Adobe PDF options

Adobe PDF options are divided into categories. Changing any option causes the name of the preset to change to Custom. The categories are listed on the left side of the Save Adobe PDF dialog box, with the exception of the Standard and Compatibility options, which are at the top of the dialog box.

Adobe PDF options are divided into categories. Changing any option causes the name of the preset to change to Custom. The categories are listed on the left side of the Save Adobe PDF dialog box, with the exception of the Standard and Compatibility options, which are at the top of the dialog box.

Specifies a PDF standard for the file.

Specifies a PDF version for the file.

Specifies basic file options.

Specifies if artwork should be compressed and downsampled, and if so, which method and settings to use.

Specifies printer’s marks and the bleed and slug areas. Although the options are the same as in the Print dialog box, the calculations are subtly different because PDF is not output to a known page size.

Controls how colors and PDF/X output intent profiles are saved in the PDF file.

Controls how fonts, overprinting, and transparency are saved in the PDF file.

Adds security to the PDF file.

Displays a summary of the current PDF settings. To save the summary as an ASCII text file, click Save Summary.

About PDF/X standards

PDF/X standards are defined by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). PDF/X standards apply to graphic content exchange. During PDF conversion, the file that is being processed is checked against the specified standard. If the PDF will not meet the selected ISO standard, a message appears, asking you to choose between canceling the conversion or going ahead with the creation of a non-compliant file. The most widely used standards for a print publishing workflow are several PDF/X formats: PDF/X‑1a, PDF/X‑3, and PDF/X‑4.

PDF compatibility levels

When you create PDFs, you need to decide which PDF version to use. You can change the PDF version by switching to a different preset or choosing a compatibility option when you save as PDF or edit a PDF preset.

Generally speaking, unless there’s a specific need for backward compatibility, you should use the most recent version (in this case version 1.7). The latest version will include all the newest features and functionality. However, if you’re creating documents that will be distributed widely, consider choosing Acrobat 5.0 (PDF 1.4) or Acrobat 6.0 (PDF 1.5) to ensure that all users can view and print the document.

The following table compares some of the functionality in PDFs created using the different compatibility settings.

General options for PDF

You can set the following options in the General section of the Save Adobe PDF dialog box:

Displays the description from the selected preset, and provides a place for you to edit the description. You can paste a description from the clipboard. Editing the description of a preset appends the word “(modified)” to the preset name. Conversely, changing the settings in a preset prepends the description with “[Based on <Current Preset Name>].”

Saves all Illustrator data in the PDF file. Select this option if you want to be able to reopen and edit the PDF file in Adobe Illustrator.

Embeds a thumbnail preview for each page in the PDF, increasing the file size. Deselect this setting when users of Acrobat 5.0 and later will view and print the PDF; these versions generate thumbnails dynamically each time you click the Pages panel of a PDF.

Optimizes the PDF file for faster viewing in a web browser.

Opens the newly-created PDF file in the default PDF viewing application.

Saves Illustrator’s top-level layers as Acrobat layers within the PDF file. This allows Adobe Acrobat 6, 7, and 8 users to generate multiple versions of the document from a single file.

Compression and downsampling options for PDF

When saving artwork in Adobe PDF, you can compress text and line art, and compress and downsample bitmap images. Depending on the settings you choose, compression and downsampling can significantly reduce the size of a PDF file with little or no loss of detail and precision.

The Compression area of the Save Adobe PDF dialog box is divided into three sections. Each section provides the following options for compressing and resampling color, grayscale, or monochrome images in your artwork.

If you plan to use the PDF file on the web, use downsampling to allow for higher compression. If you plan to print the PDF file at high resolution, do not use downsampling. Deselect the option to disable all downsampling options.

Downsampling refers to decreasing the number of pixels in an image. To downsample color, grayscale, or monochrome images, choose an interpolation method—average downsampling, bicubic downsampling, or subsampling—and enter the desired resolution (in pixels per inch). Then enter a resolution in the For Images Above text box. All images with resolution above this threshold will be downsampled.

The interpolation method you choose determines how pixels are deleted:

Averages the pixels in a sample area and replaces the entire area with the average pixel color at the specified resolution.

Chooses a pixel in the center of the sample area and replaces the entire area with that pixel color. Subsampling significantly reduces the conversion time compared with downsampling but results in images that are less smooth and continuous.

Uses a weighted average to determine pixel color, which usually yields better results than the simple averaging method of downsampling. Bicubic is the slowest but most precise method, resulting in the smoothest gradations.

Determines the type of compression that is used. The Automatic option automatically sets the best possible compression and quality for the artwork contained in the file. For most files, this option produces satisfactory results. Use Automatic (JPEG) if you need the greatest compatibility. Use Automatic (JPEG2000) for superior compression.

Works well on images with large areas of single colors or repeating patterns, and for black-and-white images that contain repeating patterns. ZIP compression can be lossless or lossy, depending on the Quality setting.

Is suitable for grayscale or color images. JPEG compression is lossy, which means that it removes image data and may reduce image quality; however, it attempts to reduce file size with a minimal loss of information. Because JPEG compression eliminates data, it can achieve much smaller file sizes than ZIP compression.

Is the new international standard for the compression and packaging of image data. Like JPEG compression, JPEG2000 compression is suitable for grayscale or color images. It also provides additional advantages, such as progressive display.

Are only available for monochrome bitmap images. CCITT (Consultative Committee on International Telegraphy and Telephony) compression is appropriate for black-and-white images and any images scanned with an image depth of 1 bit. Group 4 is a general-purpose method that produces good compression for most monochrome images. Group 3, used by most fax machines, compresses monochrome bitmaps one row at a time. Run Length compression produces the best results for images that contain large areas of solid black or white.

Determines the amount of compression that is applied. The available options depend on the compression method. For JPEG Compression, Illustrator provides Minimum, Low, Medium, High, and Maximum Quality options. For ZIP compression, Illustrator provides 4‑bit and 8‑bit Quality options. If you use 4‑bit ZIP compression with 4‑bit images, or 8‑bit ZIP compression with 4‑bit or 8‑bit images, the ZIP method is lossless; that is, data is not removed to reduce file size, so image quality is not affected. Using 4‑bit ZIP compression with 8‑bit data can affect the quality, however, because data is lost.

This option is only enabled when its corresponding Compression setting is JPEG2000. It determines the size of the tiles for progressive display.

Applies compression to all text and line art in the file. This method results in no loss of detail or quality.

Mark and bleed options for PDF

Bleed is the amount of artwork that falls outside of the printing bounding box, or outside the crop marks and trim marks. You can include bleed in your artwork as a margin of error—to ensure that the ink extends all the way to the edge of the page after the page is trimmed or to ensure that an image can be stripped into a keyline in a document.

The Marks & Bleed area of the Save Adobe PDF dialog box lets you specify the extent of the bleed and add a variety of printer’s marks to the file.

Enables all printer’s marks (Trim Marks, Registration Marks, Color Bars, and Page Information) in the PDF file.

Lets you choose Roman printer’s marks, or Japanese marks for pages printed in Asian languages.

Places a mark at each corner of the trim area to indicate the PDF trim box boundaries.

Determines the stroke weight of the trim marks.

Places marks outside the artboard for aligning the different separations in a color document.

Determines the distance of all printer’s marks from the edge of the artboard. The trim marks are at the edge of the space determined by the offset.

Adds a small square of color for each spot or process color. Spot colors converted to process colors are represented using process colors. Your service provider uses these marks to adjust ink density on the printing press.

Places page information outside the artboard of the page. Page information includes the filename, page number, current date and time, and color separation name.

uses the document’s bleed settings instead of the bleed settings in this dialog box.

Controls the bleeds for the artwork. When the button is selected, these four values are proportional—editing one will update the values in the other three.

Color management and PDF/X options for PDF

You can set the following options in the Output section of the Save Adobe PDF dialog box. Interactions between Output options change depending on whether Color Management is on or off and which PDF standard is selected.

Specifies how to represent color information in the Adobe PDF file. When you convert color objects to RGB or CMYK, also select a destination profile from the pop‑up menu. All spot color information is preserved during color conversion; only the process color equivalents convert to the designated color space.

Preserves color data as is. This is the default when PDF/X‑3 is selected.

Preserves color numbers for untagged content in the same color space as the destination profile (by assigning the destination profile, not converting to it). All other content is converted to the destination space. This option is not available if color management is turned off. Whether the profile is included or not is determined by the Profile Inclusion Policy.

Converts all colors to the profile selected for Destination. Whether the profile is included or not is determined by the Profile Inclusion Policy.

Describes the gamut of the final RGB or CMYK output device, such as your monitor or a SWOP standard. Using this profile, Illustrator converts the document’s color information (defined by the source profile in the Working Spaces section of the Color Settings dialog box) to the color space of the target output device.

Determines whether a color profile is included in the file.

Specifies the characterized printing condition for the document. An output intent profile is required for creating PDF/X‑compliant files. This menu is only available if a PDF/X standard (or preset) is selected in the Save Adobe PDF dialog box. The available options depend on whether color management is on or off. For example, if color management is off, the menu lists available printer profiles. If color management is on, the menu lists the same profile selected for Destination Profile (provided it is a CMYK output device), in addition to other predefined printer profiles.

Describes the intended printing condition. This entry can be useful for the intended receiver of the PDF document.

A pointer to more information on the intended printing condition. The identifier is automatically entered for printing conditions that are included in the ICC registry.

Indicates the web address for more information on the registry. The URL is automatically entered for ICC registry names.

Indicates the state of trapping in the document. PDF/X compliance requires a value of True (selected) or False (deselected). Any document that doesn’t meet the requirement will fail PDF/X compliance checking.

Font and flattening options for PDF

You can set the following options in the Advanced section of the Save Adobe PDF dialog box:

Specifies when to embed the entire font (as opposed to just the characters used in the document) based on how many of the font’s characters are used in the document. For instance, if a font contains 1,000 characters but the document only uses 10 of those characters, you may decide that embedding the font is not worth the extra file size.

Specifies how to save overlapping colors that are set to overprint. You can choose to preserve the overprinting or discard the overprinting. If Compatibility (at the top of the dialog box) is set to Acrobat 4 (PDF 1.3), you can also choose to simulate overprinting by flattening the artwork.

If Compatibility (at the top of the dialog box) is set to Acrobat 4 (PDF 1.3) and the artwork contains transparency, you can specify a preset (or set of options) for flattening transparency. Alternately, click Custom to customize the flattener settings.

Adding security to PDF files

When saving as PDF, you can add password protection and security restrictions, limiting not only who can open the file, but also who can copy or extract contents, print the document, and more.

A PDF file can require passwords to open a document (document open password) and to change security settings (permissions password). If you set any security restrictions in your file, you should set both passwords; otherwise, anyone who opens the file could remove the restrictions. If a file is opened with a permissions password, the security restrictions are temporarily disabled.

The RC4 method of security from RSA Corporation is used to password-protect PDF files. Depending on the Compatibility setting (in the General category), the encryption level will be high or low.

Security options

You can set the following options when you create a PDF or when you apply password protection to a PDF. Options vary depending on the Compatibility setting. Security options are not available for PDF/X standards or presets.

Sets the type of encryption for opening a password-protected document. Acrobat 6 and later lets you enable metadata for searching.

Be aware that anyone using an earlier version of Acrobat cannot open a PDF document with a higher compatibility setting. For example, if you select the Acrobat 8 option, the document cannot be opened in Acrobat 6.0 or earlier.

Select this option to require users to type the password you specify to open the document.

Specify the password that users must type to open the PDF file.

Restricts access to the PDF file’s security settings. If the file is opened in Adobe Acrobat, the user can view the file but must enter the specified Permissions password in order to change the file’s Security and Permissions settings. If the file is opened in Illustrator, Photoshop, or InDesign, the user must enter the Permissions password, since it is not possible to open the file in a view-only mode.

Specify a password that is required to change the permissions settings. This option is available only if the previous option is selected.

Specifies the level of printing that users are allowed for the PDF document.

Prevents users from printing the document.

Lets users print at no higher than 150‑dpi resolution. Printing may be slower because each page is printed as a bitmap image. This option is available only if the Compatibility option is set to Acrobat 5 (PDF 1.4) or later.

Lets users print at any resolution, directing high-quality vector output to PostScript and other printers that support advanced high-quality printing features.

Defines which editing actions are allowed in the PDF document.

Prevents users from making any changes to the document that are listed in the Changes Allowed menu, such as filling in form fields and adding comments.

Lets users insert, delete, and rotate pages, and create bookmarks and thumbnails. This option is only available for high (128‑bit RC4 or AES) encryption.

Lets users fill in forms and add digital signatures. This option doesn’t allow them to add comments or create form fields. This option is only available for high (128‑bit RC4 or AES) encryption.

Lets users add comments and digital signatures, and fill in forms. This option doesn’t allow users to move page objects or create form fields.

Lets users edit the document, create and fill in form fields, and add comments and digital signatures.

Lets users to select and copy the contents of a PDF.

Lets visually impaired users read the document with screen readers, but doesn’t allow users to copy or extract the document’s contents. This option is available only for high (128‑bit RC4 or AES) encryption.

Allows users to copy and extract content from the PDF. This option is only available when Compatibility is set to Acrobat 6 or later. Selecting this option allows storage/search systems and search engines to access metadata stored in the document.

What's next?

We've got you started on how to work with Adobe PDF options. Take a step forward and learn how to create Adobe PDF files and print and save transparent artwork.

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