Acrobat 9: Office 2010 and Acrobat

by David R. Mankin

Microsoft released Office 2010 not long ago and I couldn't wait to see the upgraded suite in action. After playing with the new software for a while, I really liked the way Word 2010 looked and felt.

But then it happened....

I needed to convert a Word 2010 document into a PDF. I went about the task using my usual process: after saving the Word file, I went to click on the Acrobat tab found in Word 2007 to bring the Acrobat Ribbon forward... and the Acrobat tab simply wasn't there. Huh? I poked around Word 2010, menu by menu but found no hint of an Acrobat Ribbon or its coveted PDFMaker. Oh no! My readers and my students know how I rely on the PDFMaker for converting Word to PDF over printing to PDF. In fact, if you want automatically-created bookmarks, articles, or have any hopes of a 508-compliant PDF file, you really need to use the PDFMaker.

An internet search about the missing PDFMaker quickly revealed that I was not imagining this problem, and I was not alone in my discovery. In fact, here are excerpts from Adobe's online FAQ regarding this issue:

The Acrobat ribbons, also known as Acrobat PDFMaker, do not work with Office 2010 applications the same way they do with Office 2007. Customers using Acrobat 9.0 through 9.2 will see the Acrobat ribbon in Office 2010 applications; however, attempting to use PDFMaker functionality from the Acrobat ribbon can result in unexpected behavior. Customers who update to Acrobat 9.3 or later will not see the Acrobat 9 ribbon in Office 2010 applications.

Adobe plans to add support for its Acrobat PDFMaker technology for Office 2010 in the next major version of Acrobat.

If you rely on the PDFMaker's capabilities to create smart, capable PDF files, or if 508 Compliancy is required in your PDFs that come from Word, you may NOT want to upgrade your Office apps just yet. Adobe is clearly aware of the issue, and we will all be making smart, compliant PDFs from Office apps soon. Stay tuned.

Are you intrigued by the mention of smart PDF files? Might you be missing out on some of the amazing features that are part of Acrobat technology? Sign up for one of my Acrobat classes where you will learn that there are tons of neat and useful hidden commands and capabilities.

***

 

About the author: David R. Mankin is a Certified Technical Trainer, desktop publisher, computer graphic artist, and Web page developer. And if that wasn't enough, of course David is an Adobe-certified expert in Adobe Acrobat.

Comments

[pieter]

Hm, shame on MS ;-) Shoved MS Office off my hard drive years ago to exchange it for open office (www.openoffice.org) and one of the reasons : PDF creation.

you just can't beat it.

[Mike]

I just discovered this problem. Is there any other way to create PDF bookmarks from a Word 2010 document?

[David Mankin]

Mike - since the bookmarks are a direct translation from the Word document's styles to PDF tags, and ONLY the PDF maker exports those styles to PDF tags, you'll have to wait for Acrobat 10 to have this issue addressed, sadly.

[John Leitelt]

Just figured out a work-around in Office 2010. My installation of Adobe 8 Pro added Adobe PDF as a printer. When I need to create a PDF, I just select Adobe PDF as my printer.

[Emcod]

Tried the last approach (selecting Adobe PDF as the printer in Word 2010) and it just causes Word to crash. Anyone else having this problem?

[brutusf]

I am using Adobe Acrobat 8.0 professional (updated to 8.2.5) and I have been using the Adobe PDF printer approach. That works. But, I miss my shortcut. Who to blame? Microsoft or Adobe?

[brutusf]

I just visited the Adobe Acrobat X (or 10, I guess) website. In a comparison chart, only Adobe Acrobat X has the ability to convert docs easily from Office 2010. I guess they're forcing us to upgrade!

Text from Adobe website: "Convert Microsoft Office 2010 files from Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, and Access to PDF with a single click", it shows Acrobat 7, 8, 9 and X and only Acrobat X has the ability to do this.

[Francois Limoges]

Be careful with Acrobat X as it's NOT compatible with Office 2010 64-bit or Internet Explorer 64-bit. I updated to Acrobat X to find out I was still out of luck and had to downgrade to Office 2010 32-bit to make it work as it should.

[Bob Patton]

I have Acrobat X and the 64 bit Office 2010. I don't even have the Acrobat Tab on the ribbon. How do I downgrade to the 32 bit version? I'm 77 yrs. old and not any too computer literate.

[Bob Patton]

I guess I need to downgrade to the 32-bit version of Word, but, I'm not sure I know how to do it.