When you've organized and tagged the content in a PDF file, you're ready to export. There are two options for exporting PDF - interactive and print. You can export a tagged PDF file using either option.
You can export a document, a book, or selected documents in a book as a single PDF file. You can also copy content from your InDesign layout to the clipboard and automatically create an Adobe PDF file of that content. (This is useful for pasting a PDF file into another application, such as Adobe Illustrator®.)
When you export an InDesign file to PDF, you can preserve navigation elements, such as table of contents and index entries, and interactivity features, such as hyperlinks, bookmarks, media clips, and buttons. You also have the option of exporting hidden layers, nonprinting layers, and nonprinting objects to PDF. If you're exporting a book, you can merge identically named layers by using the Book panel.
- Export an open document to PDF
- Prepare layers before exporting an InDesign book to PDF
- Exporting an InDesign book to PDF
Export an open document to PDF
Before exporting to PDF, make sure that all Links, Hyperlinks and Cross References are up to date and any document metadata you would like to see carried over into the PDF file is correct (from the InDesign menu select File > File Info. Items to verify include Title, Author, and Description. To improve searchability, make entries in the Keywords field too. You may separate each of these entries with a comma.
- Choose File > Export.
- Specify a name and location for the file.
- For Save As Type (Windows®) or Format (Mac OS), choose Adobe PDF (Interactive) or Adobe PDF (Print), and then click Save.
- Do one of the following:
- If you choose Print: You may make use of a predefined set of job options, choose a preset from the Adobe PDF Preset menu. Make sure the checkbox indicating Create Tagged PDF is checked.
- Select Export.
- If you choose Interactive: You have a simpler dialog without the option to use one of the Adobe Presets. Make sure the checkbox indicating Create Tagged PDF is checked.
- Select OK
- The PDF document should open directly in Acrobat
Prepare layers before exporting an InDesign book to PDF
When you export a book to PDF, you can show and hide InDesign layers in the PDF document. To avoid duplication of layer names in the PDF file, you can merge the layers on export.
If the Merge Identically Named Layers On Export option is selected, layer names appear under the same book name in Adobe Acrobat® or Reader® software. If this option is not selected, layer names appear separately under each document name.
- If you don't want certain layers to be merged, give them unique names in each book document.
Note: Layer names are case-sensitive, so "Art" and "art" layers are not merged. - In the Book panel menu, select Merge Identically Named Layers On Export. Note: When you export the book to PDF, make sure that Create Acrobat Layers is selected. To select this option, you must use Acrobat 6.0 (PDF 1.5) or later.
Exporting an InDesign book to PDF
- Do one of the following:
- To create a PDF file of the entire book, click in a blank area of the Book panel to deselect any selected documents, and choose Export Book To PDF in the Book panel menu. Select either the Interactive or Print options.
- To create a PDF file of an individual document within a book, select the document or documents in the Book panel, and choose Export Selected Documents To PDF in the Book panel menu. Select either the Interactive or Print options.
- Specify a name and location for the PDF file, and then click Save.
