Department of Economics
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Michael S. Hanson Department of Economics |
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| Generating Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Files | |
| Contents of this page: | |
| Overview | |
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The paper for this course must be submitted in two formats: a
hard-copy (printed) form, which will be returned to you with
comments, and an electronic form. The electronic version must
be identical to the printed version. Both must be
submitted by the paper deadline in order to receive credit for
this assignment.
The only electronic format that will be acceptable for this assignment is Portable Document Format (PDF), also known as "Adobe Acrobat" format. The tools for creating PDF files are available in (some of) the campus labs, as well as for purchase through the campus computer store. Steps for using this software in the PAC/Olin lab are given below. (Note: The freely available Acrobat Reader program is a file viewer only; it cannot be used to create or edit PDF files.) Only a single PDF file should be submitted as your complete paper for this course. If parts of your paper are in multiple file formats (text in Word, tables in Excel, graphs in EViews, etc.), there are two options:
The electronic copy may be sent via e-mail as an attachment (see the corresponding ITS Tipsheet for more information) or on a diskette. E-mail is preferred. For Macintosh users, a shareware package called "PrintToPDF" is available for use -- and does not require purchase of the full Acrobat package. Similar utilities may be available for Windows machines; please contact me if you have knowledge of one. These instructions apply to version 3.x of the Adobe Acrobat suite of programs. The steps may vary with other versions. As usual, you should ask a lab consultant if you have any questions. |
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| Creating PDF files in Windows: | |
| Step 1: | If you are in the PAC Datalab, you must use one of the machines in the upper portion of the lab. For reasons that are unclear to me, some of the software is not installed on the machines in the lower portion. I do not expect that to be fixed before the end of this semester. Other labs on campus may have the full installation of the Acrobat suite of programs. |
| Step 2: | From within your program (Word, Excel, EViews, etc.), select Print... from the File menu. |
| Step 3: | In the Print dialog box, click on the little downward-pointing arrow to the right of the current Printer Name. Towards the bottom of the drop-down menu, you should see "PDF Writer". Select that. |
| Step 4: |
Type a name for your file in the space provided.
Your final, complete document should be named with your
e-mail address.
If your e-mail address is, for example, jdoe01,
your file should be called jdoe01.pdf.
If you have several pieces to your document -- the text in Word,
some tables in Excel, some charts in EViews, etc. -- then be
sure to give each a distinct name. (If you give multiple
files the same name, all previous files will be overwritten!)
Instructions for combining several PDF files into one are
given below.
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| Step 5: | Select the location (disk and directory) to which you will save your file. |
| Step 6: | Click the Print button. This will "print" your document to a PDF file. If you see your document appear on one of the printers, something went wrong and you should try again. Use the file viewer and Acrobat Reader to check that everything worked as expected and the resulting PDF file can be viewed. (And that there are no missing pages, garbage text or images, etc.) |
| Creating PDF files on a Macintosh: | |
| Step 1: | I do not know which Macintoshes on campus have the Adobe Acrobat print driver installed, although I have been told at least some do. You may need to search for one that does. (Or try the free PrintToPDF program. These instructions are for the Adobe version.) |
| Step 2: | From within your program (Word, Excel, etc.), select Print... from the File menu. |
| Step 3: | In the upper left-hand corner of the print dialog window, click and change the Destination: from Printer to File. |
| Step 4: | Click on the drop-down menu beneath the printer name, and select "Save to File". (Currently, it probably reads "General". That is where you click.) |
| Step 5: | Next to "Format:", select "Acrobat PDF". (If that option is not present, the appropriate software probably is not installed on that machine. Ask a lab consultant to confirm.) Then click on the Save button. |
| Step 6: |
In the save dialog box, select the desired disk and directory.
Type a name for your file in the space provided.
Your final, complete document should be named with your
e-mail address.
If your e-mail address is, for example, jdoe01,
your file should be called jdoe01.pdf.
If you have several pieces to your document -- the text in Word,
some tables in Excel, some charts in EViews, etc. -- then be
sure to give each a distinct name. (If you give multiple
files the same name, all previous files will be overwritten!)
Instructions for combining several PDF files into one are
given below.
|
| Step 7: | Click the Save button. This will save a copy of your document as a PDF file. If you see your document appear on one of the printers, something went wrong and you should try again. Use Acrobat Reader to check that everything worked as expected and the resulting PDF file can be viewed. (And that there are no missing pages, garbage text or images, etc.) |
| Combining multiple PDF files into one: | |
| Step 1: | Find the Acrobat Exchange program and launch (open) it. It will be in the Acrobat directory, although you may need to use the Explorer (Windows) or Find File or Sherlock (Mac) to locate it. |
| Step 2: | Open your main PDF document (probably the text file). |
| Step 3: | Select "Document" from the menu bar, and then select "Insert Pages...". |
| Step 4: | In the resulting Open dialog box, locate and open the additional PDF file(s) that belong(s) in your paper. |
| Step 5: | Next an "Insert Pages" dialog box will appear, where you can specify where the pages from the additional file should be placed in the currently opened document. Tables and graphs can be inserted either at the end of the text, or throughout the text in the appropriate places. |
| Step 6: | Save your document by selecting "Save as..." from the File menu. Your final, complete document should be named with your e-mail address. If one of your files already has that name, it is best to save the complete document under a different name and then change the names in the File Viewer or Explorer (Windows) or the Finder (Mac). Overwriting a file from within Exchange is possible but risky: if you make a mistake, you will have to repeat the steps at the beginning of this document to recreate your text and/or other parts of your paper. |