How to Save a Macintosh Document in PDF (Acrobat) Format

PDF stands for Portable Document Format. It's a format that's viewable across multiple platforms - which means that your document's correct layout and fonts can be seen even by a recipient who doesn't have the program you used to create the document. To create a PDF file on a Macintosh you need to be using Adobe Acrobat Distiller.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Adobe Acrobat Reader

Print to a PDF Using Distiller

1. Open the file you want to turn into a PDF.

2. Choose File, then Print.

3. Choose Save As File from the pop-up menu usually displaying General in the Print dialog box.

4. Choose Acrobat PDF from the Format pop-up menu.

5. Choose File from the Destination pop-up menu.

6. Click Print or Save to close the Print dialog box. In some programs, such as QuarkXPress, you may return to another Print dialog box. If so, simply click Print again.

7. Fill in a file name and location, then click Save.

8. In some programs, such as QuarkXPress, you may need to fill in a file name and click Save, then click Print. Follow the dialog boxes as they appear, and respond accordingly.

Choosing PDFWriter Manually

9. Choose Chooser from the Apple menu.

10. Choose Acrobat PDFWriter from the Chooser, then close the Chooser window.

11. Go back to the application you were using, and choose Print from the File menu to display the Acrobat PDFWriter Print dialog box.

12. Be certain Prompt for Document Info is checked if you want to complete document information, such as a creator name, then click OK. Click OK in the Document Info dialog box to be prompted to enter a file name.

13. If you don't want to be prompted for document info, uncheck Prompt for Document Info and click OK. You'll be prompted to provide a file name and location for your new PDF. Fill in the desired information, then click OK.

Tips & Warnings

• When you're finished making PDFs, go back to the Chooser and re-select your usual printer.