How To Resize Entire PDF In Acrobat X?

[Sockratease]

Hi,

I'm in the odd situation of having to use a bunch of content for a website which is in PDF form, but was scanned decades ago.

The files are low resolution  (made for a 640 x 480 screen, I think), but the OCR work seems good.

My goal is to upscale as much as possible for modern computers without losing too much quality.

I have the Windows CS6 Master Suite, and thus Acrobat X Pro.

The threads I searched before posting were for Acrobat DC Pro and it's "Pre-Flight Tool" (which I do not seem to have in X - or I simply can't find it).

Is this a job for Acrobat X Pro, or would I do better with InDesign CS6?

Or should I export the pages as images, batch upscale in Photoshop with a tool like PhotoZoom Pro, and recompile as a new pdf with new OCR data  (or is it possible to keep the existing OCR data with the upscaled pages?).

I never used Acrobat for much of anything besides file conversion so am not familiar with it's capabilities.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for reading this, and for any help you may have to offer.

[try67 · Accepted solution]

You would need Acrobat Pro DC to have this functionality built-in. Otherwise it can be done using a plugin or a script, like this one I've developed: Custom-made Adobe Scripts: Acrobat -- Scale PDF Pages

If you convert your file to images you would lose almost all of the good things about a PDF: Selectable and resizable vector text, metadata, form fields, comments, bookmarks, font information, etc.

[Sockratease]

Thanks for the quick reply!

I'll try the script.

I think it is already images, just with OCR stuff somehow "behind" it.  Often, when highlighting text to copy, the highlight is not quite perfectly aligned and it's as if there is "hidden" text on the image page somehow.

I say that because printing imperfections show, smudges and marks too.  But text can be copied.

Strange files.

But I only get strange jobs.

And since I like fractals, I guess that makes me a Strange Attractor!

But I digress...

Thanks again for the advice.  I'll try all the options and go with what gives the best results.

[markt_a1b]

Gilad,

The Web page you point to in your reply - Custom-made Adobe Scripts: Acrobat -- Scale PDF Pages  - states:

"... The scaling to these sizes preserves the original proportions of the pages, so it adds white space around them instead of distorting them...."

I have a 200-page PDF file, most of whose pages are 4.5" w x 7.0" h, with the rest being of varying, slightly smaller sizes.  However, the fully-justified text blocks of *all* pages are of consistent size; it is only the surrounding white space that varies - i.e., smaller than desired.  Does the above statement mean that your plug-in can increase the surrounding white space of a page to yield a consistent 4.5 x 7.0 size - *without* resizing the existing text block?

If so, can this plug-in be made to evaluate *all* pages in a document, in one pass, with only the white space of the under-size pages being expanded to the specified dimensions?

This may be a subject appropriate for a separate message thread, but in the meantime I also need to change the font color of the text in most of these 200 pages, from a dark grey to black.  Can Acrobat Pro XI do this?  Can your page-size plug-in do it?

In experimenting with changing the font color in a fully-justified three-column text document, in Acrobat Pro XI, I am having disappointing results.  The 9-point Times New Roman text is already solid black, but when I select an entire column of text and re-select the black color swatch, the text *slightly* changes size and completely re-flows itself - which not only leaves "orphan" en-dashes between syllables of hyphenated words, but also causes the document to lose its exactness of layout compared to the original.

Given our limited budgetary resources, $60 is a steep price to pay for a one-trick plug-in.

Is there something I am missing here?

Thanks!  Markt_a1b

[try67]

If the original ratio of the page is not the same ratio as the target page size then white space will be added to make them the same.

If the page already has the same size as the target page it won't get affected by the tool.

Regarding the font color: You would need Acrobat Pro DC to do that, I think, and even then it's very tricky, as you've seen.

At any rate, my tool can't do anything about that.

If you wish to discuss it further, including running it on a sample file, please contact me privately.

[markt_a1b]

Thanks for the additional information, Gilad.  That is most appreciated.

As you request, I will contact you back-channel for further discussion of your PDF page-resizing plug-in, but in the meantime I still need more clarity about Acrobat Pro's capability, relative to the original message thread.  If I understand correctly, Acrobat Pro XI and X do not have the "Resize Entire PDF" functionality needed by the original poster and myself - but Acrobat Pro DC does.

If so, per my question above: can Pro DC "... be made to evaluate *all* pages in a document, in one pass, with only the white space of the under-size pages being expanded to the specified dimensions?"

Or, alternatively, does this process have to be applied one page at a time?

As to the described font color (and resizing/reflowing) issue, I will start a separate message thread on that subject.

Thanks again!  markt

[try67]

Yes, Acrobat Pro DC can scale all the pages of the file in a single command.

[markt_a1b]

try67 wrote: "Yes, Acrobat Pro DC can scale all the pages of the file in a single command."

As it turns out, Acrobat Pro XI is *supposed* to be able to do this, but as I stated offline to try76, "... I experimented with increasing the white space around pages (to 8.5 x 11.0) in XI.  The single-column test page I sent you is from a 9-page, mostly three-column document, and when I use the Cropping Tool while attempting to do this, there is one lone (3-column) page that refuses to re-size - whether I try to do it individually or on the whole document...."

All of these pages came from exactly the same source (i.e., a single .TIF scan series, followed by export via ABBYY FineReader Pro 14), so there should be no differences in them - yet Acrobat fails to perform.  AFAIK, this is yet another bug, rather than some peculiarity injust that one page.

In the meantime, this same putative "cropping" feature (cough!) in Acrobat Pro XI *should* be able to process the desired range of pages within the 200-page (4.25 w x 7.0 h) file that I mentioned in my initial forum posting on this subject (above), but when I try it, any number of pages, scattered throughout the document, do not respond to the command.

I already own a full license for ABBYY FineReader 14, which is fully capable of exporting documents having whatever standard

or custom page size I choose., but it is somewhat of a PITA having to drag a file like this into FineReader.  This risks destruction of front- and back-matter page numbering that was painstakingly created within Acrobat - after which I then have to drag it back

into Acrobat for clean-up of the page-numbering mess.

Does Adobe conscientiously fix known bugs in Acrobat Pro, including in versions earlier than "the latest and greatest"?

If so, is this forum the place to report them, or does Adobe have a separate online facility just for that purpose?

Thank you and best regards,

Markt

[Karl Heinz Kremer]

Acrobat X is no longer supported, only Acrobat XI and DC are under active support, which means that there will no longer be any fixes for Acrobat X (and older).

The Adobe forums are not monitored by Adobe for bug reports, the only way to report bugs to Adobe is via this page: Feature Request/Bug Report Form

[markt_a1b]

Thanks so much for that information, Karl - most appreciated!

We have replicated the above-described behavior to the point that I cannot see how this is *not* a bug, so I will report it via the link you provide - since I am indeed using Acrobat Pro XI.

Best regards,

Markt

[Karl Heinz Kremer]

If you want to know about how to setup page sizing in Acrobat DC, take a look here: Scaling Page Content in Adobe Acrobat Pro DC - KHKonsulting LLC

[markt_a1b]

Ah, thanks Gilad and Karl!  When presented the opportunity, I will respond with an "Answered" flag.

Best regards, Markt