Adobe InDesign CS5 - Manual (Page 509)

503 USING INDESIGN
PDF
Last updated 11/16/2011
2 Specify a name and location for the PDF file, and then click Save.
3 Either choose a preset from the Adobe PDF Preset menu, or select a category from the list on the left of the Export
Adobe PDF dialog box, and then customize the options.
4 Click Export (Windows) or Save (Mac OS).
Reducing the size of PDFs
For PDF files that are intended to be distributed for viewing purposes only, you may want to reduce the size of PDF
files when you export from InDesign. Here are some of the size reduction techniques you can use in the Export Adobe
PDF dialog box:
• Choose [Smallest File Size] from the Adobe PDF Preset menu.
• In the Compression area, downsample images to 72 pixels per inch, select automatic compression, and select either
low- or medium-image quality for color and grayscale images. When you work with photographic images, use
Automatic (JPEG 2000) compression; when you work with images that are mostly solid color, such as charts and
graphs, use ZIP compression.
• In the Output area, use the Ink Manager to convert spot colors to process colors.
To reduce the size of PDFs, simply open the PDF in Acrobat 8.0 or later, choose Document > Reduce File Size, and
then specify the compatibility level. For greater control, choose Advanced
> PDF Optimizer.
For more information on reducing the size of PDF files, see Acrobat Help and the Adobe website.
Adobe PDF presets
A PDF preset is a group of settings that affect the process of creating a PDF. These settings are designed to balance file
size with quality, depending on how the PDF will be used. Most predefined presets are shared across Adobe Creative
Suite components, including InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, and Acrobat. You can also create and share custom
presets for your unique output requirements.
A few of the presets listed below are not available until you move them—as needed—from the Extras folder (where
they are installed by default) to the Settings folder. Typically, the Extras and Settings folders are found in (Windows
Vista and Windows 7) ProgramData\Adobe\AdobePDF, (Windows XP) Documents and Settings\All
Users\Application Data\Adobe\Adobe PDF, or (Mac
OS) Library/Application Support/Adobe PDF. Some presets are
not available in some Creative Suite components.
The custom settings are found in (Windows XP) Documents and Settings/[username]/Application
Data/Adobe/Adobe PDF/Settings, (Windows Vista and Windows 7)
Users/[username]/AppData/Roaming/Adobe/Adobe PDF/Settings, or (Mac OS)
Users/[username]/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe PDF/Settings.
Review your PDF settings periodically. The settings do not automatically revert to the default settings. Applications
and utilities that create PDFs use the last set of PDF settings defined or selected.
High Quality Print Creates PDFs for quality printing on desktop printers and proofing devices. This preset uses PDF
1.4, downsamples color and grayscale images to 300 ppi and monochrome images to 1200 ppi, embeds subsets of all
fonts, leaves color unchanged, and does not flatten transparency (for file types capable of transparency). These PDFs
can be opened in Acrobat 5.0 and Acrobat Reader 5.0 and later. In InDesign, this preset also creates tagged PDFs.
Illustrator Default (Illustrator only) Creates a PDF in which all Illustrator data is preserved. PDFs created with this
preset can be reopened in Illustrator without any loss of data.
Oversized Pages (Acrobat only) Creates PDFs suitable for viewing and printing of engineering drawings larger than
200 x 200 inches. These PDFs can be opened in Acrobat and Reader 7.0 and later.