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Saving artwork in Adobe PDF format


    Many page layout, word-processing, and graphic applications accept imported or placed PDF files. You can use the Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities option to preserve all Illustrator data, which means that PDF files can be reopened and edited as Illustrator files.

To save artwork in Adobe PDF format:

  1. Save the artwork as described in About saving and exporting artwork. Choose Adobe PDF (PDF) as the file format.
  2. In the Adobe PDF Format Options dialog box, choose an Options Set:
    • Default for artwork that will be printed.
    • Screen Optimized for artwork that will be displayed on the Web. This option produces a smaller file and automatically converts the artwork to RGB color mode.
  3. If you're satisfied with the default settings, click OK to save the artwork. Otherwise, set additional options, and then click OK.
  4. The options for saving PDF files are divided into two categories: General and Compression. Selecting different options causes the name of the Options Set to change to Custom.

To set General options:

    Choose General from the pop-up menu below the Options Set box pop-up menu, and set the desired options:

    File Compatibility

    Determines which version of Adobe Acrobat the resulting file is compatible with. Acrobat 5.0 format preserves transparency, text, and spot colors in the artwork; however, not all applications support this data. Select Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities if you want to reopen and edit the PDF file in Adobe Illustrator.

    Embed All Fonts

    Includes all fonts that are used in the artwork. This ensures that the original font is used for display and printing on computers that do not have the font installed. Selecting the Embed All Fonts option increases the size of the saved file.

    Note: You cannot embed protected Japanese fonts.

    Subset Fonts

    Specifies when to embed fonts based on how many of the font's characters are used in the document. For instance, if a font contains a thousand characters but the document only uses 10 of those characters, you may decide that embedding the font is not worth the extra file size.

    Embed ICC Profile

    Creates a color-managed document. (See Embedding profiles in saved documents.)

    Generate Thumbnails

    Creates a thumbnail image of artwork that is displayed in the Illustrator Open or Place dialog boxes.

To set Compression options:

  1. Choose Compression from the pop-up menu below the Options Set pop-up menu. The dialog box is divided into three panels, each of which provides options for compressing and resampling bitmap images in your artwork.
  2. Set the desired options in each panel of the dialog box:
  3. Average Downsampling

    Determines if the artwork is downsampled. Downsampling reduces the resolution of the image to the specified pixels per inch. If you plan to print the PDF file at high resolution, do not use downsampling. If you plan to use the PDF file on the Web, using downsampling allows for higher compression.

    Compression and Quality

    Determine the type and amount of compression that is used. The Automatic option automatically sets the best possible compression and quality for the artwork contained in the file. For most files, this option produces satisfactory results.

    ZIP compression works well on images with large areas of single colors or repeating patterns and for black-and-white images that contain repeating patterns. Illustrator provides 4-bit and 8-bit ZIP compression options. If you use 4-bit ZIP compression with 4-bit images, or 8-bit ZIP compression with 4-bit or 8-bit images, the ZIP method is lossless; that is, data is not removed to reduce file size and so image quality is not affected. Using 4-bit ZIP compression with 8-bit data can affect the quality, however, because data is lost.

    JPEG compression is suitable for grayscale or color images. JPEG compression is lossy, which means that it removes image data and may reduce image quality; however, it attempts to reduce file size with a minimum loss of information. Because JPEG compression eliminates data, it can achieve much smaller files sizes than ZIP compression.

    CCITT and Run Length compression are only available for monochrome bitmap images. CCITT (Consultative Committee on International Telegraphy and Telephony) compression is appropriate for black-and-white images and any images scanned with an image depth of 1 bit. Group 4 is a general-purpose method that produces good compression for most monochromatic images. Group 3, used by most fax machines, compresses monochromatic bitmaps one row at a time. Run Length compression produces the best results for images that contain large areas of solid black or white.

    Compress Text and Line Art

    Applies ZIP compression to all text and line art in the file.