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Convert PSD to PDF

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
July 7, 2022
9 replies
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Hi everybody,

In my latest version of Acrobat DC Pro (as of July 2022), I just now discovered that I can open a Photoshop PSD file into Acrobat and have it become a PDF file. It used to be you could open just about any bitmap file *except* a PSD. I always found that odd, but now Acrobat Pro DC can do it. My question:

When did this feature add on to Acrobat?

PS: I know this is the InDesign forum, but the Acrobat forum doesn't have the answer.

Import and export

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer Steve Werner

And he's correct, I just chose File > Open on an InDesign file I recently created. Rather quickly, it was perfectly converted to PDF!

JR Boulay

Community Expert

"5 years ago - give or take. It's not just PSD - but all the Adobe native formats (PSD, AI, INDD). We take advantage of your connection to the Adobe Cloud and our conversion services.

"I can try to find a more exact date if you really need one..."

It also existed before in Acrobat Pro 9 (2008), it was a kind of virtual printer which launched InDesign (or Photoshop or other) to locally convert the document into PDF.

It wasn't really reliable, besides Apple added a lot of restrictions to virtual printers in MacOS and so it was removed in Acrobat Pro X and XI.

Because it was highly requested by users this feature came back more perfected in Acrobat Pro DC using the Adobe Cloud for the conversion.

This ensures the reliability of the process.

Acrobate du PDF, InDesigner et Photoshopographe

jane-e

Community Expert

@will25171488kyd3 wrote:

Follow these easy steps to convert your PSD files to PDF:

That wasn't the question. The question was "When did this feature add on to Acrobat?" and it has been answered.

Jane

EDIT: This reply to "will25171488kyd3" no longer makes sense because all 128 of his posts (including this one) have removed by an administrator.

Mike Witherell

Author

Community Expert

Jane appears to be right. I uploaded a word.docx and I am able to edit it, including styles, in a browser version of Word. How they do dat?!?

Mike Witherell

jane-e

Community Expert

Here's another trainer who's just now learned this. (Thanks @Mike Witherell !) I have one question, and I don't know if anyone is capable of testing it, because I know everyone who has answered thus far.

Can you open an InDesign, Photoshop, or Illustrator file in Acrobat if you don't have the application itself installed? My guess would be "no".

~ Jane

Steve Werner

Community Expert

Quick test: I uninstalled Photoshop on my backup MacBook Air. It's running my Creative Cloud account, and has a current copy of Acrobat. I copied a PDF from via Dropbox onto my MB Air desktop. I could convert the PSD file into a PDF file with no copy of Photoshop available.

Steve

Steve Werner

Community Expert

Typo should be: "I copied a PSD file via Dropbox onto my MB Air desktop."

Mike Witherell

Author

Community Expert

Many thanks to all you A-Listers in this forum!

Yes, it now does AI files and INDD files, too, but I didn't want to muddy the waters. If Leonard Rosenthol wouldn't mind, I would like to suggest that this is somewhat newer than 2017. I'm pretty sure I was experimenting with this feature not more than 3 years ago and wondering why Acrobat would open anything and everything *except* PSD. (While I have a mind like a steel trap, that doesn't mean it isn't rusted and tightly shut already.)

You are all right to worry about the potential for insecurity, as well as subtle changes in how the PDF is rendered. Maybe OK for quick-and-dirty approvals at an early stage of a project, but I wouldn't want to lose control of the quality nor layers.

May you all be well!

Mike Witherell

L

Laubender

Community Expert

David said: "It is using the Acrobat online service for conversion. That should be a potential warning to clients that cannot use online services for security reasons."

True!

Even if that service would have been documented, the parameters how the conversion is done could change any time.

I think, I tested this service with InDesign once. Was not satisfied. That was a couple of years ago. This conversion is a blind flight…

Thanks for bringing this up, Mike!

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Professional )

Luke Jennings3

Community Expert

Open an InDesign file in Acrobat? How can that be good practice? An InDesign file can only be safely opened on the person's computer who created it, (with the possible exception of properly packaged files and careful use of preferences).

It's likely someone is going to use this feature and discover (after thousands of pieces are printed) that a subscript was wrong, an image was low res, or some other "unexpected result" occurred. Can we put this genie back into the bottle?

Steve Werner

Community Expert

If the feature is already in Acrobat Pro and is promoted in their Help file it cannot be put back in the bottle. But we can warn people about it.

Steve Werner

Community Expert

Here's the answer, Mike. It's longer than we knew!

Leonard Rosenthol, who you probably know has been long involved in shaping the development of Acrobat replied to my query forwarding your question:

"5 years ago - give or take. It's not just PSD - but all the Adobe native formats (PSD, AI, INDD). We take advantage of your connection to the Adobe Cloud and our conversion services.

"I can try to find a more exact date if you really need one..."

Steve Werner

Correct answer

Community Expert

And he's correct, I just chose File > Open on an InDesign file I recently created. Rather quickly, it was perfectly converted to PDF!

Mike Witherell

Author

Community Expert

Thanks for your reply, Steve. I am finding it a challenge to hunt down simple facts like this in relation to Acrobat.

While I was delighted to see that feature added in, I was wondering when that happened. It seems like I was asking about it on the forum in about 2019. My guess is it was added in 2021, but that is based on educated guesses so far.

Mike Witherell

Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com

Legend

Wow.

Thanks for letting us know that Acrobat can now do this!

@Mike Witherell , what happens to PShop layers? Does the PDF file get flattened when converted to Acrobat PDF? If they're passed along as Acrobat layers, are all of the effects and controls maintained?

@Steve Werner is correct, it's difficult to know exactly what changes are in new Acrobat releases. Even those of us on the PR Beta teams don't get all the details. <grin>

|    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer, Trainer, & Technologist for Accessible Documents ||    PubCom |    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |

Steve Werner

Community Expert

I just posted in the Acrobat PR program to see if anyone had figured out when that feature was added.

Steve

Steve Werner

Community Expert

Interesting question. I tried out a relatively high resolution (4032 px x 3924 px) and the quality seems identical to what you get if you start in Photoshop and export as Photoshop PDF. I haven't tried it if you had extra stuff (layers, type, etc.).

No, I've pretty much on keeping up with Acrobat updates. They are usually poorly documented, and usually about things I have no interest in.

Steve Werner

Community Expert

That was supposed to be "I've pretty much given up keeping up with Acrobat updates."

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