Because the PDF/X formatting is increasingly becoming an accepted and used standard for commercial printing, Acrobat 6 has added some PDF/X-specific preflighting tools. There are PDF/X profiles in the regular Preflight: Profiles window, and there is a set of PDF/X-specific tools as well. Here is how they function:
Note | It is a good idea to make a copy of any PDF file prior to applying any of these PDF/X-specific procedures. |
Open a PDF that you would like to verify meets the PDF/X-1a or PDF/X-3 standard, or open one that you want to modify to meet this standard.
Select Document > Preflight. The Preflight: Profiles window appears (Figure 11.9).
Figure 11.9: PDF/X profiles in the Preflight: Profiles window
For PDF/X-oriented preflighting you can proceed in one of two ways. You can select the appropriate PDF/X Preflight profile from the standard list and click the Analyze button, as we did in the preceding section. Or you can instead click the PDF/X button at the bottom of the Preflight: Profiles window. Let s proceed with this method; the Preflight: PDF/X window will appear (Figure 11.10).
Figure 11.10: Preflight: PDF/X window
At the top of the window, select the PDF/X format you want to use, PDF/X-1a or PDF/X-3.
Note | The buttons in this window are context-sensitive to whichever PDF/X format you select. |
Once you ve done this, the Preflight: PDF/X window provides five different PDF/X- related manipulations that can be performed on your PDF document. Click one or more of these buttons:
Save As PDF/X This button not only preflights your PDF but also converts it into a PDF/X-compliant PDF (Figure 11.11). This procedure will ask you for an ISS print profile if one is not included in your PDF. The conversion process can add or change some components , such as missing art and bleed boxes, but cannot alter others, such as graphics files, or change font formats. This process allows you to select a specific PDF/X set of preflight criteria and some non-PDF/X criteria, such as maximum and minimum resolution values, as well.
Verify This button runs a preflight that will verify that the opened PDF is PDF/X-compliant. If it s not, Acrobat will provide an alert (Figure 11.12), informing you of the failed verification and allowing you to view the preflight report. This same message will appear when you click any of the buttons if the preflight tests are failed.
Extract ICC Profile This process allows you to extract any ICC profiles that may be in your document. This step may be required if a specific profile is not wanted or needed or if the PDF workflow being used does not support the embedding of ICC profiles.
Remove PDF/X This button allows you to remove PDF/X-specific contents, such as art and bleed box information, that are required by PDF/X-based workflow but not useful for other PDF uses. This remove function can be useful for simplifying PDF/X-based PDFs that you would like to use for other purposes, such as for display on the Web. PDF/X Sets This button allows you to access and fine-tune any of the PDF/X sets of preflight criteria included in Acrobat (Figure 11.13). You can edit, delete, duplicate, or even create a new set.