• Overview
• CUE standard
• CUE template
• Implementation advice
• Web writing guide

• Creating PDFs
  • Accessibility issues
  • Size of PDF files
  • Splitting large PDFs
  • Linking to PDFs
  • Creating PDFs (using Distiller)
  • Metadata ('summary data')
  • PDF file names
  • Document security
  • Open options
• PDF publishing principles
• Checklist

Creating PDFs

Why use Distiller?

While it may be possible to create a PDF file directly from the application you are using (e.g. Microsoft Word, CorelDraw), it is preferable to use Acrobat Distiller for the following reasons:

• It is guaranteed to make platform-independent PDFs (i.e. they will look the same regardless of operating system, application, or distribution medium).
• Most Microsoft Office, and some other drawing/drafting applications, don't correctly embed or subset fonts, making the PDF larger than it needs to be and/or difficult to read on computers that don't have those fonts available.
• Using Acrobat Distiller will create a smaller PDF file.
• Some applications will convert a document to an image before creating the PDF file. As only text can be searched, this makes the PDF non-searchable and completely inaccessible.

Using Distiller to create PDF files

To create a PDF file from an existing Microsoft Word document using Acrobat Distiller (versions 4 or 5) under a Windows 2000 operating system:

1. Create a postscript file from Microsoft Word
2. Setup Acrobat Distiller (See also, Distiller configuration files for download.)
3. Create the PDF file from the Postscript file

A similar process can be used to create a PDF file from any application (e.g. Microsoft Excel, Powerpoint, etc.).

Part 1 - Create a postscript file from Microsoft Word

1. To create a PDF file, you must have a licensed copy of the Adobe Acrobat suite (not just Acrobat Reader) installed on your computer.
2. Open your document in Microsoft Word.
3. Select File > Page Setup.
   Ensure that the correct paper size and orientation for your document is selected, then click OK.
4. Select File > Print.
   Click the down arrow on the printer Name field and select 'Acrobat Distiller' from the list of available printers. (Do not select 'Acrobat PDFWriter'.)
5. Click the printer Properties button.
   Ensure that the paper size is set correctly (i.e. A4, not Letter), then click OK.
6. Click Close to exit the Print dialog.
7. Recheck your document for correct formatting. Because a different printer (Acrobat Distiller) has been selected, some pages may not start or end where they once did.
8. When you are happy with the document layout, select File > Print.
9. Tick the Print to file checkbox. Press OK.
10. In the file dialog, select a directory to save your print file to and name the file appropriately. (This is a temporary .prn file and you will need to remember where you saved it.)
    Press OK, then Word will create the print file. (This may take a few moments depending on the size of the file.)
11. Exit Microsoft Word (unless you have another document to convert).

Part 2 - Setup Acrobat Distiller

You will need to follow this set of instructions only once, not every time you create a PDF. Alternatively, you can download joboption files to automatically configure Acrobat Distiller.

1. Start up Acrobat Distiller: Start > Programs > Adobe Acrobat > Acrobat Distiller.
2. Select Settings > Job Options (See screen capture.)
3. On the General tab, ensure that the Compatibility is set to Acrobat 4 and tick the Optimize PDF checkbox. Do not tick the ASCII Format or Generate Thumbnails checkboxes. (See screen capture for more detail.)
4. On the Compression tab, select resampling, compression and quality settings. (See this screen capture.)
5. On the Fonts tab, tick both the Embed All Fonts and Subset All Embedded Fonts Below checkboxes and enter '99%' for the subsetting option. (See this screen capture.)
6. For Color tab settings, refer to this screen capture.
   (It is important to convert all colours to calibrated RGB to ensure smaller file sizes and consistency of colour across all platforms.)
7. For Advanced tab settings, refer to this screen capture.
   Ensure the Default Page Size is set correctly. (When Adobe Distiller is first installed the default setting is 'Letter-sized paper'.)
8. Once you have completed the settings for all five tabs of the Job Options dialog, click the Save As button to save these for future use. (By doing this, you can avoid the 'Setup Adobe Distiller' step next time you want to create a PDF.)
   Choose an appropriate name for your settings and click Save.
   Click OK in the Job Options dialog.
9. Back on the main screen of Adobe Distiller, click on the Job Options field and select the Job Options file you saved in step 8.

Part 3 - Create the PDF file from the Postscript file

1. In Distiller Select File > Open.
   Click the down arrow on the Files of type field and select 'All files (*.*)'.
   Browse to the directory where you saved the .prn file during step 10 of Part 1.
2. Select your .prn file and click Open. Another window will appear prompting you to specify the PDF file name and the directory to which the file is to be saved.
   Select the appropriate directory and check the file name is correct.
3. Click Save. The file will be distilled by Acrobat Distiller. (This may take a few moments depending on the size of the file.)
4. The file has finished distilling when you see '**** End of Job ****' in the window.
   You can now exit Distiller. The Acrobat PDF file will have been created with a .pdf extension.
   The intermediate .prn file which was created in step 10 of Part 1 can be deleted now. (If a log file was also created, delete this too.)
5. Add metadata to your PDF file, and set security and open options.

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