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Sandee Cohen
Legend
July 13, 2011
Answered

Where are the Adobe PDF Presets stored?

  • July 13, 2011
  • 6 replies
  • 81580 views

I am doing some video lessons and would like to clean up the Adobe PDF Presets menu in the Export as PDF dialog box.

Where are they stored?

I've looked through the many folders on my machine called "Presets" but can't find them.

Running Acrobat 10 under Macintosh OS 10.6.7

Correct answer Mike Witherell

[Win 10/8/7] Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe PDF\Settings

and here too...

ProgramData\Adobe\Adobe PDF\Settings

6 replies

Community Expert
December 2, 2021

"I'm trying to clean up my PDF settings in illustrator and delet some settings I created but cant find the pdf settings I made."

 

You want to do that with Illustrator. No problem.

It's nearly the same as with InDesign.

 

When in Adobe Illustrator:

Under the Edit main menu there is Adobe PDF Presets…

There you could manage your PDF presets.

 

From my German Adobe Illustrator 2022:

 

 

When in Adobe InDesign:

Under the File main menu there is Adobe PDF Presets > Define PDF Export Style...

I'm not sure if "Define PDF Export Style..." is the right name of that sub-menu item, because I'm on a German version where only "Definieren…" ( Define... ) is used.

 

From my German Adobe InDesign 2022:

 

 

 

I could remove that style either from Illustrator or InDesign. It's the exact same style file with suffix *.joboptions

FWIW: Also doable from Adobe PhotoShop's main menu Edit > Adobe PDF Presets

 

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

 

// EDITED: Define PDF Export Style... instead of Edit Style…

Participant
December 2, 2021

thanks for showing the way. all cleaned up

cheers

 

eurotux
Participant
February 20, 2017

On Windows: <drive>:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe PDF\Settings

Mike Witherell
Community Expert
Mike WitherellCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
February 20, 2017

[Win 10/8/7] Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe PDF\Settings

and here too...

ProgramData\Adobe\Adobe PDF\Settings

Mike Witherell
germanmelo
Participant
May 23, 2017

Thank you!!!

Participating Frequently
July 13, 2011

Sandee Cohen wrote:

I am doing some video lessons and would like to clean up the Adobe PDF Presets menu in the Export as PDF dialog box.

Where are they stored?

I've looked through the many folders on my machine called "Presets" but can't find them.

Running Acrobat 10 under Macintosh OS 10.6.7

Here's a great opportunity to file a feature request. In InDesign CS5.5, Preferences > File Handling displays the location of recovery files, and offers users the option to choose a custom location. It would be a great logical step to make the locations of the various presets and other stored items available and also offer users the option to customize. Care to file a request in the usual place - Adobe Feature Request or Bug Report form.

As preferences, these details are out of the way, yet are much easier to find than searching through a disk's file system.

Regards,

Peter

_______________________

Peter Gold

KnowHow ProServices

John Hawkinson
Inspiring
July 13, 2011

Note that customizing the location of files that are common

to multiple applications is either "a hard problem" or "fraught

with peril."

Participating Frequently
July 13, 2011

John Hawkinson wrote:

Note that customizing the location of files that are common

to multiple applications is either "a hard problem" or "fraught

with peril."

Changing any code in a code base of more than one line is fraught with peril. In Object-Oriented Programming, the "fraught" property is so omnipresent, that it's never necessary to mention it, or display its ornament.

Major good point, though, John. Do you think it would be difficult to detect the possibility of shared CS files and display a caution or tool tip, or require an unlocking click in the preference box where the locations would be set?

Regards,

Peter

_______________________

Peter Gold

KnowHow ProServices

Steve Werner
Community Expert
Community Expert
July 13, 2011

On a Mac: <computer> > Library > Application Support > Adobe > Adobe PDF > Settings

They are the .joboptions files as Bob mentioned. The same ones are used for Distiller and the Adobe Creative Suite applications. They are called Settings in Distiller and PDF Presets in the Suite.

Custom Settings are in this path on a Mac:

Users > [yourname] > Library > Application Support > Adobe > Adobe PDF > Settings

This is when you create customized PDF presets.

Sandee Cohen
Legend
July 13, 2011

Thanks Steve!

For some reason the Mac Finder couldn't find the file even when I entered the specific name of the setting.

John Hawkinson
Inspiring
July 13, 2011

Yeah, Spotlight excludes /Library from its search path. This is a misfeature, I'm afraid...there's probably some way to turn it off...

Peter Spier
Community Expert
Community Expert
July 13, 2011

Depends on how they got installed.

I can't tell you exactly where to look on Mac, but on Windows the pre-installed ones are in the All Users profile under AdobePDF\Settings (and there are two of those ffolders on my system inslightly differernt paths in the profile since the location seems to change with the version of Acrobat).

Those added from within ID using the Define dialog wind up in the a similar folder in the user's profile.

For Mac, I would guess we are talking about the main library and the user library.

BobLevine
Community Expert
Community Expert
July 13, 2011

Aren't those just .joboptions files?

Bob

Peter Spier
Community Expert
Community Expert
July 13, 2011

BobLevine wrote:

Aren't those just .joboptions files?

Bob

Yep.

BobLevine
Community Expert
Community Expert
July 13, 2011

Thanks...I thought I was going crazy for minute there.

I'd just search for those.

Bob