Creating adobe pdf files, About adobe pdf, Create adobe pdf files – Adobe Illustrator CS4 User Manual

Page 288

Advertising
background image

281

USING ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR CS4

Importing, exporting, and saving

Creating Adobe PDF files

About Adobe PDF

Portable Document Format (PDF) is a universal file format that preserves the fonts, images, and layout of source
documents created on a wide range of applications and platforms. Adobe PDF is the standard for the secure, reliable
distribution and exchange of electronic documents and forms around the world. Adobe PDF files are compact and
complete, and can be shared, viewed, and printed by anyone with free Adobe Reader® software.

Adobe PDF is highly effective in print publishing workflows. By saving a composite of your artwork in Adobe PDF,
you create a compact, reliable file that you or your service provider can view, edit, organize, and proof. Then, at the
appropriate time in the workflow, your service provider can either output the Adobe PDF file directly, or process it
using tools from various sources for such post-processing tasks as preflight checks, trapping, imposition, and color
separation.

When you save in Adobe PDF, you can choose to create a PDF/X-compliant file. PDF/X (Portable Document Format
Exchange) is a subset of Adobe PDF that eliminates many of the color, font, and trapping variables that lead to printing
problems. PDF/X may be used wherever PDFs are exchanged as digital masters for print production—whether at the
creation or output stage of the workflow, as long as the applications and output devices support PDF/X.

Adobe PDFs can solve the following problems associated with electronic documents:

Create Adobe PDF files

You can create different types of PDF files from within Illustrator. You can create multipage PDFs, layered PDFs, and
PDF/x-compliant files. Layered PDFs allow you to save one PDF with layers that can be used in different contexts.
PDF/X-compliant files ease the burden of color, font, and trapping issues.

For a video on creating PDFs from Creative Suite applications, see

www.adobe.com/go/vid0209

. For a video on

exporting to PDF 1.7 for review or prepress purposes, see

www.adobe.com/go/vid0210

. For a video on creating

interactive PDFs, see

www.adobe.com/go/vid0211

.

See also

Adobe PDF presets

” on page 283

Setting Adobe PDF options

” on page 285

Color management and PDF/X options for PDF

” on page 288

Color-managing PDFs for printing

” on page 142

Common problem

Adobe PDF solution

Recipients can't open files because they don't have the
applications used to create the files.

Anyone, anywhere can open a PDF. All you need is the free Adobe
Reader software.

Combined paper and electronic archives are difficult to search,
take up space, and require the application in which a document
was created.

PDFs are compact and fully searchable, and can be accessed at any
time using Reader. Links make PDFs easy to navigate.

Documents appear incorrectly on handheld devices.

Tagged PDFs allow text to reflow for display on mobile platforms

such as Palm OS

®

, Symbian

, and Pocket PC® devices.

Documents with complex formatting are not accessible to visually
impaired readers.

Tagged PDFs contain information on content and structure, which
makes them accessible on-screen readers.

Advertising