Preflighting PDF Files with Acrobat

Both Adobe Creative Suite 2 applications and Acrobat 8 Professional are designed to produce PDF files for a print workflow. We’ll begin the program by talking about the PDF/X standards used for print workflows and then show how PDF/X files are created in the Adobe Creative Suite 2 and Acrobat 8 Professional. There are several different flavors of PDF/X and we’ll describe the workflows CS2 and AP8 support, as there are several ways PDF/X files can be created in Suite applications and Acrobat.

We’ll also focus on how to use Acrobat 8’s revamped Preflight tool to not only analyze PDF files but also apply “fix-ups” and file conversions. Using both slides and a hand-on demonstration, we’ll show an overview of the process, and then explain how to use preflight profiles which follow industry standards included in Acrobat. Then we’ll show you how to customize these profiles to your particular workflow and how to automate your preflighting process.

By demonstrating all these features in Acrobat 8 Professional, we’ll show you the streamlined new Preflight interface with profiles organized in logical groups. We’ll show you how it’s easier to create and edit profiles, how the report features of Preflight have been improved, and some new automation features.

Specific topics include:

• The difference between PDF and PDF/X
• Different flavors of PDF/X for different workflows
• New developments with PDF RIPs brings new PDF/X versions
• Different ways to create PDF/X files in Creative Suite and Acrobat 8 Profesional
• Why preflighting is needed
• Acrobat 8 Professional’s new Preflight tool interface and features
• PDF/X Plus and the Ghent Workgroup profiles
• Customizing your own preflight profiles
• Automating the process of PDF preflighting