Working with pdfs - Basics
Creating pdfs
We generally don’t create pdfs from scratch, but any kind of file that can be printed (Word document, picture, web page, etc.) can be made into a pdf. The common way to do this is to print the file, and then select Adobe PDF as the printer. You will get a save dialog asking you to choose a location to save the pdf to - note, sometimes the save dialog box gets hidden behind other windows. Really annoying. You can
You can also convert a printable file to pdf in Windows by right clicking on it and clicking Covert to Adobe PDF.
Combining documents
You can combine multiple pdfs into a single pdf. This can be useful if say, you want to skim through or search a bunch of documents without opening each of them separately. It’s also useful for printing a bunch of pdfs all at once.
To combine pdfs, select the files you want to combine, right click on the set (just right click on on one of the highlighted files), and click combine…
There are two combine options you should be aware of - Binder and Portfolio. Acrobat installs with Binder as the default option, but once you pick one or the other, it stays that way until you change it.
Binder
This is the intuitive version, where it makes one document that is all the pages from the combined files. It also by default very conveniently makes bookmarks for the first page of each of the combined files.
Portfolio (for printing)
The Portfolio option can be found as a check mark in the box that pops up if you click the gear button in the combine files view.
It makes like a pdf that’s a container of a bunch of pdfs which I have no idea what that would be useful for other than what we always use it for - printing.
If you double side print a Binder combined pdf, you may end up with some first pages of documents on the backside of a sheet, which can be inconvenient. (I’m ashamed at the number of hours of my life I for a time wasted in my ignorance inserting blank even pages into a combined pdf.)
When you print Portfolio combined pdfs, you can double side and each separate document you combined will be a front side of the paper!
And you can tell the printer to staple each document separately! Also, if you are not toiling and beleaguering in the unfair harshness of non Manhattan office life, you can put blue sheets (to make, um, binders) with the fancy special printers!
Combining non pdf documents
You can combine pdfs along with non pdf documents, or multiple non pdf documents, into one pdf, either Binder style or
Extract
Extract