Creating and using Actions in Acrobat X

By Kurt Foss – April 19, 2011

Creating and using Actions in Acrobat X

This sample chapter is excerpted from the Adobe Acrobat X Classroom in a Book (CIB), written by the Adobe Creative Team and published by Peachpit Press. The lesson in chapter seven explains and illustrates how to create, use and share Actions -- each is a collection of steps that can be performed automatically by Acrobat X Pro or Suite. The product ships with a set of pre-defined Actions, but it's easy to create your own and to import Actions developed and shared by by others.

Peachpit has published a six-part article based on this chapter, covering sub-topics including:

• Run an action (Acrobat X Pro)
• Create an action
• Create an instruction step for an action
• Set options in steps so the user doesn't need to provide input
• Prompt the user for input on specific steps
• Share an action

The article includes a link to download all of the lesson files [ZIP: 4MB] -- several PDF files and an FLV movie file -- you will use to test the five-step Action (Prepare Multimedia Presentation) you will create in this lesson. Several of the tasks are performed automatically, while others will prompt you for specific input (such as adding a security password). You will use the lesson files to create a full-screen presentation with page transitions.

To find other Actions that might be useful in your work, browse our Actions Exchange to see what members of the Acrobat User Community have submitted.