The Acrobat Alternative for Bundling File Releases

For most people, Adobe Acrobat is just an app for distributing, viewing and reading standard documents. Acrobat is actually packed with a lot more features than people realize. Among the other features are optical character recognition, presentation features similar to PowerPoint, sharing options, word processing, inclusion of 3D, video, sound & forms, accessibility for the visually impaired...the list literally goes on.

But one handy feature for those producing artwork for release for high-end printing are the options to save with layers and attached files in one PDF. This is a great alternative to compressing a bundle of folders into a ZIP or other compression archive option.

Here’s how it works. Assuming you are using Adobe Illustrator or InDesign, you would Save As or Save a Copy (in Illustrator) or Export (in InDesign). Choose a format for your PDF. You will want to preserve high quality for this PDF, so you will want to choose Illustrator Default, High Quality or one of the PDF/X presets. Check with your print vendor to see what format they require.

To save your layers as they appear in Illustrator or InDesign, just make sure the Create Layers option is selected in the PDF save dialog. It will already be selected with the high end save presets.

If your Illustrator or InDesign file includes linked files you can include them in your PDF by attaching them in the Attachments panel. To access the Attachments panel, open your PDF and click on the paper clip icon at the lower left of the Acrobat workspace. Then click on the little cogwheel icon to open the Attachments menu (see below). You can select Add Attachment... from this menu to navigate to and select your attachments. Alternatively, you can just drag any file directly to the Attachment panel to include it in the PDF.

Attachment menu in Acrobat.

Aside from including files that link to the primary artwork file, you can include any other reference document, such as copy sheet, dieline, legal docs, etc.

This option may be somewhat more versatile than sending a bundle of folders as a compressed archive. Most people will be able to view this PDF, whereas some people may not be able to work with an archived set of files. Also, the PDF may offer better compression that a compression utility.