PDF Answers--Draft: Acrobat 5 and setup

["Sean Brierley" <sbri -at- haestad -dot- com>]

This article is a draft, about installing and using Adobe Acrobat 5 for
Windows and related files, including the Distiller PostScript Printer.

Now, this is not my original content. Some of these are things I figured
out and have been doing, yes, but all are things that Dov Isaacs, from
Adobe Corp., over the past three months, has documented in one post or
another to the Framers', FrameMaker Users List
(http://www.frameusers.com for the archive and to sign up). 

I would appreciate any and all feedback on this, as I am compiling this
info for in-house use.

Cheers,

Sean

====

Why the Distiller PostScript printer? Well, creating PDFs is not a
conversion process, it is a PostScript-printing process. The Distiller
printer creates device-independent PostScript, whereas the PostScript
printer driver that came with your HP, Canon, or other "real" printer is
device-dependent; that is, it has built-in limitations that pertain to
the device in question. Device-dependent PostScript can cause issues
when printed from other printing devices and can cause other problems,
like color shifts, lack of color, lack of hypertext, etc. The Distiller
PostScript printer is a virtual printer, it only ever prints to file.
The Distiller Printer is the only printer supported by Adobe for
printing PDFs.
Which version of Acrobat do you need? If you are using Microsoft Word
2002 (XP) or Windows XP, you must have Adobe Acrobat version 5.0.5.
Adobe Acrobat version 5.0.0 is insufficient. If you have version 5.0.0,
you can get 5.0.5 as a free, downloadable upgrade, from
<http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=1&platform=W
indows>. Versions of Adobe Acrobat prior to 5.0.5 are unsupported on
Windows XP.

How do I install Adobe Acrobat from the CD? Uninstall older versions of
Acrobat first, using Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs. Then, install
from the Adobe Acrobat CD using a "Typical" setup.

How do I install the Acrobat 5.0.5 update patch? After you install Adobe
Acrobat, you can tell what version you have by opening Acrobat and
clicking Help > About. If you don't have version 5.0.5, then download
it. To install the update, just double-click it and answer prompts in
the affirmative. This installs on top of Acrobat 5.0.0.
What does Adobe Acrobat Comprise? Adobe Acrobat comprises four critical
components.

1) The Distiller printer. This "virtual" printer that only ever prints
to file installs in your Printers and Faxes folder. When printing to
PDF, this needs to be your default printer or the printer you choose.
This printer creates a device-independent PostScript file.

2) Acrobat Distiller, the software. Distiller, the software, takes the
device-independent PostScript file created by the Distiller printer and
makes the PDF.

3) Adobe Acrobat, the software, lets you view and edit PDFs, and create
PDF forms. Acrobat is not publishing or word-processing software, so
wholesale edits should not be attempted in Acrobat; you should keep your
source files for such work (source files being those files from which
you printed the PDF).

4) PDFMaker is a macro that installs a menu and two buttons in Microsoft
Word and other Microsoft Office products. This macro is the only way to
create bookmarks in a PDF from Word documents.

What about PDFWriter? PDFWriter is junk. Don't install it. It is
non-PostScript technology based loosely on Acrobat version 3 technology.
PDFWriter does not install by default in Acrobat 5. The only thing
PDFWriter is good for is some automatic, programming-based PDF
generation.

How do I create PDFs? With the exception of software that is integrated
(to some degree) with Acrobat, such as Microsoft Word via PDFMaker and
Adobe FrameMaker and PageMaker, to create a PDF:

1) Choose File > Print from your software.

2) Select the Distiller printer as the printer you want to use.

3) Print a PostScript file. This can have a .PS or .PRN extension, it
doesn't matter which.

4) Open Acrobat Distiller, the program, from your Start > All Programs
menu.

5) In Acrobat Distiller, use File > Open to open the print file (.PS or
.PRN) you created. Acrobat Distiller then creates your PDF.

How do I use Acrobat 5 with Microsoft Word? Firstly, it is important
that you not use Word as your e-mail editor in Outlook; if you do, then
the Acrobat menu and buttons do not install in Word. To turn off Word as
your e-mail editor, in Outlook, click Tools > Options > Mail Format and
clear both "Use Microsoft Word . . ." check boxes. Then, reboot. After
you reboot and open Microsoft Word, you will have two buttons and an
Acrobat menu that let you use PDFMaker to create hypertext PDFs from
Acrobat. Note, you have to enable macros to use this feature.

What about fonts? PDF creation can fail if you don't have the fonts you
are using installed on your PC. How can this happen? It might be that
your default printer, a Canon, HP, or other printer, has default fonts
installed. Windows will let you use these fonts as though they are
installed on your PC; they are not, they are installed on the printing
device attached to your PC. When you switch printers to the Distiller
printer, those fonts are no longer available. If you used those fonts in
your document, some software, such as Adobe FrameMaker, tells you the
fonts aren't available. Other software, like Microsoft Word, does not
tell you and fakes or substitutes for the missing font. The problem is
that when you create your PDF and try to embed the font, embedding fails
if the font is not installed. The workaround is not to use fonts you
don't have installed or to buy the font you need. A quick workaround is
to open Acrobat Distiller, choose Settings > Job Options > Fonts, and in
the When Embedding Fails list, select Warn and Continue instead of Fail.
Otherwise, font foundries or manufacturers can set up fonts so they
cannot be embedded, as a license protection. If this is set up from the
font foundry, there is nothing you could do. In this case, distributing
the font would be illegal and you cannot embed it anyway; so choose a
different font, one that permits (by license) embedding.

What else do I need to know or do? Unfortunately, Adobe has not gotten
the Acrobat Installation right. You need to perform the following manual
customizations.

1) Customize the Distiller Printer.

a) In Control Panel > Printers and Faxes, right-click the Distiller
printer and select Properties.

b) Choose the Device Settings tab. Set the following:
Output Protocol = Binary
Send CTRL-D Before/After Each Job = No
Convert Gray Text/Graphics to PostScript Gray = Yes
Wait Timeout = 0 seconds.

c) Click Apply.

d) Click the General tab.

e) Click Printing Preferences > Advanced. 

f) In the Layout tab, set the following:
Print Quality = 600 dpi
TrueType Font = Download as Softfont

g) Expand PostScript Options. Set the following:
TrueType Font Download Option = Native TrueType

h) Click OK.

i) Click Apply.

j) Click the Adobe PDF Settings tab. Set the following:
Select all the check boxes
In the Conversion Settings list, select the job options you want to
use--remember the location of this drop-down list

k) Click Apply.

l) Click OK.

m) Click the Advanced tab. Set the following:
Select the Spool print documents so program finishes printing faster
option button
Select the Start printing after last page is spooled option button

n) Click Apply.

o) Click the Printing Defaults button and set the following:

p) In the Layout tab, click Advanced. Set the following:
Print Quality = 600 dpi
TrueType Font = Download as Softfont

q) Expand PostScript Options. Set the following:
TrueType Font Download Option = Native TrueType

r) Click OK.

s) Click Apply.

t) Click the Adobe PDF Settings tab. Set the following:
Select all the check boxes
In the Conversion Settings list, select the job options you want to
use--remember the location of this drop-down list

u) Click Apply.

v) Click OK.

w) You are done; click OK to close the printer properties.

2) Set up your Acrobat Distiller job options. You need to set up job
options in Acrobat Distiller to tailor your PDF for your intended
audience. Read the Acrobat documentation for more on these options, but
for general use, these should do fine:

a) Open Adobe Distiller.

b) Choose Settings > Job Options.

c) In the General tab, set the following:
Compatibility is your call. I use Acrobat 4.0
Select Optimize for Fast Web View
Auto-Rotate Pages = Individually
Resolution = 600 dpi (this might change if you go to press, for example)

d) Click the Compression tab.

e) For Color and Grayscale Images, set the following:
Clear the check boxes for Downsampling
Use ZIP Compression
Use 8-bit Quality

f) For Monochrome images, set the following:
Use Bicubic Downsampling to 300 dpi for images above 450 dpi
Use CCITT Group 4 Compression
Clear the Anti-Alias to Gray check box
Select the Compress Text and Line Art check box

g) Click the Fonts tab, and set the following:
Select the Embed All Fonts check box
Select the Subset embedded fonts . . . check box and set the value to
100%
Select Cancel Job in the When Embedding Fails list
Delete any and all fonts from the Always and Never Embed boxes

h) Click the Color tab and set the following:
Choose None for a Settings File
Choose to Leave Color Unchanged with an Intent of Default
Select Preserver Overprint Settings
Select Preserve Undercolor Removal
Clear Preserve Halftone Information

i) Click the Advanced tab, and set the following:
Select all check boxes except ASCII Format and Log DSC Warnings; those
two options should be deselected.

j) Click Save as and save your joboptions file for future use.

3) Select the joboptions file in the various locations that it needs to
be used:

a) Open Microsoft Word. Click the Acrobat menu and choose Change
Conversion Settings. In the Conversion Settings list, choose your
joboptions file.

b) Open Control Panel > Printers and Faxes. Right-click the Distiller
printer and select Properties. Select General tab > Printing Preferences
> Adobe PDF Settings, and choose your joboptions file from the
Conversion Settings list. Click Apply and OK.

c) Select Advanced tab > Printing Defaults > Adobe PDF Settings, and
choose your joboptions file from the Conversion Settings list. Click
Apply and OK.

d) You are done setting up the Distiller printer; click OK to close the
printer properties.

e) Open Acrobat Distiller, the program, from your Start > All Programs
menu.

f) Make sure your joboptions file is selected in the Job Options list.

g) Use File > Exit to close Acrobat Distiller.

Note: If you change your job options, remember there are four locations
you need to check the change: Acrobat Distiller the program, Microsoft
Word's PDFMaker, and two locations in the Distiller printer properties.

-----------------------------------------
Sean Brierley
Software Documentation Specialist
Haestad Methods 
http://www.haestad.com 
203-805-0572 (voice) 
203-597-1488 (fax)
 


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