Appendix C: QWik Start Reference: Adobe Acrobat Distiller 8
Adobe Acrobat 8.x was shipped in September of 2006. It is typical for all software manufacturers to release maintenance patches to their software packages from time to time. Always keep your software at the latest version.
Updates can be obtained three different ways:
1. Launch Acrobat 8.x application (not Distiller). Select: “Adobe Online….” It is located under the “Help” menu. Select: “Updates” and follow the instructions.
2. Check the Adobe web site
www.adobe.com/support/downloads/main.html
frequently to verify you have the latest version.
3. Call Adobe Customer Service at (800) 272-3623.
Software Requirements
1. Be sure to use the final version , Acrobat Distiller 8.1.3.
2. Preflight (optional, but highly recommended) - Acrobat 8.x Professional ships with its own built-in preflight module. If you prefer another package, there are several other good PDF preflight software packages available. Preflight will verify that your final PDF is print-ready. These packages identify problems and enable you to correct them before the final PDF files are sent to the printing plant.
The PDF/X tab does validate (preflight) some of the data. This validation does not include items such as image resolution. You will need a preflight application to do more in-depth checks.
General Tab Settings
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May 2010
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QWik Start Reference: Adobe Acrobat Distiller 8.1.3
(cont.)
Image Tab Settings*
* These guideline settings will apply JPEG compression (lossy) to images and ZIP compression (lossless) to screen captures.
These guideline settings will also down-sample all color and grayscale images above 300 dpi to 300 dpi.
Quad/Graphics suggest these settings because we found that this compression setting provides smaller file sizes without compromising quality.
Refer to Appendix B for alternative (ZIP, no compression, downsampling) image tab settings.
Fonts Tab Settings
Color Tab Settings
How2PDF Guidelines – © Quad/Graphics, Inc., 2010. All rights reserved
Quad/Graphics, Inc. Technology Group
July 2010
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QWik Start Reference: Adobe Acrobat Distiller 8.1.3
(cont.)
Advanced Tab Settings
Standards Tab Settings
The Output Intent Profile Name assigned needs to reflect the expected output
(proofing) condition.
Saving Your Job Options File
Save your newly created “Job Options” file back to your local hard drive. On a Macintosh, the path will be
“Macintosh HD:Users:Your Home Directory:Library:Application
Support:Adobe:Adobe PDF:Settings” and for the PC (Microsoft Operating System) the path will be
“C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\Adobe PDF
8.0\Settings.”
If you would prefer to download the above settings instead of creating your own, the QG Suggested 8 (PDFX-1a) job option settings file can be downloaded from the following FTP site:
How2PDF Guidelines – © Quad/Graphics, Inc., 2009. All rights reserved
Quad/Graphics, Inc. Technology Group
Host: ftp://specs.qwinc.com
Login: pdf
Password: pdf
Directory: Job_Option_Settings
File name: Acro6_PDFX-1a.sea or Acro6_PDFX-1a.zip
May 2010
Page 55
QWik Start Reference: QuarkXPress 7, via PostScript
The following diagrams show proper print dialog settings necessary to create good PostScript from QuarkXPress
7.2. These settings assume that your QuarkXPress document(s) were built to trim. The final trim size of the book is the values entered in the “File>Document Setup…” window of QuarkXPress. The document bleed (0.125”) extends into the pasteboard.
Neither version 7 or 8 creates the trim and bleed boxes when printing PostScript to file. So like with Acrobat 9, see page 22, you will need to Export PostScript and Distill it. In order to export
PostScript the PDF preference needs to be modifed from it’s default. To modify the preference select QuarkXPress>Preferences from the menu and modify the PDF tab as illustrated.
Please note that these settings will make your final PDF document exactly 1” larger than the QuarkXPress document size you entered. For example, if you entered a QuarkXPress document of 8.125” by 10.75”, the resulting PDF will be 9.125” by 11.75”. This includes crop marks and bleed.
Pages Tab Settings
Meta Data Tab Settings
Hyperlinks Tab Settings
How2PDF Guidelines – © Quad/Graphics, Inc., 2010. All rights reserved
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July 2010
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QWik Start Reference: QuarkXPress 7, via PostScript
(cont.)
Compression Tab Settings
Color Tab Settings
Optional Setups
Marks Tab Settings
Fonts Tab Settings
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May 2010
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QWik Start Reference: QuarkXPress 7, via PostScript
(cont.)
Bleed Tab Settings
Transparency Tab Settings
JDF Tab Settings
Summary Tab Settings
How2PDF Guidelines – © Quad/Graphics, Inc., 2010. All rights reserved
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July 2010
Page 58
QWik Start Reference: QuarkXPress 7, via Direct Export
The following diagrams show proper print dialog settings necessary to export PDF/X-1a files from QuarkXPress
7.2. These settings assume that your QuarkXPress document(s) were built to trim. The final trim size of the book is the values entered in the “File>Document Setup…” window of QuarkXPress. The document bleed (0.125”) extends into the pasteboard.
The default installation has the PDF preference set to export
PDF. Please verify that this setting has not been modified. To verify the preference select QuarkXPress>Preferences from the menu and compare it to the PDF tab illustrated to the right.
Please note that these settings will make your final PDF document exactly 1” larger than the QuarkXPress document size you entered. For example, if you entered a QuarkXPress document of 8.125” by 10.75”, the resulting PDF will be 9.125” by 11.75”. This includes crop marks and bleed.
Pages Tab Settings
Meta Data Tab Settings
Hyperlinks Tab Settings
How2PDF Guidelines – © Quad/Graphics, Inc., 2009. All rights reserved
Quad/Graphics, Inc. Technology Group
May 2010
Page 59
QWik Start Reference: QuarkXPress 7, Direct Export
(cont.)
Compression Tab Settings
Color Tab Settings
Optional Setups
Marks Tab Settings
Fonts Tab Settings
How2PDF Guidelines – © Quad/Graphics, Inc., 2010. All rights reserved
Quad/Graphics, Inc. Technology Group
July 2010
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