Editable PDF's

[HappiLarry]

Hi!

I'm trying to create an editable PDF which our customers can customise for their own promotional use – edit text (preferably with the font embedded to remain unchanged), input theirs logos etc. while retaining the original design I've put together. I've found an option in InDesign to export as an Interactive PDF but it seems limited what you can do in terms of what I need. I currently use InDesign and Photoshop.

Any assistance would be great, thanks!

[DigiCorn]

Ah. What you want is a form. It's a bit tricky to explain in detail, but quite simple for any adept Acrobat user to pick up quickly. On older versions of Acrobat, there's a Form pull down menu on the top of your Acrobat GUI. There's a "Form wizard," that takes you step by step through the process. Basically you draw boxes/fields and assign attributes to them (fonts, sizes, color text, etc.). There's a tab you can open up that allows you to re-order the form so that the end user can tab through the fields in a set order. If you've done a lot of prepress work, you'll figure it out pretty quickly. At my last job, I made a bunch of internal forms for packing slips, purchase orders, proof tags, etc. You can even get real fancy with it and make it saveable, unsaveable, or click on a button and it sends itself as an email. Or you can make some of the fields check boxes, radio buttons, dropdown selectable items, etc.

The InDesign feature sort of allows you to create the fields within an InDesign file, and then export it as a finished form, but I find it easier to create the ID file, make a PDF and then use Acrobat to turn the PDF into a form. Sometimes the Interactive items in InDesign end up being un/non-printable.

[DigiCorn]

Forgot to mention you need a full version of Acrobat. NOT the reader. And it's a normal feature of the full version of Acrobat - it's not a 3rd party plug-in or anything.

[HappiLarry]

Thank you!

I will give this a go

[DigiCorn]

Let us know how it works out

[wonderings]

Acrobat DC makes it very easy. I had never done it till a few months back. Depending on the form, it auto detects the cells and all you have to do is fill in the details i.e. font, size, is it a number, currency, you can get complicated and make it auto calculate. Not sure how it works in older versions of Acrobat but I found DC very easy to use and get a fillable form out to a customer.

[DigiCorn]

Older versions of Acro can autodetect the fields as well, but I can't honestly say it does the best job of it. Haven't used DC so can't compare.

[Tracy]

Didn't think it was worth a new thread
but I stumbled upon this (see screen shot)
It's the Edit Object Tool and when you select
Edit Text and Images it's like it's a wire frame mode, but you can see the images.
It helped me select an image I could not select otherwise.
This is Acrobat not Pitstop, maybe you all knew about it already?

[Joe]

I have used it before a few times. It can be handy. Not as handy as Pitstop though.

Not to change the subject but if you have an object you can't select with Pitstop because another object is on top of it you can select the top most object, right+click or Control+click and select 'Hide Selection'. That will allow you to select the next object. Sometimes you have to drill down through multiple objects before getting to the one you want.

[Tracy]

Yeah, I use the hide selection quite a bit

It's when I need to edit an image in photoshop that  I can't get thru sometime
why doesn't acrobat have hide selection?

I edit images for ink density- a lot
worst part of the job for me

[born2print]

I edit images for ink density- a lot
worst part of the job for me

I wonder if you could get by with a curve instead? Of course, it would adjust everything, not just heavy TID images...
but maybe GCR would be good enough?

[Tracy]

I just started using the curves in Pitstop
not totally comfortable with it yet, as I am a levels girl :laugh:

I will keep using it tho, any tips would be great!!

[Greg_Firestone]

I edit images for ink density- a lot
worst part of the job for me

There are software solutions that can automatically do this for you. They can look at ink density of text and graphics as well. If you spend a significant amount of time doing this, might be worth looking into it. Unfortunately it's not built into Acrobat or Pitstop. They're usually stand alone apps or an add on for your existing workflow software.

Greg

[Tracy]

I have a profile in Photoshop and an action that I use.
The images cannot be jpg compressed they have to be zip or no compression
even still there can be problems.

what is the name of the apps?
Thanks!

good to see you around again!

[Greg_Firestone]

Hi Tracy,

There are two types of solutions which can help you out - Color Servers and Ink Saving Solutions. Both utilize 4D / Device-Link profile conversions. They perform CMYK to CMYK conversion without going through LAB. When you convert to the desired profile, the Total Ink Limit should be within the correct range. They also allow you to preserve pure colors - your 100% black will remain 100% black instead of converting to a Rich Black. The advantage of an ink saving solution is that there is an additional algorithm that performs an advanced GCR utilizing the gray balance of the output space. It's not just a curve and it won't ink save if there's nothing to ink save. Here's a list in alphabetical order.

Agfa - Apogee Inksave
Alwan -  ColorHub or PrintStandardizer
CGS - Oris Press Matcher
GMG - InkOptimizer
Kodak - Plugin for Prinegy
OneVision - InkSave Pro

There's probably some other ones out there as well. I'm partial to the OneVision solution for obvious reasons 

I actually just wrote an article on ink saving software and the benefits. Was thinking of posting it on the forum but it's not super technical.

Thanks for the welcome back. I'm working on the print side again after spending the last few years working on some digital publishing solutions.

Regards,
Greg