Staff Handbook: Tools : Acrobat

 Acrobat

Viewing PDF files

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. 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. (see below)

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.
• 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.

Converting between older and newer versions of PDF

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	Acrobat 4.0 compatibility
PDF files can be opened by Acrobat viewers 3.0 and later.	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	Places halftone information in file if Preserve Halftone Information is selected in the Color dialog box.
Users can preserve, remove, or apply Transfer functions.	Users can preserve or remove Transfer functions.
Can convert all colors to CalRGB	Can convert all colors to sRGB.
ICC profile color management supported	ICC profile color management supported
DeviceN color space is converted to alternate color space.	DeviceN color space is supported.
Smooth shaded objects are converted to images.	Smooth shading is supported.
Masked images do not display or print correctly.	Masked images display and print correctly.
Can convert pages up to 45 inches to PDF	Can convert pages up to 200 inches to PDF
Can convert documents up to 32,768 pages long, depending on disk space and available memory	Can convert documents of unlimited length, depending on disk space and avail- able memory
Cannot embed double-byte fonts	Can embed double-byte fonts
TrueType fonts not searchable	TrueType fonts can be searchable
Supports PDF level 1.2	Supports PDF level 1.3

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.
   1. 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's 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.
4. 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 downlaoding the file from the Web or a network.
   • Generate Thumbnails creates a thumbnail preview for each page in the PDF file.
     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 setting unless you plan to print the PDF file on a specific printer and you want 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.
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.

Optimizing PDF files

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.

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.

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.

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.

Adding/Removing PDF security features

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.

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.
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.

Adding/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.

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 option, but you can choose to delete all the thumbnails for an entire document collection, if desired. Select any of the other options that apply, and click OK.

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.
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.

Making limited changes to text

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.

Note: The touchup feature cannot be used with forms.

About the new touchup text features

Acrobat 4.0 offers the following new features for touching up text:

• 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.

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 embedding. If the single-byte embedded font is not in the system's encoding, the message you receive says "You cannot edit this text font."
• 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:
   • 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.
   • 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.

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.
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.

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 bound-aries. The line markers that appear depend on the selected alignment mode.

Adding links to other files or web pages from within a PDF file

Creating links

You create links in a document using the link tool. You can specify your links as visible or invisible.

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 I-beam. 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.
   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.
7. Choose a magnification option. This allows you to control the view that appears when the link is selected.
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.
2. Change the properties of the link and 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.

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.
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.

Adding and removing individual pages or groups of 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.

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.

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:
2. Select one thumbnail.
3. Shift-click to select a range of thumbnails. Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (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.
4. Drag a rectangle around a grouping of thumbnails.
5. Choose Edit > Delete (Windows) or Edit > Clear (Mac OS).
6. Click OK on the prompt dialog box to accept the deletion.

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.

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Last updated on: Monday, 30-Jul-2001 17:23:03 EDT