Missing menu items in CS4 - PDF Presentation

I downloaded the 30 day trial of CS4 and I can't make a PDF presentation (which I do daily in CS2). There should be a menu item in Photoshop under automate and from Bridge, under tools, Photoshop, PDF presentation. I read through the documentation for CS4 and they should be there... why aren't they? I need this tool any ideas why it's missing in CS4 for me?

It's not in Photoshop anymore. It's part of Bridge now.

It in bridge

I found the PDF thing in Bridge - however it added a white border around my pages. I make 12 x 12 pages and need them full bleed. How do I get it to work the way it used to work?

Melissa,

Why not post in the Bridge forum for the best answers? It's where those pros hang out. Thanks.

Neil

If I need to make a PDF I use InDesign

I posted over in the Bridge forum. I'm not interested in using InDesign. If it works in CS2, it should certainly work in CS4 and if not, I won't be upgrading.

If you make PDF presentations out of Bridge, you are inserting compressed JPEGs into the pages with no control of compression, color management, bleeds or other Press requirements.

You need to use InDesign for this purpose.

A PDF containing a page-sized image and created in InDesign for Press Output made a 26 MB file;

The same sized document created in Bridge/Presentation made a 4 MB file.

That indicates where your image-quality went!

I know I'm beating a dead horse here, but I'm really annoyed with Adobe about this. In CS2, I have control over all of that. I save all of my files as high quality jpgs then make them into a PDF for printing. The files are massive - I did one last night with 92 pages - it's 959.7 MB. Great quality for printing. All of the controls are right there, in Photoshop.

Handing the task over to Bridge in CS4 - they also dumbed it down and there are no more controls for quality. What's up with that??

I've had the same workflow for years and I resent having to create a new workflow with a different program - adding InDesign in there. I've never used InDesign and have no desire to open it and learn it - I've been using Photoshop for 17 years - Can't teach an old dog new tricks!

pity.

Then I guess you are stuck with using an old version the rest of your life. When you find out that you can't open others files, you may want to come out of glue factory status.

Melissa,

Can't teach an old dog new tricks!

Don't believe that. If it were true, some of us would still be doing art with a T-square. triangle, Relyon proofs, photostats and two-coat rubber cement.

Neil

I liked my rubber cement!

Good thing you quit. That stuff will ruin you.

If you've been using the same workflow for years.... it is time to change and change with the new applications as the world (and applications and operating systems and Macs too) actually has evolved around you meanhwile. ;)

The bad thing about no PDF Presentation is you can't use open files to make the PDF. There are times when I just want to assemble the dozen or so images I have open. Now it means saving them out to make the PDF in Bridge.

BTW I still have a gallon of rubber cement in my basement that I opened not too long ago. Oooh the memories! Anyone need a Rapidiograph pen point?

Nini - I need a new Mac! Sometimes I do feel like a dinosaur in my cave with my 5 year old Mac and CS2. There was a time when I walked the bleeding edge... then I got married and had kids. Now I don't even know where to start looking for the edge!

I really need to upgrade for Dreamweaver. I have been using goLive when GoLive owned it and it's name was CyberStudio.

Maybe it would be faster for me to layout my stuff in InDesign - I'm actually doing page layout work. I've resisted the "print" designer tools forever, always considering myself an online designer. But now I do actually design for print - digital scrapbooking.

I guess it's time to get out of my comfort zone and open a new program!

We are talking about workflow here. What's faster, having to place all your files in InDesign(that's if you even own the program) just to make a PDF, oh wait a minute, don't forget to add the file name of each file.

Or, choose your files in Bridge, select PDF Presentation, click a few check boxes and let 'er rip?

Option 2 is way faster. Time is money after all.

Melissa - there is nothing wrong in using GoLive cs2. I do too. But in Leopard. As long as it works there i sno reason to leave it behind for DreamWeaver (as I see it). When it comes to Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign though, CS4 is what rules.

I have people I collaborate with who use Dreamweaver and we have always had issues with templates and things not being compatible.

JBeezer- I agree with you, time is money. I think I have InDesign - I have the suite. But it's not installed. Not an issue until I shell out the $600 to upgrade. Maybe I'll try the trial there, too. I can layout my pages in InDesign instead of in Photoshop but you are correct, the workflow will drastically alter. I'll have to make sure all of my images are prepared. With Photoshop, I just dump everything into a single file and retouch and recolor and I go.

Think Adobe is listening?? We want the PDF Presentation control back!

Your workflow has changed. You need to change.

Think Adobe is listening?? We want the PDF Presentation control back!

Here is an explanation:
<http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2008/10/where_did_extra.html>

With all due respect to John Nack, that is hardly an explanation why PDF Presentation is gone. Yeah they added it to Bridge but as I and others have stated, it sucks compared to the PS CS3 version. There is no control over compression and it yields a much larger PDF as in over 5x for my previous example.

Now I can see why some of the newer ways to do things are better than their older counterparts, as in the Extract filter. But to say that the Bridge CS4 way to produce a PDF is better is an absolute joke.

What they need to do is update Bridge with more control over compression and provide an estimated size so we can choose which method.

That would be a good Feature Request.

You can do that here:
<http://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.3bba45ab/>

All the old dead plugins are in the optional plugins folder you just need to install them yourself.

Not the PDF Presentation. It's been transferred (part of it) into Bridge.

I have sent it in as a feature request, I urge others to do the same. It takes the same amount of time as posting here and hopefully Adobe is listening.

They hear you, listening is another story.

Yes. We do hear and listen the sounds outside. We also collect the valuable suggestions. :-) That is why we are here.

Then I would like to be put in contact with someone who listens because at this point no one has attempted to do so from your company.

Is Adobe willing to list all the features and menu items which have been removed from each new Photoshop version (such as PDF presentations gone from Photoshop CS4)? This would be useful for those making purchase decisions and would probably yield more $$ for Adobe in the long run than hoping such missing features won't anger enough users when they discover them after purchase.

Mike.

If you want to address Adobe, use the Contact link at the top of this page.

In another thread, this relevant exchange between myself, Anne and Rene occurred on this very subject. Had I known, I would have posted here instead. Ms. Guo, if you are indeed listening, consider putting this one back...because, specifically with open Photoshop files, it can't be pulled off in Bridge. Jbeezer points out another major problem:

"There is no control over compression and it yields a much larger PDF as in over 5x for my previous example."

Here is the earlier exchange:

Anne said:
"And it isn't called "Automate->PDF Presentation" in CS4 either. It has been replaced by a multi-page PDF that you create from Bridge CS4's Output Panel and then edit in Acrobat Pro if you need to finesse transitions etc.."

I said:
I did find that in my hunt. It doesn't work anywhere near as quickly or as well as it did in PS CS3. Not even close. It can't deal with open PS documents (at least I couldn't find a way) and it can't be set to completely remove the "jpg'ing". I tried for a few hours to get it to output a decent PDF within Bridge and just gave up. Moving over to Acrobat Pro to "fix" pretty much negates the whole Bridge step. It's actually faster to completely skip Bridge and just make a PDF directly in Acrobat Pro.

There was no reason to remove this function at all. It wasn't broken and it didn't need fixing. Yet another reason to keep PS CS3 resident...particularly because the PS CS3 parameters actually does this trick (PDF from open PS images) faster and with better quality than Acrobat Pro does with saved/converted PDF files ...in one easy step. When you get right down to it, the function Automate>PDF Presentation wasn't moved over to Bridge. It was removed.

Rene said:
"For more info, see "Where did Extract & others features go?" <http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2008/10/where_did_extra.html>"

I said:
That's funny. There is no other information on Automate>PDF presentation in Nack's blog:

* Picture Package, Contact Sheet, Web Photo Gallery, and PDF Presentation have been replaced by the new Output module in Bridge CS4. Of these the first three are in the optional download package, while PDF Presentation no longer works in CS4.

* In CS4 we made some hard calls and retired a number of features. Some of these can be added back into CS4 (see Mac & Windows downloads) while others are gone for good."

"Gone for good" applies here.

JBeezer, regarding »don't forget to add the file name of each file« in post 16: Among the sample Scripts provided with Indesign is one called »ImageCatalog.jsx« that basically makes contact-sheets of all the images in a selected folder and provides the option to include the names; it could probably be customized to show other features too.
Plus there’s a useful Indesign-Script for adding the names, actual PPI, effective PPI etc. to placed images at:
< http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange/index.cfm?event=extens ionDetail&extid=1447019>

Of course those don’t make up for a lot of what You miss about Photoshop’s PDF Presentation (especially speed-wise I guess), but Indesign might provide options that some are not aware of.