Creating and combining files in Acrobat X

Creating and combining files in Acrobat X

Lori Kassuba – November 11, 2010

In this video tutorial, we'll explore the many ways you can create a single PDF file from multiple files in Acrobat X.The simplest way to create a single PDF or PDF Portfolio from multiple files is to use the Combine Files dialog.

The Combine Files dialog can be accessed from the File menu, the Create toolbar, by right-clicking to access the context-sensitive menu in Windows Explorer.Or, by selecting the new Combine Files into PDF command directly from the new Getting Started screen in Acrobat X.The Combine Files dialog allows you to add files (such as Word or Excel files) or entire folders of content.

New in Acrobat X, is the ability to add PDF files directly from scanners, webpages, clipboard content, and email.I can create either a single PDF document or a PDF Portfolio from these files.I'll go ahead and begin by adding three different types of files, a PDF file,a Word file, and an Excel file.

If you want to see what types of files are supported when using the Combine Files dialog, simply select the "All Supported Formats" dropdown menu.

I'm also going to add some web pages to this file using the new Add Webpage command.Now that we have some documents to combine, let's go ahead and look at some of the options you can select in the Combine Files dialog.

First, I can re-arrange the pages as necessary either by dragging and dropping them into place, or by using the arrow keys at the bottom of the screen.

The Options menu provides various commands such as the ability to tag a PDF file during the creation process, or to warn if any errors are encounteredduring the creation process.

The File Size icons in the lower right corner allow me to select various options for the size of the PDF files being created;ranging from a small size suitable for on-screen display to a larger size file suitable for quality printing on desktop printers.Now, let's take a look at some of the file-specific options that are available in the Combine Files dialog.

If I select the Excel file, the Choose Sheets command (instead of page range) option is now available, which allows me to select various sheets within the Excel workbook.

With the Word file selected, if I right-click I can choose options like the Page Range for conversion, or I can Edit the Bookmark that iscreated for this particular file.

By default, the filename is used to create each bookmark name.

For the PDF file, I can set the page range to convert.

This brings up a preview pane that allows me to step through all the pages within the document.

If I want to select non-contiguous pages, I can use commas to separate the pages.

For example, I'll add just pages 1 and 3.Once I finish selecting my document-specific options, I can combine the files.

The Combine Files dialog will now move through the process of converting eachdocument according to the options I've set.

For example, only pages 1 and 3 of the PDF file will be added.

The web pages are captured, and MS Excel and Word are launched to convert these native files to PDF.Because I selected Single PDF in the Combine Files menu, the resulting document is a single, multi-page PDF with the default name of Binder1.pdf.

It has a wide range of content from Excel worksheets to web pages,complete with video.There are also a few other methods outside of the Combine Files dialog you can use to bring together files in Acrobat.Another technique you can use is the Pages Panel.

Simply select the Tools > Pages Panel > Insert from File command.The More Insert Options just below allows you to add a PDF from a scanner, a Web Page, or even a Blank Page.

You can also create content from the Clipboard in a variety of formats including EMF (Enhanced Metafile Format) or XTX (Xtext source files).Note that margins for clipboard content can be set under the Create PDF from Web Page dialog.Finally, another method you can use to combine files is to open the Pages navigation panel on the left-hand side and simply drag-and-drop files onto the Navigation pane.

I'll add one additional file to this document using this technique.Now that we've taken a look at how to combine files in Acrobat, let's take a quick look at the preferences you can set when creating your PDF files.You can find these preferences under theEdit > Preferences > Convert to PDF category.

These setting control how your PDF is created when using the Combine Files dialog.

For example, if I select the Microsoft Office Excel setting, I can control if bookmarks and links will automatically be created in my final PDF document.The enhanced Combine Files dialog in Acrobat X provides many ways to combine files into a single PDF file or PDF Portfolio – including the new ability to directly add PDFs from scanners, web pages, the clipboard, and email.

In addition, there are various other techniques such as the Pages Panelthat you can use to combine content into a single, convenient PDF document.