TechNote (Archived)

Create PDF files from Microsoft Excel using Acrobat (6.0 and 7.0 on Windows)

What's covered

Get ready to create PDF files

Create PDF files

Adobe recommends the methods in this document for converting Microsoft Excel documents to Adobe PDF with Adobe Acrobat (Professional or Standard).

After you install Acrobat, you can use either the Adobe PDF printer or Acrobat PDFMaker to convert PDF files. Acrobat PDFMaker supports additional PDF features that aren't available with the Adobe PDF printer, such as tagged Adobe PDF information, hyperlinks, styles, and bookmarks. For more information about the Adobe PDF printer and PDFMaker, see Acrobat Help. You can also convert an Excel document to PDF by using Acrobat.

Get ready to create PDF files

Before you create an Excel document, you want to make a few changes to your system so that you get the best results when converting files to PDF. You may not need to perform all the tasks in this section if you haven't yet created your Excel documents. However, work through the tasks in order:

1. Make a copy of your Excel document.

To preserve the original formatting of a document, make a copy of the document before changing the printer to the Adobe PDF printer. If you change the default printer for an Excel document, the formatting of the document may change because Excel applies page setup properties and resident fonts specific to the default printer driver. If you receive Excel documents from another source, you should ask the documents' creator to set the default printer to the Adobe PDF printer before he or she creates the documents.

Reformat the copy to correct formatting shifts after you specify the printer.

2. Set up the Adobe PDF printer as the default printer.

For best results, set the Adobe PDF printer as the default printer:

1. Choose Start > Settings > Printers and Faxes (Windows XP) or Start > Settings > Printers (Windows 2000, NT, and 98).

2. Right-click Adobe PDF, and then choose Set As Default [Printer] from the pop-up menu. (In Windows XP, the Set As Default option isn't available if the Adobe PDF printer is already the default printer.)

3. Configure the Adobe PostScript printer driver.

Acrobat configures the Adobe PDF printer to use the Adobe PostScript printer driver (AdobePS); however, you must configure AdobePS to send TrueType fonts as Native TrueType fonts (or Type 42 fonts in Windows 98) to preserve their appearance and to prevent them from being substituted with Type 1 fonts.

In Windows XP, 2000, or NT:

1. Choose Start > Settings > Printers and Faxes (Windows XP) or Start > Settings > Printers (Windows 2000, NT).

2. Right-click Adobe PDF, and then choose Properties (Windows XP, 2000) or Document Defaults (Windows NT).

3. Do one of the following:

-- In Windows XP or 2000, click the General tab, click Printing Preferences, click the Layout tab, and then click Advanced.

-- In Windows NT, click the Advanced tab, and then click the plus sign (+) next to Document Options.

4. Click the plus sign next to PostScript Options.

5. Select the TrueType Font Download Option, and then choose Native TrueType from the pop-up menu.

In Windows 98 :

1. Choose Start > Settings > Printers.

2. Right-click Adobe PDF, and then choose Properties.

3. Click the Fonts tab, then click Send Fonts As.

4. Choose Type 42 from the Send TrueType Fonts As pop-up menu.

4. Specify printing options in Excel.

The Adobe PDF printer uses the printing options you specify in the Excel Options or Print dialog box. If an Excel document uses a custom page size, add the custom page size to the Adobe PDF printer properties. The print quality resolution settings should also match the default Adobe PDF printer settings.

To specify printing options in Excel:

1. Choose Tools > Options.

2. Click the Print tab.

3. Deselect Reverse Print Order to make sure that pages in the PDF file appear in the correct sequence. If the document contains line graphics (for example, arrows or flow charts), select Drawing Objects.

4. Select any other appropriate settings, and then click Print.

To add a custom page size to the Adobe PDF printer properties:

1. Choose File > Print.

2. Choose Adobe PDF as the printer, and then click Properties.

3. Click the Adobe PDF Settings tab, and then click Add Custom Page.

4. Specify the page height and width, name the custom page size, and then click Add/Modify.

5. Click OK. The custom page size appears in the Adobe PDF Page Size list.

To set the print quality resolution:

1. Choose File > Print.

2. Choose Adobe PDF from the Printer Name menu and click OK.

3. Choose File > Page Setup.

4. Click the Page tab.

5. Choose 1200 dpi from the Print Quality menu.

Note:Ensure that the print quality value is the same for all worksheets. If multiple worksheets use different print quality values, some worksheets will not convert to PDF.

5. Preview the Excel document.

After you set your printing options, preview the Excel document to see how it will print as a PDF file. If the document preview has cropped or blank pages, the resulting PDF file will have blank or cropped pages as well.

To preview the Excel document:

-- For a worksheet, choose File > Print Preview.

-- For an entire workbook do the following:

1. Choose File > Print.

2. Select Entire Workbook, and then click Preview.

3. Navigate through the preview to check for any cropped or blank pages that you need to modify. To modify the worksheet, click Setup at the top of the document window. In the Page Setup dialog box, you can adjust the orientation, scaling, and margins. You can adjust the location of the page breaks by clicking Page Break Preview. You may also need to modify a worksheet itself to get the desired printing results. For more information on Excel's print preview options, see the documentation included with Excel.

Create PDF files

After you work through the tasks above, you are ready to create a PDF file from the Excel document.

Create PDF files by using the Adobe PDF printer

After you preview the Excel document, you can create a PDF file. Use the Adobe PDF printer to create PDF files if you don't need embedded fonts, styles, tags, or bookmarks.

To create a PDF file by using the Adobe PDF printer:

1. In Excel, choose File > Print.

2. Choose Adobe PDF from the Printer Name menu. (If Adobe PDF isn't set as the default printer, the document may be reformatted when converted to PDF. For instructions on setting Adobe PDF as the default printer, see "Get ready to create PDF files.")

3. If you want to convert all worksheets of an Excel document to PDF, select Entire Workbook. If you want to convert the active worksheet, choose Active sheet(s). Make all other appropriate choices in the Print What section of the Print dialog box.

4. Click OK, and specify a filename and location for the PDF file.

Note: If you use the Adobe PDF printer, Adobe Technical Support recommends that you create customized job options to use advanced features, such as font embedding and compression. For information about job options, see "Creating Custom Adobe PDF Settings" in Acrobat 6.0 Help.

Create a PDF file by using PDFMaker

Use PDFMaker if you want to include Properties information for the Excel document, such as the document title and author. PDFMaker can also convert the names of worksheets to bookmarks and include embedded tags, styles,and hyperlinks in a PDF file. PDFMaker may require more time to process these additional features, especially if the Excel document has a large file size or if it contains several fonts or complex tables.

To create a PDF file from within Excel:

1. Quit all applications except Excel to minimize processing time.

2. To minimize processing time for your file, do the following:

-- Reduce the number of fonts or replace TrueType fonts with PostScript fonts.

-- Reduce the number of columns and rows in tables.

3. If you want to add features such as font embedding and compression to your PDF documents, choose Adobe PDF > Change Conversion Settings. To create customized job options with these features, see "Editing the PDFMaker Conversion Settings" in Acrobat 6.0 Help.

4. Do one of the following:

-- To convert a worksheet, choose Adobe PDF > Convert to Adobe PDF or click the Convert to AdobePDF icon on the Excel toolbar.

-- To convert an entire workbook, choose Adobe PDF > Convert Entire Workbook before using PDFMaker.

To create a PDF file from within Acrobat:

1. Configure Acrobat's PDF conversion settings:

a. In Acrobat, choose Edit > Preferences and select Convert to PDF from the list.

b. Select Microsoft Office from the Converting To PDF list.

c. Click Edit Settings, select one or more conversion settings, and then click OK.

2. Choose File > Create PDF > From File.

3. Select Microsoft Office Documents from the File of Type list, select the file that you want to convert, and then click Open. Acrobat then opens the document in Excel, and converts it to PDF file by using PDFMaker.