![]() PDF import and export may not be a must-have feature for every PageMaker user, but while I was testing version 7, I created three four-color books for both press and PDF publication with PageMaker. Finally, all these settings may be saved as a PDF style for reuse later.įigure3: PageMaker 7’s full-featured PDF support also allows you to add passwords, encryption, and other layers of security to a file. The final tab, Security, contains the same settings available in Acrobat, namely passwords for opening and editing and permissions for printing and editing. And if you’ve set bookmarks and wish to generate a TOC or index from them, you can do so From the Articles/Bookmark tab, and from here, you may also define and export articles based on PageMaker stories. If you have added hyperlinks to your document, the Hyperlinks tab provides settings for their appearance and will export table of content or index links, as well as internal and external links. For instance, if you are designing a document for multi-purposing, you can use the Embed Tags options to preserve paragraph attributes, making it easier to read documents with hand-held devices. The other tabs reveal similarly useful tools. I especially like the intelligent PDF import feature, which let me choose which pages in the document I want to import, set the color depth and resolution, and limit the import to the content area (see figure 1).įigure3: The Doc info tab lets you apply authorship, keywords, and other useful descriptions to a file exported from PageMaker to PDF. PDF support is a checklist item for members of Adobe’s product family, and PageMaker is no exception. In the last few years, Adobe’s PDF file format has become the medium of choice for sending files to commercial typesetting houses creating forms for distribution inside companies or over the Internet and more recently, for deploying e-books. ![]() No wonder: The file size at that early stage was 70 MB! I ended up having to return to Photoshop to flatten all the image files to get PageMaker to link to the external artwork. I started creating a four-color book composed of 225 layered TIFF files but noticed that after placing two of the figures, saving the document was taking minutes instead of seconds. Unfortunately, we found a juicy bug in version 7 - instead of linking to layered TIFFs created in Photoshop 6, PageMaker embedded the files. PageMaker 7’s image import is designed to fix that problem by allowing you choose between embedding an image or linking to the actual Photoshop pr Illustrator file. The downside is that if I wanted to make any changes to the image, I had to go back into the original program, alter the file, then resave it as an acceptable format for re-importing into PageMaker. For example, despite being an Adobe program, PageMaker 6.5 couldn’t import Photoshop or Illustrator files, which required that I keep copies of both the native files and importable TIFF or EPS versions for all images I wanted to use in a document. Up until this version, getting files in and out of the program has been a dubious and annoying proposition. The image import improvements are welcome. However, you can now drag and drop (or Place) both Photoshop and Illustrator files, complete with layer preservation. It uses the same graceless, non-configurable menu/toolbar interface and wads of palettes that refuse to roll up to save screen space as they do in Photoshop. These features, especially the powerful Acrobat PDF output features, make this an essential, if unspectacular, upgrade for all PageMaker users.ĭespite these advances, at heart you’ll find PageMaker’s familiar face is unchanged. The improvements in version 7 concentrate on tighter integration with other Adobe products, a wider range of import and export filters, and the ability to merge data from external sources, such as text and graphics stored in spreadsheets or databases, to create form letters, mailing labels, and direct-mail pieces. Others looking for a great leap forward will be disappointed. The good news is that users who are comfortable with PageMaker will find some welcome enhancements in version 7. When Adobe announced it was updating PageMaker, some page-layout watchers wondered why. Many of its early users seeking more professional features have long since migrated to QuarkXPress or, potentially, Adobe InDesign. PageMaker was the first cross-platform desktop publishing program and its huge user base is a testament to its continued popularity with both graphic designers and businesspeople, despite its aging feature set and interface.
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