Setting Up Acrobat 5/Distiller 5

Installing Adobe Acrobat and related files, including the Distiller PostScript Printer.

What does Adobe Acrobat Comprise? Adobe Acrobat comprises four critical components.

1) The Distiller printer. This virtual printer that only ever prints to file installs in your Printers and Faxes folder. When printing to PDF, this needs to be your default printer or the printer you choose. This printer creates a device-independent PostScript file.

2) Acrobat Distiller, the software. Distiller, the software, takes the device-independent PostScript file created by the Distiller printer and makes the PDF.

3) Adobe Acrobat, the software, lets you view and edit PDFs, and create PDF forms. Acrobat is not publishing or word-processing software, so wholesale edits should not be attempted in Acrobat; you should keep your source files for such work (source files being those files from which you printed the PDF).

4) PDFMaker is a macro that installs a menu and two buttons in Microsoft Word and other Microsoft Office products. This macro is the only way to create bookmarks in a PDF from Word documents.

What about PDFWriter? PDFWriter is junk. Dont install it. It is non-PostScript technology based loosely on Acrobat version 3 technology. PDFWriter does not install by default in Acrobat 5. The only thing PDFWriter is good for is some automatic, programming-based PDF generation.

Why the Distiller PostScript printer? Well, creating PDFs is not a conversion process, it is a PostScript-printing process. The Distiller printer creates device-independent PostScript, whereas the PostScript printer driver that came with your HP, Canon, or other real printer is device-dependent; that is, it has built-in limitations that pertain to the device in question. Device-dependent PostScript can cause issues when printed from other printing devices and can cause other problems, like color shifts, lack of color, lack of hypertext, etc. The Distiller PostScript printer is a virtual printer, it only ever prints to file. The Distiller Printer is the only printer supported by Adobe for printing PDFs.

Which version of Acrobat do you need? If you are using Microsoft Word 2002 (XP) or Windows XP, you must have Adobe Acrobat version 5.0.5. Adobe Acrobat version 5.0.0 is insufficient. If you have version 5.0.0, you can get 5.0.5 as a free, downloadable upgrade, from . Versions of Adobe Acrobat prior to 5.0.5 are unsupported on Windows XP.

How do I install Adobe Acrobat from the CD? Uninstall older versions of Acrobat first, using Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs. Then, install from the Adobe Acrobat CD using a Typical setup.

How do I install the Acrobat 5.0.5 update patch? After you install Adobe Acrobat, you can tell what version you have by opening Acrobat and clicking Help > About. If you dont have version 5.0.5, then download it. To install the update, just double-click it and answer prompts in the affirmative. This installs on top of Acrobat 5.0.0.

How do I create PDFs? With the exception of software that is integrated (to some degree) with Acrobat, such as Microsoft Word via PDFMaker and Adobe FrameMaker and PageMaker, to create a PDF:

1) Choose File > Print from your software.

2) Select the Distiller printer as the printer you want to use.

3) Print a PostScript file. This can have a .PS or .PRN extension, it doesnt matter which.

4) Open Acrobat Distiller, the program, from your Start > All Programs menu.

5) In Acrobat Distiller, use File > Open to open the print file (.PS or .PRN) you created. Acrobat Distiller then creates your PDF.

How do I use Acrobat 5 with Microsoft Word? Firstly, it is important that you not use Word as your e-mail editor in Outlook; if you do, then the Acrobat menu and buttons do not install in Word. To turn off Word as your e-mail editor, in Outlook, click Tools > Options > Mail Format and clear both Use Microsoft Word . . . check boxes. Then, reboot. After you reboot and open Microsoft Word, you will have two buttons and an Acrobat menu that let you use PDFMaker to create hypertext PDFs from Acrobat. Note, you have to enable macros to use this feature.

What about fonts? PDF creation can fail if you dont have the fonts you are using installed on your PC. How can this happen? It might be that your default printer, a Canon, HP, or other printer, has default fonts installed. Windows will let you use these fonts as though they are installed on your PC; they are not, they are installed on the printing device attached to your PC. When you switch printers to the Distiller printer, those fonts are no longer available. If you used those fonts in your document, some software, such as Adobe FrameMaker, tells you the fonts arent available. Other software, like Microsoft Word, does not tell you and fakes or substitutes for the missing font. The problem is that when you create your PDF and try to embed the font, embedding fails if the font is not installed. The workaround is not to use fonts you dont have installed or to buy the font you need. A quick workaround is to open Acrobat Distiller, choose Settings > Job Options > Fonts, and in the When Embedding Fails list, select Warn and Continue instead of Fail. Otherwise, font foundries or manufacturers can set up fonts so they cannot be embedded, as a license protection. If this is set up from the font foundry, there is nothing you could do. In this case, distributing the font would be illegal and you cannot embed it anyway; so choose a different font, one that permits (by license) embedding.

What else do I need to know or do? Unfortunately, Adobe has not gotten the Acrobat Installation right. You need to perform the following manual customizations.

1) Customize the Distiller Printer.

a) In Control Panel > Printers and Faxes, right-click the Distiller printer and select Properties.

b) Choose the Device Settings tab. Set the following:

Output Protocol = Binary

Send CTRL-D Before/After Each Job = No

Convert Gray Text/Graphics to PostScript Gray = Yes

Wait Timeout = 0 seconds.

c) Click Apply.

d) Click the General tab.

e) Click Printing Preferences > Advanced.

f) In the Layout tab, set the following:

Print Quality = 600 dpi

TrueType Font = Download as Softfont

g) Expand PostScript Options. Set the following:

TrueType Font Download Option = Native TrueType

h) Click OK.

i) Click Apply.

j) Click the Adobe PDF Settings tab. Set the following:

Select all the check boxes

In the Conversion Settings list, select the job options you want to use--remember the location of this drop-down list

k) Click Apply.

l) Click OK.

m) Click the Advanced tab. Set the following:

Select the Spool print documents so program finishes printing faster option button

Select the Start printing after last page is spooled option button

n) Click Apply.

o) Click the Printing Defaults button and set the following:

p) In the Layout tab, click Advanced. Set the following:

Print Quality = 600 dpi

TrueType Font = Download as Softfont

q) Expand PostScript Options. Set the following:

TrueType Font Download Option = Native TrueType

r) Click OK.

s) Click Apply.

t) Click the Adobe PDF Settings tab. Set the following:

Select all the check boxes

In the Conversion Settings list, select the job options you want to use--remember the location of this drop-down list

u) Click Apply.

v) Click OK.

w) You are done; click OK to close the printer properties.

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2) Set up your Acrobat Distiller job options. You need to set up job options in Acrobat Distiller to tailor your PDF for your intended audience. Read the Acrobat documentation for more on these options, but for general use, these should do fine:

a) Open Adobe Distiller.

b) Choose Settings > Job Options.

c) In the General tab, set the following:

Compatibility is your call. I use Acrobat 4.0

Select Optimize for Fast Web View

Auto-Rotate Pages = Individually

Resolution = 600 dpi (this might change if you go to press, for example)

d) Click the Compression tab.

e) For Color and Grayscale Images, set the following:

Clear the check boxes for Downsampling

Use ZIP Compression

Use 8-bit Quality

f) For Monochrome images, set the following:

Use Bicubic Downsampling to 300 dpi for images above 450 dpi

Use CCITT Group 4 Compression

Clear the Anti-Alias to Gray check box

Select the Compress Text and Line Art check box

g) Click the Fonts tab, and set the following:

Select the Embed All Fonts check box

Select the Subset embedded fonts . . . check box and set the value to 100%

Select Cancel Job in the When Embedding Fails list

Delete any and all fonts from the Always and Never Embed boxes

h) Click the Color tab and set the following:

Choose None for a Settings File

Choose to Leave Color Unchanged with an Intent of Default

Select Preserver Overprint Settings

Select Preserve Undercolor Removal

Clear Preserve Halftone Information

i) Click the Advanced tab, and set the following:

Select all check boxes except ASCII Format and Log DSC Warnings; those two options should be deselected.

j) Click Save as and save your joboptions file for future use.

3) Select the joboptions file in the various locations that it needs to be used:

a) Open Microsoft Word. Click the Acrobat menu and choose Change Conversion Settings. In the Conversion Settings list, choose your joboptions file.

b) Open Control Panel > Printers and Faxes. Right-click the Distiller printer and select Properties. Select General tab > Printing Preferences > Adobe PDF Settings, and choose your joboptions file from the Conversion Settings list. Click Apply and OK.

c) Select Advanced tab > Printing Defaults > Adobe PDF Settings, and choose your joboptions file from the Conversion Settings list. Click Apply and OK.

d) You are done setting up the Distiller printer; click OK to close the printer properties.

e) Open Acrobat Distiller, the program, from your Start > All Programs menu.

f) Make sure your joboptions file is selected in the Job Options list.

g) Use File > Exit to close Acrobat Distiller.

Note: If you change your job options, remember there are four locations you need to check the change: Acrobat Distiller the program, Microsoft Words PDFMaker, and two locations in the Distiller printer properties.

. . . Fin . . .

About the Distiller PPD

A PPD is a PostScript Printer Description file. It is used to tell the PostScript printer driver the options a PostScript printer has. That is, all PostScript printers use the same PostScript driver with a PPD file to differentiate them and add specific features. Such as, the PPD for a color printer permits printing in color, whereas the PPD for a monochrome printer does not. The Distiller printer you must use to create PDFs uses a specific PPD: the Distiller PPD.

The Distiller printer you must use to create your PostScript, from which the PDF is created, comprises the correct Adobe/Microsoft PostScript driver for your operating system plus the Distiller PPD. For Acrobat 5, this file is called Adist5.ppd.

For Acrobat 5, the correct PPD is set up automatically by the Acrobat installation--but the selection of Adist4.ppd was manual in Acrobat 4.

For Acrobat version 4.x (4.05 is required for Windows 200, btw), during the Distiller printer installation, you are prompted for the PPD . . . and are presented by default with the "Generic" one.

Instead of making that wrong selection, you have to browse your FrameMaker or Acrobat CD for Adist4.ppd.

For Acrobat version 3 (3.02 and 3.01RA were the last versions of that old product), the PPD was downloadable from
Adobe.com.

In Win2k/XP, you can find which PPD you are using by opening your Distiller printer properties.

1) Select Advanced tab > Printing Defaults > Advanced.

2) Right-click the top-most item in the Advanced Options dialog box, which is a description of the printer driver, and select About. This tells you the PPD filename being used (Adist5.ppd).