TechNote (Archived)

Converting Multiple Excel or Word Documents to PDF (Acrobat 6.x on Windows 2000 or XP)

What's covered

Create PDF from File command

Drag and drop to Acrobat

Drag and drop to Adobe PDF Printer

Tools feature in Office 2000 and XP

When you use the Create PDF From File command or drag and drop, Acrobat opens Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel and uses Adobe PDFMaker to convert the Word or Excel document. Adobe Acrobat uses the settings from the Acrobat preferences, rather than using the settings specified for PDFMaker.

To configure conversion settings in PDFMaker:

1. In Acrobat, choose Edit > Preferences > Convert to PDF.

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

3. Click Edit Settings.

4. Select one or more conversion settings, and then click OK.

Note: Each converted file opens as a new PDF file in Acrobat. For information about combining multiple files into one PDF file, see "Create a PDF from multiple documents," in the Acrobat online Help.

Create PDF from File command

You can convert Word and Excel documents toPDF files using the Create PDF From File command in Acrobat:

1. In Acrobat, choose File > Create PDF > From File, or click the Create PDF button on the toolbar and choose From File.

2. Select Microsoft Office Documents from the File of Type list, and locate the files that you want to convert. Shift-click or Ctrl-click to select multiple documents.

3. Click Settings if you want to change conversion options. For information about configuration settings, see "Using the Create PDF From File Command" in Acrobat 6.0 Help.

Drag and drop to Acrobat

You can convert Word or Excel documents to PDF files by dragging the files into the document pane of the Acrobat window or onto the Acrobat icon.

1. In Windows Explorer, locate the files that you want to convert. Shift-click or Ctrl-click to select multiple documents.

2. Drag the files into the document pane of the Acrobat window or onto the Acrobat icon.

Drag and drop to Adobe PDF printer

Create a shortcut to the Adobe PDF printer on the Desktop, and then drag selected Word or Excel files to the shortcut. When you convert to PDF by dragging and dropping to the Adobe PDF printer shortcut, each file opens in its original application.

Note: When using this option to convert Excel files on Windows XP, only the first worksheet is converted, rather than the entire workbook, regardless of the settings you have set.

To create a shortcut to the Adobe PDF printer on the Desktop:

1. Open Start > Settings > Printers (Windows 2000) or Start > Printers and Faxes (Windows XP).

2. Right-click the Adobe PDF printer, and select Create Shortcut. Click Yes to the message, "Windows cannot create a shortcut here. Do you want the shortcut to be placed on the desktop instead?"

To convert multiple Word and Excel documents:

1. Open Word to a blank document and minimize the application so you can see your desktop.

2. In Windows Explorer, locate the files that you want to convert. Shift-click or Ctrl-click to select multiple documents.

3. Drag the selected files to the Adobe PDF shortcut.

4. When prompted, navigate to the location where you want to save your files. Successive files will be saved to this same location unless you change your location preference.

5. Each time the Save PDF File As dialog box appears, press Enter to save the file with the same name as the Word document. The .pdf extension is automatically added to the name.

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 the Acrobat 6.0 Help

Toolsfeature in Office 2000 and XP

In Word 2000 or XP, and Excel 2000 or XP, you can use the Tools feature to simultaneously convert multiple documents to PDF using the Adobe PDF printer.

Disclaimer: Adobe Technical Support does not support Word, Excel, Windows 2000, or Windows XP, but provides this information as a courtesy.

To convert multiple Word or Excel documents to PDF, place your Word or Excel files in one folder, set up a folder for the resulting PDF files, set up the Adobe PDF printer to print to the folder for the resulting PDF files, and then print the Word or Excel files to the Adobe PDF printer:

1. Place the Word or Excel documents in one folder.

2. If necessary, create a folder in which to store the resulting PDF files.

3. Do one of the following:

-- Windows 98, NT, and 2000: Choose Start > Settings > Printers.

-- Windows XP: Choose Start > Printers and Faxes.

4. Right-click Adobe PDF and choose Set As Default Printer from the pop-up menu. You can set another printer as the default after you've finished creating PDF files.

5. Right-click Adobe PDF and choose Properties from the pop-up menu.

6. Click the Details Tab (Windows 98) or the Ports tab (Windows NT, 2000 and XP) .

7. Note the current setting in the Print To The Following Port(s), and then click Add Port. You can revert to the original port setting after you create the PDF files.

8. Do one of the following:

-- Windows 98: Select Other, and then select Adobe PDF Port. Then click OK.

-- Windows NT 2000 and XP: Select Adobe PDF Port, and then click New Port.

9. Select the folder in which you want to store the PDF files you create. (This is the folder you created in step 2.)

10. Do one of the following:

-- Windows 98: Click OK to close the Browse for Folder window (the Add Port window closes automatically).

-- Windows NT: Click OK to close the Browse for Folder window, and then click Close to close the Printer Ports window.

-- Windows 2000 and XP: Click OK to close the Port Name dialog box, and then click Close to close the Printer Ports dialog box.

11. Do one of the following:

-- Windows 98: In the Adobe PDF Properties dialog box, click the Details tab, and then click the Spool Settings button. Select "Spool print documents so program finishes printing faster", and click OK to close the Spool Settings dialog box.

-- Windows NT: Click the Scheduling tab and select "Spool print documents so program finishes printing faster". Click OK to close the Acrobat Distiller Properties dialog box.

-- Windows 2000 and XP: Click the Advanced tab and select "Spool print documents so program finishes printing faster".

12. Do one of the following:

-- Windows 98, 2000, and XP: Click the Adobe PDF Settings tab.

-- Windows NT: Right-click Adobe PDF, select Document Defaults, and then click the Adobe PDF Settings tab.

13. Deselect Prompt for PDF Filename and View Result in Acrobat, and then click OK to close the Adobe PDF Properties dialog box. (Deselecting this option causes the Adobe PDF printer to use the port or folder you selected in step 9 without asking you for a filename for each PDF file. You can select this option again after you create PDF files.) Click OK to close the Adobe PDF Properties dialog box.

14. Start Word or Excel. You do not need to open a Word or Excel document.

15. Choose File > Open.

16. Navigate to the folder containing the Word or Excel documents.

17. Shift-click or Ctrl-click to select multiple documents.

18. Click the Tools button, and then choose Print from the pop-up menu. (The Tools button is above and slightly to the left of the Open button.) Word or Excel prints the selected documents to your default printer, which is the Create PDF printer.

When you convert multiple documents to PDF from within the Open dialog box in Word, a soft limit may be imposed that limits the number of documents from the collection you can convert. For example, you attempt to convert 30 documents to PDF, but only 20 of the documents are converted. The soft limit may vary.

When you convert multiple documents to PDF from within the Open dialog box in Excel, Adobe PDF converts the PDF files using the default settings in the Print dialog box in Excel. Because Active Sheets is a default setting in the Print dialog box, Excel prints only the first sheet of the Excel workbook and omits other sheets from the print job. To print all the sheets, open the Excel workbook, print to Adobe PDF directly by choosing File > Print, and then change the Print What setting from Active Sheet(s) to Entire Workbook.