Changing colors and sizes

[jerry32837076]

I own Adobe Acrobat XI Pro installed in Windows 10. I know it is outdated but I hope it is capable of doing the few things I need. I rarely use Acrobat except to open pdf files. So I'm still a novice. I do not own InDesign or anything else.

I need to modify an existing pdf for a new book cover. I figured out how to modify the text and fonts, etc. but there are 2 things I need help doing:

1. changing the color of the spine and black banner (red Xs). I need to turn them a blue color.
I know how to change the color of the text, but how do I change the color of those black blocks?

2. I need to change the width of the spine. It is currently .813 (20.65mm) circled in red. It needs to become .875 (22.22mm)

I'm attaching a screenshot to illustrate what I mean.

There has to be a way to do this. Can someone help me?

Thanks.

[Test Screen Name]

This is not what Acrobat is for - not XI and not DC (today). Editing in Acrobat is a desperate last resort, despite Adobe's overexcited marketing. Edit the original and remake the PDF.

[jerry32837076]

Thank you for taking the time to reply.

I am not sure what you mean by edit the original. I 'think' the cover was created in InDesign and saved to a pdf. I have the resulting final pdf accepted by the publisher but I do not have the original indd file it came from. Nor do I have InDesign.

If I installed a 7 day trial of InDesign would it open this final pdf that it had created and convert it back to an indd file that I could then edit?

Thank you again for the rapid response and advice.

[Test Screen Name]

If you want to edit this you need the original InDesign file and you need InDesign. InDesign can't reopen a PDF.

The problem is that PDF is so spectacularly unsuitable for editing. This needs to be part of the negotation for the work. If you didn't negotiate you actually may not have the rights to edit this cover (even if you paid to have it made!)

What could be done in InDesign is to PLACE the PDF - which becomes a complete picture, uneditable. Then you could create new content over the top of the part of what is there - a blue box for the spine. Since it's wider you don't have to recreate any of the front or back.

[Test Screen Name]

By the way, InDesign has a steep learning curve and you probably will take more than 7 days without professional training in it. Unless you have infinite time, and don't mind paying for InDesign all that time, Consider paying someone to do this...

Oh and one more thing. You can get InDesign for $20 a month, but that is with a year long commitment (paying $240). For around $30 a month you get it to cancel any time.

[jerry32837076]

You may well be right.It depends on what the cost would be.

If I gave you a pdf of what I wanted what would you charge to reproduce it?

[Test Screen Name]

That's not my line of work, I'm afraid. 

[jerry32837076 · Accepted solution]

That's a shame. You are so helpful i wanted to send at least some business your way in gratitude.

As for time, i am a retired octagenerian with plenty of time. Having nothing much to lose by trying, I'll optimistically/foolishly give it a try with the 7 day trial InDesign. If necessary, an additional month at $30 won't be a disaster.

Here's my plan of action. Please tell me if I'm missing something or if I could do things better.

1. Since I can modify all the necessary text in my desktop Acrobat Pro, I'll do all these text modifications on the pdf in Acrobat Pro. Each one is in a separate text box.

2. I'll open the publisher's indd blank template in InDesign. (I think I read somewhere I'll need to do this via import).

3. Since the front and back covers will need no further text modifications, I'll copy/paste them as uneditable images from the pdf to the indd template's front and back areas in InDesign.

4. I'll then create a blue box in InDesign to cover the black band across the front and back covers.

5. I suspect this will cover the text elements on the image I initially pasted as the front and back covers. Fortunately, these text elements are each separate individual objects in the pdf. So I'll just copy/paste them individually over the now blue band areas.

6. The Spine:
It is already at the correct size in the template. I'll create a blue box to cover it and paste the text elements from the spine pdf over it.

7. Save the final product as a pdf according to the publisher's X1 requirements.

(8. Wait for the publisher to reject it. ..... 😉)

Does this sound like it should work?

Will the publisher's CMYK requirement be something I should preset in InDesign somewhere?

Again thank you for your help. You've been wonderful and I appreciate your help.