Publishing PDF files

You can output your publication to PDF, Adobe's cross-platform WYSIWYG file format which is device and platform independent.

PDF publishing

PDF files are perfect for web distribution and professional printing.

Optionally, a PDF can be protected with two passwords. One for opening the document and another that allows the reader to edit, copy from and print the document.

Common publication practices

When publishing, you may be warned about overflowing text in your publication. To resolve, check your text frames for frame text that extends over the frame end.

All layers and hyperlinks created in Publisher export to PDF. Additionally, if you create a TOC or index and request hyperlinks on export, the TOC or index will be furnished with hyperlinks as appropriate.

The Soft Proof adjustment is an adjustment layer dedicated to soft proofing CMYK PDF output in advance of export. You can use this to create an accurate preview of your publication prior to exporting it.

Password-protected PDFs

When exporting a PDF, you can choose to give it either or both of two types of password: an open password and a permissions password. Exporting with a password encrypts the resulting PDF.

PDF password options are available when the Compatibility option is set to PDF 2.0 (ISO 32000-2), PDF 1.7 (Acrobat 8) or PDF 1.6 (Acrobat 7). All PDF presets provided with Affinity except those for PDF/X output use PDF 1.7 or 1.6 compatibility.

About open passwords

The content of a PDF with an open password can be viewed only by providing the open password or, if one has additionally been set, the PDF's permissions password.

When a PDF has only an open password, there are no restrictions on what people can do with its content. The PDF can be printed or placed in an Affinity document, its content can be modified and selectively copied, and pages can be extracted to create new PDFs.

About permissions passwords

Setting a permissions password limits what people can do with the PDF unless they are able to provide the permissions password.

Optionally, you can choose to allow specific actions to be performed without providing the permissions password. So, you might choose to allow people to freely open and print your PDF, but not modify or selectively copy its content.

To publish a PDF file:
  1. From the File menu, select Export.
  2. On the dialog, select the PDF file format.
  3. Choose a Preset. Refer to 'PDF export presets comparison' below for details of each preset's PDF version, colour space, resolution and other settings.
  4. Set a Raster DPI value to set the resolution for rasterisation of effects.
  5. Check Preview export when complete so that the exported PDF will be automatically launched in your currently assigned PDF viewer.
  6. Select the area of the publication you would like to include in the export from the Area setting. If your document contains more than one page, you may choose from All Spreads, All Pages, Current Spread, and Current Page. Additionally, with an object selected, you may choose from Selection Area or Selection Only.
  7. Enter the page number(s) you would like to include in the export into the Pages setting. You may only do this if you have selected All Pages or All Spreads from the Area setting.
  8. Include bleed—when selected, any Bleed set in Document Setup will be included in the PDF output. Use in conjunction with PDF/X professional printing output.
  9. For fine tuning, click Advanced then adjust the settings in the dialog. Refer to the Export Settings topic for descriptions of all settings.
  10. Click Export.
To require a password to open a PDF:

On the Export dialog, with PDF selected:

  1. Select Require password to open.
  2. Click in the Open password box and type your required password.
To limit printing, copying from and editing of a PDF:

On the Export dialog, with PDF selected:

  1. Select Require password for modification and printing.
  2. Click in the Permissions Password box and type your required password.
  3. Select Allow document printing, Allow content modification and Enable copying of content as required.

PDF export presets comparison

Digital and desktop printing presets PDF (digital - small size) PDF (digital - high quality) PDF (for print) PDF (for export) PDF (flatten)
Rasterise Unsupported properties Everything
Downsample images Yes No
Above (DPI) 90 375 n/a
Resample Bilinear
Resolution (DPI) 72 300 Document
Allow JPEG compression Yes
Quality 85 98 85
Compatibility PDF 1.7 (Acrobat 8) PDF 1.6 (Acrobat 7)
Colour Space RGB As document
Profile sRGB IEC61966-2.1 Use document profile
Embed profiles No Yes
Convert image colour spaces Yes No
Honour spot colours Yes
Overprint black No 1 Yes
Include hyperlinks Yes No Yes
Include bookmarks Yes No Yes
Include layers Yes
Include invisible layers No
Include bleed No
Include printers marks No
Embed fonts All fonts Uncommon fonts
Subset fonts Yes
Allow advanced features No Yes No
Tagged PDF No
Require password to open No
Open password No
Require password for modification and printing No
Permissions password No
Allow document printing No
Allow content modification No
Enable copying of content No

1 This setting's value cannot be overridden from this preset.

Professional printing presets PDF
(press ready)
PDF/X-
1a:2003
PDF/X-
3:2003
PDF/X-4
Rasterise Unsupported properties
Downsample images Yes
Above (DPI) 375
Resample Bilinear
Resolution (DPI) 300
Allow JPEG compression Yes
Quality 98
Compatibility PDF 1.7 (Acrobat 8) PDF/X-1a:2003 PDF/X-3:2003 PDF/X-4
Colour Space CMYK As document
Profile Use document profile
Embed profiles Yes Yes 1
Convert image colour spaces No Yes 1 No
Honour spot colours Yes
Overprint black Yes
Include hyperlinks No No 1
Include bookmarks No
Include layers No No 1
Include invisible layers No No 1
Include bleed Yes No
Include printers marks No
Embed fonts All fonts
Subset fonts Yes
Allow advanced features Yes
Tagged PDF No
Require password to open No n/a 2
Open password No n/a
Require password for modification and printing No n/a 2
Permissions password No n/a
Allow document printing No n/a
Allow content modification No n/a
Enable copying of content No n/a

1 This setting's value cannot be overridden from this preset.

2 Password protection is not supported for PDF/X.

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