- Saving a PDF File
- Exporting to Other Formats
- Minimizing File Size
- Printing a Document
- Print Options
- Printing Multiple Pages per Sheet
- Printing a Booklet
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Exporting to Other Formats
Acrobat can save a PDF document to a variety of other formats, such as TIFF, PNG, and EPS. This is easily done through the Save As dialog box.
To save a file to a different format
Select File > Save As, or click the Save button on the File toolbar (Figure 3.1)
In either case, Acrobat will present you with a standard Save-a-File dialog box (Figure 3.2).
Choose a file format from the "Save as type" pop-up menu.
Acrobat offers a large number of file formats to which it can export (Figure 3.3).
Figure 3.3 The "Save as type" pop-up menu lets you choose from among a large number of file formats to which Acrobat can convert a PDF file.
Optionally, click the Settings button, and choose any of the options you need.
The Settings dialog box opens for the file format you selected (Figure 3.4). You can usually use the defaults with no problems. (See the sidebar "TIFF and EPS Options.")
Figure 3.4 Each output file format has a set of controls that dictate the details of the conversion.
- Navigate to the folder on your disk in which you want to save your file.
Click Save.
Acrobat saves your document in the file format you specified.
)
)
TIFF and EPS Options
Of all the file types to which Acrobat can convert PDF, only two are routinely useful for most people: TIFF and EPS. These are widely used as illustration formats by high-end page layout and graphics software such as Adobe InDesign and Adobe Photoshop.
Most of Acrobat's defaults for these formats' file-type settings are perfectly good. For each of them, however, you should change a couple of these settings. These are sticky; once you change them, Acrobat will use the new values until you change them again.
TIFF settings (Figure 3.4):
Change the resolution (at the bottom of the dialog box) to match the device on which the illustration will be printed or displayed:
For a printed document: 300 dpi for laser printers or 1200 dpi for high-resolution printers
For on-screen presentations: 72 dpi
EPS General settings (Figure 3.5):
- Choose ASCII to ensure compatibility with all networks.
- Choose Embedded Fonts to eliminate problems with missing fonts.
- Check Convert TrueType to Type 1 to eliminate problems associated with TrueType fonts.
- Check Include Preview so that importing applications can more easily work with the file.
)
Figure 3.5 The EPS settings shown here always work well.
Export file types
Acrobat can export PDF files to a variety of other file types, listed in the Save As dialog box's "Save file as" pop-up menu (Figure 3.3). Unfortunately, in most cases, the conversion changes the document's appearance: Items move around, fonts change, illustrations come out pixilated, and other problems occur. The conversions work best for simple documents.
That said, there are reasons you may want to save a PDF file to some of these formats. Following is a list of the file types to which Acrobat converts most successfully and the purpose of each.
Vector vs. Bitmap
Each export file type is identified as being either vector or bitmap.
Vector files retain their quality regardless of the display or printing device. In particular, edges never become jagged, regardless of the zoom level or the printer's resolution (dpi). On the other hand, vector files are prone to missing fonts and images, and other problems that are often hard to diagnose.
Bitmap files consist of a series of full-page images of all the document's pages. This makes them immune to missing fonts and the other problems to which vector formats are prone. However, bitmap files are inherently tied to a device resolution. If the bitmap is intended for a device of one resolution and you print it on a device of another resolution, the results may look bad (Figure 3.6).
)
Figure 3.6 Vector file types (left) always look smooth. Bitmap files (right) become jagged if you zoom in on them.
You should use vector file types unless you have consistent problems with fonts or other hard-to-fix printing problems.
- Adobe PDF Files (vector). Acrobat's default file format. Acrobat saves the PDF file as-is.
- Adobe PDF Files, Optimized (vector). Still a PDF file, but internally reorganized for viewing in a Web browser. Use this type if you'll be posting your PDF file on the Web for people to read online.
-
Encapsulated PostScript (vector). A file format used for illustrations in high-end graphics and page-layout software. EPS is usually your best choice if the PDF file will be used as an illustration (Figure 3.7, top).
Figure 3.7 Here is PDF text exported to (from top to bottom) EPS, TIFF, and JPEG. The JPEG artifacts are somewhat exaggerated, because the text was created with the nondefault "low quality" setting.
- JPEG (bitmap). A compact bitmap format widely used for images, including digital photography. It's useful only for photographs; it's particularly bad for general PDF files, because line art and text usually become surrounded by a halo of artifacts, as in the bottom text in Figure 3.7.
- Rich Text Format (vector). A format that's commonly understood by a wide range of applications, although conversion to it isn't always successful. If you want to convert your PDF file into a word-processing document, this is worth trying.
- Text (Plain). A format that extracts the text in the PDF file, removing all formatting information and illustrations. The text may come out in a scrambled order if it's formatted in multiple columns.
- Text (Accessible). A format that extracts the text from the PDF file and attempts to preserve internal information that makes it easier to use the text with Braille readers. This information must have been put into the PDF file by the creator and is usually absent.
- TIFF (bitmap). The best format if you need to convert your PDF pages to a series of images. The format is reasonably compact, and text and line art look much better than in JPEG (Figure 3.7).
)
TIPS
- If you need to export your pages to use as illustrations in page-layout or other software, use either EPS or TIFF. EPS is the better choice generally, but if you're having trouble with fonts in the EPS file, go back and resave the PDF file as a TIFF. Keep in mind that because it's a bitmap, the TIFF illustration will become ugly if you scale it. That said, many high-end page layout programs can use PDF files directly as illustrations, without conversion to other formats.
- If you save a multi-page PDF file in one of the bitmap formats, such as JPEG or TIFF, Acrobat creates one bitmap file per page (Figure 3.8).
Figure 3.8 When you save a PDF file to a bitmap format, such as JPEG or TIFF, Acrobat creates an image file for each page.
)
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}