MobileRead Forums - View Single Post

starrigger · 09-23-2008, 02:24 PM

I know there's a long thread here on hacking existing PDFs to display on small screens. But when I was creating my own book files to offer for [promotional link], I found information about creating PDFs that would reflow text for easy viewing on handheld devices. With much difficulty, I was able to create these files of my own books, and I now offer two PDF versions for download--one that looks better on a big screen (which I call PDF1), and one that reflows to a small screen (which I call PDF2). I find that, despite the fact that my books are available in a variety of ebook formats, the PDF files are by far the most downloaded. So, the demand is there for PDF for download.

Since I'm trying to send other writers to this forum for help with their conversions, I thought it would be good if information about creating tagged PDF files were here.

I'm hoping that someone can offer a simpler method than I used.

Here's what I did: I posted a plea for help to my town's email list, and someone with Adobe Acrobat came to my aid (or tried to). She created numerous tagged files for me, none of which would reflow on my PDA. Finally, she got one that worked, but the file size was large (5MB).

Then I remembered that I have Adobe Framemaker on my computer from a past freelance job, and I set about lashing it into creating my PDF. It worked, in the end, but it was a brutal battle. It involved guessing wildly at many settings. But the crucial ones seemed to be:

Choosing Acrobat Distiller as printer
Checking "Generate Acrobat Data" in the printer setup screen
Clicking PDF Setup, and under Tags, checking Generate Tagged PDF
On the same screen, making sure that all styles that I used in my text were included under "Include Paragraphs"
Under the Bookmarks tab, checking Generate PDF Bookmarks and Articles: Thread by Text Frame" (I'm still not sure if these made a difference)

Then I printed to a .ps (postscript) file -- this took a while, and if it went fast, I knew it wasn't working. Then I doubleclicked that file, and Acrobat Distiller kicked in and turned it into a tagged PDF file.

Formatting was a trial, too. Blank line space got omitted, unless I made sure there was a space in the line.

Each file took many tries before I got a reasonably satisfactory result. But it makes a huge difference in the readability of the PDF.

I just tried reading Tor's PDF (from their free download program) of my Battlestar Galactica novelization, and found that it does not reflow on my PDA. So it's not tagged.

Has anyone found a less onerous way of creating tagged PDF that I could offer to other writers who don't happen to have Framemaker lying around?

09-23-2008, 02:24 PM	#1
starrigger Jeffrey A. Carver Posts: 1,355 Karma: 1107383 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Massachusetts, USA Device: Lenovo Yoga Tab Plus, Droid phone, Nook HD+	Creating "Tagged PDF" for small screens I know there's a long thread here on hacking existing PDFs to display on small screens. But when I was creating my own book files to offer for [promotional link], I found information about creating PDFs that would reflow text for easy viewing on handheld devices. With much difficulty, I was able to create these files of my own books, and I now offer two PDF versions for download--one that looks better on a big screen (which I call PDF1), and one that reflows to a small screen (which I call PDF2). I find that, despite the fact that my books are available in a variety of ebook formats, the PDF files are by far the most downloaded. So, the demand is there for PDF for download. Since I'm trying to send other writers to this forum for help with their conversions, I thought it would be good if information about creating tagged PDF files were here. I'm hoping that someone can offer a simpler method than I used. Here's what I did: I posted a plea for help to my town's email list, and someone with Adobe Acrobat came to my aid (or tried to). She created numerous tagged files for me, none of which would reflow on my PDA. Finally, she got one that worked, but the file size was large (5MB). Then I remembered that I have Adobe Framemaker on my computer from a past freelance job, and I set about lashing it into creating my PDF. It worked, in the end, but it was a brutal battle. It involved guessing wildly at many settings. But the crucial ones seemed to be: Choosing Acrobat Distiller as printer Checking "Generate Acrobat Data" in the printer setup screen Clicking PDF Setup, and under Tags, checking Generate Tagged PDF On the same screen, making sure that all styles that I used in my text were included under "Include Paragraphs" Under the Bookmarks tab, checking Generate PDF Bookmarks and Articles: Thread by Text Frame" (I'm still not sure if these made a difference) Then I printed to a .ps (postscript) file -- this took a while, and if it went fast, I knew it wasn't working. Then I doubleclicked that file, and Acrobat Distiller kicked in and turned it into a tagged PDF file. Formatting was a trial, too. Blank line space got omitted, unless I made sure there was a space in the line. Each file took many tries before I got a reasonably satisfactory result. But it makes a huge difference in the readability of the PDF. I just tried reading Tor's PDF (from their free download program) of my Battlestar Galactica novelization, and found that it does not reflow on my PDA. So it's not tagged. Has anyone found a less onerous way of creating tagged PDF that I could offer to other writers who don't happen to have Framemaker lying around? Last edited by Dr. Drib; 01-17-2017 at 11:12 AM.