PDF (adobe.com)

Create Adobe PDF files



You can create different types of PDF files from within Illustrator. You can create multipage PDFs, layered PDFs, and PDF/x‑compliant files. Layered PDFs allow you to save one PDF with layers that can be used in different contexts. PDF/X‑compliant files ease the burden of color, font, and trapping issues.

For a video on creating PDFs from Creative Suite applications, see www.adobe.com/go/vid0209. For a video on exporting to PDF 1.7 for review or prepress purposes, see www.adobe.com/go/vid0210. For a video on creating interactive PDFs, see www.adobe.com/go/vid0211.

Create an Adobe PDF

  1. Choose File > Save As or File > Save A Copy.
  2. Type a filename, and choose a location for the file.
  3. Choose Adobe PDF (*.PDF) as the file format, and click Save.
  4. Either choose a preset from the Adobe PDF Preset menu, or select a category from the list on the left of the dialog box and then customize the options.
  5. Click Save PDF.
    To reset options to the default, hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) and click Reset.

Create a multiple-page Adobe PDF

  1. Draw multiple artboards in a document.
  2. Choose File > Save As, and select Adobe PDF for Save As Type.
  3. Do one of the following:

    • To save all of the artboards to one PDF, select All.

    • To save a subset of the artboards to one PDF, select Range, and type the range of artboards.

  4. Click Save, and set additional PDF options in the Save Adobe PDF dialog box.
  5. Click Save PDF.

Create a layered Adobe PDF

Adobe InDesign and Adobe Acrobat both provide features for changing the visibility of layers in an Adobe PDF file. By saving a layered PDF file in Illustrator, you allow your illustration to be used in different contexts. For example, rather than creating multiple versions of the same illustration for a multilanguage publication, you can create one PDF file that contains text for all languages.

  1. Set up your illustration so that the adjustable elements (those you want to show and hide) are in separate top-level layers, not nested within sublayers.

    For example, if you’re creating an illustration to be repurposed for multiple languages, put the text for each language in a different top-level layer.

  2. Save the file in Adobe PDF format.
  3. In the Save Adobe PDF dialog box, choose Acrobat 8 (1.7) or Acrobat 7 (1.6) for Compatibility.
  4. Select Create Acrobat Layers from Top-Level Layers, set additional PDF options, and click Save PDF.

Create an Adobe PDF/X-compliant file

PDF/X (Portable Document Format Exchange) is an ISO standard for graphic content exchange that eliminates many of the color, font, and trapping variables that lead to printing problems. Illustrator supports PDF/X‑1a (for a CMYK workflow), PDF/X‑3 (for a color-managed workflow), and PDF/X-4 (for a color-managed workflow with added support for preserving transparency as live rather than flattened).

You can create a PDF/X‑compliant file during the process of saving a PDF file.

  1. In the Save Adobe PDF dialog box, choose a PDF/X preset, or choose a PDF/X format from the Standard menu.
  2. Click Output on the left side of the Save Adobe PDF dialog box, and set PDF/X options.