Adobe PDF settings overview

Learn how Adobe PDF settings control document quality, compatibility, and file size to enhance your PDFs for print production, web distribution, or archiving.

PDF settings control how documents are processed when you convert other file formats to PDF. These settings affect metrics like image quality and font handling, color management, and compliance with industry standards. Adjusting these settings, you can ensure your PDFs perform as expected for their intended use.

General settings

The general panel controls the following aspects of your PDF file:

• Compatibility: Determines which version of Acrobat your PDF will work with. Using the most recent version provides access to the latest features, while choosing an earlier version ensures wider compatibility.
• Object Level Compression: Controls how structural information like bookmarks and accessibility features is compressed within the file.
• Auto-Rotate Pages: Automatically adjusts page orientation based on text direction, with options to rotate collectively by file, individually by page, or not at all.
• Binding: Specifies left-side or right-side binding, affecting how pages appear in certain viewing modes.
• Resolution: Emulates printer resolutions, with values from 72 to 4000. Higher resolution may increase file size and processing time.
• Optimize for Fast Web View: Restructures the file for faster page-by-page downloading from web servers.

Images settings

These settings control how images are processed in your PDF:

• Downsampling: Reduces image resolution by combining pixels. Options include Average Downsampling, Subsampling, and Bicubic Downsampling, each offering different balances between processing speed and image quality.
• Compression and Image Quality: Applies compression to color, grayscale, and monochrome images, with adjustable quality settings for color and grayscale images.
• Anti-alias to Gray: Smoothens jagged edges in monochrome images, with options for 4, 16, or 256 levels of gray.

The optimal resolution for images depends on the output device. For example:

• 300dpi laser printer: 120ppi image resolution
• 600dpi laser printer: 170ppi image resolution
• 1200dpi imagesetter: 240ppi image resolution
• 2400dpi imagesetter: 300ppi image resolution

Fonts settings

Font settings control which fonts are embedded in your PDF. Font embedding is crucial for maintaining document appearance across systems, especially for documents that use specialized fonts or will be viewed on multiple devices:

• Embed All Fonts: Includes all fonts used in the document, ensuring consistent appearance across devices but increasing file size.
• Embed OpenType Fonts: Preserves OpenType font information for advanced text layout.
• Subset Embedded Fonts: Embeds only the characters used in the document when their percentage falls below a specified threshold, reducing file size.
• Always Embed or Never Embed: Allows you to specify particular fonts that should always or never be embedded, regardless of other settings.

Color settings

Color management settings control how colors are handled during PDF creation. These settings are particularly important for print production, where color accuracy is critical:

• Color Management Policies: Options include leaving colors unchanged, tagging everything for color management, tagging only images, or converting all colors to sRGB or CMYK.
• Working Spaces: Define which ICC profiles are used for grayscale, RGB, and CMYK color spaces.
• Document Rendering Intent: Determines how colors are mapped between color spaces, with options like Perceptual, Saturation, Relative Colorimetric, and Absolute Colorimetric.

Advanced settings

Advanced options specify which Document Structuring Conventions (DSC) comments to keep in a PDF and how to set other options that affect the conversion from PostScript. In a PostScript file, DSC comments contain information about the file such as the originating application, the creation date, and the page orientation, and provide structure for page descriptions in the file. The options in this panel include:

• Allow PostScript File to Override Settings: Uses settings stored in the PostScript file rather than the current PDF settings.
• Convert Gradients to Smooth Shades: Improves quality and reduces file size for documents with gradient effects.
• Preserve Overprint Settings: Maintains overprint settings from the original document, which is important for professional printing.
• Process DSC Comments: Maintains Document Structuring Conventions information from PostScript files.
• Save Adobe PDF Settings Inside PDF File: Embeds the settings used to create the PDF as an attachment.

Standards options

These settings allow you to check document content in the PostScript file to make sure it meets standard PDF/X1-a, PDF/X-3, or PDF/A criteria before creating the PDF. For PDF/X-compliant files, you can also require that the PostScript file meet additional criteria by selecting options in the Standards panel. The availability of options depends on the standard you select. You can also create a PDF/X file from a compliant PDF by using the Preflight feature in Acrobat.

• PDF/X-compliant: Creates files that meet standards for high-resolution print production.
• PDF/A-compliant: Creates files that meet archival document standards for long-term preservation.
• Compliance Standard Reporting: Generates reports indicating whether the file meets the selected standard and identifies any issues.

General panel options

Use this panel to select a version of Acrobat for file compatibility and other file and device settings.

Compatibility: Sets the compatibility level of the PDF. Use the most recent version (in this case, version 1.7) to include all the latest features and functionality. If you’re creating PDFs that will be distributed widely, choose an earlier level, to ensure that all users can view and print the document.

Object Level Compression: Compresses structural information (such as bookmarks, accessibility, and noncompressible objects), hiding the information and making it unusable in Acrobat 5.0 or Reader 5.0. Tags only compresses structural information. Off applies no compression.

Auto-Rotate Pages: Automatically rotates pages according to the direction of text.

Collectively by File: Rotates all pages to match the orientation of the majority of text in the document.

Individually: Rotates each page based on the orientation of the text on that page.

Off: Prevents pages from rotating.

Binding: Specifies whether to display a PDF with left-side or right-side binding. The Binding setting affects the look and feel of pages in the Two-Up Continuous view and the look and feel of thumbnails side by side.

Resolution: Use for PostScript files to emulate resolutions based on the printer they are printing to. Permitted values range from 72 to 4000. Use the default setting unless you plan to print the PDF on a specific printer while emulating the resolution defined in the original PostScript file.

Pages: Specifies which pages to convert to PDF.

Embed thumbnails: Embeds a thumbnail preview for each page in the PDF, increasing the file size. Deselect this setting when users of Acrobat 5.0 and later will view and print the PDF. The versions generate thumbnails dynamically each time you select the Pages panel of a PDF.

Optimize for fast web view: Restructures the file for faster access (page-at-a-time downloading, or byte serving) from web servers. This option compresses text and line art, overriding compression selections on the Images panel.

Default Page Size: Specifies the page size to use when one is not specified in the original file. EPS files give a bounding box size, not a page size.

Images panel options

The options in the Images panel specify compression and resampling for color, grayscale, and monochrome images. You may want to experiment with these options to find an appropriate balance between file size and image quality.

The resolution setting for color and grayscale images should be 1.5 to 2 times the line screen ruling at which the file will be printed. The resolution for monochrome images should be the same as the output device. However, saving a monochrome image at a resolution higher than 1500dpi increases the file size without noticeably improving image quality. Images that will be magnified, such as maps, may require higher resolutions.

The following table shows common types of printers and their resolution measured in dpi. It also depicts default screen ruling measured in lines per inch (lpi), and a resampling resolution for images measured in pixels per inch (ppi). For example, if you were printing to a 600-dpi laser printer, you would enter 170 for the resolution at which to resample images.

Downsample (Off): Reduces image resolutions that exceed the for images above value to the resolution of the output device by combining pixels in a sample area of the image to make one larger pixel.

Average Downsampling to: Averages the pixels in a sample area and replaces the entire area with the average pixel color at the specified resolution.

Subsampling to: Replaces an entire area with a pixel selected from that sample area, at the specified resolution. Causes faster conversion time than downsampling, but resulting images are less smooth and continuous.

Bicubic Downsampling to: Uses a weighted average, instead of a simple average (as in downsampling) to determine pixel color. This method is slowest but produces the smoothest tonal gradations.

Compression/Image Quality: Applies compression to color, grayscale, and monochrome images. For color and grayscale images, also sets the image quality.

Anti-alias to gray: Smooths jagged edges in monochrome images. Select 2 bit, 4 bit, or 8 bit to specify 4, 16, or 256 levels of gray. (Anti-aliasing may cause small type or thin lines to look blurry.)

Policy: Opens the Image Policy dialog box, where you can set processing options for Color, Grayscale, and Monochrome images that are less than the resolutions you specify. For each type of image, enter a resolution value, and then select Ignore, Warn and continue, or Cancel job.

Fonts panel options

The Fonts options specify which fonts to embed in a PDF, and whether to embed a subset of characters used in the PDF. You can embed OpenType®, TrueType, and PostScript fonts. Fonts that have license restrictions are listed with a lock icon . If you select a font that has a license restriction, the nature of the restriction is described in the Adobe PDF Options dialog box.

Embed all fonts: Embeds all fonts used in the file. Font embedding is required for PDF/X compliance.

Embed OpenType fonts: Embeds all OpenType fonts used in the file, and maintains OpenType font information for advanced line layout. This option is available only if either Acrobat 7 (PDF 1.6) or Acrobat 8 (PDF 1.7) is selected from the Compatibility menu in the General panel.

Subset embedded fonts when percent of characters used is less than: Specifies a threshold percentage if you want to embed only a subset of the fonts. For example, if the threshold is 35, and fewer than 35% of the characters are used, Distiller embeds only those characters.

When embedding fails: Specifies how Distiller responds if it cannot find a font to embed when processing a file.

Always Embed: To embed only certain fonts, move them into the Always Embed list. Make sure that Embed all fonts isn’t selected.

Never Embed: Move fonts that you don’t want to embed to this list. If necessary, choose a different font folder from the pop-up menu to display the font in the font list.

Add Name: If the font you want isn’t in a font folder, select Add Name. Enter the name of the font, select Always Embed list (or Never Embed list), and select Add.

Remove: Removes a font from the Always Embed or Never Embed list. This action doesn’t remove the font from your system; it removes the reference to the font from the list.

Color panel options

Whether you’re using color management information in the PostScript file, using Distiller CSFs, or defining custom settings, you set all color management information for Distiller on the Color panel of the Adobe PDF Settings dialog box.

Settings File: Lists color settings, including those used in graphics applications. The None setting lets you edit the Color Management Policies and Working Spaces settings.

Color Management Policies: Specifies how Distiller converts unmanaged color in a PostScript file when you don’t use a Distiller color settings file. This menu is available when None is selected in the Settings File menu.

Leave Color Unchanged: Leaves device-dependent colors unchanged and preserves device-independent colors as the nearest possible equivalent. It's a helpful option for print shops that have calibrated their devices, have used that information to specify color in the file, and are only outputting to those devices.

Tag Everything for Color Management: Tags color objects with an ICC profile and calibrates colors, making them device-independent in PDFs compatible with Acrobat 4 (PDF 1.3) and later. Converts device-dependent color spaces in images (RGB, Grayscale, and CMYK) to device-independent color spaces (CalRGB, CalGray, and Cie L*a*b) in Acrobat 3.0 (PDF 1.2) compatible PDFs.

Tag Only Images for Color Management: Tags ICC profiles in images only (not text or vector objects), which prevents black text from undergoing any color shift when distilling Acrobat 4.0 (PDF 1.3) compatible PDFs. Converts device-dependent color spaces in images (RGB, Grayscale, and CMYK) to device-independent color spaces (CalRGB, CalGray, and Lab) in Acrobat 3.0 (PDF 1.2) compatible PDFs.

Convert All Colors to sRGB (or Convert Everything To CalRGB): Calibrates color, making it device-independent. Converts CMYK and RGB images to sRGB in PDFs compatible with Acrobat 4 (PDF 1.3) or later. Converts CMYK and RGB images to calibrated RGB (CalRGB) in Acrobat 3.0 (PDF 1.2) compatible PDFs. Recommended for PDFs that will be used onscreen or with low-resolution printers.

Convert All Colors to CMYK: Converts color spaces to DeviceGray or DeviceCMYK according to the options specified in the Working Spaces menu. All Working Spaces must be specified.

Document Rendering Intent: Choose a method to map colors between color spaces. The result of any particular method depends on the profiles of the color spaces. For example, some profiles produce identical results with different methods.

Acrobat shares four rendering intents (Perceptual, Saturation, Relative Colorimetric, and Absolute Colorimetric) with other Creative Suite applications.

Acrobat also includes a rendering intent called Preserve, which indicates that the intent is specified in the output device rather than in the PDF. In many output devices, Relative Colorimetric is the default intent.

Working Spaces: For all Color Management Policies values other than Leave Color Unchanged, choose a working space to specify which ICC profiles are used for defining and calibrating the grayscale, RGB, and CMYK color spaces in distilled PDFs.

Gray: Choose a profile to define the color space of all grayscale images in files. The default ICC profile for gray images is Adobe Gray - Dot Gain 20%. Select None to prevent grayscale images from being converted.

RGB: Choose a profile to define the color space of all RGB images in files. The default, sRGB IEC61966-2.1, is recognized by many output devices. Select None to prevent RGB images from being converted.

CMYK: Choose a profile to define the color space of all CMYK images in files. The default is U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2. Select None to prevent CMYK images from being converted.

You can add ICC profiles (such as ones provided by your print service bureau) by placing them in the ICCProfiles folder in the Common folder, the Windows\System\Color folder (Windows), or the System Folder/ColorSync folder (macOS).

Preserve CMYK values for calibrated CMYK color spaces: When selected, device-independent CMYK values are treated as device-dependent (DeviceCMYK) values, device-independent color spaces are discarded, and PDF/X-1a files use the Convert All Colors to CMYK value. When deselected, device-independent color spaces convert to CMYK, if Color Management Policies is set to Convert All Colors to CMYK.

Preserve under color removal and black generation: Retains these settings if they exist in the PostScript file. Black generation calculates the amount of black to use when reproducing a color. Undercolor removal (UCR) reduces cyan, magenta, and yellow to compensate for black generation. Because UCR uses less ink, it’s suitable for uncoated stock.

When transfer functions are found: Specifies how to handle transfer functions in PDFs. Transfer functions are used for artistic effect and to correct for the characteristics of a specific output device.

Remove: Deletes any applied transfer functions. Applied transfer functions should be removed, unless the PDF is to be output to the same device that the source PostScript file was created for.

Preserve: Retains the transfer functions traditionally used to compensate for dot gain or dot loss that may occur when an image is transferred to film. Dot gain or loss occurs when the ink dots that make up a printed image are larger or smaller than in the halftone screen.

Apply: Applies the transfer function, changing the colors in the file but doesn’t keep it. This method is useful for creating color effects in a file.

Preserve halftone information: Retains any halftone information in files. Halftone information is intended for use with a particular output device.

Advanced panel options

Advanced options specify which Document Structuring Conventions (DSC) comments to keep in a PDF and how to set other options that affect the conversion from PostScript. In a PostScript file, DSC comments contain information about the file (such as the originating application, the creation date, and the page orientation) and provide structure for page descriptions in the file (such as beginning and ending statements for a prologue section). DSC comments can be useful when your document is going to print or press.

For more information, see the documents on the Adobe PDF Technology Center at www.adobe.com/go/learn_acr_pdftechnology_en (PDF, English only).

Script file to override Adobe PDF settings: Uses settings stored in a PostScript file rather than the current PDF settings file. For more information about customizing PDF settings, see the SDK information on the Acrobat and PDFL Developer Guides at www.adobe.com/go/learn_acr_pdftechnology_en (PDF, English only).

Allow PostScript XObjects: PostScript XObjects store fragments of PostScript code to be used when a PDF is printed on a PostScript printer. Use only in controlled workflows where there is no other option. Available when the Standard or Smallest File Size is selected from the Default Settings menu.

Convert gradients to smooth shades: Converts blends to smooth shades for Acrobat 4.0 and later, improving quality and reducing file size of PDFs. Distiller converts gradients from Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Adobe FreeHand®, CorelDraw, QuarkXPress, and Microsoft PowerPoint.

Convert smooth lines to curves: Reduces the amount of control points used to build curves in CAD drawings, which results in smaller PDFs and faster onscreen rendering.

Preserve Level 2 copypage semantics: Uses the copypage operator defined in PostScript Level 2 rather than in Language Level 3 PostScript. If you have a PostScript file and select this option, a copypage operator copies the page. If this option is not selected, the equivalent of a showpage operation is executed, except that the graphics state is not reinitialized.

Preserve overprint settings: Retains any overprint settings in files being converted to PDF. Overprint settings create color by printing one ink on top of another ink.

Overprinting default is nonzero overprinting: Prevents overprinted objects with zero CMYK values from knocking out CMYK objects beneath them.

Save Adobe PDF settings inside PDF file: Embeds the settings file (.joboptions) used to create the PDF as an attachment. (To view the settings file, select View > Show/Hide > Navigation Panes > Attachments in Acrobat.)

Save original JPEG images in PDF if possible: Processes compressed JPEG images (images that are already compressed using DCT encoding) without recompressing them. When deselected, performance improves because only decompression, not recompression, occurs.

Save Portable Job Ticket inside PDF file: Preserves a PostScript job ticket in a PDF. Job tickets describe the PostScript file and can be used later in a workflow or for printing the PDF.

Use Prologue.ps and Epilogue.ps: Sends a prologue and epilogue file with each job. These files can be used to add custom PostScript code you want to run at the beginning or end of every PostScript job being converted.

Sample Prologue.ps and Epilogue.ps files are located in Windows 11 (64-bit), Windows 10 version 1810 or later (32-bit and 64-bit), Windows 8, 8.1 (32-bit and 64-bit)†, Windows 7 SP1 (32-bit and 64-bit), or Windows Server - 2008 R2 (64 bit), 2012 (64 bit), 2012 R2 (64 bit)†, 2016 (64 bit), or 2019 (64 bit)
/Users/[Username]/AppData/Roaming/Adobe/Adobe PDF/Distiller/Data or (Mac OS)/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe PDF/Distiller/Data.

In Windows Explorer (Windows 7 and later), the Application Data folder is typically hidden; to make it visible, select View> Show, and select Hidden Items. Or, you can type the path into the Address text box.

Process DSC comments: Maintains DSC information from a PostScript file.

Log DSC warnings: Displays warning messages about problematic DSC comments during processing and adds them to a log file.

Preserve EPS information from DSC: Retains information for an EPS file, such as the originating application and creation date.

Preserve OPI comments: Retains information needed to replace a For Placement Only (FPO) image or comment with the high-resolution image located on servers that support Open Prepress Interface (OPI) versions 1.3 and 2.0. For more information, see the OPI 2.0 specification at https://www.pdfa.org/norm-refs/5660_OPI_2_0.pdf (PDF, English only).

Preserve document information from DSC: Retains document properties, such as the title, creation date, and time, in the PDF.

Resize page and center artwork for EPS files: Centers an EPS image and resizes the page to fit closely around the image. If deselected, the page is sized and centered based on the upper left corner of the upper left object and lower right corner of the lower right object on the page. This option applies only to jobs that consist of a single EPS file.

Standards panel options

By using Standards options, you can check document content in the PostScript file to make sure it meets standard PDF/X1-a, PDF/X-3, or PDF/A criteria before creating the PDF. For PDF/X-compliant files, you can also require that the PostScript file meet additional criteria by selecting options in the Standards panel. The availability of options depends on the standard you select. You can also create a PDF/X file from a compliant PDF by using the Preflight feature in Acrobat.

PDF/X-compliant: Complies with the PDF/X standard for high-resolution print production.

PDF/A-compliant: Complies with the PDF/A standard for archival documents.

Compliance Standard: Produces a report that indicates whether the file complies with the standard you select, and if not, what problems were encountered. The .log file appears at the bottom of the dialog box.

When not compliant: Specifies whether to create the PDF if the PostScript file does not comply with the requirements of the standard.

Continue: Creates a PDF even if the PostScript file does not meet the requirements of the standard, and notes these problems in the report.

Cancel job: Creates a PDF only if the PostScript file meets the requirements of the standard, and is otherwise valid.

Report as error (Acrobat Pro): Flags the PostScript file as noncompliant if one of the reporting options is selected and a trim box or art box is missing from any page.

Set TrimBox to MediaBox with offsets (Acrobat Pro): Computes values for the trim box based on the offsets for the media box of respective pages if neither the trim box nor art box is specified. The trim box is always as small as or smaller than the enclosing media box.

Set BleedBox to MediaBox (Acrobat Pro): Uses the media box values for the bleed box if the bleed box is not specified.

Set BleedBox to TrimBox with offsets (Acrobat Pro): Computes values for the bleed box based on the offsets for the trim box of respective pages if the bleed box isn’t specified. The bleed box is always as large as or larger than the enclosed trim box. This option uses the units specified on the General panel of the Adobe PDF Settings dialog box.

Output Intent Profile Name (Acrobat Pro): Indicates the characterized printing condition for which the document has been prepared and is required for PDF/X compliance. If a document doesn’t specify an output intent profile name, Distiller uses the selected value from this menu. If your workflow requires the document to provide the output intent, select None.

Output Condition Identifier (Acrobat Pro): Indicates the reference name that is specified by the registry of the output intent profile name. For more information, select the question mark next to the option.

Output Condition (Acrobat Pro): Describes the intended printing condition. This entry can be useful for the intended receiver of the PDF. For more information, select the question mark next to the option.

Registry Name (URL) (Acrobat Pro): Indicates the web address for finding more information about the output intent profile. The URL is automatically entered for ICC registry names. The registry name is optional, but recommended. For more information, select the question mark next to the option.

Trapped (Acrobat Pro): Indicates the state of trapping in the document. PDF/X compliance requires a value of True or False. If the document does not specify the trapped state, the value provided here is used. If your workflow requires that the document provide the trapped state, select Leave undefined.