Des Moines InDesign User Group Home Meeting Summary Archive

Meeting Summary

Acrobat 9
Tue, Aug 5th, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Meredith Corporation Conference Core
Event Details

Mark Sebastian of Xerox discussed XMPie with the group and demonstrated the range of one-on-one marketing options available to users, including everything from variable data printing to comprehensive data-driven marketing campaigns that encompass both print and the web.

Mark was followed by Lynn Grillo, Senior Solutions Engineer at Adobe Systems, who presented the new Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro to the crowd. Lynn conducted her presentation via teleconference, using Adobe ConnectNow, from New Jersey, but was able to demonstrate many of Acrobat 9 Pro’s new features:

• PDF Portfolios: With Acrobat 9 Pro you can create Flash-based portfolios containing a variety of files. These portfolios are still PDFs, so anyone with Adobe Reader or Acrobat can open them, access files, compare documents, enjoy multimedia and sound, and save documents to local media. The crowd was impressed by the PDF Portfolio’s ability to send files for revision and collaboration.

• Forms: Acrobat 9 can auto-detect form fields in PDF files and set them up with no fuss. Acrobat 9 Pro also has a new form distribution system that lets one send forms to large groups of users, track responses, send reminders to those who haven’t responded, and compile responses for easy statistical analysis.

• Print Production features: Acrobat 9 Pro sports a more robust Output Preview window that lets you filter page elements so you could, for example, see all RGB images or registration color in a PDF. There is also a new Object Inspector that will report the details of all elements below wherever you click your mouse. Other new features include automatic overprint preview and preflight fix-ups that can combine Pantone colors from separate color books.

Some attendees had questions which didn't get answered during the meeting. Here are those answers:

Q: Is it possible to change the compression of embedded files in Acrobat 9?

A: In order to fine-tune compression, users can leverage Reduce File Size or PDF Optimizer on individual PDFs in a Portfolio. Independent of this, all PDF files and non-PDF files placed in a Portfolio have general compression applied (similar to ZIP), but currently there is not a way to fine-tune this general compression.

Q: Can you open a file in the PDF Portfolio, revise it and save it, and retain the revised file in the portfolio?

A: Yes, you can do this. If you think of the PDF Portfolio as a shell that holds other files, similar to Photoshop’s Smart Objects feature, it makes a lot of sense.

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