|
|
QUESTION: What is Adobe Distiller?
ANSWER: Adobe Distiller,
formerly known as "Adobe Acrobat Distiller," is a software
application that lets you create PDF files from other types of files.
A common use for Adobe Distiller is creating PDF files
from PostScript files. That is: if you have a PostScript file, you
can use Adobe Distiller to create a PDF version of it.
Adobe Distiller is part of the full-fledged Adobe Acrobat software package.
Besides letting you create a PDF file from a PostScript file,
Adobe Distiller also lets you create a PDF file from within
an application. For example, if you've installed Adobe Distiller
on your computer, you can create a PDF file from within virtually
any application by clicking File > Print and choosing Adobe PDF
from the "Printer" list. And, there is another way to use
Adobe Distiller to create a
PDF file if you're working within Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, or
Microsoft PowerPoint: just click the PDF icon near the top of the
Word, Excel, or PowerPoint window.
If you do it the second way (by clicking the PDF icon from
within Word, Excel, or PowerPoint), the PDF file that you get will
contain any links that you have in your Word, Excel, or PowerPoint
document. For example, if you have a
Word document containing a Table of Contents that has links to pages
in the document, those links will work in the PDF file that you get
if you use the second method described above to create the PDF file.
But if you do it the first way (by clicking File > Print and
choosing Adobe PDF from the "Printer" list), the
PDF file that you get will not contain the links.
Even when you create a PDF file from within an application (by using
one of the two methods above), what actually happens behind the scenes
is that a PostScript file gets created and then Adobe Distiller converts
the PostScript file to PDF format.
|
|
|
