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Disabling automatic headers/footers when printing HTML files to PDF?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sun, 07 Sep 2014 01:40:51 GMT

Ok, so everyone is aware of those annoying headers/footers that are placed on every single page when converting HTML files to PDF from within Adobe Acrobat. Luckily, they are easily disabled once you figure out where this particular setting is hidden (and hidden it is, in "File -> Create -> PDF from Web Page -> Settings... -> Place headers and footers on new page" instead of in the Preferences section where one would expect it to be).

But, how about when *printing* an HTML file with the virtual "Adobe PDF" printer? The "Adobe PDF" Printing Preferences window does not have any such setting. The only setting that even remotely resembles the above mentioned setting is one that says "Add document information" but it does not affect the inclusion of these automatic headers and footers.

So, is there a way to *print* an HTML file to PDF without these unwanted headers and footers in the same manner as one can *convert* an HTML file to PDF free from automatic headers and footers?

In case anyone wonders why not *convert* the file to PDF instead of printing it to PDF, it's simply because conversion to PDF doesn't apply custom page margins and custom page breaks. So, if one wants a PDF document with custom page margins, then printing to PDF is the only way to go. Conversely, if one wants to preserve interactive features such as HTML links, cursor highlight styles, etc, then converting to PDF is the only way to go. In this case, I need custom page margins - but I certainly don't need these annoying automatic headers/footers.

Custom page breaks with "@media print" in CSS when creating a PDF from HTML?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sun, 29 Jun 2014 15:31:33 GMT

Searching for threads containing the text string "@media print" gave me zero hits, so I guess I'm either the smartest guy in the entire universe for coming up with this idea or the dumbest for the same reason since I must be missing something that everyone else knows by heart without even asking.

Namely, I would like to make use of the CSS "@media print" wrapper when I'm converting an HTML file to PDF through Adobe Acrobat - as opposed to printing an HTML page through a web browser using the Adobe PDF virtual printer device. These are, as I understand it, two equivalent though not entirely identical (as they make use of and rely on somewhat different settings) procedures that both convert an HTML file into a PDF document.

Here's my CSS code:

@media print { span.pagebreak {page-break-before: always} }

And here's my HTML code invoking the page break:

<span class="pagebreak"></span>

Bottom line, this works great when I print the HTML file through my web browser, using the Adobe PDF printer device. However, when converting the HTML file through Adobe Acrobat, this print-related setting is ignored. Obviously, printing and converting a file isn't technically identical but as I said, it's for virtually all intents and purposes the same procedure.

I'm guessing that someone at the Adobe HQ must have thought through this issue during a brainstorming session and come up with a simple yet elegant solution to cater for the needs of those who want to use custom page breaks when converting their HTML documents directly through Adobe Acrobat. Maybe a simple setting somewhere or a custom CSS tag like "@media adobe", or something similar?

HTML+CSS conversion issue with nth-child() selector

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Fri, 31 May 2013 22:46:23 GMT

Why doesn't Adobe Acrobat XI Pro convert the below HTML code correctly when I try to create a PDF from it?

I've simplified the actual code significanly in order to present the problem in its simplest possible form. The code below uses the CSS "counter" feature to modify <li> elements according to a specific pattern. This code enumerates and indents every third line in the progression 1,4,7,10,13, ...

In Firefox and Internet Explorer, this code is displayed correctly, but Acrobat XI Pro ignores the lines with the "nth-child(3n+1)" selector which contain directives to hide line enumeration on non-matching lines and to indent text on matching lines. Acrobat XI Pro instead displays line enumeration for all lines and doesn't indent text on any line, as if the two directives containing the "nth-child(3n+1)" selector were not present at all.

Is this a bug or is it an unsupported feature in Adobe Acrobat XI Pro?

Whichever the case, any suggestions on a not too labourious alternative method to achieve the same result?

As things are, I've been forced to resort to using the so called "poor man's nth-child selector" workaround (abouthalf.com/development/poor-mans-nth-child-selector-for-ie-7-and-8/), which requires manual specification of each line's content with ever-increasing code extension/repetition. It gets the job done, but in a very messy and time-consuming way, and it only works with pre-defined static content. In terms of size, the difference is that of less than 1kb CSS file size when using the nth-child() selector vs more than 75kb CSS file size when using the above mentioned workaround, for a 250 line predefined stylesheet.

Surely there has to be a better way to deal with this issue? Support for a core HTML/CSS feature that generates ordered layout patterns for line enumeration, indentation, etc, would seem like a top priority feature to support in a product such as Adobe Acrobat Pro, given its focus on page layout...

<html>
<head>

<style type="text/css">
body { margin: 75px 90px; }
li { list-style-type: none; counter-increment: listing; }
li:after { content: counter(listing); float: right; margin-right: -2em; visibility: visible; }
li:not(:nth-child(3n+1)):after { visibility: hidden; }
li:nth-child(3n+1) { text-indent: 25px; }
</style>

</head>

<body>
<li>Line One</li>
<li>Line Two</li>
<li>Line Three</li>
<li>Line Four</li>
<li>Line Five</li>
<li>Line Six</li>
<li>Line Seven</li>
<li>Line Eight</li>
<li>Line Nine</li>
<li>Line Ten</li>
</body>

</html>

Adobe Community : All Content - All Communities

Disabling automatic headers/footers when *printing* HTML files to PDF?

Custom page breaks with "@media print" in CSS when creating a PDF from HTML?

HTML+CSS conversion issue with nth-child() selector

Disabling automatic headers/footers when printing HTML files to PDF?