Table Of ContentAdobe Acrobat 7.0
Adobe Creative Suite 2.0
PDF Creation Settings
Adobe
April 15, 2005
Adobe Solutions Network — http://partners.adobe.com
Copyright 2005 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved.
Adobe® PDF Creation Settings
NOTICE: All information contained herein is the property of Adobe Systems Incorporated. No part of this publication (whether in hardcopy or
electronic form) may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, without the prior written consent of the Adobe Systems Incorporated.
PostScript is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated. All instances of the name PostScript in the text are references to the
PostScript language as defined by Adobe Systems Incorporated unless otherwise stated. The name PostScript also is used as a product
trademark for Adobe Systems’ implementation of the PostScript language interpreter.
Except as otherwise stated, any reference to a “PostScript printing device,” “PostScript display device,” or similar item refers to a printing device,
display device or item (respectively) that contains PostScript technology created or licensed by Adobe Systems Incorporated and not to devices
or items that purport to be merely compatible with the PostScript language.
Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat, the Acrobat logo, Acrobat Capture, Distiller, GoLive, Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, PostScript, the PostScript
logo and Reader are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.
Apple, Mac, Macintosh, and Power Macintosh are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the United States and other countries.
PowerPC is a registered trademark of IBM Corporation in the United States. ActiveX, Microsoft, Windows, and Windows NT are either registered
trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open
Group. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
This publication and the information herein is furnished AS IS, is subject to change without notice, and should not be construed as a
commitment by Adobe Systems Incorporated. Adobe Systems Incorporated assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies,
makes no warranty of any kind (express, implied, or statutory) with respect to this publication, and expressly disclaims any and all warranties
of merchantability, fitness for particular purposes, and noninfringement of third party rights.
Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Other Useful Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Conventions Used in This Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Chapter 1 Principles of PDF Settings Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Organization of Settings Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Namespaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Common Namespace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Other Namespaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Predefined Adobe PDF Settings Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Where Presets are Installed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
System Preset Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Reading and Writing Settings Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Compatibility Strategies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
How Applications Handle Incorrect Settings Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
How Distiller Uses Adobe PDF Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Distiller Initialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
How Distiller Processes PostScript Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Modifying Settings During the Job. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Using Distiller to Combine PostScript Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Chapter 2 Using PDF Creation Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
Using the Image Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Image Compression Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Automatic Compression. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Non-automatic Compression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Downsampling and Subsampling Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Setting Compression of Text, Line Art, and Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Distiller-only Image Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Using the Font Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Adobe PDF Creation Settings 3
Contents
Using the Color Conversion Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Distiller Color Conversion Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Creative Suite Color Conversion Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Color Settings Interchange. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Using the Advanced Adobe PDF Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
CreateJobTicket Setting Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Using the Standards Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Using the Compliance Checking Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Using the PDF/X Output Intent Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Chapter 3 Reference - Common PDF Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57
Settings Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
General Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Image Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Color Image Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Grayscale Image Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Monochrome Image Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Page Compression Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Font Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Color Conversion Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Advanced Adobe PDF Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Standards Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106
Chapter 4 Reference - Other Namespaces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
CreativeSuite Namespace Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113
GoLive Namespace Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .124
InDesign Namespace Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130
Appendix A Conversions Related to JDF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Basic JDF File Created . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133
Representing Certain PostScript Keys as JDF Elements and Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .134
Converting Between the Linear Representation of setpagedevice Keys and Their Hierarchical JDF
Counterparts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137
Mapping of Certain DSC Comments into JDF Elements and Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137
Composite Jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .138
Pre-Separated Jobs with Interleaved Separations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .138
Pre-separated Single-colorant Jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .138
4 Adobe PDF Creation Settings
Contents
Mapping of Parameters into JDF Elements and Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .138
General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .139
Image Compression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .140
Page Compression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .142
Fonts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .143
Color Conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .143
Advanced. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145
PDF/X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .146
Conversion of Parameters Not Available Through UI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .147
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Adobe PDF Creation Settings 5
Contents
6 Adobe PDF Creation Settings
Pre
Preface
This document describes the format and usage of Adobe PDF Creation Settings files. These
files are also known as .joboptions files and have historically been used by Adobe®
Acrobat® Distiller®, an application that converts PostScript® language page descriptions into
Portable Document Format (PDF) files. Settings files allow the specification of options for
compression, font embedding, color management, PDF/X-compliance, and many other
properties for the creation of PDF files.
Adobe Creative Suite applications (Photoshop®, GoLive®, Illustrator®, and InDesign®) are also
able to generate PDF files. Beginning with version 2.0 of the Creative Suite, these
applications use the same settings files used by Distiller to control PDF generation.
This document revises and extends the Adobe technical note Acrobat Distiller Parameters. It
describes each setting that can appear in the settings file, including the existing Distiller
parameters as well as new settings that are private to individual applications. It explains
how settings files can be shared between applications, and discusses other topics relevant
to the use of settings files.
Terminology
Adobe PDF Creation Settings files have an extension of .joboptions and have often
been called job options files (referring to the Distiller job that converts PostScript to PDF).
Creative Suite applications refer to the files as presets. This document refers to the files as
settings files.
The individual PDF creation settings themselves are represented in the settings files as key-
value pairs. The key is a name and the value can be any data type supported by PostScript
or PDF. In previous versions of Acrobat Distiller Parameters, the settings are referred to as
parameters. This document refers to them as settings.
Audience
This document is intended for developers and end users who create PDF files using Distiller
and the Creative Suite applications. It provides information about customizing PDF
creation settings files to meet specific requirements and also describes how settings files
are shared between applications.
It also contains Distiller-specific information that allows developers to modify settings
directly in a PostScript file during the process of PDF creation.
Adobe PDF Creation Settings 7
Preface
Contents
Contents
This document is organized as follows:
● Chapter 1, “Principles of PDF Settings Files,” describes the structure and syntax of Adobe
PDF creation settings files and explains how to use namespaces to create private
settings. It introduces the predefined settings files, discusses strategies that allow
applications to share them, and explains how errors are handled. It also provides
information that is specific to Acrobat Distiller, including the ability to modify settings as
PostScript files are processed
● Chapter 2, “Using PDF Creation Settings,” discusses several topics that involve using
groups of settings, supplementing the information in the reference chapters. Major
sections are:
– Using the Image Settings describes how to use the settings that control compression
and downsampling of color, grayscale, and monochrome images.
– Using the Font Settings describes issues related to font embedding and subsetting.
– Using the Color Conversion Settings explains how to use the color conversion settings
in the Common namespace, and discusses how applications maintain compatibility
between them and the new Creative Suite color settings.
– Using the Advanced Adobe PDF Settings explains the CreateJobTicket setting.
– Using the Standards Settings provides details on producing PDF/A- and PDF/X-
compliant files.
● Chapter 3, “Reference - Common PDF Settings,” lists and describes each setting in the
Common namespace (equivalent to the Distiller parameters available in Distiller 7.0 and
earlier). The top-level sections correspond to the groupings in the Distiller UI. These
sections are:
– General Settings
– Image Settings (color, grayscale, and monochrome)
– Font Settings
– Color Conversion Settings
– Advanced Adobe PDF Settings
– Standards Settings
● Chapter 4, “Reference - Other Namespaces,” lists and describes each setting in these
namespaces:
– “CreativeSuite Namespace Settings
– “GoLive Namespace Settings
– “InDesign Namespace Settings
● Appendix A, “Conversions Related to JDF,” describes how Distiller creates JDF files and
how the Adobe Normalizer product interprets and converts Distiller parameters.
8 Adobe PDF Creation Settings
Preface
Other Useful Documentation
Other Useful Documentation
The documents listed in this section are referenced in this technical note.
The following documents are available at http://partners.adobe.com/links/acrobat.
● PDF Reference, fifth edition, version 1.6 provides a description of the PDF file format, as
well as suggestions for producing efficient PDF files. It is intended for application
developers who plan to produce PDF files directly.
● Acrobat Distiller API Reference (Technical Note #5158) describes the API that you can use
to automate the generation of PDF documents on both Windows and Macintosh
platforms.
● pdfmark Reference Manual (Technical Note #5150) describes how you can use the
pdfmark operator to represent PDF features in PostScript language files in order to
cause these features to appear when the corresponding PDF is generated.
● Acrobat and PDF Library API Overview provides a comprehensive overview of the public
API to the Adobe Reader, Acrobat Professional and Acrobat Standard products, as well
as all of the PDF Library APIs.
● Acrobat and PDF Library API Reference provides a comprehensive reference describing
the public API to the Adobe Reader, Acrobat Professional and Acrobat Standard
products, as well as the PDF Library APIs.
The documents below are also available on the Adobe Solutions Network, but they are not
part of the Acrobat SDK.
● PostScript Language Reference, third edition is the definitive programmer’s reference for the
syntax and semantics of the PostScript language, the imaging model, and the effects of
the graphics operators.
● Portable Job Ticket Format, Version 1.1 (Technical Note #5620) describes the structure and
contents of job tickets. Distiller can produce job tickets that are embedded in PDF files.
● Color Separation Conventions for PostScript Language Programs (Technical Note #5044) provides
information on overprint mode strategy. (See the description of the OPM parameter.)
● Open Prepress Interface (OPI) 1.3 Specification provides details on OPI version 1.3. (See the
description of the PreserveOPIComments parameter.)
● Open Prepress Interface (OPI) Specification - Version 2.0 (Technical Note #5660) provides details
on OPI version 2.0. (See the description of the PreserveOPIComments parameter.)
● The Compact Font Format Specification (Technical Note #5176) provides details of a font
format that is suitable for compactly representing one or more Type 1 or CID-keyed
fonts.
The following document is available by specia-l arrangement.
● Using Adobe Normalizer Server, Version 6.0.4, details the workings of the Adobe
Normalizer Server. It is intended for OEMs developing software that incorporates
Normalizer.
Adobe PDF Creation Settings 9
Preface
Conventions Used in This Document
Conventions Used in This Document
Font Used for Examples
monospaced Paths and filenames C:\templates\mytmpl.fm
Code examples set off These are variable declarations:
from plain text AVMenu commandMenu,helpMenu;
bold PostScript language and The setpagedevice operator
PDF operators, PDF The ColorConversion setting
creation settings,
keywords, dictionary
key names
monospaced bold PDF and PostScript code /RegistryName (http://www.color.org)
Values of settings The setting has the value false.
monospaced italic Pseudocode ACCB1 void ACCB2 ExeProc(void)
{ do something }
Placeholders in code AFSimple_Calculate(cFunction,
examples cFields)
blue Live links to Web pages The Adobe Solutions Network URL is:
http://partners.adobe.com/asn/
Live links to sections See “Audience” on page 7.
within this document
Live links to the Uses the EmbedAllFonts setting.
reference for PDF
creation settings within
this document
italic Document titles that are Acrobat and PDF Library API Overview
not live links
New terms User space specifies coordinates for...
PostScript variables filename deletefile
10 Adobe PDF Creation Settings
