Chapter 8: Saving and exporting PDFs
Saving PDFs
You can save your changes to an Adobe® PDF orPDF Portfolio in the original PDF or in a copy of the PDF. You can also save individual PDFs to other file formats, including text, XML, HTML, and Microsoft Word. Saving a PDF in text format allows you to use the content with a screen reader, screen magnifier, or other assistive technology.
If you don’t have access to the source files that created an Adobe PDF, you can still copy images and text from the PDF to use elsewhere. You can also export the PDF to a reusable format, or export images in a PDF to another format.
Adobe Reader® users can save a copy of a PDF or PDF Portfolio if the creator of the document has enabled usage rights.
If a document has additional or restricted usage rights, the document message bar under the toolbar area describes the assigned restrictions or privileges.
Save a PDF
Use this method to save PDFs, including PDF Portfolios, and PDFs in which you have added comments, form field entries, and digital signatures.
Note: Saving a digitally signed PDF invalidates the signature.
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Do one of the following:
• To save changes to the current file, choose File > Save.
• To save a copy of a PDF, choose File > Save As.
• In Reader, choose File > Save As or File > Save As Other > Text.
• To save a copy of a PDF Portfolio, choose File >Save As Other > PDF Portfolio.
If you are viewing a PDF in a web browser, the Adobe Acrobat XI File menu is not available. Use the Save A Copy button in the Acrobat toolbar to save the PDF.
Recover the last saved version
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Choose File > Revert, and then click Revert.
About the Autosave feature
The Autosave feature guards against losing your work in case of a power failure by incrementally, and at regular intervals, saving file changes to a specified location. The original file is not modified. Instead, Acrobat creates an autosave file of changes, which includes all the changes you made to the open file since the last automatic save. The amount of new information that the autosave file contains depends on how frequently Acrobat saves the autosave file.
If you set the autosave interval to 15 minutes, you could lose the last 14 minutes of your work if a problem occurs.
Frequent automatic saving prevents loss of data, and is especially useful if you make extensive changes to a document, such as by adding comments.
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You can apply autosave changes to the original files when you restart Acrobat. When you close, save manually, or revert to the last-saved version of a file, the autosave file is deleted.
Note: If you use assistive technology, such as a screen reader, you may want to disable the Autosave feature so that you don’t lose your place when the file is reloaded.
The Autosave feature won’t work in the following cases:
• A document that has its security changed. You must save the document to re-enable automatic saving of document changes.
• A document created using the Web Capture feature or extracted from a larger PDF (Tools > Pages > Extract). You must save the document to enable automatic saving of changes.
• A document displayed in a web browser or incorporated into a container document that supports Object Linking and Embedding (OLE). This document appears outside the default file system and cannot support automatic saving.
Recover lost changes
To prevent lost changes after an unexpected interruption, enable the Autosave feature, which is the default setting.
Set up automatic saving
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In the Preferences dialog box under Categories, select Documents.
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Select Automatically Save Document Changes To Temporary File Every xx Minutes (1-99), and specify the number of minutes.
Recover lost changes after an unexpected shutdown
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Start Acrobat or open the file you were working on last.
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When prompted, click Yes to open the autosave file or files. If multiple files were open, Acrobat opens all of the files for you.
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Save the file or files with the same names as the files you were originally working on.
Reduce file size by saving
You can sometimes reduce the file size of a PDF simply by using the Save As Other command. Reducing the size of
PDFs improves their performance—particularly when they’re being opened on the web—without altering their appearance.
The Reduce File Size command resamples and recompresses images, removes embedded Base-14 fonts, and subsetembeds fonts that were left embedded. It also compresses document structure and cleans up elements such as invalid bookmarks. If the file size is already as small as possible, this command has no effect.
Note: Reducing the file size of a digitally signed document removes the signature.
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Open a single PDF, or select one or more PDFs in a PDF Portfolio.
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Choose File > Save As Other > Reduced Size PDF.
Select the version compatibility that you need.
If you’re certain that all your users use Acrobat XI or Adobe Reader XI, limiting compatibility to the latest version can further reduce file size.
Note: In Acrobat Pro, if you select Acrobat 4.0 And Later, and the document contains transparency, the transparency is flattened.
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Note: In Acrobat Pro, if you select Acrobat 4.0 And Later, and the document contains transparency, the transparency will fail.
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(Optional) To apply the same settings to multiple files, click Apply To Multiple, and add the files. Click OK, then in theOutput Options dialog box, specify your folder and filename preferences.
Note: The Apply To Multiple button is not available inPDF Portfolios.
To control changes and quality trade-offs, use PDF Optimizer in Acrobat Pro, which makes more options available.
More Help topics
Filling in forms
Participating in a PDF review
PDF Optimizer (Acrobat Pro)
Balancing PDF file size and quality (Acrobat Standard)
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File format options for PDF export
When you export PDFs to different file formats using the Save As command, each file format includes unique conversion settings.
If you want to use the same settings every time you convert PDFs to a particular format, specify those settings in the
Preferences dialog box. In the Convert From PDF panel, select a file format from the list and click Edit Settings. (Click the Default button at any time to revert to the default settings.)
Adobe PDF options (Acrobat Pro)
You can resave PDFs as optimized PDFs, using settings in the PDF Optimizer dialog box. The PDF Optimizer lets you change the compatibility version of your PDFs so they can be viewed using older versions of Acrobat or Reader. When you change the compatibility setting, newer features may be unavailable in the PDF. For an explanation of each compatibility setting, see
PDF compatibility levels
.
Image conversion settings
JPEG and JPEG 2000 options
If your PDF contains a collection of images, you can export them individually as JPEG, PNG, or TIFF files by choosing
Tools > Document Processing > Export All Images.
Note that the options available depend on whether you are exporting a document to JPEG or JPEG 2000.
Grayscale/Color
Specifies a compression setting that balances file size with image quality. The smaller the file, the lesser the image quality.
Tile Size
Divides the image being compressed into tiles of the given size. (If the image height or width is not an even multiple of the tile size, partial tiles are used on the edges.) Image data for each tile is individually compressed and can be individually decompressed. The default value of 256 is recommended. This option is available only for JPEG 2000 format.
Format
Determines how the file is displayed. Available only for JPEG format.
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Baseline (Standard)
Displays the image when it has fully downloaded. This JPEG format is recognizable to most web browsers.
Baseline (Optimized)
Optimizes color quality of the image and produces smaller file sizes but is not supported by all web browsers.
Progressive (3 scans-5 scans)
Downloads the image first as a low-resolution image, with incremental quality improvements as downloading continues.
RGB/CMYK/Grayscale
Specifies the type of color management to be applied to the output file and whether to embed an
ICC profile.
Note: If you use the Save As or Export All Images command on a PDF that contains JPEG and JPEG 2000 images, and export the content to JPEG or JPEG 2000 format, the resulting image may look different when opened in Acrobat. This can happen if the images have a color profile included at the page level but not inside the image data. In this case, Acrobat cannot bring the page-level color profile into the resulting saved image.
Colorspace/Resolution
Specifies a color space and resolution for the output file. You can let Acrobat determine these settings automatically. To convert color images in the file to shades of gray, choose Grayscale.
Note: Higher resolutions, such as 2400 pixels per inch (ppi), are suitable only for small page sizes (up to 6.826 inches or
173.380 millimeters).
PNG options
PNG format is useful for images that will be used on the web.
Interlace
Specifies if the image is interlaced. None creates an image that displays in a web browser only after downloading is complete. Adam7 creates an image that displays low-resolution versions in a browser while the full image file is downloading. Adam7 can make downloading time seem shorter and assures viewers that downloading is in progress; however, it increases file size.
Filter
Lets you select a filtering algorithm.
None
Compresses the image without a filter. Recommended for indexed-color and bitmap-mode images.
Sub
Optimizes the compression of images with even horizontal patterns or blends.
Up
Optimizes the compression of images with even vertical patterns.
Average
Optimizes the compression of low-level noise by averaging the color values of adjacent pixels.
Paeth
Optimizes the compression of low-level noise by reassigning adjacent color values.
Adaptive
Applies the filtering algorithm—Sub, Up, Average, or Paeth—best suited for the image. Select Adaptive if you are unsure of which filter to use.
RGB/Grayscale
Specifies the type of color management for the output file and whether to embed an ICC profile.
Colorspace/Resolution
Specifies a color space and resolution for the output file. You can let Acrobat determine these settings automatically. To convert color images in the file to shades of gray, choose Grayscale.
Note: Higher resolutions, such as 2400 ppi, are suitable only for small page sizes (up to 6.826 inches or 173.380 millimeters).
TIFF options
TIFF is a flexible bitmap image format supported by virtually all paint, image-editing, and page-layout applications.
Resolution is determined automatically.
Monochrome
Specifies a compression format. CCITTG4 is the default and generally produces the smallest file size. ZIP compression also produces a small file.
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Note: Some applications cannot open TIFF files that are saved with JPEG or ZIP compression. In these cases, LZW compression is recommended.
RGB/CMYK/Grayscale/Other
Specifies the type of color management for the output file.
Colorspace/Resolution
Specifies a color space and resolution for the output file. You can let Acrobat determine these settings automatically. To convert color images in the file to shades of gray, choose Grayscale.
Note: Higher resolutions, such as 2400 ppi, are suitable only for small page sizes (up to 6.826 inches or 173.380 millimeters).
Microsoft Word & RTF options
You can export a PDF to Word format (DOCX or DOC) or Rich Text Format (RTF). The following options are available.Retain Flowing TextSpecifies that text flow must be retained.Retain Page LayoutSpecifies that page layout must be retained.Include CommentsExports comments to the output file.Include ImagesExports images to the output file.Run OCR if neededRecognizes text if the PDF contains images that contain text.Set LanguageSpecifies the language setting for OCR.
HTML options
Single HTML Page
Specifies that a single HTML file is created when you export to HTML. To add a navigation pane, enable the following:
• Add Headings-based Navigation Frame
• Add Bookmarks-based Navigation Frame
Multiple HTML Pages
Specifies that multiple HTML files are created when you export to HTML. Choose one of the criteria to split the document into multiple HTML files.
• Split by Document Headings
• Split by Document Bookmarks
Include Images
Specifies if images are exported when you export a PDF as HTML.
Detect and Remove Headers and Footers
Specifies if header and footer content in the PDF should be deleted and removed from the HTML files.
Run OCR if needed
Recognizes text if the PDF contains images that contain text.
Set Language
Specifies the language setting for OCR.
Spreadsheet options
Numeric Settings
Specifies the decimal and thousands separators for numeric data. Select one of the following:
• Detect decimal and thousands separators using regional settings
• Treat the following as decimal and thousands separators. Enter or choose separators in the respective fields.
Run OCR if needed
Recognizes text if the PDF contains images that contain text.
Set Language
Specifies the language setting for OCR.
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PostScript or Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) options
You can export a PDF to PostScript® for use in printing and prepress applications. The PostScript file includes full DSC
(Document Structuring Conventions) comments and other advanced information preserved by Adobe Acrobat
Distiller®. You can also create an EPS file from any PDF for placement or opening in other applications. The options available depend on whether you are converting a document to PostScript or EPS.
Note: If you are creating EPS files for separations in Acrobat Pro, all image color spaces should be CMYK.
Printer Description File
ThePostScript Printer Description (PPD) provides the necessary information to format a
PostScript file correctly for a particular output device. Device Independent creates only composite (not colorseparated) PostScript or EPS files. Acrobat Default provides a starting point and reference for creating all types of
PostScript and restores all default settings for the conversion. Adobe PDF 7.0 is compatible with most devices. This option is available only for PostScript (PS) format.
ASCII or Binary
Specifies the output format of image data. Binary output yields smaller files, but not all workflows can accommodate binary output.
PostScript
Specifies the level of PostScript compatibility. Use Language Level 3 only if the target output device supports it. Language Level 2 is suitable for EPS files that will be placed in another document and color-separated as part of that document. Use Language Level 2 for EPS files that you import into Microsoft applications.
Font Inclusion
Specifies the fonts to be included in the PostScript. Embedded fonts are taken from the PDF; the referenced fonts are taken from the computer in use.
Include Comments
Preserves the appearance of comments in the resulting PostScript file.
Convert True Type to Type 1
Converts TrueType fonts to Type 1 fonts in the resulting PostScript file.
Include Preview
Specifies if a TIFF preview is created for the resulting EPS file. This option is not available when saving as PostScript.
Page Range
Specifies the pages you want to export. When you export files to EPS output, each page in the range is saved as a separate EPS file.
Text and XML options
Encoding
Refers to the binary values, based on international standards, used to represent the text characters. UTF-8 is a Unicode representation of characters using one or more 8-bit bytes per character; UTF-16 represents characters using
16-bit bytes. ISO-Latin-1 is an 8-bit representation of characters that is a superset of ASCII. UCS-4 is a Universal
Character Set coded in 4 octets. HTML/ASCII is a 7-bit representation of characters developed by ANSI.
UseMapping Table Default uses the default character encoding defined in mapping tables, which appear in the Plugins/SaveAsXML/MappingTables folder. These mapping tables specify many characteristics of how the data is output, including the following default character encodings: UTF-8 (Save as XML or HTML 4.0.1) and HTML/ASCII (Save as
HTML 3.2).
Generate Bookmarks
Generates bookmark links to content for HTML or XML documents. Links are placed at the beginning of the resulting HTML or XML document.
Generate Tags For Untagged Files
Generates tags for files that are not already tagged, such as PDFs created using
Acrobat 4.0 or earlier. If this option is not selected, untagged files are not converted.
Note: Tags are applied only as part of the conversion process and are discarded after the conversion. This is not a method for creating tagged PDFs from legacy files
Generate Images
Controls how images are converted. Converted image files are referenced from within XML and
HTML documents.
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