Creating PDF Files from Microsoft Office with Acrobat X

Creating PDF Files from Microsoft Office with Acrobat X

Ali Hanyaloglu – October 14, 2010

Hello!

Let's take a look at how Acrobat X integrates really nicely with Microsoft Office 2010 applications.

Here I am in Word 2010 and now that I have Acrobat X installed, I see an Acrobat ribbon up here on the toolbar.

This gives me the ability to convert to a PDF file with a single click, convert and email a PDF file, or convert a file to PDF and then send it out for a shared document review.I will see a similar ribbon with similar options in other applications.

Here is Microsoft PowerPoint, and I can see the Acrobat ribbon with some similar commands.

Here is Excel with the Acrobat ribbon.

Outlook 2010 has an Adobe PDF ribbon with some different options there.

And if I have Acrobat X Pro installed, I will see the same ribbon with similar options in applications like Project 2010 and Visio 2010.

I can also click on the File tab, to access the Backstage, and from here with a single click I can convert my file to Adobe PDF, or if I click on Save and send, I can access the same options to create an Adobe PDF file from this document, or send an Adobe PDF file out for Shared Review.

Some applications will have their own integrated capabilities.

For example, in Word I can also run the Mail Merge command and output the result to a PDF file.

I can also import comments from an existing PDF file to bring back in to my source Word document.

Additionally, in Word and PowerPoint, I can also embed a Flash movie to incorporate into the final PDF file automatically.

Acrobat X makes it simple to create a really good high-quality PDF file, but also gives me powerful controls over that resulting file.

By clicking on Preferences in the Acrobat ribbon, I can access the PDFMaker settings.For example, I can specify whether I wish to preserve all the document properties and information from the source Office file into the resulting PDF, including any custom properties I may have.In Word, I can specify whether I want to create bookmarks in the resulting PDF automatically.

Where do those come from?

They come from the headings and styles that I have in my Word file and use the text from those automatically.

Great!I can also preserve links, including (if I go to my Word tab) preserving footnote and endnote links from my Word document.

I can also ensure across Office applications that I tag the PDF for accessibility purposes and for easier reflow when viewing on a mobile device.

I can also incorporate security from PDFMaker settings, so that my document is protected with a password and/or permissions settings when I create a PDF file.The version of the encryption that you see is dependent on the version of PDF that I create.

How do I set the PDF version?

Well, let's go back to the Settings tab and click on Advanced Settings.

This will bring up my Adobe PDF settings.

This gives me some very powerful controls here.

For now let's go ahead and change this to be compatible with the latest version of the ISO PDF specification, which is 1.7.Depending on the application I'll see different settings here.

Let's click over to PowerPoint, and the take a look at the Preferences there - and you'll see I have different settings for this particular application.

From PowerPoint files I can do things such as preserve transitions between the slides, so when I view the PDF file full screen in Acrobat or Reader, I'll see the same transitions.

I can also convert speaker notes that are in my PowerPoint file into sticky notes in the resulting PDF, ensuring that I'm preserving as much of the original information as possible and doing less work when I get to Acrobat.

If we return back to Microsoft Word, we'll click on the Create PDF button.

As well as being able specify the name and where to save the resulting PDF file, I can click on Options from here, and I'll get to some similar settings you saw a moment ago in the PDFMaker settings.

Another quick and easy way to control how your PDF appears and works.

We'll click OK and Save, in just a moment we'll have a high-quality PDF file that not only looks like the original, but preserves a lot of the original information.

For example, by looking at the document properties, I see that it preserved all the original properties from Microsoft Word, including any custom metadata.

You will find similar capabilities in Office 2007 too.Thanks very much for watching!