Features
Accelerating Acrobat with batch sequences
20030516 [MacUser]
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1 WHERE BATCHES LIVE Launch Acrobat 5. You don't need any PDF documents open to create a batch sequence, nor will you later on when it's time to run the sequence on some files: you'll set things up to get Acrobat to prompt you for the file names and locations as part of the sequence. Begin by clicking on the File menu, dragging down to Batch Processing and choosing Edit Batch Sequences from the submenu. Note that eight sample and demonstration sequences are already available in this submenu, installed as standard with Acrobat. |
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2 CREATE SEQUENCE The Batch Sequences dialog opens, listing those eight sample sequences and providing a set of create, edit, rename, delete and run buttons. The 'Set Security to No Changes' sequence at the bottom of the list is just a basic routine that needs detailing (it doesn't even set a 'no changes' password), so let's create a completely new sequence to handle the full security options we want. Click on the New Sequence button and give it a name in the Name Sequence prompt as shown. Call it 'Clean and lock' because it will optimise the PDF and apply a password. |
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3 BATCH EDIT The Batch Edit Sequence dialog appears. If you drag it slightly to one side, you'll notice the Bach Sequences window behind it now includes 'Clean and lock' in the list. The Batch Edit Sequence window presents three sections, letting you set up the Acrobat commands to run, choose the location of the PDFs on which you'll run the sequence, and select a location for the amended PDFs to be saved to. There's also a button at the bottom for choosing various output options for those amended PDFs. Begin by clicking on the Select Commands button at the top. |
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4 EDIT SEQUENCE The Edit Sequence dialog now appears. On the left-hand pane is a list of the Acrobat commands available for automating in a batch sequence. On the right is a blank pane for listing the particular commands in the sequence you want to use here. Add a command to your list by clicking on its name on the left and clicking the Add button. Use the Remove button to correct mistakes, and the Move Up and Move Down button to change their order. For our 'Clean and lock' sequence, add these three commands: Delete All Comments, Set Open Options and Security. |
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5 OPEN OPTIONS Double-click on the Set Open Options command in the right-hand list. This reveals the Set Open Options dialog. Here, you can dictate how a PDF will appear when first opened by someone in Acrobat or Acrobat Reader. As standard, everything is set to 'Leave As Is', which means the PDF will be presented on-screen according to the defaults in a user's Acrobat Preferences. Change the Initial View to Page Only, so hiding the Bookmarks palette. Under Open Action, untick Leave As Is and choose Fit in Window from the Magnification pop-up menu as shown. This can be helpful for single-page PDFs such as invoices. |
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6 DOCUMENT SECURITY Click OK to accept these changes to the Open Options and return to the Edit Sequence dialog. Now double-click on the Security command in the right-hand list. The Document Security dialog opens; in the Security Options pop-up menu, choose Acrobat Standard Security as shown. This will let you assign passwords for various document properties, but by default no password is yet assigned. To go ahead and make changes to these security options, click on the Change Settings button, which will then open the Standard Security dialog in the next step. |
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7 SECURITY SETTINGS Tick 'Password Required to Change Permissions and Passwords' in the Specify Password section, and type in any string of characters you want to use as a password. In the Permissions section, click on the Encryption Level pop-up menu and choose '128-bit RC4 (Acrobat 5.0)'. The options immediately below will switch to those shown. By default, though, the Changes Allowed pop-up menu will be set to 'General Editing'. Here, you should select 'None'. The settings you've applied here will let everyone open, print and copy from your PDF but block them from using Acrobat to amend your PDF unless they have the password. |
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8 WHICH FILES? Click OK to close this dialog and confirm your choice of password when prompted. Click OK, and then click OK once more to close the Edit Sequence dialog. Back in the Batch Edit Sequence window, you should now decide how the sequence will locate the PDFs to act on and where to save the amended versions afterwards. Leave the 'Run commands on' pop-up menu as 'Ask When Sequence is Run'. This way, you'll be prompted for the file locations when you run the sequence. Leave the 'Select output location' pop-up menu as 'Same Folder as Original(s)' unless you want to set a specific folder or want to be prompted when the sequence runs. |
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9 OUTPUT OPTIONS Click on the Output Options button at the bottom. We suggest you leave these settings at their default values. This ensures the amended PDFs will be saved using their original file names. If the sequence is set to save the amended files back to their original location (step 8), they will overwrite their originals. If you don't want this to happen, tick the 'Do not overwrite existing files' option, and use the 'Add To Original Base Name(s)' setting to alter the file names as required. You can choose to save as other formats other than PDF in the Save File As pop-up menu, but for our purposes you should leave this setting alone. |
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10 RUN SEQUENCE Click OK to close the Output Options dialog, then OK again to close the Batch Edit Sequence window. You can try out your new batch sequence by selecting it in the Batch Sequences window and clicking on the Run Sequence button. Alternatively, close this window and try running the command from the menus. Click on the File menu, drag down to Batch Processing and choose 'Clean and lock' from the submenu. You'll be presented with the command list preview, followed by a prompt for the file or files you want to run the sequence on. Then sit back and let Acrobat do all the work. |
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