PDF (adobe.com)

Export to PDF



Exporting a document or book to Adobe PDF is as simple as using the default High Quality Print settings, or as customized as you need it to be to suit your task. The PDF export settings you specify are saved with the application, and will apply to every new InDesign document or book you export to PDF until you change them again. To quickly apply custom settings to PDF files, you can use presets.

You can export a document, a book, or selected documents in a book as a single PDF file. You can also copy content from your InDesign layout to the Clipboard, and automatically create an Adobe PDF file of that content. (This is useful for pasting a PDF file into another application, such as Adobe Illustrator.)

When you export an InDesign file to PDF, you can preserve navigation elements such as table of contents and index entries, and interactivity features such as hyperlinks, bookmarks, media clips, and buttons. You also have the option of exporting hidden layers, nonprinting layers, and nonprinting objects to PDF. If you’re exporting a book, you can merge identically named layers by using the Book panel.

Export an open document to PDF

  1. Choose File > Export.
  2. Specify a name and location for the file.
  3. For Save As Type (Windows) or Format (Mac OS), choose Adobe PDF, and then click Save.
  4. Do one of the following:

    • To use a predefined set of job options, choose a preset from the Adobe PDF Preset menu.

    • To create a PDF/X file, either choose a PDF/X preset from the Adobe PDF Preset menu, or choose a predefined PDF/X format from the Standard menu.

    • To customize options, select a category from the list on the left and then set the options.

  5. For Compatibility, choose the lowest PDF version necessary to open the files you create.
  6. Click Export (Windows) or Save (Mac OS).
To reset options to the default, in the Adobe PDF Export dialog box, hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) and click Reset. (The Cancel button changes to Reset.)

Prepare layers before exporting a book to PDF

When you export a book to PDF, you can show and hide InDesign layers in the PDF document. To avoid duplication of layer names in the PDF, you can merge the layers on export.

If the Merge Identically Named Layers On Export option is selected, layer names appear under the same book name in Acrobat or Reader. If this option is not selected, layer names appear separately under each document name.

  1. If you don’t want certain layers to be merged, give them unique names in each book document.

    Layer names are case-sensitive, so “Art” and “art” layers are not merged.

  2. In the Book panel menu, select Merge Identically Named Layers On Export.
    Note: When you export the book to PDF, make sure that Create Acrobat Layers is selected. To select this option, you must use Acrobat 6 (PDF 1.5) or later compatibility.

Export a book to PDF

  1. Do one of the following:

    • To create a PDF of the entire book, click in a blank area of the Book panel to deselect any selected documents, and choose Export Book To PDF in the Book panel menu.

    • To create a PDF of documents within a book, select the document or documents in the Book panel, and choose Export Selected Documents To PDF in the Book panel menu.

  2. Specify a name and location for the PDF file, and then click Save.
  3. Either choose a preset from the Adobe PDF Preset menu, or select a category from the list on the left of the Export Adobe PDF dialog box, and then customize the options.
  4. Click Export (Windows) or Save (Mac OS).

Reducing the size of PDFs

For PDF files that are intended to be distributed for viewing purposes only, you may want to reduce the size of PDF files when you export from InDesign. Here are some of the size reduction techniques you can use in the Export Adobe PDF dialog box:

  • Choose [Smallest File Size] from the Adobe PDF Preset menu.

  • In the Compression area, downsample images to 72 pixels per inch, select automatic compression, and select either low- or medium-image quality for color and grayscale images. When you work with photographic images, use Automatic (JPEG 2000) compression; when you work with images that are mostly solid color, such as charts and graphs, use ZIP compression.

  • In the Output area, use the Ink Manager to convert spot colors to process colors.

To reduce the size of PDFs, simply open the PDF in Acrobat 8.0 or later, choose Document > Reduce File Size, and then specify the compatibility level. For greater control, choose Advanced > PDF Optimizer.

For more information on reducing the size of PDF files, see Acrobat Help and the Adobe website.