Macs and PDFs
Some Mac people are having problems printing even simple PDF files. Seems that they start to print and then nothing happens. There are several steps one can take to resolve problems printing a specific PDF file.

Try these in this order:

• Make sure the problem is with one file, not all printing.

• Print the PDF file as an image. In the Print dialog click Advanced and select Print As Image.

• Save the PDF file as a new file, and try again.

• Re-create the PDF file, and try again.

• If it was downloaded, download it again.

Print the PDF file page-by-page, to see if there is one page causing the problem. If so, either recreate the page or start deleting elements to find the problem, (start with placed EPS images).

If you have Acrobat Professional, adjust the transparency flattening.

Try printing with the default settings, to see if it is a print setting that is corrupted.

Merge or flatten layers (Acrobat Professional only).

Headers and footers as text
If you add a header or a footer to a PDF page with the Add Header & Footer command (Document>Add Header & Footer) and then save and close the document, the header or the footer become just regular text that can only be edited as normal text, not from the Add Header & Footer command.

How secure are your PDFs?
If you set security in an Acrobat document, remember to save the file or the security will be ignored. Also, remember to include a password. This may sound obvious, but often we see documents that have security set but do not have a password allocated, so removing the security is simple. Two levels of security are available: 40- and 128-bit. Saving for 3.0 (Acrobat or Acrobat Reader) requires 40-bit, and saving for 5 or 6 requires 128-bit. You should be careful about allocating higher levels. Even with our fairly sophisticated audience, when we save in 128-bit formats, some readers complain. These are people with older versions of Acrobat or Reader. Also, be aware that several applications will bypass even the most secure password. Passwords cannot contain !@#$%^&*,|\<>_ or double quotes.

Link variety
When creating links, you can add features to the Link tool by first selecting the tool, then right-clicking on the top tool bar area and selecting the Properties bar. This will allow you to set outline colors, line type, and weight and highlight states.

Acrobat 5 and Tiger
There have been some reports that people with older versions of Acrobat are having trouble running with OSX 10.4.1. If this happens to you, reinstall Acrobat, as the problem is not universal. If the issue persists, then it is time to upgrade to the latest Acrobat.

Smallest size possible
When you save a file for sending via email or even FTP, remember that embedding thumbnails adds to your file size (Print>PDF>Edit Settings> General). It's useful to have thumbnails for multi-page documents, especially if the PDF is made from different sources and pages are combined in Acrobat. So save without the thumbnails and then open the Thumbnail palette. Acrobat automatically generates thumbnails, so you can check page numbering and then close the file, and the thumbnails will not be retained. As long as the option is turned off, the thumb-nails will not be saved.

Web to PDF
When you import a web page into Acrobat (File>Create a PDF>From Web Page), the application will turn the main items on the web page into a PDF. What won't be imported or interpreted are multi-state Java-Script buttons, Java-Script image swaps, pop-ups, and drop-down menus. Of course, it also won't work with CGI scripts or Java applets. Java-Script bookmarks, links, and form fields import correctly.

Keep fonts live
Although you may be having font issues making a good PDF file, try to avoid the Use Outlines for Text option. It will make your finished document extremely difficult to edit (It must be done in Photoshop or Illustrator), will make the file larger, and text strings cannot be searched or saved as text by end users.

Careful cropping
The Crop tool does not actually throw away information. It just hides the uncropped information. The file will not actually get any smaller, if you check the Document properties (File>Document properties) you will see the file size remain the same but the page size will reflect the crops dimensions. If you actually want to crop the file size, you will either have to regenerate the file, open it in Illustrator or something similar, or do it with a regular PDF tool like Pitstop.

Name PDFs before changing applications
When you're working in multiple Creative Suite applications and make a PDF in any of them, don't change applications until you have allocated a file name. If you do, the dialog can get attached to the wrong application and Distiller will wait for the name to be allocated, and the dialog will not be associated with the application that made it. Can be confusing at times and slows down production.

Copying form fields
When using Acrobat to create forms, you can make an exact copy of any field. Just select the field with the form tool that you used to create it by holding down the Ctrl/Command key and dragging the field to create a new field. If you need to slide it horizontally or vertically, hold down the Shift key to constrain the direction. All the properties of the field will be copied except the name.

Stay current with newsfeeds
You can use Acrobat 7.0 as a newsreader to view RSS feeds. Choose Comments>Tracker, choose Services>Subscribe, and then enter the URL for the RSS feed you want to receive. Tracker will open each time you start Acrobat.