PDF-FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions about Adobe Portable Document Format

Maintained by Francis Wright (but not seriously since 2004); last updated 23 March 2010
Comments and additional questions and/or answers are welcome

[ Generic | UNIX | Windows | Links | Glossary ]

Generic

This section covers generic questions and answers; where an answer depends on the platform it includes a link to the same question in a later platform-specific section.

1. Q:  Where can I find more general guidance, especially about local aspects of putting course information on the Web?
   A:  See Peter Cameron's document Putting course information on the Web, and links therein.
2. Q:  How can I use pdf(la)tex or dvipdfm to generate PDF from a (L^A)T_EX document that includes graphics in EPS format?
   A:  You can't do this directly, because current versions of pdf(la)tex and dvipdfm accept graphics in EPDF, PNG and JPEG formats only.
   Possible solutions:
   • Convert your EPS graphics to EPDF.  This requires Ghostscript and can be done either explicitly or automatically: for pdflatex  see below; for dvipdfm there is a configuration option explained in the dvipdfm manual (texmf/doc/dvipdfm/dvipdfm.pdf, section 14).
   • Use (la)tex, then dvips, then Ghostscript to generate respectively DVI, then PS, then PDF.
3. Q:  How can I convert EPS graphics to EPDF for inclusion in PDF files?
   A:  A conversion program called epstopdf written in either Perl or C is available that uses Ghostscript to convert EPS to EPDF.  One or other version should be included as part of a T_EX installation but it also requires Ghostscript.  The command "epstopdf --help" gives brief help and examples.  For example, the command "epstopdf Chap0806.eps" writes the file Chap0806.pdf to the current directory.  A number of EPS files can be converted at once using a shell for loop.  Alternatively, (pdf)latex can perform the conversion automatically by using epstopdf.sty (available from CTAN), but it still requires the conversion program epstopdf to be correctly set up.  [Windows]
4. Q:  How can I convert a DVI file to PS that can be converted to PDF that scales well and so renders well on screen?
   A:   It is necessary to avoid bitmapped (i.e. MetaFont) fonts, which Acrobat Reader is well known to render very badly on screen (see Example1.pdf).  This is not a problem if using standard Adobe fonts (Times, etc., see Example3.pdf), but if using standard T_EX fonts (Computer Modern, etc.) then it is necessary to ensure that PostScript versions of the fonts are installed and are used by dvips.  The latter requires a suitable configuration file; the invocation "dvips -Ppdf" should ensure this (see Example2.pdf).  More precisely, it causes dvips to use BlueSky/AMS/Y&Y Type 1 fonts and an alternative rule drawing algorithm.  [FJW claims that this works well using Windows; other users claim that it does not work at all on other platforms!]  See also the UK T_EX FAQ: Quality of PDF from PostScript.
5. Q:  When I use fonts other than Computer Modern, such as Times or Palatino, the DVI output looks fine but when I generate PS using dvips, ligatures such as "fi"and "fl" are replaced by "£" and other strange symbols, e.g. "filter" is replaced by "£lter".  How can I avoid this?
   A:  This happens with non-CM fonts if you use the dvips -G option, which is currently implied by the -Ppdf option (see Example4.pdf).  The solution is either to use the dvips -G option together with the -Ppdf option (see Example5.pdf), not to use the -Ppdf option at all (see Example3.pdf), or to edit the dvips configuration file config.pdf to remove the G option.
   [The reason (based on comments from Y&Y, Inc. Support) is that the dvips -G option remaps character codes 0  31 to 161  170, 173  195, which is a work around for a problem that some old versions of Adobe Acrobat Reader had with CM fonts.  For example, "fi", which is character code 2 in "8r" encoding, is remapped to character code 163, which is "£" in "8r" encoding.  See e.g. texmf/doc/fonts/txfonts/txfontsdoc.pdf, section 7.5, for further details.  The dvips documentation seems to be out of date; run dvips with no arguments for a list of options.]  See also the UK T_EX FAQ: Weird characters in dvips output.
6. Q:  Are there any simple examples of how to generate PDF from L^AT_EX source via PS using Computer Modern or Times fonts?
   A:  There is a set of five examples in the directory dvips; see the Read_Me file for details.  Each example provides a L^AT_EX source file, the resulting PDF file and a batch file that runs latex, then dvips with various options, and finally ps2pdf.
7. Q:  Why do I get the wrong paper size when using PDFL^AT_EX?
   A:  See http://physics.wm.edu/~norman/latexhints/pdf_papersize.html.
8. Q:  How can I manipulate PDF files?
   A1:  By using Sid Steward's free pdf toolkit, which provides a command-line program pdftk that can, among other functions, merge, split, decrypt, encrypt, set access permissions for, and repair PDF files.  (For background, see PDF Hacks by Sid Steward, 296 pages, O'Reilly, August 2004, ISBN: 0596006551.)  There is also a nice GUI for pdftk (and other PDF support tools) by Dirk Paehl.  See also the Multivalent Document Tools.
   A2: By installing PDFsam (PDF Split and Merge), a nice Open Source Java application.

UNIX

This section covers questions and/or answers that are specific to the UNIX operating system and its close relatives: Linux, etc.

1. Q:  How can I merge PDF files?
   A:  [by Steve Schwartz]  Run Ghostscript like this.  Put all your PDF files in a single directory, make it the current directory and execute the command:

   gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dNOPAUSE -dQUIET -dBATCH -sOutputFile=out.pdf *.pdf

   (or if you want to specify the files, or merge them in something other than alphabetic order, replace *.pdf by a list of files).
2. Q:  How can I split a PDF?
   A:  [by KP <kplee@enitco.com>]  Similarly, you can split a PDF file by specifying the first page (m) and the last page (n) that you want in the output file:

   gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dNOPAUSE -dQUIET -dBATCH -dFirstPage=m -dLastPage=n -sOutputFile=out.pdf in.pdf

Windows

This section covers questions and/or answers that are specific to the Microsoft Windows operating system.  Much of the software described here has been ported from UNIX.  This section assumes that you are using the current versions of the native Windows ports, in particular MiKTeX and Aladdin Ghostscript.  For other ports, in particular Cygwin ports, the UNIX section of this FAQ may be more appropriate.

1. Q:  Where can I get T_EX, Ghostscript, etc.
   A:  Some useful links are available here.
2. Q:  How can I use Ghostscript to convert PS to PDF?
   A:  There are two main user interfaces:

   The GSview GUI

   Open the PS file in GSview, select Convert... from the File menu, select pdfwrite as the Device and other options to taste.  This works well, and may be convenient for occasional conversions, but it is overkill.

   The ps2pdf command

   Ghostscript includes ps2pdf.bat for Windows, although the installation does not automatically make the command available.  It is necessary to include the Ghostscript lib and bin directories in the Windows execution path.  You can do this explicitly, e.g. by editing the file c:\autoexec.bat.  Or you can use another "indirect " command file that sets the execution path and then runs the Ghostscript ps2pdf command.  The indirect command file can be put anywhere in the default execution path or in the current directory.  Two example indirect command files are ps2pdf.bat and ps2pdfa4.bat.  (If you download them, add the .bat extension by hand when you save them.)  These are set up for a typical default installation of Aladdin Ghostscript 7.00; the second forces A4 paper size in the PDF file.

   Note that, with the default installation procedure, the root of the Ghostscript directory depends on the version of Ghostscript.  The indirect approach has the advantages of not increasing the length of the global execution path and allowing the root of the Ghostscript directory to be set once only in the indirect command file.

3. Q:  How can I convert EPS graphics to EPDF for inclusion in PDF files?
   A:  MiKTeX provides the program epstopdf.exe, but it also requires Ghostscript to be installed separately.  It seems not to be very robust but it does seem to work!  To convert several EPS files use a for loop; for example, the following MS-DOS command will convert all the EPS files in the current directory:

   FOR %f IN (*.eps) DO epstopdf %f

4. Q:  How can users print my PDF files in "n-up" format, e.g. 2 or 4 logical pages per physical page?
   A:  There are at least two ways:

   By configuring the Acrobat printer driver

   In the Print dialogue, click on the Properties button, click the Advanced tab and scroll down to Document Options.  If there is a Page Layout option then select the desired layout.  Otherwise, you need to install a better printer driver.  Adobe provides suitable printer drivers for free download.  You need to remember to select a suitable printer driver in order to be able to print "n-up".  [This may only work with a PostScript printer.]

   By providing PDF files in "n-up" format

   If you produce the PDF from PS then you can run the program psnup to convert the PS file to "n-up" format before converting it to PDF.  MiKTeX includes psnup and it is configured by the default installation procedure to run from a command prompt.  Execute "psnup --help" for very brief help or read the online manual texmf\doc\psutils\psnup.1.dvi.  [There are other useful PS manipulation programs in the psutils folder.]

5. Q:  How can I generate (optionally hyperlinked) PDF from Microsoft Office 97 or 2000 applications?
   A:  Install and use the Open Source tool GhostWord, which is an interface to the Ghostscript package that makes it easy to create hyperlinked PDF documents from Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint documents. GhostWord installs itself in Word, Excel and PowerPoint, and you convert the documents by simply clicking a toolbar button.
6. Q:  How can I generate PDF from any application that can print output?
   A1:  The hard way is first generate a PS file and then convert it to PDF; see the answers to the following two questions.
   A2:  The easy way is to install and use the free tool PDFCreator, which is an interface to the Ghostscript package that makes it easy to create PDF documents (but without hyperlinks) from any application that supports standard Windows printer drivers.  (PDFCreator can also produce other formats such as PS and EPS, merge PDF files, etc.)
7. Q:  How can I generate a PS or EPS file from any application that can print output?
   A:  You need to have a suitable PS printer driver installed (although there is no need for a physical PS printer); if you do not already have one installed then see below.  Then, in the application from which you want to produce the output, select Print or Print Setup from the File menu and then in the Print dialogue box select a PostScript printer and if necessary check the option to Print to File.  [You may need to change the filename extension from .prn to .ps or .eps once the file has been created.]
8. Q:  How can I install a PS or EPS printer driver?
   A:  Windows automatically provides a selection of PS printer drivers (although I suspect that many of them are identical).  Select Start > Settings > Printers, open the Add Printer wizard, select File as the port, and then select a PostScript printer; almost any printer with "laser" in its name should suffice but a simple generic one is probably safest.  The HP LaserJet 4/4M PS printer driver seems to work well.  This will allow you to print to a PS file, but perhaps not EPS.  However, Adobe provides suitable printer drivers for free download.  These have advantages over some of the default Windows drivers, such as EPS output and support for n-up printing: to use these facilities open the Properties dialogue from the Print dialogue and select the appropriate PostScript options.  The Adobe "Generic PostScript Printer" driver is appropriate for producing files to be converted to PDF, although the separately available Acrobat Distiller driver is probably best.
9. Q:  How can I merge PDF files?
   A1:  The hard way [by Steve Schwartz] is to run Ghostscript like this.  Put all your PDF files in a single folder, open a Command Prompt window on that folder and execute the command:

   gswin32c -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dNOPAUSE -dQUIET -dBATCH -sOutputFile=out.pdf in1.pdf in2.pdf ...

   If the Ghostscript bin folder is not in your path, which is probably the case, then give the full pathname for gswin32c, e.g. e:\Ghostscript\gs8.00\bin\gswin32c.  A UNIX-style shell, such as Cygwin bash, provides better control over the list of files to include.  For example, to merge the files in the default sort order into the file F.pdf, execute a command such as:

   $ /e/Ghostscript/gs8.00/bin/gswin32c -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dNOPAUSE -dQUIET -dBATCH -sOutputFile=F.pdf *.pdf

   or to merge a set of files named F_1.pdf up to F_99.pdf in numerical order into the file F.pdf, execute a command such as:

   $ /e/Ghostscript/gs8.00/bin/gswin32c -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dNOPAUSE -dQUIET -dBATCH -sOutputFile=F.pdf F_?.pdf F_??.pdf

   A2:  The easy way is to install and use the free tool PDFCreator; see above.

10. Q:  How can I split a PDF file?
    A:  [by KP <kplee@enitco.com>]  Similarly, you can split a PDF file by specifying the first page (m) and the last page (n) that you want in the output file:

    gswin32c -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dNOPAUSE -dQUIET -dBATCH -dFirstPage=m -dLastPage=n -sOutputFile=out.pdf in.pdf

Other relevant links

• Call and technical advise to scan and put pre-T_EX publications on the web [Peter (Wolfram) Michor].
• L^AT_EX and Download links, in particular a Microsoft Windows GUI version of epstopdf.exe.
• PDF LaTeX by example for Microsoft Windows [CTJ Dodson].
• Screen Presentation Tools [Michael Wiedmann].
• PDF guide from the PSTricks web site.

Commercial software

• pdfFactory is FinePrint Software's standard tool for creating PDF files [on Microsoft Windows only].

Glossary