By Adobe July 13, 2009
When you create PDF files, you decide which PDF version to use. You can easily change the PDF version to make your PDF document compatible with Acrobat 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 by switching to a different preset or choosing a compatibility option in PDF Optimizer.
Generally, unless there’s a specific need for backward compatibility, use the most recent version (in this case, Acrobat 9.0 and later). The latest version includes all the newest features and functionality; however, if you’re creating documents that will be distributed widely, consider choosing Acrobat 6.0 or Acrobat 7.0. Using one of these versions ensures that all users can view and print your document.
Here are two ways you can select compatibility levels:
The following table compares some of the functionality in PDF files created using the different compatibility settings.
Acrobat 4.0 (PDF 1.3) | Acrobat 5.0 (PDF 1.4) | Acrobat 6.0 (PDF 1.5) | Acrobat 7.0 (PDF 1.6), and Acrobat 8 and |
---|---|---|---|
PDFs can be opened with Acrobat 3.0 and | PDFs can be opened with Acrobat 3.0 and | Most PDFs can be opened with Acrobat 4.0 | Most PDFs can be opened with Acrobat 4.0 |
Cannot contain artwork that uses live transparency effects. | Supports the use of live transparency in | Supports the use of live transparency in | Supports the use of live transparency in |
Layers are not supported. | Layers are not supported. | Preserves layers when creating PDFs from | Preserves layers when creating PDFs from |
DeviceN color space with eight colorants | DeviceN color space with eight colorants | DeviceN color space with up to 31 colorants is supported. | DeviceN color space with up to 31 colorants |
Multibyte fonts can be embedded. (Distiller | Multibyte fonts can be embedded. | Multibyte fonts can be embedded. | Multibyte fonts can be embedded. |
40‑bit RC4 security supported. | 128‑bit RC4 security supported. | 128‑bit RC4 security supported. | 128‑bit RC4 and 128‑bit AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) |