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manniet26478805
Participant
April 19, 2019
Question

How to create a PDF with spreads and SAVE the view

  • April 19, 2019
  • 3 replies
  • 101974 views

I am using Adobe Acrobat Pro X version 10.1.16

I would like to take 8 pages (2 singles and 3 spreads) from an online magazine (that I have legal access to) and turn it into a PDF.  I downloaded the entire magazine, saved it as a PDF, deleted the pages I do not want and saved the remaining pages as a PDF.  When I open the new PDF there are 8 single pages. I go to View > Page Display > 2-Page View and it displays the 6 inner pages as spreads (with pages 1 and 8 as singles).  This is perfect.  However, that “2-Page View” specification does not “save”.  When I send it as an attachment, it reverts back to single pages so that the viewer must specify “2-Page View”.  I also have Photoshop if that helps.

Questions:

1. It loses it’s 2-page display view. Is there a way to specify (and save) the format so that it does not revert to single page view when passed on?

2. Is there a way to animate the article so that the pages “turn”?

3. The text is bitmapped and difficult to read

4. Is there a way to delete the vertical line in the gutter but KEEP the horizontal line separating the 2 spreads?

Any thoughts would help!

Thanks.

3 replies

L
Lohddar
Participant
April 6, 2023
If you got a Mac: here's a little applescript for that (if you want the first page to remain single, choose "With Cover"), save it as "App" and drag the PDF onto it:
 
on open dropped_file
 
set file_path to POSIX path of dropped_file
 
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ".pdf"
set convert_path to every text item of file_path
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to "_doublesided.pdf"
set save_path to convert_path as string
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
 
tell application "Adobe Acrobat"
 
activate
 
open file_path
 
set page_count to number of pages of document 1
 
tell page 2
 
set page_cbox to crop box
 
set new_value_1 to 1st item of page_cbox as integer
set new_value_2 to 2nd item of page_cbox as integer
set old_value_3 to 3rd item of page_cbox as integer
set new_value_4 to 4th item of page_cbox as integer
set new_value_3 to (2 * old_value_3)
 
end tell
 
 
set cover_type to button returned of (display dialog "Bitte wählen:" buttons {"Without Cover", "With Cover"} default button 2)
 
 
if cover_type is false then
 
error number -128 (* user cancelled *)
 
else if cover_type is equal to "With Cover" then
 
set loop_start to 1
set loop_end to ((page_count - 1) / 2 - 0.5) as integer
 
else if cover_type is equal to "Without Cover" then
 
set loop_start to 0
set loop_end to ((page_count) / 2 - 0.5) as integer
 
end if
 
repeat with actual_page from loop_start to loop_end - 1
 
set script_set_media to "this.setPageBoxes('Media'," & actual_page & "," & actual_page & ",[" & new_value_1 & "," & new_value_2 & "," & new_value_3 & "," & new_value_4 & "]);"
set script_set_crop to "this.setPageBoxes('Crop'," & actual_page & "," & actual_page & ",[" & new_value_1 & "," & new_value_2 & "," & new_value_3 & "," & new_value_4 & "]);"
set script_set_bleed to "this.setPageBoxes('Bleed'," & actual_page & "," & actual_page & ",[" & new_value_1 & "," & new_value_2 & "," & new_value_3 & "," & new_value_4 & "]);"
set script_set_trim to "this.setPageBoxes('Trim'," & actual_page & "," & actual_page & ",[" & new_value_1 & "," & new_value_2 & "," & new_value_3 & "," & new_value_4 & "]);"
set script_set_art to "this.setPageBoxes('Art'," & actual_page & "," & actual_page & ",[" & new_value_1 & "," & new_value_2 & "," & new_value_3 & "," & new_value_4 & "]);"
 
set script_add_watermark to "this.addWatermarkFromFile({cDIPath: this.path, nSourcePage: " & actual_page + 1 & ", nStart: " & actual_page & ", nEnd: " & actual_page & ", nHorizAlign: 0, nVertAlign: 0, nHorizValue: " & old_value_3 & ", nVertValue: 0, nOpacity: 1, nRotation: 0, bOnTop: true});"
 
 
set script_this_delete to "this.deletePages(" & actual_page + 1 & "," & actual_page + 1 & ");"
 
do script script_set_media
do script script_set_crop
do script script_set_bleed
do script script_set_trim
do script script_set_art
delay 0.5
do script script_add_watermark
delay 0.5
do script script_this_delete
 
end repeat
 
save active doc to save_path
 
close active doc saving no
 
end tell
 
 
end open

 

    S
    Smudgey22
    Participant
    April 12, 2023

    Thank you so much Lothar5D5E. This script is really easy to implement and works a treat.

    Document Geek
    Community Expert
    Document GeekCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    June 26, 2019

    3. If the text is bitmapped, you've probably got raster versions of the pages (as opposed to vector versions. That's probably because it came from a website that animated it, as opposed to just displaying the PDF within the web browser.

    2. As far as the page "turn" effect, that's called Page Curl, and PDF doesn't support that. Acrobat does have other page transitions. To find them, open the Page Thumbnails pane and select the page thumbnails you want to apply a transition to. Then right click and choose "Page Transitions."

    This screenshot if from Acrobat DC, but I'm pretty sure it works the same way in Acrobat X. However, you may need to view the document in full screen mode, which I think isn't compatible with two page view.

    I suspect you originally found this style of page curl effect on a website. Those magazines generally use SVG effects, which don't wok in Acrobat.

    If you really want the page curl, 2-up style that was used on the website, there's no way to do that in Acrobat and just email the PDF to someone. You'd need to host it on a server somewhere on the web, have a mini website for it, and then send someone a web link. That's totally different than just sending a regular PDF to someone.

    If you want to keep the two-up spread, honestly, it would work best (and most reliably) to impose it in InDesign and then export a PDF with spreads. That's not going to help the text pixelation though.Ideally, see if you can ask the publisher for a 2-up (with spreads) PDF of your article. The designer (if you're able to get ahold of them) would be the person who can provide that for you.

      AkanchhaS8194121
      AkanchhaS8194121
      Legend
      June 26, 2019

      Hi Manniet,

      We apologize for the delay in response to your query.

      Thanks for giving the detailed description of the issue. What you are willing to do is changing the document view, which can be achieved by making changes in Document's properties.

      What you are actually doing is, making changes in application's page display. That will applied only at your end, within your Acrobat not while viewing the PDFs. Not other other viewers end.

      1. It loses it’s 2-page display view. Is there a way to specify (and save) the format so that it does not revert to single page view when passed on?
      2. Is there a way to animate the article so that the pages “turn”?
      3. The text is bitmapped and difficult to read

      4. Is there a way to delete the vertical line in the gutter but KEEP the horizontal line separating the 2 spreads?

      To get two page display, Open document>right click>Document Properties>Initial View>Page layout>change to Two page continues>OK and save it with different name.

      Since you have created this PDF so you should be able to do that, but If you aren't allowed to change document properties. Then, there's a workaround-

      Open Document>View>Page Display>Two page view>

      Open Acrobat/Reader>Edit>Preferences>Documents>Restore last view settings when reopening document>OK>Reboot Acrobat (End users have to do the same at their end, to avoid selecting View>Page display>Two page view again and again)

      About editing the PDF content, you can go through the related help articles here:

      Thanks,

      Akanchha

        C
        christian omarm62498937
        Participant
        January 15, 2020

        Hello, 

        I wanted to do exactly the same as question #1 of manniet26478805 but in my case when I open the document properties it doesn't show the "Initial view" tab. Does it have to do anything with the pdf viewer version? I have 2019.021.20061

        Thank you!

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