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zizibe1
Inspiring
August 4, 2018
Answered

Convert to greyscale, Downsample image resolution to 150 ppi

  • August 4, 2018
  • 2 replies
  • 7393 views

Hi,

In Acrobat Pro DC (version 2018.011.20035), I can't find the following two options which were available in Acrobat X (version 10.1.1):

1. Edit > Preflight... > Profiles > PDF fixups > Convert to greyscale

Converts all colors (including spot colors) in the current PDF document to grayscale.

2. Edit > Preflight... > Profiles > PDF fixups > Downsample image resolution to 150 ppi (bitmaps to 300 dpi)

Downsamples image resolution of color and grayscale images to 150 ppi and image resolution of bitmap images to 300 ppi. Finally images are recompressed with low quality.

Could you please tell me where I can find this two options?

Thank you very much in advance.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer zizibe1

Sorry, I should have said Save as other> Optimized PDF. When the optimize settings window appears, adjust the settings and click the save button in the settings window and give your settings a name. Use this setting in your action.

The preflight is under Tools> Print Production> Preflight> Fixups (the blue wrench icon)> Color Spaces, Spot colors, Inks.

At the top of the Preflight window it should say "Acrobat Pro DC 2015 Profiles". You can try the Color to B/W or Color to grayscale preflight.

Since converting color to BW can be subjective, Photoshop has tools for better control of the conversion when you need to make a critical conversion.

Another method it to use Print Production> Convert Colors>Convert to Profile> Dot gain 15%.

By selecting all of the Discard & Clean up options under your Optimize settings (unless there is something you specifically need to keep) your PDF size should be much smaller.


Thank you for your reply.




I tested all the settings you suggested, but the two settings of Acrobat X which I was asking for in my first post still are ideal for me.





But thanks to the following hint of yours, I finally found these two settings also in Acrobat Pro DC:


At the top of the Preflight window it should say "Acrobat Pro DC 2015 Profiles".

1. Convert to grayscale





Acrobat X


Edit > Preflight... > Profiles > PDF fixups > Convert to grayscale




Acrobat Pro DC


Edit > Preflight...  > At the top of the Preflight window it should say "Acrobat Pro DC 2015 Profiles" > Profiles >  Convert colors > Convert to grayscale





2. Downsample image resolution to 150 ppi (bitmaps to 300 dpi)





Acrobat X


Edit > Preflight... > Profiles > PDF fixups > Downsample image resolution to 150 ppi (bitmaps to 300 dpi)




Acrobat Pro DC

Edit > Preflight...  > At the top of the Preflight window it should say "Acrobat Pro DC 2015 Profiles" > Profiles >  PDF fixups > Downsample image resolution to 150 ppi (bitmaps to 300 dpi)


For information only, here are my current settings:

Configuration of the Action Wizard




Open PDF in Acrobat Pro DC


Sidebar > More Tools


Customize

Drag and drop "Action Wizard" to the sidebar


Action Wizard


New Action

Choose tools to add:

Document Processing

Add "Preflight" to "Action steps to show"



Specify Settings



Run Preflight check using: > Acrobat Pro DC 2015 Profiles > Convert to grayscale

Leave unchecked: "Run profile without applying fixups")

Save


Uncheck "Prompt user"


Choose tools add:

Document Processing

Add "Preflight" to "Action steps to show"


Specify Settings



Run Preflight check using: > Acrobat Pro DC 2015 Profiles > Downsample image resolution to 150 ppi (bitmaps to 300 dpi)


Leave unchecked: "Run profile without applying fixups"


Save


Uncheck "Prompt user"


Save


Action name: "Grayscale, Downsample"




Save





Convert PDF

Open PDF in Acrobat Pro DC

Sidebar

Action Wizard

"Grayscale, Downsample"




Add files (optional)

Start



Top menu bar > File


Save as


Desktop


Save

2 replies

Luke Jennings
Luke Jennings
Inspiring
August 8, 2018

You might want to take a look at the Action Wizard.

You can create a new action that will convert your PDF to Gray and optimize in one click.

You will find the preflights under document processing and optimize under Save & Export (settings).

Add the Action Wizard to your sidebar for quick access to your actions.

Tip- uncheck the prompt user checkbox, so the action will finish faster.

Tip 2- you can run the action on an entire folder of PDFs at the same time.

    Z
    zizibe1Author
    Inspiring
    August 9, 2018

    Thank you for your reply.


    


    Unfortunately, the PDF resulting is slightly larger in size.

    Example:

    "Digital printing (B/W)" and "Optimize PDF": PDF 115 KB

    "Action Wizard": PDF 119 KB

    


    Here's what I did when I used the "Action Wizard":


    


    Open PDF in Acrobat Pro DC


    Sidebar > More Tools


    Customize > Action Wizard > add to sidebar


    Action Wizard

    New Action

    Choose tools add > Document Processing > add "Preflight" to "Action steps to show"


    Specify Settings


    Essentials > Digital printing (B/W)


    Save


    Uncheck "Prompt user"

    Choose tools add > Go To > add "Optimize PDF" to "Action steps too show"


    Save


    Action name: "PDF grey and optimized"


    Save


    


    Sidebar > "PDF grey and optimized"


    Start


    Yellow box at the right bottom > Click to proceed


    Top menu bar > File


    Save as


    Desktop


    Save

    Luke Jennings
    Luke Jennings
    Inspiring
    August 9, 2018

    You are almost there.

    First, save-as any pdf as an optimized pdf and save your settings, see attached screen shot with suggested settings. When you set up your action, use the saved setting.

    For converting to BW, try using the Preflight Fixup- Convert color to BW.

    Dave__M
    Community Expert
    Dave__MCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    August 4, 2018

    Things have been changed since I last visited these settings.  I am wondering if the pictured setting will meet your needs for the grey-scale conversion:

    For image down-sampling, I have always approached these settings in Distiller itself, not Acrobat.  But you can always create a custom preflight profile (or copy one that already exists), and modify it to your needs:

    I hope this info is useful.

    My best,

    Dave

      Z
      zizibe1Author
      Inspiring
      August 5, 2018

      Hi Dave,


      Thank you for your reply.


      Some email servers of my clients won’t accept emails with attachments over 4 MB in size. So I used the two settings I mentioned in my previous post to compress the PDF attachments when I didn't want to use Dropbox or WeTransfer, and when the quality of the PDFs didn't matter, but the text must have been still readable.

      In Acrobat X, first I removed the color from the PDFs ("Convert to greyscale") and then I downsampled them ("Downsample image resolution to 150 ppi").

      In Acrobat Pro DC, some warnings occur when I use "Digital printing (B/W)". Do they matter in my case?

      Dave__M
      Community Expert
      Dave__MCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      August 5, 2018

      I'm not certain whether those errors will hold you up or not.  There's only one way to know, and that is to run a test of the entire process.

      I did have another thought that might prove helpful for you.  If you have a PDF open in Acrobat, and you go to File>Save As... , you can change the file type from 'Adobe PDF Files (*.pdf)' to 'Adobe PDF Files, Optimized (*.pdf)'.  Once selected, then click on the Settings... button.  You should then see all sorts of downsampling options that you can apply on your Save As.  If this works, you can save your customized preset to use again and again.

      I hope this is helpful.

      My best,

      Dave

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