stay Open option 402
plug-in level JavaScript 381, 422, 424
plug-ins
Portable Document Format (PDF).
See PDF files
PostScript files
creating color separations 125
creating in Windows 113–114 creating on Mac OS 114–115
creating with Distiller 108–115
PostScript printer, default 101
PowerPoint
Preserve Document Information From
Preserve EPS Information From DSC option 174
Preserve Halftone Information option 170
Preserve Level 2 Copypage Semantics option 173
Preserve OPI Comments option 174
Preserve Overprint Settings option 169
Preserve Transfer Functions option 169
Preserve Under Color Removal And
Black Generation Settings option 169
PressOptimized job options 107, 130
Print 4 Color ICC Profiles As Device
printer drivers
See also names of specific printer
drivers
printing
printing from the Web, troubleshooting 565
printing, PCL
PrintOptimized job options 106, 130
private/public key (PPK) system 515
Process All Subfolders option 237
profiles, Acrobat Self Sign 516, 533
Prompt For Document Info option 89
Proximity option 455, 460, 465
proxy settings, configuring 203
Put Headers And Footers On New
Q
queries
QuickTime
R
reading embedded PDF documents 72
Refresh Pages command 227 refreshing Web pages 227
removing
Merge With Previous Section option 282
Replace Pages command 276, 279
Rescan Document command 307, 311
resetting
Web page conversion options 231
Resize Page And Center Artwork For
Resize Window To Initial Page option 475
resizing
resolution
Restart Distiller After PostScript Fatal
RGB images
including in PostScript file 126
Rollback To Signature command 514
Run Length compression 138, 139
S
Save Portable Job Ticket Inside PDF
Save Refresh Commands option 216, 227
Scale When options
Scale Wide Contents To Fit Page option 221
scaling
scanner software, troubleshooting 562
scanners, using 192 scanning pages 187–192
ScreenOptimized job options 106, 129
search options
See also word search options 439
search results
relevancy ranking 454 viewing 454
searchable document information, adding 473
searching
customizing index selection 450
refining results 456 refining searches 456
separator characters 463 stopwords 463 terms or phrases 463
with Date Info 461 with Document Info 461
security
select text tool, troubleshooting 546
selecting
Selecting Text And Graphics option 176
Send TrueType Fonts to Printer option 178
Set Bookmark Destination command 243
Short (DOS) File Names option 89
Show Capture Suspects command 195
Show Clipboard command 296, 297
Show Destinations command 254, 255, 257
Show Navigation Pane button 239
Show Progress Dialog option 262
Show Toolbar Button option 230, 262
Show/Hide Navigation Pane button 233
handwriting on organizers 524–528
signatures handlers. See also Acrobat
Self Sign and Acrobat Entrust
Security
with Acrobat Self Sign 535–537
Skip Editing Warnings option 70
sound
sound clips
sound files
System 7 sound files 400 system requirements 400
Sounds Like option 426, 434, 439, 458, 459
special effects 408 actions 408
executing a command 408 page actions 408 playing a media clips 408 show/hide field 408, 420
sRGB color space
staging document collections 482
replacing a stamp annotation 334
Stay On Same Server option 208
strikethrough text tool 309, 328
structured bookmarks 223–226, 239
copying and moving pages with 274
Subset All Embedded Fonts Below option 155
Summarize Annotations command 335
movie and sound files 400, 407
T
table/formatted text select tool 298
Table/Formatted Text Tool command 300
Tag Everything For Color Mgmt option 166
testing
text
copying and pasting to other applications 295
correcting when capturing 195–196
Text - Preserve Line Breaks option 299
Text And Background option 219
text attributes
baseline 287 character scale 287
shift 287 spacing 287 text alignment options 287 tracking 287
text files
Text, Background, Links, And Alt Text option 217
creating 233, 234, 236 deleting 233, 235, 236
moving and copying pages between documents 272
moving and copying pages in same document 271
selecting pages to print using 63
tips
tools
touchup
touchup object tool 283, 290, 292
transfer functions, preserving 169
U
UCR 169 undercolor removal 169
uninstalling Acrobat, Windows 22
URL
Use Floating Window option 402
Use Logical Page Numbers option 68
Use Printer Halftone Screens option 66
User Floating Window option 406
V validating
validation options, for form fields 360
Verify Stored Images option 229
View PDF When Using Distiller Printer option 186
viewing in a Web browser, troubleshooting 567
viewing path
virtual memory
W
prologue and epilogue files 172
Web browsers
displaying PDF documents 70, 71
Web pages
Weblinks
opening in a new PDF document 211
Word
Word Assistant command 458 word search options 458
Case Sensitive 439 disabling 439
expanding a search 465 limiting searches 465
Word Stemming option 426, 434, 439, 458, 459
WordPerfect, troubleshooting 563, 564
World Wide Web
World Wide Web Link
Wrap Lines At Margin option 219
Wrap Lines Inside PREs Longer Than option 217
X
Z
1999 Adobe Systems Incorporated and its licensors. All rights reserved.
Adobe® Acrobat® 4.0 User Guide
This manual, as well as the software described in it, is furnished under license and may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of such license. The content of this manual is furnished for informational use only, is subject to change without notice, and should not be construed as a commitment by Adobe Systems Incorporated. Adobe Systems Incorporated assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that may appear in this book.
Except as permitted by such license, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of
Adobe Systems Incorporated.
Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat, the Acrobat logo, Acrobat Capture, AdobePS, Classroom in a Book, Distiller, FrameMaker,
Illustrator, PageMaker, Photoshop, and PostScript are trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated. ITC Zapf Dingbats is a registered trademark of International Typeface Corporation. Intel, i486, and Pentium are trademarks of Intel Corporation.
Microsoft, Windows, and Windows NT are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. Mac, Macintosh, Power Macintosh, TrueType, the QuickTime logo, and QuickTime are trademarks of
Apple Computer, Inc. registered in the U.S. and other countries. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
U.S. Patents 4,837,613; 5,185,818; 5,634,064; 5,729,637; 5,737,599; 5,754,873; 5,781,785; 5,832,530; 5,819,301; 5,832,531;
5,835,634; 5,860,074; 5,930,813; patents pending.
This product contains an implementation of the LZW algorithm licensed under U.S. Patent 4,558,302.
This software includes software licensed from Verity, Inc., copyright 1994. All rights reserved. The address of Verity, Inc. is 894
Ross Drive, Sunnyvale, California 94089. Verity ® and TOPIC ® are registered trademarks of Verity, Inc. in the United States and other countries.
International CorrectSpell™ Finnish version copyright 1988, Lingsoft, Inc. and Kimmo Koskenniemi. Swedish version
Copyright 1989 Lingsoft, Inc. and Fred Karlsson. Licensed from and portions copyright 1994 by Lernout & Hauspie Speech
Products, N.V. copyright 1986-1994 Microlytics, Inc., and Xerox Corp. All rights reserved worldwide. Word Finder® licensed from Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products, N.V. Copyright 1986-1989 Microlytics, Inc., Selfware, Inc., Xerox Corp. All rights reserved worldwide.
Portions copyright Netscape 1996. All rights reserved.
This software includes software licensed from RSA Data Security, Inc.
QuickTime and the QuickTime logo are used under license.
Written and designed at Adobe Systems Incorporated, 345 Park Ave, San Jose, CA 95110-2704.
Notice to U.S. government end users. The software and documentation are “commercial items,” as that term is defined at 48
C.F.R. §2.101, consisting of “commercial computer software” and “commercial computer software documentation,” as such terms are used in 48 C.F.R. §12.212 or 48 C.F.R. §227.7202, as applicable. Consistent with 48 C.F.R. §12.212 or 48 C.F.R.
§§227.7202-1 through 227.7202-4, as applicable, the commercial computer software and commercial computer software documentation are being licensed to U.S. government end users (A) only as commercial items and (B) with only those rights as are granted to all other end users pursuant to the terms and conditions set forth in the Adobe standard commercial agreement for this software. Unpublished rights reserved under the copyright laws of the United States.
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Key features
Universal document exchange
Converts various file types to PDF
Annotation tools for marking up text
Structured Bookmarks
Digital Signatures
Page renumbering
Frequently asked questions
Adobe Acrobat is used to publish documents in Portable Document Format (PDF) which preserves the look and content of the originals.
You can convert electronic files from applications, web pages, printed pages, and image files to PDF.
The Adobe Acrobat User Guide provides detailed information on all Acrobat commands and features.
You can use the Paper Capture feature to turn the file into a full-text searchable PDF file, which uses optical character recognition (OCR).
Yes, You can download HTML pages from the Web in Acrobat and convert the pages to PDF.
