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M
Maintenant3
Participant
July 2, 2013
Question

Adobe Acrobat Portfolio cannot be opened by others

  • July 2, 2013
  • 8 replies
  • 34100 views

The Acrobat Portfolio program works very well. I can open it on Apple Mac Book on which it was created. I also can open it on my pc laptop with a earlier version of Acrobat Reader. But I send this out to ad agencies, etc, and they cannot open the document. I do not see any place to "save it down" as you would a word document to an earlier version to make it readable to more people. Am I missing something?

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8 replies

crrood
crrood
Participant
May 28, 2019

I've recently run into this issue.
If when combining files, you click Options and uncheck "Save as Portfolio" this will save the file in the legacy binder format.

    K
    kiteeye
    Participant
    August 7, 2020

    Thank you so much! I couldn't figure out why it kept saving the combined pdfs as a portolio, and the person I'm sending the document to can't view portfolios.

    T
    Test Screen Name
    Legend
    June 15, 2016

    Are you using File > Create > PDF files from multiple files? I don't have Acrobat XI to check.

    T
    Test Screen Name
    Legend
    June 15, 2016

    Combine INSIDE Acrobat instead.

    laciep87528564
    laciep87528564
    Participant
    June 15, 2016

    I also tried that.  Same result.

    T
    Test Screen Name
    Legend
    June 14, 2016

    When you combine PDFs it is an option to use (or not) portfolios. Portfolios ate needed only for documents that cannot be combined: forms, signed and secure files.

    laciep87528564
    laciep87528564
    Participant
    June 15, 2016

    I can not figure out how to disable the Portfolio.  I am only trying to combine 2 regular PDFs and it puts them into a Portfolio.  There are not forms or secure files. 

    Any time I choose 2 files and right click to combine into one PDF it automatically puts them into a portfolio which I have not save option or function. It is so very frustrating.

    T
    Test Screen Name
    Legend
    June 14, 2016

    What version of Acrobat do you have?

    laciep87528564
    laciep87528564
    Participant
    June 14, 2016

    I have Adobe Acrobat XI Pro.

    laciep87528564
    laciep87528564
    Participant
    June 13, 2016

    What is the solution if we do not want to use the portfolio option?  I just want to combine 2 PDFs and save it as a new document and now it seems impossible for me to do this.

    R
    Rav3nwoman
    Participant
    September 4, 2013

    I share your frustration!!! This is the official word I received from Adobe. (Yes, it took a week for them to figure it out!). The functionality is a flash player issue. The recipient would need to install and have the latest version of Flash Player in order to view the portfolio. It seems like an aweful lot of work to ask a client or potental employer to go through. Have to admit I am a little dissapointed by the lack of simplicity for what could be a really professional presentation of your work.

    I
    if52
    Participant
    September 5, 2013

    At least in my case, this isn't an issue where the Flash player plugin is missing. In fact, if you attempt to open a Portfolio PDF without the plugin installed you are prompted to install it, and directed to the appropriate site.

    I have several systems, all Windows & 64bit with Reader XI and the Flash plugin and when I open Reader the 'Tools' menu on the right never finishes loading, the little Java wheel just spins and spins and I can't open Portfolio PDFs so that they are viewable. If I uninstall Reader and everything else Adobe and reinstall all newest versions I still have the same problem. All of these systems are 4 or 5 months old.

    If however I reformat any of these systems to factory fresh and then install Reader and the Flash plugin the 'Tools' menu loads properly and Portfolio PDFs open just fine. So it seems to me that some kind of garbage has built up over the past several months that hoses Reader, whether a Reader update or something Java, who knows, but the only fix I have found is to reformat the affected systems, and that really isn't an acceptable solution.

    D
    Dave Merchant
    Legend
    July 2, 2013

    PDF Portfolios are only supported by the Acrobat Family (Acrobat and Adobe Reader) on desktop platforms. If your recipients are using other programs (OS X Preview, mobile device, etc.) they will just see a warning message.

    You can't "save down", it's not a meaningful concept. Portfolios are collections of several files, not single PDFs.

    M
    Maintenant3Author
    Participant
    July 2, 2013

    Dave:

    Thanks. In the meantime, I reached someone at Adobe. He said there is a function similar to "save down" which is "Make compatible" under the "Optimize pdf" button. When you go to that, there is a pull-down that allows you to specify how low an Acrobat version to go to. In other words, you can say, 4.0. I tried this with a new portfolio, but the agency still cannot read it. BTW, I am using the term Portfolio, but it is a single pdf file that you open when you open the Portfolio....it is not a folder, for example. So right now, I still don't have a solution. According to the official description of Adobe Reader, which everyone should have, that program can read any pdf document. So it makes no sense why the agency cannot read this pdf portfolio document. Thanks for you input though...have to keep trying.  Bill

    J
    jvilla4
    Participant
    October 28, 2013

    "I just don't understand how an ad agency (or anyone else for that matter), could not have a program to handle basic pdf documents."

    But you aren't making a basic PDF document, you are making a portfolio. This was a new feature in a recent version of Acrobat (X, maybe). It won't work as a portfolio in older versions of Acrobat or Reader, because it uses brand new things. And it will never work on an iPad or Android tablet, and will never be a standard in its current form, because (unaccountably) it uses Flash. Portfolios are designed to "degrade gracefully" to a basic PDF with attachments.

    "I wouldn't think older versions of Adobe Reader would have any trouble with these, particularly when the portfolio is "saved down," to 4.0 or larger (which is what the dialog box does--this is what Adobe recommended doing this morning and I accomplished.)"

    If it's saved down to an older PDF format, then it isn't a portfolio any more. If what you have now works, that's great. But if you use "real" portfolios, it's important to know that portfolios need new(ish) technology and to tell people what they need.

    "But your point as to whether they even have it....wouldn't any "preview" or 'firefox' or other browser be able to read these documents? "

    Portfolios aren't a secret. Apple, FireFox, Google are free to make readers for portfolios, according to their business direction.

    " if Adobe has created a portfolio program that isn't at least close to universally readable, what good is it? "

    Two answers, one less cynical.

    1. It's great for selling copies of Acrobat, and encouraging people to use, and upgrade Adobe Reader.

    2. Portfolios solve a very important limitation on PDF files, that you cannot combine secured or signed documents into one, yet people desperately need to do this. For these people (and perhaps only them) the portfolio is a vital tool worth the incompatibility.

    "The very concept of a portfolio is that an artist, editor, etc. showcases their work by sending it out to myriad sources."

    That definition of portfolio, the folder of an artist's work, has no connection at all the "PDF portfolio" except that they both have a folder motif. There is no single reason for an artist to use this kind of portfolio, but artists commonly embrace new technologies that make them look better without regard to whether it makes them easy to access.

    One more point: PDF is a moderately universal format, probably the best we have if HTML won't cut it. But it has evolved over the last 20 years. You probably wouldn't want to be stuck with the limitations of PDF 1.0, and it was unusable for production printing... Adobe have never seen it as a big problem if (a) people have to upgrade Reader nor (b) if they move ahead of rivals in the viewing stakes. Whether you see it as a problem is another matter. We have just entered a new world very suddenly where probably the number of people using the multitude of other readers outnumber those using Adobe software, and creators need to at least be aware of this. If you want to use a format with reasonable accessibility in modern software, you might be interested in PDF/A.


    Adobe techs, can you read the last reply on this thread and give us a solution!  I created a portfolio and fellow teachers can not view with latest Reader.   I uninstalled Reader XI and installed a older version Reader 9 and the problem was solved.  I can not expect all of our teachers (1000+) to uninstall Reader XI and then to re-install Reader 9. Most of the teachers are going to have different versions of Reader too.  Adobe techs, we need a solution, thanks!

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