Getting .pdf into InDesign

Hello,
I have a business card in a pdf format.
I have the Creative Could subscription, with the full suite of programs.
In Acrobat, the file is crystal clear.
When I create a business card size document in InDesign, and place the file - the quality is terrible.
How can I retain the quality, but be able to print this in the manner I need (10 to a page).
Thanks,
Amber

Amber
What you are seeing is just a low-res screen representation. If the file is clear in Acrobat, it will be clear when printed from InDesign. Try View > Display Performance > High Quality Display to see a clearer version of your file.

Similar Messages

Place pdf into InDesign CS4 js

Hi, I have those lines of script that place the pdf into InDesign, but in the process new frame gets created in which the pdf is placed, and I need it to be placed into my existing frame. How could I do it:
    var myRectangle = myDoc.pages[0].rectangles[0];
    myPage = myDoc.pages[0];
    myPDFPage = myPage.place(File(myFile), [0,0])[0];
Thank you very much for your help.
Yulia

Yes, you are right, I am stuck for a different reason, it does places the second page.
What I think is going on, and maybe there is a better approach to it than the one I am going about it: when I have single page pdf for the 1st page and single page pdf for the 2nd page, my script first tries to upload 1st pdf as multi-page just in case there is only one pdf with both files. And for some reason it uploads single page pdf twice (into the second InDesign page as well when there is no second page in the 1st pdf [If I could avoid that all together would be great]). So my script verifies if the pdf uploaded into the 2nd page is 1st page of 1st pdf then it deletes it. And then it looks if there is a file for the second page, and uploads it. So my new challenge is that when it verifies what page of the pdf is uploaded into the 2nd page of InDesign after the 1st pdf upload, it just crashes, and it worked with the previous way of placing pdfs (the green line of the script).
The second my issue is that, as it places the files, it dis-attaches the frames from the master page, and I need them to be still half attached. For the same reason new frames created by place command - is a problem for me. Maybe easier way, if it's possible at all, half-attach those new frames to the Master page afterwords. (This is the main goal for me).
Here are both functions: to upload first pdf and second pdf:
function myPlacePDF(myDoc, myFile){
    app.pdfPlacePreferences.pdfCrop = PDFCrop.cropMedia;
    // page 1
    myPage = myDoc.pages[0];
    var myRectangle = myDoc.pages[0].rectangles[0];
    app.pdfPlacePreferences.pageNumber = 1;
    myRectangle.place(myFile);
    //PDF.place (myFile);
    //myPDFPage = myPage.place(File(myFile), [0,0])[0];
    myRectangle.geometricBounds = [0, 0, myGB_Y2, myGB_X2];
    // page 2
    myPage = myDoc.pages[1];
    var myRectangle = myDoc.pages[1].rectangles[0];
    app.pdfPlacePreferences.pageNumber = 2;
    myPDFPage = myRectangle.place(myFile);
    //PDF.place (myFile);
    //myPDFPage = myPage.place(File(myFile), [0,0])[0];
    myRectangle.geometricBounds = [0, 0, myGB_Y2, myGB_X2];
    if (myPDFPage.pdfAttributes.pageNumber != 2){
        myPDFPage.parent.remove();
    try{
        var myFrame = myDoc.pages[0].rectangles[1];
        if (myFrame.isValid == true){
            myFrame.remove();
    catch (e){}
    try{
        var myFrame = myDoc.pages[1].rectangles[1];
        if (myFrame.isValid == true){
            myFrame.remove();
    catch (e){}
    app.pdfPlacePreferences.pageNumber = 1;
function myPlacePDFback(myDoc, myFile){
    var myFrame= myDoc.pages[1].rectangles.[0];
    if (myFrame.isValid == false){
        myDoc.pages[1].rectangles.add();
        myFrame.strokeWeight = 0;
        myFrame.geometricBounds = [0, 0, myGB_Y2, myGB_X2];
    app.pdfPlacePreferences.pdfCrop = PDFCrop.cropMedia;
    myPage = myDoc.pages[1];
    var myRectangle = myDoc.pages[1].rectangles[0];
    app.pdfPlacePreferences.pageNumber = 2;
    myRectangle.place(myFile);
    //myPDFPage = myPage.place(File(myFile), [0,0])[0];
    app.pdfPlacePreferences.pageNumber = 1;
Kasyan, your script might be helpful, and I would like to look into it.
Thank you very much for your help.
Yulia

How do I import a .PDF into inDesign?

How do I import a .PDF into inDesign? Does anybody know how? I need to edit a book in inDesign that is a .PDF. So if anyone know how to do that please tell me.

Bob, Peter, grmg, many thanks for your very helpful comments. Delighted mac/pc not relevant. Will scratch that from list of herrings to chase.
Re PDFs - actually, I'm working in Acrobat (not just a finalized PDF), and Acrobat does of course allow editing of a sort; I'd concluded that since Adobe is willing to tolerate that degree of editing with its product, it should therefore tolerate moving its native format (*.pdf) into another of its own native formats (*.indd). I see that's a misconception.
This morning I tried all flavors I could find of getting my Acrobatted content into ID3, including copy/paste, place, and import (from the ID side); none was satisfactory. Output from Acrobat to Word and then placing Word was fine for English but destroyed the Greek - not just wrong font, but complete gobbledygook and loss of all diacriticals. Names of fonts don't matter for my purposes; the legibility of the English, and the legibility and tonic accuracy of the Greek do matter. Author of this project is not tech-savvy and is using old Greek system as well; nothing he or i can do to fix that.
Current plan is to request author to provide me his native files, which will be Mac files. Am I understanding the Import dialog and your collecitve comments to suggest that with that file resident on my PC (and unopened), I can use the Place dialog, with "Show Options" selected, to get the Mac file into ID?
Chapeaux to those of you with constructive comments - hugely appreciated.
YC

3D PDF into InDesign

I am trying to place a 3D PDF into Indesign but it just comes up as "Enable 3D view" What does that mean and what do I need to do differently?

InDesign's implementation of the PDFLib engine doesn't support 3D annotations or scripting.

Acrobat 5 - Placing PDF into inDesign and Output to Colour Separations are Wrong

Acrobat 5 - Placing PDF into inDesign and Output to Colour Separations are Wrong
I have a 2 Page PDF file from my client which I have to have setup 2UP on 450x320 for Metal Plates for the Press.
I setup my page size in inDesign and Placed each page from the PDF file into the inDesign Document.
Because I need 4 Metal plates (CMYK) I had to check the Colour Seperations for the file by outputting it to a Postscript file with CMYK SEPS and then using Adobe Distiller to turn it into a PDF file for me to view the Seperations.
As I've shown in the screen shot below. The CYAN plate has boxes all around the images in the PDF file which will come out on a Metal Plate.
Compared to the Colour version of the Client's PDF they supplied me, there is no boxes around the images.
I know this is a error with dropping a PDF file into inDesign, outputting to a PS file and then Distilling it to the SEPS. I've had the same problem when I've opened a PDF file that has been distilled in Illustrator and the Artwork is sliced into pieces and uneditable.
Has anyone else found this problem and if so is there a workaround?
I'm using Adobe inDesign CS and Adobe Acrobat Professional Version 5.

Im facing a similar kind of problem. I want to store and retrieve Office files, PDF and Jpegs into/from the database to view them on web in disconnected mode. Please reply as I cant find any help/documentation regarding saving BLOB data into files. I was able to store file data into BLOB, using DBMS_LOB package.
Shahzad

Converting .pdf into InDesign CS6 editable doc.

I have a 103 page .pdf document that I need to edit the contents of (change fonts, type sizes, colors, insert revised logos, and place a few style elements). I have the latest version of acrobat pro. that enables you to edit text, but its not entirely efficient. I wanted to load it into ID so that I could create paragraph styles and effectively manipulate the contents of the .pdf. As far as I can tell the only way to do this is to purchase a third party plug in (such as pdf2id)-right? However, the agency who gave me the job, set up a file that looks as though they were able to accomplish my same goal of linking the pdf direclty into ID without the use of the plug-in.
Any suggestions?

Given the extent of your changes, I think you're in a tough spot.
Even with PDF2ID, there will be a lot of rework to get the file back to where it started, but it may be an option if you can't get the source (InDesign?) file. In my experience with PDF2ID and a 15 page graphics/text document, I ended up with around 100 para styles, 50 character styles, many bulleted sentences missing, images chopped into multiple pieces etc. It took a day to fully clean up, but still better than starting from scratch.
Only other option I can think of is to use the pdf import script 'PlaceMultipagePDF.jsx' to make a 103 page InD document with the placed pdfs as a background, then overlay new content and put images behind transparent areas. Maybe combine this with some pdf edits in Acrobat to remove elements.

Place all pages in pdf into indesign

I want to place all pages in a pdf file into indesign, I mean need to load all pages in a pdf in single place method and place every pages individually on iterating through pages in indesign.
Note: Manually this can be done by enable "Show import option",which opens preference window in which we can prefer to ALL option under PAGES menu under GENERAL tab while preforming Place pdf.

You are finding PlaceMultipagePDF.jsx script and here is it for you
//PlaceMultipagePDF.jsx
//An InDesign CS3 JavaScript
//Places all of the pages of a multi-page PDF.
//For more on InDesign scripting, go to http://www.adobe.com/products/indesign/xml_scripting.html
//or visit the InDesign Scripting User to User forum at http://www.adobeforums.com
//Display a standard Open File dialog box.
var myPDFFile = File.openDialog("Choose a PDF File");
if((myPDFFile != "")&&(myPDFFile != null)){
     var myDocument, myPage;
    if(app.documents.length != 0){
        myDocument, myNewDocument = myChooseDocument();
    else{
          myDocument = app.documents.add();
          myNewDocument = false;
    if(myNewDocument == false){
         myPage = myChoosePage(myDocument);
    else{
        myPage = myDocument.pages.item(0);
    myPlacePDF(myDocument, myPage, myPDFFile);
function myChooseDocument(){
    var myDocumentNames = new Array;
    myDocumentNames.push("New Document");
    //Get the names of the documents
    for(var myDocumentCounter = 0;myDocumentCounter < app.documents.length; myDocumentCounter++){
        myDocumentNames.push(app.documents.item(myDocumentCounter).name);
    var myChooseDocumentDialog = app.dialogs.add({name:"Choose a Document", canCancel:false});
    with(myChooseDocumentDialog.dialogColumns.add()){
        with(dialogRows.add()){
            with(dialogColumns.add()){
                staticTexts.add({staticLabel:"Place PDF in:"});
            with(dialogColumns.add()){
                var myChooseDocumentDropdown = dropdowns.add({stringList:myDocumentNames, selectedIndex:0});
     myChooseDocumentDialog.show();
    if(myChooseDocumentDropdown.selectedIndex == 0){
        myDocument = app.documents.add();
        myNewDocument = true;
    else{
         myDocument = app.documents.item(myChooseDocumentDropdown.selectedIndex-1);
        myNewDocument = false;
    myChooseDocumentDialog.destroy();
    return myDocument, myNewDocument;
function myChoosePage(myDocument){
    var myPageNames = new Array;
    //Get the names of the pages in the document
    for(var myCounter = 0; myCounter < myDocument.pages.length;myCounter++){
        myPageNames.push(myDocument.pages.item(myCounter).name);
    var myChoosePageDialog = app.dialogs.add({name:"Choose a Page", canCancel:false});
    with(myChoosePageDialog.dialogColumns.add()){
        with(dialogRows.add()){
            with(dialogColumns.add()){
                staticTexts.add({staticLabel:"Place PDF on:"});
            with(dialogColumns.add()){
                var myChoosePageDropdown = dropdowns.add({stringList:myPageNames, selectedIndex:0});
    myChoosePageDialog.show();
    var myPage = myDocument.pages.item(myChoosePageDropdown.selectedIndex);
    myChoosePageDialog.destroy();
    return myPage;
function myPlacePDF(myDocument, myPage, myPDFFile){
     var myPDFPage;
     app.pdfPlacePreferences.pdfCrop = PDFCrop.cropMedia;
     var myCounter = 1;
     var myBreak = false;
     while(myBreak == false){
          if(myCounter > 1){
               myPage = myDocument.pages.add(LocationOptions.after, myPage);
          app.pdfPlacePreferences.pageNumber = myCounter;
          myPDFPage = myPage.place(File(myPDFFile), [0,0])[0];
          if(myCounter == 1){
               var myFirstPage = myPDFPage.pdfAttributes.pageNumber;
          else{
               if(myPDFPage.pdfAttributes.pageNumber == myFirstPage){
                    myPage.remove();
                    myBreak = true;
          myCounter = myCounter + 1;
Shonky

Problem Importing a PDF into Indesign CC

We don't usually have this problem with InDesign CC, but this came at a very bad time and I'm not sure if it is a bug in InDesign CC or not. We were given a PDF from an auditor of a client to bring into their financial report. The strange thing is that we were only able to bring in pages on left pages, any page that was brought in on the right hand page did not show. In fact, if we copied a page that showed up on the left page and moved it to the right page, it would not show it.
Fortunately we still have CS6 and we were able to place the same PDF with no problem. So we had to save the document into a CS6 format and then insert the PDF.
I don't know what would have caused this, but we haven't had problems with other PDFs. It seems that there was something about that PDF that InDesign CC didn't like (but that CS6 was able to handle).
Any ideas?

I think we'd need to see samples from the actual .indd and PDF files to give you any real answers.

Importing PDF into Indesign

Is it possible to import PDf documents into the current version of Adobe Indesign ? I am currently testing the software and was wondering if it would be possible to import around 50 of my already published PDF docs to work on it and redesign it with Indesign ?
Thank you in advance.

Hi @plummerdesign and @MasterStudios - indeed, it is a crying shame our website does not work in IE and they are looking into this. Thank you. We do not have a demo for several reasons and can understand your point. We do have numerous forms of detailed video demsontrations on PDF to InDesign via PDF2DTP here and we have some awesome testiominals from graphic arts industry experts, Frank Romano, Michael Jahn, Joe Marin and more (click on the hyper links on their names to view what they say about PDF2DTP).
One of many customer quotes we have include this:
"Really pleased to have this product [PDF2DTP for InDesign]. The Beta version was really good and saved me loads of hassle with amends to pdfs."
Graham Bell - http://www.absolutegraphics.co.uk
Another quote is:
“We have a lot of PDFs from „Word“ ;-) Before PDF2DTP, we used PitStop for the corrections, now we can do it better! As a recent example, we had come in an advert in PDF for a meeting. The ad was in RGB, Fonts not included, the trim and bleed were not correct, etc. I open it with the PDF2DTP plugin and it works very nice. A little bit of touching-up work on the pictures and the colours, but not much… Thanks for the app!”
Dirk Rosenplänter
Blueprint Werbeagentur e.K.
Hopefully this helps you see how useful and yet still affordable PDF2DTP for InDesign is. It is truly a gem, especially when all you have left is the said PDF! Thank you for the feedback and we will strive to better that side of it, for sure.

Getting PDF into iBooks from Mail with IOS 7?

OK, on my iPad 3......pre IOS 7, someone coud emal me a PDF and I would click it in Mail and it would give me the "OPTION" to view or open in iBooks. Because I wanted it in iBooks, I would click that and all was good.
NOW with IOS 7.....I get this "Preview" of the PDF.....when I click it, I get "Save Image" or "Copy".
If I click Save Image, it puts something in my Camera Roll that I cannot even see? If I hit Copy, I guess it's on the Clipboard...but I still cannot get it into iBooks.
HOW DO I GET A PDF that was emailed to me from Mail to iBooks using IOS 7????
Thanks for your help.
Yours,
Kirk

lizdance40:
OK...here is what it is.......
I open a WORD Document on my Mac using MS Word 2008 for Mac Version 12.3.6 (130206) Latest Installed Update: 12.3.6.
I then click SAVE AS: and I choose PDF.
I then email that PDF to myself via standard Mac Mail...and recieve it in my iPad via standard Mail.
It shows up as a photo....I click on it in MAIL on my iPad and I only have the OPTION to "Save Image"...and that puts it in the Camera Roll...but not as a PDF or....COPY....and I can't do anything with that.
NEXT....I tried it this way.
I open the document in MS WORD....click PRINT...then PDF from my MAC....and save it as a PDF.....do that same thing above...and I get the same results.
So...it is NOT a photo...it is a MS WORD Document.....I have tried this not only on my iPAD but also on an iPHONE 5 running IOS7 and get the same results.
HOW DO I FIX THIS?????
AS INFO.........
If I SAVE the PDF to something like Dropbox....then got to Dropbox on my iPad or phone...then click it I have the option to put it in iBooks...and it works perfectly.......
So...the "ISSUE" to me is not with the PDF....as it does work when saved that way...the issue is with IOS7 and how it views a PDF in Mail.
ANY SUGGESTIONS?????
Kirk

PROBLEM GETTING PDF INTO DREAMWEAVER

I tried to place a copy of a PDF in my site Folder using copy and and paste but the paste is field protected.
I made sure pdf title was in all lower case. What am I doing wrong that I can n
ot use copy and paste?
Any other suggestions as to how I can get pdf file into dreamweaver site folder?
Ok. Please excuse my format and lack of info until I get comfortable with this site and please don't hesitate to tell me what I am doing wrong on this site - in a nice way I hope.

HTML is a web document. PDF is a print document and must be treated as a separate media file. The best you can do is provide a direct link to the PDF file on your server.
If the end user has Acrobat Pro or Acrobat Reader and the necessary browser plug-ins, they can usually click the link and the PDF file will launch in their browser. If not, they won't see anything unless they download the file and open Acrobat or some other PDF application.
Nancy O.

Opening a PDF into InDesign.

Hello, I'm new to InDesign and need help importing an existing PDF to modify. I tried following the instructions here: http://bim.wikispaces.com/file/view/How+to+Import+and+Edit+PDFs+in+Adobe+InDesign.pdf , but do not have the option of opening from "Place" -- The Place option in in gray still.
Help?

File > Place... is not available?
And you do understand that you cannot change the content of the PDF inside InDesign, right? You can scale or crop, but nothing else with a placed PDF.

Placing a multiple page PDF into InDesign

I have CS5. I'm working on a multipage document in InDesign and I want to bring in a multipage PDF document into that InDesign document. For some reason, when I do File>Place, it brings in the first page of the PDF (with perfect formatting) but the other pages do not come in. Is there some other setting that I'm missing to capture all pages of the PDF to transfer into the same number of pages in my InDesign document?

GArshamA wrote:
[...] Is there some other setting that I'm missing to capture all pages of the PDF to transfer into the same number of pages in my InDesign document?
No, there is no such option. Steve's suggestion does pop up a dialog so you can select page 2, page 3, etc. -- and even "all" -- but InDesign does not create the pages for you, as it does with text.
Use Scott Zanelli's script for this: http://indesignsecrets.com/zanelli-releases-multipageimporter-for-importing-both-pdf-and-i ndd-files.php

Import PDF into InDesign

Brand New InDesign User (latest version on OS X)
We have layout modifications to do on some marketing material that is being sent to us in PDF form. I know InDesign can import the PDFs but it seems that the type and image layers are not available. It's very tedious to go into Acrobat (we have Acrobat Standard on Windows) and save out all the images, cut and paste the text, check the fonts, re-lay out in InDesign.
Surely such a sophisticated layout program made by Adobe should be able to access the type layers in a PDF directly?
Colin

Bob,
Thanks for the quick reply. I may have spoken loosely about 'layers'. The PDF documents have text, embedded fonts and images at least. The original documents are not available (lost) and the PDFs were probably created from InDesign or some similar layout program.
Thanks for the plugin link, it looks good but another $249 on top of the ID full price we just paid...
The placed PDF looks like a graphic in ID and yet it has all this good information in it, text, fonts, images. Hard to believe it wouldn't be available.
Colin

Import multiple pdf into indesign file

Hi ALL,
Trying Script:
By using inbuilt script "PlaceMultipagePDF.jsx" import all the pdf in the selected folder (i.e., 111.pdf, 222.pdf, 333.pdf) in the "test.indt"
But my requirement:
1. open test.indt file and import 111.pdf alone after that close with any file naming.
2. open test.indt file and import 222.pdf after that close with any file naming.
3. open test.indt file and import 333.pdf after that close with any file naming.
Trying Script Code:
var myFolder = Folder.selectDialog("Select the folder containing the Indesign Files", "");
var myIFiles = myFolder.getFiles("*.indt")
for(j=0; j<myIFiles.length; j++)
    var myIndesignFile = myIFiles[j]
    app.open(myIndesignFile)
app.scriptPreferences.userInteractionLevel = UserInteractionLevels.interactWithAll;
var myFolder = Folder.selectDialog("Select the folder containing the PDF Files", "");   //Please check this line
var myFiles = myFolder.getFiles("*.pdf")
for(i=0; i<myFiles.length-1; i++)
    var myPDFFile= myFiles[i]
    var myDocument = app.documents[0];
        if(myDocument == true){
            var myPage = myChoosePage(myDocument);
        else{
            myPage = myDocument.pages.item(0);
        myPlacePDF(myDocument, myPage, myPDFFile);
function myChoosePage(myDocument){
    var myPageNames = new Array;
    //Get the names of the pages in the document
    for(var myCounter = 0; myCounter < myDocument.pages.length;myCounter++){
        myPageNames.push(myDocument.pages.item(myCounter).name);
    return myPage;
function myPlacePDF(myDocument, myPage, myPDFFile){
    var myPDFPage;
    app.pdfPlacePreferences.pdfCrop = PDFCrop.cropMedia;
    var myCounter = 1;
    var myBreak = false;
    while(myBreak == false){
        if(myCounter > 1){
            myPage = myDocument.pages.add(LocationOptions.after, myPage);
        app.pdfPlacePreferences.pageNumber = myCounter;
        myPDFPage = myPage.place(File(myPDFFile), [0,0])[0];         //check this line
        if(myCounter == 1){
            var myFirstPage = myPDFPage.pdfAttributes.pageNumber;
        else{
            if(myPDFPage.pdfAttributes.pageNumber == myFirstPage){
                myPage.remove();
                myBreak = true;
        myCounter = myCounter + 1;
Can anyone give solution for my question.
Thanks
BEGINNER

Hi,
Try b/m code
var myFolder = Folder.selectDialog("Select the folder containing the Indesign Files", "");
var myIFiles = myFolder.getFiles("*.indt")
for(j=0; j<myIFiles.length; j++)
    var myIndesignFile = myIFiles[j];
    app.scriptPreferences.userInteractionLevel = UserInteractionLevels.interactWithAll;
    var myFolder = Folder.selectDialog("Select the folder containing the PDF Files", "");   //Please check this line
    var myFiles = myFolder.getFiles("*.pdf")
    for(i=0; i <= myFiles.length-1; i++)
        app.open(myIndesignFile);
        var myPDFFile= myFiles[i];
        var myDocument = app.documents[0];
        if(myDocument == true){
            var myPage = myChoosePage(myDocument);
        else{
            myPage = myDocument.pages.item(0);
        myPlacePDF(myDocument, myPage, myPDFFile);
        if(app.activeDocument.modified == true){
            app.activeDocument.save(new File(String(myFiles[i]).replace('.pdf','') + ".indd"));
            app.activeDocument.save();
            app.activeDocument.close()
Thanks
Bala...

Getting .pdf into InDesign

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