This only changes the Header or Footer margins, this does not change the document margins.

I had the same problem with margins when I created a PDF from a PowerPoint file.  It kept shrinking the entire page, leaving larger margins than my original file.  But now I just created a PDF from a PowerPoint file with OK margins.  This may sound overly simple, but I selected Print and just checked the box "Scale to fit paper", and it worked fine.  The PDF now has the same margins as my original.

Thanks Dave, that was exactly what I needed.

Hello,

Please guide me how to increase 1/2 inch margin on the left side and reduce the same margin on the right side of Adobe Reader document, i need this for binding purposes.

Thanks.

Hi all,

My first post on the Adobe forums.

I've read the entries so far and none seem to hit the nail on the head.

My issue is that I have a fair number of documents as strung together .pdf's and I'd like to print out each document with a binding margin on the left, typically a .75" margin.  This should have been a slam dunk command, but, alas, I can't find it.  Some pages vary in size and I would simply print to fit an 8-1/2" x 11" page, shrinking the original to allow for the .75" binding margin.

So far, I've had to open each page in Photoshop Elements 6, add the requisite margin, then save it as an individual page, later restringing the document together.  When you get to documents exceeding 100 pages, this is an insane waste of my time and there ought to be a command to take care of this enmass.

As info, I am using Acrobat 8.

Regards,

Richard

Dear Bill,

Thank you for taking so much time with this.

I think I see what you are trying to do.  Essentially, if I read you correctly, you are pre-shrinking the document, then cropping back to keep a left hand margin.  I don't know what you mean by AA5, AA6, etc.  Please explain.

I do use Internet Explorer and Microsoft, as far as I'm concerned, really blundered when they introduced shrink to fit with IE 6.  It wasn't until they got to IE 8 that they provided a way to shut it off.  With it on, e-mail with large photo attachments would end up with tiny print when printed off.

Similarly, Adobe seems to have had a blind eye to the binding margin issue, which really should have been included as a simple command in Acrobat, or even in Acrobat Reader.

I won't be able to try your recommendations until tomorrow.  If I get stuck, I'll come back for more help.  Thanks for all of your efforts to assist me (and likely others) to find a work around for this issue.

Regards,

Richard

Hi Richard,

For your step number two you may want to look at our free automation tool "Resize Pages Tool" at-

http://www.pdfscripting.com/public/65.cfm

(Scroll down in the list for the one titled "Resize Pages Tool").

Step number 1 could aslo be solved with a custom automation tool for scaling all the pages at once, and could be combined for both steps into one custom tool. If this is something you do repeatedly and isn't a one time job, it may be worth getting such a tool developed.

Hope this helps,

Dimitri Munkirs

WindJack Solutions

www.windjack.com

www.pdfscripting.com

Hi Richard,

If you have downloaded the tool, in the graphic labeled "Anchor" on the right side of the dialog you select an anchor for one area of the document by clicking in one of the boxes.  That will be the point which won't change while the rest of the page grows or shrinks (the corresponding arrows shown indicate the direction too)  You need to select "Custom" size in the "New Size" pulldown window in that same dialog and enter the dimensions for width and height plus choose Units, which in your case would be inches.

If you create a test document a play around with the different settings it should become clear how it works.

Hope that helps,

Dimitri

WindJack Solutions, Inc

www.windjack.com

www.pdfscripting.com

Dear Bill and Dimitri,

Thank you for your additional sage counsel.

I think I will try your approach first, Bill.  While perhaps a bit of artistic perfectionism, My desire would be to center the resulting image reduction top and bottom, whereas your approach Dimitri would lock it either toward the top or the bottom, although, admittedly, that's a really icing on the cake issue.  And, it may turn out that, say, locking at the top, might not be a bad idea.  If I recall correctly, fit to page does center the page in both directions.

As for pre-rotating the errant rotated pages, these documents are strung together and I'm not sure how one goes about rotating individual pages within the string.  To be honest, I've only been working them in Photoshop Elements 6, adding the margin there, which breaks them into individual pdf's, which I later re-string.  My guess is that there is likely a command within Acrobat to do this while retaining the integrity of the string.

Which then brings up another classic question.  While stringing together individual pdf's is straight forward, de-stringing them enmass is something I don't know how to do.  Can either of you offer a suggestion as to how this can be done?

I am also hoping that, while my questions pertain to my specific needs, others viewing this instructional discussion will also benefit.

Regards,

Richard

Dear Dimitri,

That is super - a simple command.

I just wish the folks at Adobe would do the same for those doing printouts.  When you are dealing with historical documents, many taken from microfilm, generally there is no consideration as to binding margins.  If one wants to wax philosophical on this, while technology changes ever so rapidly, one thing that is always viewable is the printed page or photo.  A classic exanple of technological change is sound recording.  We started out with cylinders.  Next came records, first 78 rpm, then 45 rpm for individual songs and 33 rpm for longer pieces.  Casette tapes and 8-track tapes were next, followed by CD's.  Now we have mpegs.  The conundrum was exemplified in one of the early Superman movies, wherein the history of Krypton was recorded on green crystals.  Technology is constantly changing, which compromises the ability to play back what has been recorded in the past.  At the National Archives and Records Administration in College Park, MD, some of the researchers' copies of motion pictures are on antique 1" Beta tapes.  The machines to play these, antiques in and of themselves, are in terrible shape.  The primary copies, however, are still on film, although one wonders how long these, too, will last.  I presume that these are stored under refrigeration.

We can see the issue in condensed time with the development of computer operating systems and software.  While Microsoft has generally attempted to provide retroactivity, a document written in the newer versions of Office may be a .docx, whereas older software doesn't recognize this.  Fortunately, most friends are willing to downgrade their copies so I can read them.  Support for Windows XP will eventually vanish.  While this OS can continue to be used by those that have it, replacing peripherals such as scanners and printers may make this problematic.

But, actual photos and printed pages are readable with the Mark 1 eyeball, regardless of how they are produced.

Regards,

Richard

Dear Steve,

So, Adobe did address this issue in the past.  You mention a PDF/A standard.  How does one translate this into usable instructions utilizing Acrobat 8, or am I mixing apples and oranges?

I can easily understand why the Library of Congress would want this feature.  A lot of documentation appears on microfilm.  I've been receiving a fair number of documents in pdf format that are currently stored on microfilm.  As you note, the document pages are in image form, not machine readable text.  Reviewing a large document in pdf form is not as easy as reviewing the printed document, where access to individual pages is inherently easier.  The LoC may, as I have been, concerned about rapidly changing technology where one system of storage might become obsolete in the future.

Regards,

Richard

1-17-2011  8:34 PM PT

I found a workaround using both Acrobat Pro 10 and my HP 1518ni printer. Clumsy and slow, but it works.  I had to print a pdf from my teacher which had a combination of portrait and landscape pages.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to change the 14 point font.    Here is the sequence:

Acrobat Pro 10:

  All of the pages will have to be rotated 180 degrees so the 95% reduction (in the printer) will "expand" the left side.  Otherwise, the left margin remains

    intact, and the right one shrinks.

  Determine the page numbers of the portait pages, as those will be entered in the following step.

  In the toolbar click on the "Rotate page" icon.  It is the second one from the right, and has a yellow reverse arrow. The "Roate Pages" dialog box opens.

  Click on the radio button "Pages", and enter the page numbers to be printed.

  Click "OK".  Now go to the printer setup, which has to be done only once for this particular printing job.

HP 1518ni:

  In Pro 10, click on the printer icon, which opens the "Print" page.

  Click on "Properties" in the upper right area, which opens the "Document Properties" page.

  Click on "Effects".

  Click on the radio button "% of actual size:"  After clicking on "100", I changed it to "95".

  NOTE:  The "Rotate" area (6th line down) offers two selection boxes: "Even and Odd Pages" and ""Portrait Pages". Their dropdown menus list more

    selections.  I found that changing the "Portrait Pages" did not have an effect on my landscape pdf pages.  (I forgot to change it once.)

  Click on "OK", which returns to the "Printer" page in Acrobat Pro 10.

Acrobat Pro 10 Printer page:

  Click on the appropriate radio button under "Print Range".  In my case, I had to first process the portrait pages, and then the landscape ones.

NOTE: After finishing the print job, don't forget to change the printer setting from "95%" back to 100 by clicking on the button "Actual size".

Hope this helps!  Adobe--are you listening?  PDF's have become the de facto method of communicating, and since pages must be printed for any number of reasons, it makes sense to fix this issue.  The pdf's contents are not at risk of being modified--only the way they are printed.