Using Adobe's PDF Print Driver
Author: Geetesh Bajaj
Product/Version: PowerPoint 2007
Date Created: July 2nd 2009
Last Updated: July 2nd 2009
Excerpt/Capsule: Learn converting PowerPoint presentation to a PDF by using Adobe's PDF print driver.
In an earlier tutorial of this PowerPoint to PDF series, I have shown you how to use the Office 2007's Save as PDF option, which is an easy way to convert a PowerPoint presentation to a PDF. But this option does have some limitations -- primarily you can only save your slides as PDFs. You cannot save your handouts as PDFs, or print multiple slides on a single PDF page. For that, you'll need to use Adobe's PDF Print Driver.
Note: Adobe PDF Print Driver is installed as part of Adobe Acrobat Pro -- it's not part of the free Adobe Reader installation.
Follow these steps to get started:
- Open any presentation in PowerPoint, choose Office Button | Print, as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Print
- This summons the Print dialog box (see Figure 2).
Figure 2: Print dialog box
- Choose Adobe PDF or similar option in the Printer Name drop-down list. If you don't have Adobe PDF or similar listed as a printer option, then you need to buy this product as part of Adobe Acrobat Pro.
In the Print dialog box (see Figure 2), you can choose to print slides, handouts, notes, etc. You can also print to color or grayscale, and play with many of the other options. Click OK when you have made your choices.
- This opens the Save PDF File As window as shown in Figure 3. Provide a name and location for the PDF file, and click the Save button.
Figure 3: Save PDF File As
- This starts the PDF creation process (see Figure 4). When done, the PDF will open in Adobe Acrobat Pro. At this point of time, you might want to edit the PDF to open full screen, add transitions between PDF pages, or password protect the entire PDF.
Figure 4: Creating Adobe PDF
Problems with creating PDFs from PowerPoint? See our PDFs From PowerPoint Troubleshooting Issues page...
Carmine Gallo is a communications coach for the world’s most admired brands. His client list includes Intel, Chase, Barclays, IBM, Nokia, and many others. 
