A lot of you kids out there probably take it for granted that you can simply export a PDF to send to your print service provider, right from InDesign. You’ll never know the “fun” of having to output a PostScript file from your layout application and then use Acrobat Distiller to make your PDFs (hey, it was cutting edge at the time, but then so was Adam Sandler).
Sure, things are better and easier now, but in order to really know what you’re doing (and get the best results) you have to understand the differences in the various kinds of PDF that InDesign can output. Ever notice all the “X”s in the PDF Export dialog box? X-1A, X-3, X-4. Why do we have all of these? What’s the difference between them? And by the way, where the heck is X-2?
All of these questions and more are answered in a free lynda.com video from Claudia McCue’s course, Preflight and Print Production With Acrobat.
In the video, Claudia discusses all the important details of the PDF standards available in InDesign, plus several others you may come across in your work. Ever heard of PDF-A, PDF-E, PDF-V/T, or PDF-ROFLCATS? OK, I made that last one up, but the rest are real, and worth knowing about. So check out the video and make your PDF knowledge the standard by which others are judged.
This article was last modified on March 5, 2025
This article was first published on June 19, 2015
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