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M
Maintenant3
Participant
July 2, 2013
Question

Adobe Acrobat Portfolio cannot be opened by others

  • July 2, 2013
  • 8 replies
  • 34089 views

The Acrobat Portfolio program works very well. I can open it on Apple Mac Book on which it was created. I also can open it on my pc laptop with a earlier version of Acrobat Reader. But I send this out to ad agencies, etc, and they cannot open the document. I do not see any place to "save it down" as you would a word document to an earlier version to make it readable to more people. Am I missing something?

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8 replies

crrood
crrood
Participant
May 28, 2019

I've recently run into this issue.
If when combining files, you click Options and uncheck "Save as Portfolio" this will save the file in the legacy binder format.

    K
    kiteeye
    Participant
    August 7, 2020

    Thank you so much! I couldn't figure out why it kept saving the combined pdfs as a portolio, and the person I'm sending the document to can't view portfolios.

    T
    Test Screen Name
    Legend
    June 15, 2016

    Are you using File > Create > PDF files from multiple files? I don't have Acrobat XI to check.

    T
    Test Screen Name
    Legend
    June 15, 2016

    Combine INSIDE Acrobat instead.

    laciep87528564
    laciep87528564
    Participant
    June 15, 2016

    I also tried that.  Same result.

    T
    Test Screen Name
    Legend
    June 14, 2016

    When you combine PDFs it is an option to use (or not) portfolios. Portfolios ate needed only for documents that cannot be combined: forms, signed and secure files.

    laciep87528564
    laciep87528564
    Participant
    June 15, 2016

    I can not figure out how to disable the Portfolio.  I am only trying to combine 2 regular PDFs and it puts them into a Portfolio.  There are not forms or secure files. 

    Any time I choose 2 files and right click to combine into one PDF it automatically puts them into a portfolio which I have not save option or function. It is so very frustrating.

    T
    Test Screen Name
    Legend
    June 14, 2016

    What version of Acrobat do you have?

    laciep87528564
    laciep87528564
    Participant
    June 14, 2016

    I have Adobe Acrobat XI Pro.

    laciep87528564
    laciep87528564
    Participant
    June 13, 2016

    What is the solution if we do not want to use the portfolio option?  I just want to combine 2 PDFs and save it as a new document and now it seems impossible for me to do this.

    R
    Rav3nwoman
    Participant
    September 4, 2013

    I share your frustration!!! This is the official word I received from Adobe. (Yes, it took a week for them to figure it out!). The functionality is a flash player issue. The recipient would need to install and have the latest version of Flash Player in order to view the portfolio. It seems like an aweful lot of work to ask a client or potental employer to go through. Have to admit I am a little dissapointed by the lack of simplicity for what could be a really professional presentation of your work.

    I
    if52
    Participant
    September 5, 2013

    At least in my case, this isn't an issue where the Flash player plugin is missing. In fact, if you attempt to open a Portfolio PDF without the plugin installed you are prompted to install it, and directed to the appropriate site.

    I have several systems, all Windows & 64bit with Reader XI and the Flash plugin and when I open Reader the 'Tools' menu on the right never finishes loading, the little Java wheel just spins and spins and I can't open Portfolio PDFs so that they are viewable. If I uninstall Reader and everything else Adobe and reinstall all newest versions I still have the same problem. All of these systems are 4 or 5 months old.

    If however I reformat any of these systems to factory fresh and then install Reader and the Flash plugin the 'Tools' menu loads properly and Portfolio PDFs open just fine. So it seems to me that some kind of garbage has built up over the past several months that hoses Reader, whether a Reader update or something Java, who knows, but the only fix I have found is to reformat the affected systems, and that really isn't an acceptable solution.

    D
    Dave Merchant
    Legend
    July 2, 2013

    PDF Portfolios are only supported by the Acrobat Family (Acrobat and Adobe Reader) on desktop platforms. If your recipients are using other programs (OS X Preview, mobile device, etc.) they will just see a warning message.

    You can't "save down", it's not a meaningful concept. Portfolios are collections of several files, not single PDFs.

    M
    Maintenant3Author
    Participant
    July 2, 2013

    Dave:

    Thanks. In the meantime, I reached someone at Adobe. He said there is a function similar to "save down" which is "Make compatible" under the "Optimize pdf" button. When you go to that, there is a pull-down that allows you to specify how low an Acrobat version to go to. In other words, you can say, 4.0. I tried this with a new portfolio, but the agency still cannot read it. BTW, I am using the term Portfolio, but it is a single pdf file that you open when you open the Portfolio....it is not a folder, for example. So right now, I still don't have a solution. According to the official description of Adobe Reader, which everyone should have, that program can read any pdf document. So it makes no sense why the agency cannot read this pdf portfolio document. Thanks for you input though...have to keep trying.  Bill

    T
    Test Screen Name
    Legend
    July 2, 2013

    Portfolios can't be saved down in any real sense, because the concept doesn't exist in older versions of PDF. You could make a single PDF (not portfolio) by joining pages. Or include the other material as attacments.

    "According to the official description of Adobe Reader, which everyone should have, that program can read any pdf document. "

    You're making a huge assumption - three actually - that

    (a) they HAVE Adobe Reader

    (b) their version is up to date

    (c) they are USING the copy they have, rather than - for example - viewing in Chrome or FireFox or Preview.

    (Try your file in Preview at least).

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